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old cat question

omshantiomshanti Raw Newbie

Poor old Baily is pushing 19, we switched her last year to natural balance commercial feed which greatly improved her digestion, teeth and over all health but lately she has lost wieght seems hungry all the time, sleeps very little and is pulling out lots of hair….from what i understand she has what 95 percent of all old cats have a thyroid condition. id like to not put her on a standard thyroid treatment from a vet if i can help it. the medication is almost pure iodine…does anyone know if feeding her spirulina would contain enough iodine to make a diff? other ideas?

Comments

  • Omshanti, you may want to look into essential oils. The website is www.youngliving.com.I think at your cat’s advanced age, thyroid meds are not the way to go. I, too have a problem with our fairly young cat (7). He has been diagnosed with ear polyps. The surgery for removal is horrendous, and we are trying to find alternatives. My experience with invasive surgery on cats has not been good, and generally terrible for the cat. I’m looking into essential oils as well, but would love to know if anyone else has a suggestion.

  • ZaZa Raw Newbie

    You’ve heard about the benefits of raw food, I’m guessing, since you’re here….
    Feed your cat her natural diet!! Ie. Raw meat, poultry, fish, and a little patch of wheatgrass she can chew on when she feels like it! Anything that she is not biologically designed to consume (spirulina? essential oils?) will just throw her system further out of balance.

  • LovefoodLaughter, I agree with you about raw foods, however, essential oils are very powerful tools for healing. Obviously, it’s important to find a holistic vet who has experience with them (as I am planning to do), but in the case of ear polyps (a persistent growth in the inner ear), I need to seek out more intensive measures short of surgery.

  • DelphineDelphine Raw Newbie

    Good morning OmShanti & everybody else : )

    From the symptoms you shared, it sounds like your cat has a hyper thyroid condition. If your Vet. medication is only pure iodine then it might be okay. I would like to suggest you to speak more with your Vet. about this medication & find out the name then make plenty of researches on line as far as the ingredients, side effects … before deciding.

    On the Holistic Medicine side, Kelp is the most potent seaweed for addressing thyroid conditions. It’s iodine content balances the thyroid whenever it is hyper or hypo. It is safe for animals, they love it because it smells fishy and it can be sprinkle on her food.
    Additionally, you might want to consider transitioning her very slowly to living food/raw food as it could also be helpful. Simply add 1 tsp of raw food to her regular food each day or every other day until she eats 100% raw. Here is a book you might want to read for further information on the raw food subject for pets:
    “Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats The Ultimate Pet Diet” by Kymythy R. Schultze. I list other links on my website (see links page: www.EmotionalSerenity.com)
    Personally, under the guidances of our Holistic Vet. (he refers this book too), I have always made my own organic raw food so for all our animals over the years which has been keeping them thriving, healthy & happy. Even though, I eat 100% vegan living food, I have always been preparing their food with only love for them in my heart, gratitude for each ingredient & respect for our various needs. I must say that our present young dog eats way more vegies & fruits than the books indicates because she loves every single raw food I make for us : ). May this info. be helpful to you. I am a Conscious Living Coach & a Holistic Practitioner for Pets. For more info., I invite you to check my goneraw’s bio & my website: www.EmotionalSerenity.com
    Wishing you the very best.

  • Omshanti, I too had a cat with thyroid problems. He developed them around the age of 12. We did give him the thyroid medicine and he lasted until he was 19. The medicine might not be the perfect answer, but if you can’t find a holistic one, you might reconsider it. As far as a holistic solution, I wish I had one for you. We researched some things back then and couldn’t find anything that seemed like it would work – but this was years ago and there’s so much more information available now. Good luck!

    Mon46, a few years ago my cat (not the thyroid one) was diagnosed with ear polyps and the vet said we had to do surgery. For some reason I was uncomfortable with it. I kept putting it off and finally, a few weeks later, I decided to go to another vet. The other vet said that there was absolutely no evidence of ear polyps and it might have just been ear wax. EAR WAX? I nearly put my cat through surgery for ear wax! Try out another vet – a holistic one would be great. I wish I knew of one near me!

  • Thanks, Madness. I just spoke with a holistic vet and will be going for a second opinion soon. I’m actually kind of shocked how fast vets are willing to subject an animal to such invasive procedures. Is it only $$ that concerns them? I find it a little obscene.

  • BluedolfinBluedolfin Raw Newbie

    Hi Mon46~ Contact me. I have a suggestion for you… :-)

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    Hi Omshanti,

    My friend Rosie has an OAP (Old Age Pensioner) cat who is about 17 too. The poor love doesn’t have many teeth either and dribbles alot, Anyway, Rosie put her on to 100% raw food about 2 years ago and she says a lot of the things that used to worry her about Molly the Cat have gone away with her being raw.

