Pet Remedies

greyfurball

I know I saw the Life With Pets discussion but I have a question which relates to one of my "dumped on my property pets". It is a health issue.

Even though this cat and its sister were a dumpee, to me they are one important part of my family now. But I am having health issues with one of them and in the last two years I have not been able to find a way to solve it.

All the vet suggestions I consider useless. I have asked around other places (rescues, humane society and just other cat owners and a solution has not either worked or just didn't fit the situation (in other words, get rid of the cat isn't an option). Everything I have tried myself just has not been a success either.

So may I start a discussion relating to our furry members of the family?

greyfurball

Sorry for this being posted twice.

We are having storms here and the computer is working a little screwy now. But it's been down all morning so this is a step up.

shllnzl

@greyfurball Pet remedies is worth its own thread. The other discussion has been mostly for our experiences with our pets.

I am curious to find out what your pet's health problem is.

merlin44

@greyfurball I'm always interested in pet remedies as I have quite a few and am interested in keeping them happy and well. So what's your cat's problem?

greyfurball

OK here it is... One of my cats has what I believe is a serious mental health issue. Here is a few details.

27 months ago I saw/heard some new meows in and around my property. Yes, the sounds were like the animal(s) were hurt. Eventually I found one (but I heard another somewhere close-by). Could not get close to either but it was a very dirty, mud-packed, long-haired package of skin and bones. To me the one I saw looked like a kitten scared to death of me.

Unbeknownst to me, it wasn't a kitten because both cats were pregnant. Within the next two weeks they both lost their litter. They weren't strong enough to help themselves nonetheless a litter also.

I at the time already had 7 cats on my property because of dumped/feral or wilds which moved in and stayed. So these two upped the count to nine.

Feeding stations, sleeping stations, litter boxes etc. are placed on my property (in garage, outbuildings etc) with dry food and water at all times so each could get food as needed.

Now the first one I saw (Rags) took about 2 months until she would get close to me. I talked to them constantly while I was outside. She then started following me around as I worked, watched everything and then at 7 weeks she came close enough to let me touch her. Her sister, the other one, I still only had seen a streak run by and hide.

It was just over 1 year before I got to actually see the other one (Torie) stand in one place and look at me as I talked to her. From the skin and bones streak I saw a year ago, she now looked like a 55 gallon drum on legs with a head and tail. She obviously was gorging herself on the dry food every day.

And now 2 years later she still gorges. It's as if her mind tells her "gotta eat...gotta eat. Don't know if the food will be there later".

I pity her so badly. She can hardly move she is so heavy. She can't jump up onto anything because she's dragging around so much extra weight.

Now it's obvious even to me if the dry food wasn't out there all the time she couldn't eat. But then I have 8 other cats which can't eat either. Once or twice a day feedings don't work with a large group of cats because they don't all come at the same time. Also, while I was trying to find a way to make that work, again I later found out if the food dish was empty Torie took off down the road to another place with barn cats and ate their food instead.

I have tried many things but the most extreme was I shut her in a room by herself and kept her there with a timed feeding schedule but she just gets frantic and destroyed most of my belongings in my bathroom (it's the only room in my house with an actual door).

I changed her to a wet food dish once a day and she won't eat the wet food. She licks up the gravy/broth but leaves all the food. Then she heads to the dry dish to finish her meal (except for the time she was living in the bathroom.)

I won't list all the normal stuff I've tried. I need to know the abnormal idea what I can do to help this poor kitty. Any ideas?

shllnzl

@greyfurball First I will give you a link to vet information about why a cat eats too much (feel free to ignore ads.)

https://iheartcats.com/sponsored-content/?prx_t=21YFAGxk9As6MQA&&ntv_fpc=c51ff5c2-2317-4c21-b357-06dd79306516&ntv_n

Now that is out of the way: my sister has the same problem with a cat she adopted as a sickly feral kitten that was living at a performing arts center. Her cat, named Godzilla, is huge and eats constantly. My sister also has other cats that inhibit setting up a special diet. Godzilla is so bad that she wants you to pet her while she is eating. Love = food?

Four years later I end up with a feral cat from the same performing arts center who also overeats. We think he is a brother to Godzilla; both cats are tuxedos and both want to eat continuously. My cat, Serenity for his zen personality, is not as fat as his sister, maybe because he has a tendency to vomit when he eats too much (lucky me.) Again, I have another cat, so free feeding is the better method.

I think that all these cats have a residual psychological problem from starving as a very young kitten, probably because their mama died. They are driven to eat while the food is available, like any other wild animal. (The feral I am feeding is thin. I have enough food available, yet he does not overeat. He probably had enough food as a kitten.)

Commercial cat food is loaded with carbs. I lost a normal weight cat to diabetes and expect that the two fat cats in my family will die young.

Serenity may also be eating slightly less because he is now an indoor cat and I give him love as often as I can. If she tolerates it and you have the room, maybe turning Torie into an indoor cat would help somewhat.

You have a good heart for helping all these animals and caring if they are unhealthy.

In the meantime, maybe you and/or I will develop cat psychologist skills? Seems like the world could use a few of that specialty.

Anybody have ideas?

merlin44

Bless your heart @greyfurball for caring for these precious kittens. I've have two experiences with feral cats with food obsessions and agree with @shllnzl that the problem is near starvation at some point in their lives.

