nutrition

[MacKenzie, Kerry N.]

Title: Message

Hi again Teri

Wanted to send you this today, in case I don't make it to work tomorrow (lots of snow forecast here in Chicago--can't bear to think of all those homeless cats caught in it.)

Following is an email with nutrition info that I've sent a few new members already--so apologies if a strange name appears in the text! Some of it deals with coping with upper respiratory infections, which all of mine, and several other members cats, were suffering when found. Sounds like Bossy has escaped that, which is great!

>>>You have come to the right place for info----I found this wonderful group earlier in the year when I discovered that 4 of the homeless 6 cats I took in were FeLV. You will get lots of great feedback from other members re your Qs on vaccines, anemia and blood level etc (which I'm not qualified to answer), but I can offer some advice re nutrition.

I had to go on a crash course, so to speak, in dealing with FeLV cats and I found that their diet (not surprisingly) is SO important. I've sent out details of what I've been doing to various new members (ie members even newer than me!)---please see copy below--I hope it helps a little.

Don't be intimidated by what follows, Teri----just do what you can! (See the 'Note' at the end.)

When the kitties arrived with me from the rescuer, and before I knew they had FeLV, those poor cats were coughing, sneezing and wheezing and covered in gunk.

Today--notwithstanding the Felv---they look and sound fabulous and their coats and little faces are squeaky-clean and shiny. I sadly lost one of them, Caramel (at Thanksgiving) to the FeLV, but the others are still enjoying good quality of life.

What did they do to achieve this? Well, first they went on 2 courses of antibiotics consecutively (as the first alone didn't do the trick).

(They're feral, so I couldn't catch or hold them, so I had to have compound antibiotics made up by a pharmacy that specializes in that, and then watch over them to make sure each ate one, and only one, twice a day for 7-10 days. [You won't have that problem, Teri!]

Simultaneously, they began drinking only filtered water, and eating only high grade/human grade pet food NOT Iams or Science diet-type, which has nasty by-products, and which I now know, by no means represents the gold standard in pet food but the much higher quality brands without by-products, additives or preservatives, eg Wellness, that you only find in the independent pet stores-- I didn't even know these high grade foods existed until someone told me. I give them Petguard wet food (actually from Wholefoods) and Wellness dry food (from independent pet store) morning and evening. I grind up a 500mg L-Lysin pill (easily available from pharmacies/healthfood stores) twice a day into each kitty bowl of wet food, to boost their immune system (this was actually recommended by my vet, as well as everyone else with FeLV knowledge) and add 1/4 tsp feline enzymes twice a day to each dish. I also---once I got over the intimidation of seeing unfamiliar product names!--bought the 5 items in the 'Vita-Mineral Mix' recipe, recommended by Anitra Frazier in her fantastic book, which became my most precious reference, The Natural Cat Book (recommended to me by a shelter counsellor when I discovered the cats were FeLV): wheatbran, lecithin, yeast, bonemeal and kelp. You just mix it all together and give them 1 tsp each twice a day. [Teri: I'll send you the recipe separately--it's very very easy, you just mix all the ingredients together in bulk and store in refrigerator]

I also (gradually, as I found them) put them on most of the remainder of the supplements Frazier recommends: CoQ10, feline enzymes, bioplasma, olive oil, cod liver oil and alfalfa. And I give them interferon. Got it thru Walgreen's (eventually) on my vet's prescription, and he made it up for me.

Within a matter of a few weeks the infections had completely cleared up.

Note: Trying to assemble all the supplements can be a bit daunting at first, but the high grade pet food, filtered water and L-Lysin is a good start. Vit C too---I stopped it as one of mine was prone to severe diarrhea, but recently started it again.<<<

Good luck Teri! Big hugs for Bossy! Kerry

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 2:14 PM
To: felv
Subject: New here

Hi I rescued a male cat about 2 weeks ago. He was going to freeze to death if someone didn't take him in, and my husband and I couldn't just leave him to die.He was so cold he was climbing into my SUV while it was running. We were leaving a Christmas party the week before Christmas, drove from house to house looking for his owner. No one claimed him. So he is MINE.

 I sort of had some suspicion or intuition there was a problem with him.  He had diarrhea pretty bad... found out when he wouldn't use his new litter box....oh yes we stopped at the store on the way home to get all the goodies Kitty would love to have. I still felt something wasn't right so we separated him from our other rescue who is a full ferrel and will not share his home with no one but my hubby and I. He will run people out of HIS house. So our New Kitty took up residence in our office which is another building on our property. Our vet wasn't in until Monday.

 

Monday had the first appt. open. Still didn't feel right about his health. It was all confirmed when vet came back holding the test they do in the office. FeLV+.  As usual she waited for this huge reaction to this info.....what did she even think. There was no way unless he was so far gone there was nothing else to do.

 

We did a round of antibiotics, something for the diarrhea, meds for worms, and interferon 1ml every other day.

 

So far he seems to be a healthy luv bug.  Tips suggestions anything I would like to hear from anyone who has had some experience with this.

 

Thanks for listening.

Teri

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