Archive for the ‘Cat Nutrition’ Category

Learning to Deal with Sympathy Pain – Part I

April 2nd, 2013

Wow, what a week it was!!  One of our cats, 9 yr old Tora, went in for dental cleaning last Monday – that’s what I was hoping to have done on that day – well, it turned out that he had a very painful condition called FORL (Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesion), and he needed to have four teeth extracted.  Now he doesn’t have many teeth left in his mouth.  He even lost his precious lower right canine.  All he has are a set of upper right teeth and a set of lower left teeth.  In other words, there are no matching teeth up and down to chew things.

"Are you kidding? I will tear this cone of shame as soon as I get home", and he almost did.

Unfortunately, Tora was still in so much pain and bleeding from his gums.  He couldn’t eat or drink for three days after the surgery!  I gave him homemade chicken soup everyday using a syringe.  There was something very wrong about his “un-recovery” process.  We brought him back to the vet office on Wednesday.  Apparently, the sutures were loose and the holes were exposed.  AHHHH!  The vet sewed them back again, but he didn’t give us any extra pain medications to bring home, with the reason being that Tora still has his pain medication in his system for a while.

A long story short, as of today, Tora is still not coming back as his usual “play-boy” self.  He is actually getting worse, in fact.  He retreats himself upstairs in our closet, in a dark and quiet corner to rest all day.  He doesn’t come downstairs to see Mikan anymore.  He wants to be alone.  He eats a quarter can of Wellness brand (softest texture I could find on the market) four times a day while struggling to keep it in his mouth.  He drools because his tongue movement is awkward.  However, I am thankful that he still has some appetite. It is so miserable to watch him suffer.

Jeffrey called the vet office first thing this Monday morning to request the pain meds for Tora.  We got them now, and I am little bit relieved to know that Tora is not in a huge pain anymore.  However, something is still bothering him.  According to the vet, he should be back to normal “self” by now.  Well, individual cats experience everything differently.  Cats ARE individuals!!

"I want my brother back. Do you know where he is?"

OK, by now, you can clearly hear my frustrations, anxiety, and fear.  I am slowly learning how to deal with Tora’s pain.  What I mean by that is, I feel like I am in pain too!  I am literally his Mom as far as I’m concerned.  I feel like I gave birth to him.  Unless I let go of my worries and negative feelings, it occupies me 24/7.  That’s not healthy, is it?

I am using flower essence for myself to calm down and worry less.  I made a combination bottle of Walnut (protection from outside influence), Larch (boost self-confidence), and Red Chestnut (relieve specific fear to others – loved ones).  I am totally overdosing flower essences, but there are no worries – it is just flower water after all, and it is OK to overdose.  The most important thing is that it is working subtly but surely.  I also sit quietly near Tora and think of and visualize lots of fun activities that we do together.  Strangely, Tora sometimes starts purring, and I feel much better after that.  Of course, grabbing my favorite drink – a cup of green tea latte at Starbucks also helps.

Do you know any other methods to heal our cat-mom sympathy emotional pain without drugs and alcohol, please share with me!  I will be grateful.

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Tora’s New Sister

November 21st, 2012

Oh my goodness!  I don’t know how many times had I dreamed about this day – the day that Mikan can get out of her quarantine suite (master bathroom and closet combined for luxury) and she can explore  everywhere in the house (she might think our house is a huge castle!).  Finally, she can live with all of us – yes, ringworm is OVER.  The most exciting thing was to observe the re-introduction of Mikan and Tora again after 11 weeks!   Both cats briefly met in late August before Mikan started to show various sickly symptoms.  I was little anxious and nervous about this process this time.  I was just crossing my fingers hoping everything would go well.

"We are finally together!"

As soon as the door opened, Mikan dashed out of her “cell”, and there was her long-awaiting brother, Tora, with open paws (OK, I am imagining things).  In reality, Tora was sitting there to greet her with his extended neck.  Then, he started licking the top of Mikan’s head right away!  Mikan was so excited to see something new, so she couldn’t sit still for Tora.  She took off to other new areas of the house to explore.  Tora chased her everywhere.  They were both hyper-active as if they couldn’t contain their emotions of excitement and joy!