My beloved Thunder, found as a kitten near death, loved eating so much he would actually fall asleep with his head in the food dish. He was a hefty boy though his weight never got completely out of hand. Sapphire, trapped as a adult, developed pneumonia past her spay surgery preventing release back into her territory. She took up residence in a corner of my bedroom with her food dish and litter box. Quite ill though still quite feral, I was able to give her necessary antibiotics and she recovered over a period of three weeks but during that time, she rarely moved and ate continually. She gained a fair amount of weight and her leg muscles weakened due to lack of activity. Not having any idea what to do, with welders gloves, I picked her up several times a days, took her to the other side of the house and her response when put down was to get back to her corner as quickly as she could. (Feline physical therapy LOL). A few weeks of this and she regained use full use of her legs. We bonded, she spent the rest of her life with us, never loss her love of food and was overweight till the end. She passed due to a stroke at 9 years, no doubt her weight contributed to the stroke but her life was one of contentment and my sweet girl never felt hunger again.

Is Torie inside or outside or both? If inside, is she alone or are there other cats indoors, is Rags inside with her? Has she bonded with you, allow you to touch her? Has she been spayed?

greyfurball

@shllnzl and @merlin44 yes I also have assumed the problem has always been the near starvation mode both cats were in when they were dumped here on my property. Torie just has some kind of mental block that she can't seem to get by and understand she is now safe and no longer has to worry.

As for the rest of your questions, all nine of the cats are inside the house at night. I will not leave my animals outside overnight. I live in an area where there is deer, bears, foxes, snakes and then all the normal nocturnal animals also so I won't let them stay out at night. With some it takes a while until they get with the program but eventually they come around.

As for spay/neuter they are all told when they first arrive. If they stay here I am going to trap them and they will go to the vet. The world is full of animals which have no home because of human indifference and we will not be adding more to that problem. So yes eventually they do get curious and end up in that TNR cage so I can get them taken care of.

As for indoors, yes I do have 3 of them which do stay indoors all the time. One has food allergies and was in very poor health until I figured out what was wrong with him. The other two were obvious brother and sister and indoor pets. Guess their people couldn't figure out why their girl was pregnant. Somehow they haven't heard incest isn't a problem in the animal world. So I got these two dumped on my property also about 6 years ago.

All the rest then are an inside/outside bunch. I have been working with Torie trying to get her to spend more time indoors and she has been slowly but she still does go out for a few hours in the morning and in the evening. After a couple of hours though she always comes back to get inside. And yes, I can now touch her, pet her and talk to her but she still does not accept being picked up. So I try to give her plenty of touch time when I walk by her. Or I play with her with some of those toys on a rope so she gets play time each day. I'm always talking to her as she wanders thru the house. If I do see her heading for a food dish I distract her so we can do something else.

Cat food on the market I know is mostly a bunch of junk food so all my animals do get top of the line food. I'm just as careful of their food quality as I am of my own. Sure it costs more but people seldom realize you pay more for it but the animal usually eats less because it gets satisfied much quicker and easier. Torie just hasn't figured out that part of the equation yet.

I guess I'm just going to have to give her some more time and hopefully she will learn to understand she is safe now. She no longer has to worry about the hard life she once had before. Considering everything I have tried and still do to work with her daily I guess good old TLC will have to be the determining factor in the long run.

greyfurball

@shllnzl I checked out your link and I have not found the right article yet which covers this subject but I have seen a bunch of other articles I would like to check out so thanks for the link.

shllnzl

@greyfurball Sounds like you are giving all those animals a wonderful life. You have more responsibilities than I do -- I know what it is costing you in money and time and also the love you are getting in return.

You are one of the people worth knowing.😇

Torey

There are quite a few books on homeopathic remedies for pets. When I looked up "Fear of Starvation" in my resources, there were 14 different remedies that came up with Bryonia and Sepia being the top two. That might be something to look into. If you looked at a description of both these remedies you might be able to decide which one might be suited to your cat. There are vets out there whose practice includes homeopathy so maybe you could find one who could give you a better remedy based on the particulars or this cat's behaviour and symptoms.

greyfurball

@torey now that is a solution I never thought of. I'm going to have to check into that.

You mention there is a few books available for homeopathy for pets. Do you know one which is good or better for at-home care by us owners? I happen to like homeopathy for myself since for me it seems to work better than conventional medications do. But I've never tried it for my pets so I will check into that and see what I can come up with. Thanks torey.

Torey

@greyfurball The Homeopathic Treatment of Small Animals: Principles and Practice by Christopher Day comes recommended by an animal owner friend. There is also one specific for cats by George MacLeod called Cats: Homeopathic Remedies.

merlin44

@greyfurball How lucky your cats are to have you and you to have them. Cats are their own creatures as you know, we are fortunate when they allow us into their world. After living and working with many felines, I think you're 100% correct, patience and love are the answer. Torie will eventually realize life is no longer uncertain. @torey 's idea of homeopathic remedies is ideal. I do use homeopathy with my cats. I find it so much easier to administer a few tiny pellets to a cat then trying to get a tincture in them and the results are excellent.

greyfurball

@shllnzl .@torey and @merlin44 thank you...thank you...thank you so much to each and every one of you. I have tried so hard to give this girl some peace in her life and just never could find a solution. You three have once again given me hope.

merlin44

@greyfurball I do hope you'll post updates on Torie's progress. Love is the most powerful healing force we, mere humans, can offer. And your affinity for felines is obvious, I look forward to hearing of Torie's continuing journey.