    Before she went properly raw, Rosie tried giving her bits and pieces of raw meat but was Rosie was scared that she wasn’t eating enough, and not sure about the whole raw cat thing, and ended up giving her more dry food and canned meat than raw meat. So one night when they were all sitting in the kitchen having a chat and a cup of tea, Molly came in through the back door with a dead mouse in her mouth, and in front of the whole family, she put it carefully in her dinner bowl and sauntered off. Enough Said! Molly has been 100% raw ever since!

    Rosie has to smash up the bones and cut everything up really well for her but she is like a different cat.

  • Bluedolfin, how do I contact you? I went to your website, but couldn’t find a contact. Feel free to write to me at mlowy@prodigy.net. Thanks so much!

  • oh wow, thank you for bringing this up. I too have a cat that is pulling out her hair and is hungry all the time. I think she has a bit of an OCD as she is a little nuerotic—needs constant attention, licks/cleans all the time, LOVES to eat, etc. Lately though I’ve noticed her face is a little more gaunt and her big eyes seem even larger. She is overweight though so I don’t think that she has hyper thyroid issues. do you think kelp would still be helpful?

  • DelphineDelphine Raw Newbie

    Hi hkittykitty,
    Yes, Kelp balances the thyroid whenever it is hyper or hypo.
    May this be helpful : )
    Wishing you the very best.

  • If your cat suddenly starts to loose weight and is hungry all the time, it could be diabetes. I had a cat that suffered from that.

  • Hi, my suggestion isn’t raw or holistic, but when my cat went severely hyerthyroid almost 6 years ago and reacted horribly to the medication we took him to Radiocat. Very expensive, however, one shot of radioactive iodine and he was cured. He’s never had another thyroid issue since. We felt it was worth it and are so grateful to still have him with us.

    I’m only throwing this out there so that you have all the info and can make the decision that’s fits best for you and your kitty. If you decide to have your kitty go raw and this resolves her issues I’d love to hear about it.

    My cat has very early signs of kidney degeneration and the current treatment is a very low protein diet. I’m afraid feeding him raw meat will kill him! If anyone knows different – fill me in!

  • Rawfaerie—what a beautiful kitty you have!

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    hi rawfaerie,
    Just wondering if you had tried a holistic vet re-your cat’s kidney problem? I think there is an organisation of holistic vets in the USA, they would be able to advise you on feeding him raw.

    This book: http://www.cygnus-books.co.uk/mind_body_spirit_…
    is amazing you’d probably love it, any animal lover would, it is by a vet who went down the holistic route and her story of curing thousands of animals the natural way. It has got resources in it that might help you out.

  • omshantiomshanti Raw Newbie

    HI guys, wow! thanks for all the suggestions, im definitely going to look up that book Delphine, meanwhile we did speak more to our vet and he was great about going along with a holistic suppliment we found for her. If it doesnt work we shall try the standard meds. I have considered the raw diet for her but dont think im up to pounding chicken bones to mush for her toothless self….As for my other critters, im a big believer in if it “aint broke dont fix it.” During the pet food scare, even though natural balance had very limited recalls i almost went raw with my pets but all four dogs are thriviing on the stuff and do get lots of raw supplimentation(off our plates) thanks for all the good help here, you guys are great!

  • Omshanti, my cat is on all raw food but I buy little frozen patties for her! They are made by Nature’s Variety. I don’t have to deal with any of the meat at all. I take a few of the patties out of the freezer at night and put them in a covered bowl on the counter. In the morning, I take the cover off the bowl and put it on the ground. Viola, no real need to “deal” with the raw meat! And they have bigger medalions for dogs and also raw frozen joints and such for treats.

    But I also understand if you don’t even want to deal with that. It took me quite awhile to get used to it.

  • DelphineDelphine Raw Newbie

    Hi Omshanti,

    Excellent news ! (re: your vet. supporting your choice)
    & if it does work could try the regular med.)

    As for the bone & meat grinding, with a smile of deep understanding, I would like to say that my butcher handle this part for me : ). Then I do the mixing with the vegies …

    As Madness mentioned, there are also already prepared options, if you are interested I invite you to go to the link page of my website, I list severals there. Also like madness, I am not affiliated with any of them, I just enjoy recommending what I have found being the best of the best & my standards are high : ).

    It is obvious to me that you take a very good care of your critters, the fact that Baily is 19 is one many the living proof : )

    You have my support.
    Wishing you the very best.

  • omshantiomshanti Raw Newbie

    Delphine and madness…you guys are great! im going to check into the prepared options…it would be a neat path to journey down with my critters!

    Delphine, i went to your web site and read about the horse you helped…I have a horse with some known issues that we are addressing through holistic means but id like to hear from him… Ill have to sign up for a reading! thanks…

  • DelphineDelphine Raw Newbie

    You are welcome ! : )

    As far as your beloved horse, email me directly (see contact page on my website) when you will be ready to make an appointment.

    Wishing you the very best.

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