Today, on the fourth day of Mikan’s integration to the family, I am so thankful that Mikan is doing extremely well.  She looks as happy as a clam, jumping and galloping everywhere.  She already has a set of permanent canines, too.  It was wild to see her baby teeth canines and permanent canines existed side by side for about two weeks.  We will surely continue feeding her high quality homemade raw meat with right supplements for her.  I’ve learned that Omega 3 (Salmon oil) and turmeric have been a big help for her skin condition in addition to our daily supplements.

"Yep, we play!!"

Since Mimi passed in late June, Tora has been mellower than before.  He adapted himself to be an only cat in the house, acting like a human rather than a cat, in my opinion.  However, Mikan brought him back to his natural state – being a cat again!  He runs so fast that my eyes cannot follow his movement.  He has distinct moments of being active and being relaxed.  In his relationship with Mimi, he was instigator and Mimi had to hiss at him in order to let him know “enough is enough”.  Now, Tora hisses  to Mikan to let her know “too much is too much”.

All is well.  My husband and I felt big relief this week.  We sat in our backyard with our favorite Green Tea Latte from Starbucks this afternoon, and took this happiness ALL IN.  Welcome, little sister to your home and family!  Life is sweet.

"Do I look beautiful now?"

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White Teeth: Give Me Smile Kitties!

April 19th, 2012

"Gosh, here it comes...."

It has been a year since I started brushing my cats’ teeth.  Yep, I do it every night.  Both cats don’t like it, but they learned to tolerate it in order to please me (I wish).  In fact, I bribe them.  They know that I give them three to five bits of crunchy-bad-for-you treats before the brushing.

As you might have already known, I feed them raw meat mix as their regular food twice a day.  According to my animal communicator, Tora missed the crunchies so much that all he talked to her about food was “give me crunchies” (the kibbles I fed for his first four years of his life).  I gave in a little after that conversation.  Oh well, I give myself a bag of potato chips as a treat, so why not to my beloved cats?  It is only fair to Tora.

I use a human-baby tooth brush for the cats’ teeth.  The bristles are softer than the toothbrush made for cats.  Instead of toothpaste, I use a few drops of much diluted colloidal silver which has antibacterial quality in it.  I used to add Peelu natural dental fibers (powder) to the colloidal silver, but it was too much to deal with for me and the cats.

"Mom! Gentle, please!!"

The great news is that Tora didn’t need to have any teeth extractions last year at all.  He had eight teeth already taken out in recent years, and I didn’t want him to go through it again if it can be avoided.  The vet told me that Tora seems to have genetically weak teeth and gums.  He had a regular teeth cleaning only at the vet, and Mimi didn’t even need the cleaning!  I saved a lot of money as a result of brushing.

I plan to celebrate this memorable, one year anniversary tonight…by taking one day off from the routine – NOT brushing their teeth, and not feeling guilty about it!!  I’m sure Tora and Mimi don’t mind giving me a night off from it, and they may even be smiling behind my back…

"Yikes, brother! I gotta run!!"

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Finally, A Hairball Solution!

April 6th, 2012

Mimi: "I'm so pretty!"

As your cat might have shown you a tube of hairball right in front of you in the kitchen floor, hairball season is here.  Some cats have no problem with hairballs – they just eliminate hairballs with their poops, but other cats suffer from their fur “clogged” in their system.

My cat, Tora didn’t have hairball issues at all until Mimi joined our family.  This might sound ridiculous to some of you, but Tora takes his appearance seriously.  He likes to be pretty and clean.  He wants his sister to be the same.  That’s where the problem starts.  Tora loves grooming Mimi who has much (much) finer hair than his own.  Mimi’s hair doesn’t pass through his system, and actually, completely clogs his digestive system.  It became worse this year – the food doesn’t get through at all once the hairball has been collected in his digestive system.  He has to throw up all the food he just ate.

