Michael
You and your kitties are very fortunate to have found this list, so
consider that a very good omen.
We are all using a variety of supplements, and you will get many
different recommendations,
the trick is to get the ones that you can get them to eat.
l-lycine is tasteless. You should be able to sprinkle a half capsule
(500mg) on their dry
food. I try to blend it in very well, and my ultra finicky cat has
not detected it. If she
sees me sprinkle anything on her food she will not touch it, so I
prepare everything under cover.
My vet recommended an immune booster called Maitake-DMG. It is a
liquid and we give it to
her in a dropper 2x each day.
My vet (who practices both allopathic and homeopathic medicine)
recommended a pro-biotic
called FortiFlora as an immune booster. My cat is a Fancy Feast
addict and she
eats the FortiFlora with relish. It is a powder and I mix it in her
wet food.
I have discovered that it is very difficult to introduce quality
foods to a junk food addict. You
have to do it slowly and little bits at a time. I have concentrated
on making sure that she gets
the supplements, as I am still working on weaning her from junk. She
was addicted to FF when
we got her.
There are people here with great experience. You will get good advice
and then determine what
works for your guys.
I can imagine how shell shocked you must be. I can identify
completely. Remember the good news
is that they are not symptomatic.
Jane
On Aug 22, 2007, at 9:53 PM, Kelley Saveika wrote:
Hi Michael,
I don't know the food stores in Tennessee. I buy my good food at a
local pet store. Petco, Petsmart, etc do not carry it.
You can get any food from www.petfooddirect.com
Yes, please do not blame yourself. I know we do that - I was blaming
myself yesterday when I had to have a kitty PTS that had aggressive,
incurable, untreatable cancer of the mouth. You did not cause this,
you can't cure it (you can help the kitty's immune system and keep
them in the best possible shape to cure it themselves, but you can't
*cure* it, and you can't control it.
You really, really need a vet who is a partner. I am fortunate to
have one who never tells me to PTS too early or too late. There are
some bad vets out there but fortunately there are some very good ones.
I had a kitten who tested light pos last year. The first thing my vet
told me was to wait 6 months, then retest. That is standard and
anyone who is not telling you that is suspect.
(There is hope, my girl tested neg on the retest, so did the rest of
the litter).
I think it is fine for kitties to have a treat, just like people.:)
On 8/22/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Thanks for the info. I'll definitely look into better foods. Do
you all
think its ok to mix in their morning and nightly Fancy Feast Elegant
Medleys? There are three of them, and they share a can each
morning and
each night, so they average only 1/3 of a can at a time, but its
something
they have come to expect. I guess I'm wondering if there's
something wrong
with giving that to them. They've been on the Purina Naturals dry
food, but
I'm going to switch over to something with no grains and high
proteins. I'm
going to look for the Innova Evo, but I don't recall ever seeing
it. I'll
be sure to look for something with no grains tomorrow.
As for the nutritional supplement recommendation, I've already
gotten Lysine
and Echinacea, but haven't been able to get them to eat it yet.
I'm hoping
they will when they're feeling better. They did eat tonight, so
that makes
me feel better now that I've seen them eating. As for the
supplements, are
those the only two recommended, or is there something else? And
do you guys
mix that in the dry food, or in their wet food? Luckily, we
rarely ever
have guests, and rarely leave for more than a couple of days at a
time (and
my sister is here with them when we leave, with whom they are very
familiar,
she has been living here on and off).
They did not vaccinate the cat they knew had tested positive, but
vaccinated
Poppy because they ran out of ELISA tests and had to send in an
IFA test
with her along with Grizzabella's. I'm not comfortable with this
vet office
treating them, so that's why I'm going in the morning to get them
to refer
them to University of Tennessee School of Veterinary Medicine. I
looked up
the hospital tonight, quite impressive...they have 10 exam rooms,
7000
dogs/cats a year, an intensive care unit, specialists in every
field you can
imagine, it looks very promising: http://www.vet.utk.edu/ The
vet's office
bothered me because they didn't even recommend an IFA test to
verify her
positive ELISA test. They just said she had it, period. That
didn't sit
well with me.
I feel very personally responsible for them getting sick and I'm
taking this
very hard. But all I can do now is make sure they have the
absolute best
care possible.
Ok, to summarize, here's what I need input on from you guys:
1. Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys...1/3 of a can morning and
night...is this
ok?
2. Dry food...brand recommendations....
3. Supplements...any recommendations other than lysine and
echinacea, and do
you put it in wet or dry food?
4. Treatment options? Do you use the ImmunoRegulin Or Interferon
Alpha in
healthy cats, or is that treatment options you use when they're
symptomatic?
Thanks for all the support to everyone and all the emails I've
received. It
really helps me to feel like I have some sense of control over the
situation, and I'm not just completely helpless.
Michael
________________________________
Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.
--
Rescuties - Saving the world, one cat at a time.
http://www.rescuties.org
Vist the Rescuties store and save a kitty life!
http://astore.amazon.com/rescuties-20
Please help Caroline!
http://rescuties.chipin.com/caroline
I GoodSearch for Rescuties.
Raise money for your favorite charity or school just by searching the
Internet with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo!
