About Orangie (our cat)

[whitecoast]

Sorry to hear about the troubles Orangie is going through Alana. I hope she responds well to the treatments and diet, so she may continue to frolic for a good number of years to come!

 

[Alana]

Good news, I was also thinking that fish oil cannot be the culprit.

I am still wondering about that, because her more extreme behavior (not eating, seizures) started after she was taking the fish oil daily. I don't know if the dose was too much for her or if her organs did not agree to it, or what. Now that she no longer takes it, she is coming back to her usual self.

Just be careful with carbs, cats should have maximum 2% carbs in their diet.

We decided not to go with the already-made-raw-food, and got her some grinded meat with organs and bones from the butcher. We will add the supplements, and voila! Or wait to see how she will like it. She is picky, but high maintenance, she might recognize a good thing once she tastes it.

Deedlet, I am not sure, but I think virgin-olive-oil might do the trick. Good luck with your transitions :D

Easing them into it can work better; we have confirmed that. The best thing is to imprint them when they are young, but they can adapt later on. I don't know about older cats. If they are coming off of high-carb foods, they may well go through a genetic adaptation, much as we do.

I was actually thinking about that too. We will start by adding a little bit of raw food in her wet food, and then progress by adding more each day. I will report how it goes!

Gertrudes, I am sorry to hear about your cat. It is like with us humans, you know: all the info out there is so deceptive. I feel so sorry whenever I see mothers with their children at the supermarkets and the contents of their carts. It's so sad because they don't know any better, and they are slowly killing themselves and their children...

Whitecoast, thank you for the word frolic. I did not know it and it's very playful, I like it. I am looking forward to finding reasons to use it :)

 

[mcb]

...

Cats need organ meats (like we do). We have decided for now to buy prepared raw food, rather than having to buy the meat and bones and grind everything. It depends on your situation.

Interesting! Thanks Megan, I'm in the midst of some big changes in my life currently so after things settle down a bit I'll be changing Luna's diet immediately after. If I have problems finding a grinder or anything I'll make sure to visit the local butcher. And I'll be sure to get her some chicken liver - I'm sure she'll like that. One thing I always noticed though was that she never liked eating any sort of food wet or dry that had beef flavor to it. So I'm not sure how open she'll be to real raw beef, so I'll start her on chicken/turkey/fish things like that for now.

Thank you for all your help Herr & Megan.

You're welcome! I hope it makes a difference. It certainly has for Cassie. I brought her along to the pet store this weekend when I went to buy more food for her and Bella. It was a bit much for her at first, but she had a good prowl there once she figured out that she wasn't at the vet. It blows people away to see this little cat walking around on a lead! And of course she enjoys the cat furniture displays. She could barely hop when she came to us, and now she climbs 6 feet straight up, and can jump up to 3' counters.

The frozen raw food we are buying generally includes regular meat, heart, and liver from the animal (lamb/chicken/turkey, no mixing) as the main ingredients, along with bone meal (coarsely ground). It's about $15 per 24oz (and we're feeding two cats), but the store has a standing buy-three-get-one-free offer. If we ever reach the point where we have a good supply of organ meat for us, we might just buy the grinder and have a go at preparing it ourselves.

I don't know what it is, but some of this food (the raw lamb) is starting to look tasty to me! I am not giving in to that urge, though, even if it would make me feel batter. I had a little bit of slow-cooked lamb shank instead, after I fed the girls.

Why are you pointing that thing at me?

...Just be careful with carbs, cats should have maximum 2% carbs in their diet.

We decided not to go with the already-made-raw-food, and got her some grinded meat with organs and bones from the butcher. We will add the supplements, and voila! Or wait to see how she will like it. She is picky, but high maintenance, she might recognize a good thing once she tastes it.

I think that is about as good as you can get. It should be less expensive, and it avoids the "extras" that seem to be in all prepared foods.

...

Easing them into it can work better; we have confirmed that. The best thing is to imprint them when they are young, but they can adapt later on. I don't know about older cats. If they are coming off of high-carb foods, they may well go through a genetic adaptation, much as we do.

I was actually thinking about that too. We will start by adding a little bit of raw food in her wet food, and then progress by adding more each day. I will report how it goes!

...

Our other cat, Bella, seems to have been brought up on conventional (junk) cat food and is a bit of a junk food junkie. She is still young (a year older than Cassie, at maybe 3 1/2), and I have her eating mostly raw now. She prefers to have a small side dish (literally) of grain-free kibble. She is strong and healthy, but she can be a very finicky eater. If she can switch to raw, almost any cat can.

 

[mcb]

I just realized why Cassie had that look on her face when I took her picture (above). She was sitting here beside me and I used the web cam on my MacBook to take it, and she was staring hard at her own almost-big-as-life picture on the screen!