I have given him both petroleum-based hairball remover (yuk!), and non-petroleum-based Vet’s Best Hairball Relief (that Tora doesn’t want to eat).  It was time to research something better than the two.  I found an answer in one of the feline holistic forum groups that I belong to.  I have tried this with Tora, and after about four weeks now, he hasn’t coughed up single hairball yet!!  It works!  Do you want to know what I used?

Pumpkin, Lecithin, and Ghee

1)    Canned organic pureed pumpkin (NOT the pie fillings) – 1/4 teaspoon mixed in to cat’s wet food or raw food.  It is a good quality fiber.

2)    Lecithin capsule (Nature’s Plus 600mg caps – not soy based) – 1/3 of a capsule mixed in to cat’s wet food or raw food.  It helps “emulsify” a hairball for better digestion.

3)    Ghee (clarified butter) – 1/8 teaspoon to up to 1/4 teaspoon per day per cat.  I give ghee as is, putting on their crunchy treats, or mixed in their food.  It really fatten up your cats, so be watchful for the amount.  Regular unsalted butter will do the same, but it contains lactose.  So, for the cats that are intolerant of lactose, it is better to use ghee.  I use ghee on my morning toast every morning though I don’t have hairball issues myself!  Yum.

If you’re looking for a natural hairball solution, here it is.  It worked with my kitty!  Oh, by the way, most importantly, please remember to brush your cat every day!!  Meooow.

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Start the New Year with a Healthy Diet for Your Cats – Where Did I Start?

January 3rd, 2012

Once "obese" kitty, Mimi - now she is slim and athletic - the hunter of the house!

What is the “healthy diet” for cats? I had never asked this question to myself until my own cats started suffering from obesity and a food allergy. I blindly assumed that the animal staff at the shelter knew what she was talking about eight years ago when I got my first cat, Tora in Portland, OR. She said to me, “Yep, you can just feed the cat dry food of his choice”. I wish I knew better then. I could have started the healthy diet much earlier than three years of age.(Read my personal story here.)

What do cats eat in the wild nature? That was the first thing came up to my mind. I researched feline diet on-line and through books, and found out that cats are hunters, that raw meat is their natural diet that the Mother Nature created for cats. I later found out that dry food for cats was originally designed and manufactured following the “dog dry food” model. Dogs were domesticated earlier than cats, so the commercial food was created for convenient feeding for dog owners much earlier than for cats. The big difference and mistake here is dogs are omnivores, and cats are carnivores!

After transitioning my cats to raw food, and witnessed amazing shifts in their energy level, health, and their figures (slender and pretty coat!), I was a convert to raw meat feeding for cats. I’ve met with many cat owners who are curious about raw food for their cats. For the starters, I recommend start your cats with some canned food.  For finicky eaters, you might want to transition from dry to wet (canned) slowly over several weeks.

Free-endless feeding dry food is the worst thing you can do for your cats because they can eat as much as they want. You would think that your cat can “regulate” the amount they eat, and some cats do pretty well. Often though, cats eat food out of boredom and depression from their boring indoor life style. It is natural and healthy to feel hunger. If you haven’t done so, please measure appropriate amount of dry food for your cat’s body weight per day, and feed them in two meals (or whatever works with your schedule) and don’t give them more than that per day. Treats? No, unless you give less dry food on that day to compensate calories from the treats. Generally speaking, the crunchy treats contain too much carbohydrate that cats don’t need nutritionally.

In following weeks, I will talk about the benefits of good quality canned food and raw food, and how I feed my cats with raw food.  Stay tuned…

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Second Week in Sedona – Home Is Where the Heart Is!

December 21st, 2010

Tora and Mimi seemed much more relaxed in week two.  Tora and Mimi each found their favorite blanket on their favorite sofas, and they kept those locations every day for their morning and afternoon naps.  We found them sleeping on the exact spots when we returned from a day trip in the late afternoon.  They sometimes swapped their spots for variety. Read the rest of this entry »

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