alternative remedies to improve cat health *UPDATE*

Tygermoth

Hello all,

I need some advice and possibly details of some incidences where you may have improved your cat’s health via holistic medicine or alternative remedies. The scenario:

We have three beautiful and lovely boys all same litter brothers. RSPCA rescues. They were abandoned kittens and when rescued were very malnourished, and extremely unwell prior to being fostered with us. Just after we adopted them they went down with terrible cat flu and we nearly lost two of them.

3 years later and they remain decidedly small and suffer with repeat illnesses like urine infections and chest problems. Though cuddly and friendly they are very nervy cats prone to flee/hide at the drop of a hat.

Linus today has started again with FLUD symptoms after all three boys recently completing a round of treatment and to be frank the lot of them are driving us to the poor house and paying for the Vets shiny new Mercedes.

They have fresh water – two places, one running and one still.
They have two litter trays per cat - each in a number of locations around the house. (They are indoor cats – RSPCA condition of adoption)
They do have a main diet of dry food with some wet in the evening however we add water to both to increase their moisture intake.

The vet offers no advice or assistance just gives Abs and steroids and takes our money.

Now I had a not unsimilar scenario in my own life where I was having killer urine infections due to a malformed kidney. I would have rounds and rounds of AB with hospital stays and invasive treatment which took over my life for several years with doctors telling me there was little they could do......... until I spoke to a lady (someone else’s visitor on my ward) who recommended using cranberry juice, it changes the PH of your urine. I now have not had an infection for more than 15yrs. i believe these days it’s used a lot but at the time was poohpoohed by the Drs.

Sometimes it’s just a different outlook that can make a big change.

I wondered rather than take just take Linus to the vet again (which I will do anyway, I might add) and be told its untreatable(we will take your £56 though) whether i could use some alternative remedies and what you would suggest??

I did ask the vet last time I was in but she looked at me like I was nuts and was borderline rude about the whole idea being stupid. Sometimes I think vets/doctors get caught up in conventional treatments... and possibly don’t look at complimentary alternatives.

Any ideas?? (And don’t worry I will check with the vet before trialling him with any suggestions)


Many thanks

(ps. must admit to a touch of self intrest here... this visit to the vets will now take us over the 4k mark in 3ys... this is impacting my shoe fund lol)

paddypaws101

Well.......Firstly I would advise you to find an Holistic vet who can properly assess the cats and provide you with a detailed programme.
Secondly I would tell you to ditch the dry rubbish food and move over to a balanced raw diet.
Thirdly I would tell you to do some research....read read read! Learn about why a cat needs meat not maize in it's diet to thrive. Join internet forums talking about raw feeding and natural approaches to cat care.....https://www.petforums.co.uk, , http://www.holisticat.com/, http://www.catnutrition.org/ http://feline-nutrition.org/index.php etc
One of my favourite books is by an American vet Dr Elizabeth Hodgkins, http://www.amazon.com/Your-Cat-Simple-Secrets-Stronger/dp/0312358016 who recommends Agaricus Blazeii as a great immune booster for cats.

Tygermoth

Thank you paddypaws.

I spent all last night reading

As my cats are dry food addicts I think I am going to have a fight on my hands!

I appreciate the time and effort it took to post and link to other sites.

My cats thank you.

Kind regards,

Fred, Burt & Linus (plus grumpy fatpuss)

rita-rabbit

1) change your vet

2) Burns dried food is good stuff - I feed mine 50/50 (wet/dried)

3) zooplus sells quality wet food: Aniconda carni, Smilla, Bozita - alot less hassle than raw (I do feed mine raw sometimes but not daily due to mess). I buy tinned A & S - tetrapacks of B - in bulk far cheaper & tinned is fine for mine.

4) Asda sells quality wet food: Feline Fayre & Toplife. Pouches or tinned

5) human grade fish is ok: I feed mine tinned sardines &/or pilchards sometimes

paddypaws101

I am so glad that you found the links interesting....the one from feline nutrition actually has an article on FLUTD which is very apt for you.
I strongly advise that you order that book I listed....I have a diabetic cat and that vet is kind of our guru....especially as she spent many years as head of nutrition for Purina, before her own personal experience outweighed her medical training and she started to work with raw food diets.
And.....my older cats are/were dry food junkies too so don't feel too bad, it happens to the best of us but can be worked on!
If you want to try a good balanced raw mix for your cats try https://www.naturalinstincts.com, lots of good wet foods available from Zooplus online. Do have a look at the excellent A-Z lists over on petforums, Hobbs who compiled them is passionate about good nutrition and they are a mine of information.

paddypaws101

Oh and another thought just occurred to me....apparently most cases of cystitis are idiopathic....ie not due to bacterial infection at all. very often stressed cats will develop these symptoms, ties in with your bunch being nervy.
I would try Feliway diffusers and maybe even Zylkene to help calm them down and make them feel safe. Cystaid....or any glucosamine supplement in fact....can help replenish and soothe the lining of the bladder and stop these flare ups happening. ABX are only going to knock their poor immune systems further and leave them open to more infections. A good probiotic supplement would also be a good idea ( some people will feed a spoon or so of full fat live yoghurt as a treat, although after all these ABX I would start off with a capsule split open and added to the yoghurt)

DebiT

Hi Tygermoth,

Had various problems with my rescue cat when I first had him. Took him to the vet umpteen times and they continuously misdiagnosed him. I was at my wits end. This is a site I found to be of great help: www.earthclinic.com

There are natural remedies there for humans and pets. Simple remedies that have helped a lot of people. What I like about it the best is that there are a lot of stories from ordinary people who like us have tried the remedies mentioned, and they report back on how it has helped themselves/their pet. I think you will find it useful.

As for my cat, I feed him on a good quality dry food once a day (JWB/origen/applaws) although he isnt keen on the orijen, plus a pouch of Felix AGAIL's, sometimes I substitute (raw) diced chicken or prawns (thawed out from frozen & swilled off, not in brine). He is in excellent shape. We tried the organic apple cider vinegar in his water (only a tiny drop though) and the colloidal silver, both did him very good. Hope this helps:)

Waterfalls

Poor kitty

I would def recommend a feliway diffuser (zylkene can also included),reducing stress would be the first step to helping him get better. you can get the plug off ebay the you would just need to by the refil.

moisten food, which u are already doing. and i would also recommend a food which is made for the idiopathic cysitis signs your kitty getting. and also prevents the chance of him getting a blocked bladder which is an emergency situation.

have more litter trays, the rule of thumb is one tray per cat plus one

have a look a this site too if you can. http://www.fabcats.org/owners/flutd/info.html

if your not happy with the treatment you are getting from your vet, maybe get a second opinion from another one if you can

paddypaws101

SnowyOwl wrote: »

Oh dear...that link brought me to Clairol's Natural Instincts hair colour page...

oops!

http://www.naturalinstinct.com/categories/Cat-Food/

What a difference an 's' makes.:o

Tygermoth

Hello again Paddypaws - idiopathic was what the vet called it... I couldent remember what it was last night.

DebiT - the site you recomended apears to be broken, which is a shame.

SnowyOwl - I may not have solved Linus wee problem but i did find a briliant deep golden brown hair colour lol

I have tried felway on a number of occasions and it seemed to do diddlysquat so i wall looking at using rescue remedy.

Waterfalls - i have 9 trays in total for four cats... any more and the house will be one large tray lol.

thank you all!

off to do some more reading....

DebiT

Hi Tygermoth, just checked the site, it seems to be working fine again now. Its really worth a look.:)