 

[Odysseus]

My, that's a cutie you have there! Sorry to hear she's having a tough time.
Hope she will recover soon with your care and stay around for years to come

 

[bngenoh]

I just realized why Cassie had that look on her face when I took her picture (above). She was sitting here beside me and I used the web cam on my MacBook to take it, and she was staring hard at her own almost-big-as-life picture on the screen!

That's an awesome looking cat Megan, she looked like a tigress upon first glance. ;)

 

[Approaching Infinity]

Good news, I was also thinking that fish oil cannot be the culprit.

I am still wondering about that, because her more extreme behavior (not eating, seizures) started after she was taking the fish oil daily. I don't know if the dose was too much for her or if her organs did not agree to it, or what. Now that she no longer takes it, she is coming back to her usual self.

I think it was probably just a coincidence of timing. She also started getting the seizures, not eating, pretty much as soon as she finished her antibiotics... I think this calls for a controlled experiment to identify the real culprit!

 

[knowledge_of_self]

Could you give her something to make her sleep through the journey? Perhaps Herr Eisenheim will have some ideas.

I wouldn't really go for sedatives because the vet might need to sedate Orangie for ultrasound, Bach flower rescue remedy or valeriana extract might help

Yes, that's more of what I had in mind, something natural. Thanks Herr!

Just a quick question

I may be relocating soon and need to be traveling a long distance (about 12 hours) and I need to take Luna with me. She's usually really good in car rides, but we've never traveled this long a distance before so I was thinking of giving her something to help her if she needs it. Would this Back flour rescue remedy or valeriana do?

Thanks!

 

[Z...]

I think this calls for a controlled experiment to identify the real culprit!

Fully agreed

Deedlet if it is a long travel you can give her a mild dose of sedative such as Acepromazine, but this has to be prescribed by the vet.

 

[knowledge_of_self]

Deedlet if it is a long travel you can give her a mild dose of sedative such as Acepromazine, but this has to be prescribed by the vet.

Ok thanks, I'll look into it.

I actually might have an option to take the plane which would make the travel about 2-3 hours but I wasn't sure how well Luna would be able to handle the plane ride. The last time I took that root the turbulence was just awful, so I thought she might be able to handle a longer car ride better than air travel with so much turbulence. If I was to take the plane would I still need to give her a sedative?

Sorry to go off topic here

 

[mcb]

...I actually might have an option to take the plane which would make the travel about 2-3 hours but I wasn't sure how well Luna would be able to handle the plane ride. The last time I took that root the turbulence was just awful, so I thought she might be able to handle a longer car ride better than air travel with so much turbulence...

If you can take Luna with you in the cabin, that is one thing, but if you are going to hand her over to the airline and trust them to do the right thing, that can be quite another. My experience (from many years ago) is that they can readily come down with illnesses under such conditions. Our cats freak out over the garage door opener, let alone jet engine sounds.

I wonder how well cats deal with changing air pressure?

 

[Maat]

Even if there is no grains in it I would say avoid commercial cat food like a plague for various reasons.There is too much carbs in whiskas food, in my opinion cats are very sensitive to carbs and they are not meant to have any.

I just remember that my last cat always carefully let the veggies from this processed food in his plate. Except for carrots maybe, but as for peas or beans, they were always left.

One day I stumbled across a survey by Whiskas who asked the customers if they feel that it was important that there will be veggies in the food for their cats. So, no matter the reality or vet view, if the customer wrongly think some veggies will be good for his pet, they will put a lot of it in it's food.

Herr Eisenheim, if I may ask, do you know why cats seems to crave so much olive or olive oil. Does it have some drugs for cat in it ? I had two cats that went totally crazy with olive or olive oil and all of the cats I've had love them very much anyway if not to the point to become crazy.

 

[Z...]

Herr Eisenheim, if I may ask, do you know why cats seems to crave so much olive or olive oil. Does it have some drugs for cat in it ? I had two cats that went totally crazy with olive or olive oil and all of the cats I've had love them very much anyway if not to the point to become crazy.

No idea, in fact I never heard this before. I often prescribe it for mild constipation and I never had this kind of feedback.

 

[knowledge_of_self]

Herr Eisenheim, if I may ask, do you know why cats seems to crave so much olive or olive oil. Does it have some drugs for cat in it ? I had two cats that went totally crazy with olive or olive oil and all of the cats I've had love them very much anyway if not to the point to become crazy.

No idea, in fact I never heard this before. I often prescribe it for mild constipation and I never had this kind of feedback.

Luna absolutely hates olive oil! I have to put it on her paws so she licks it off and she hates it every time I do it. I have noticed that she hasn't thrown up much at all since I started doing it. Thanks to this thread! :D

 

[Alana]

And an update about Orangie: it took her about 3 days to switch to raw food, and she appears to be doing much better than before. No seizures at all, no vomiting, goes for brief walks outside more than she did before, eats twice a day (instead of 3) and she even gained some weight (she was fur and bones) :D So yes, the info here helped her very much, thank you Dr HE! (from Orangie too... )