Sweet Raggedy Ann



Good-bye, my Love.  (21 Aug 2008- 27 May 2011)

Dr. Becker Article

Here is an excellent article with tips on how to create healthy, raw, species appropriate food for your pets.   You might have to sign up in order to read the article. 

I recently found a place where I could buy the needed supplements to add to my kitties' raw food diet.  The prices are lower at iHerbs and I get free shipping if my order is $40 or more.  All from the comfort of home.  What a bargain!

Thinking About the Upcoming Flea Season

A recent article posted on Dave's Garden got me to thinking about fleas again.  As much as I raved about Comfortis,  I became concerned that when I mentioned it to my holistic vet he expressed misgivings about its use for cats.  Of course it had never been labeled for cats and they had never used it this way.  Even now, as I go back and look at the Comfortis websites, it still has not changed its label to include cats, even though the traditional vet who prescribed it for us supposedly had confirmed it with the manufacturer as approved. 

The article on the Dave's Garden website includes a chart of all types of treatments, their success rate and toxicity level.  I will have to have another talk with the holistic vet about the Comfortis again.

All is Well

It has been awhile since my last post.  The good news is that in all this time there have been no health issues whatsoever!  Perhaps the mayhem of their early little lives is now in the past for good.  

Actually, I take that back... the new addition, Fluffernutter (the stray tom from the back porch), went through a thing last fall.  He became sickly and lethargic, lost his appetite, lost some weight... we soon took him into the holistic vet, when we knew that something was still not right in spite of what the traditional vet had said.   Blood test showed that he was negative for leukemia and neither positive nor negative for FIV.  A test also showed that he had toxoplasmosis.

The local traditional vet whom we had taken him to before, did not do any blood tests!   As sick as he seemed to be, I had to bite the bullet and accept the antibiotics. The standard B12 shot was administered also, which has never bothered me, of course.   And for the FIV, the vets recommended another more exact blood test be run.  This one would have to be sent out to another lab.

Fluffernutter made a fast and marked improvement.  As soon as we felt he was well enough, in he went to be neutered!  Somehow we managed to fall in love with this beautiful, vagrant lug!  After surgery, of course he had to recuperate in the shelter of the house where it was nice and warm... Unbelievably, this outsider proved to be so easy going, that our crew of kitties has had no problem with his joining the club!   UGH!  I can't believe we have six cats in the house!  Six wonderful, loving, precious kitties.  

So no health problems for now.  It's smooooth sailing, hopefully for a very long time.   As for the other FIV test, it came back as one X; two being positive.  We were told by the vet that she had never seen this result before and recommened another test in a few months.   We sure do love this boy!  I think we might be seriously broken hearted if he develops FIV.

Fleas: One Week Later

I wanted to give a follow-up report on the kitties.  It has been just over a week since we gave them the Comfortis for the flea infestation.  The kitties have not had any adverse effects to the Comfortis whatsoever.  Of course, I cannot speak to long term, but they have responded beautifully to the treatment thus far.  We have our babies back!  It had gotten so that all they did was lay around all day and did not want to be bothered...of course they loved being combed.  They came to recognize that this meant a certain amount of relief, I think. 

We still have the remnants of the early stages in the house: whatever eggs had been dropped, the nymphs, the pupa and then the tiny adult fleas.   But when these bite the cats, they will soon die.  They will never have the chance to lay eggs.  The population will dwindle out eventually. 

We began to notice an almost immediate difference in the house last week.  I still have to vacuum frequently to suck up whatever has hatched and I also must wash the sheets every few days.  I can tell that it's time when we begin to feel the creepie crawlies while we are trying to sleep. 

I have vacuumed up the diatomaceous earth in most of the house.  It remains only in one room that does not get used.  I have never had to put down any pesticide powders or have the house bombed/fumigated or anything else!  The kitties are now taking care of the problem themselves and they don't even know it!

The Fleas

We have been battling the fleas for a couple of weeks now.   This is the first time in my world of Kitties that I have ever had such a problem.  My previous cats which I brought home while living in Alaska never in their entire lives had one flea!  They lived from 1985 until 1994 in Alaska and from then on in Illinois for the rest of their lives.  Angela and Sabrina were mainly indoor cats.  I only ever let them outdoors while I was with them in the backyard.  Perhaps they were just lucky never to have met a flea in those times outside. 

The kitties we have now have been in our lives almost two years.  Last year there was a very small occurance of a flea or two, but never became a real problem....  This year is a different story!  Our kitties and our house has become infested.  Oh, I looked into all the remedies that I could find...did my homework and for all that I believe is right, none of what I found seemed like a healthy choice.  Too many reasons to go into here, but I did not feel secure with any of the spot-on treatments, pesticide powders, flea collars, etc.  I did resort to a Hartz flea collar early on, but found these to be absolutely worthless.  I use an herbal flea shampoo on one of the cats who seemed to need the most urgent help.  After all the emotional turmoil that I put him through with a bath, he was better for about one day. 

I spent the last two weeks vacuuming daily and I have sprinkled the carpets and linoleum floors with diatomaceous earth.  This did help cut down the problem immensely, but it did not go away.  I had also been combing all of the cats throughout the day, every day with a flea comb and quickly swishing the fleas into a jar of water with some drops of shampoo to make the fleas sink and drown.  I also dusted the kitties with the diatomaceous earth.  I finally thought we were making progress when I woke up yesterday to comb the fleas from the kitties and only found a few on a couple of them.

Coincidentally, we needed to take the stray tom from outside to the vet for a small problem.  Turns out he was fine and needed no treatment.  We did get him his rabies vaccine since we had him there and happened to mention the flea problem to the vet.  He told us that the problem is huge this year.  Due to the humid conditions, many pet owners are suffering with the same problem more this year than usual.  He told us about Comfortis and the success he has found using it versus any spot-on treatment.  Comfortis is a beef flavored chewable tab that is labeled for use for dogs. But, he said that he has used it for cats and has had no reported problems.   We did not buy any at that time, but I went home and did a little research on the product.  I am too particular using anything that might have long term health consequences for our pets! 

What I found was great news!  Comfortis is actually spinosad.  I knew that I had heard of this before...as it turns out, spinosad is a naturally occuring bacterium found in the soil.  (Or was at one time-- read the link).  It is approved for and used in organic farming and gardening for pest control. 

The possible side effects were minimal: upset stomach or vomiting if fed on an empty stomach.  Simple enough to prevent.  I have one (Minnie Mao) that has a very sensitive stomach and can even be upset by probiotics.  There are other possible side effects, but found that these might only appear if used in conjunction with other certain drugs (Ivermectin) in the animal.  See Veterinary Partner website. 

I decided to call the vet and get the kitties on Comfortis.  I did not do this without a great deal of concern for what I might be doing to them (the unknown), but we were at our wits end, and frankly, I was physically tired. 

Weight was not an issue.  The vet only prescribes the lowest dosage for cats...all six were to receive the same dose.   When I returned home, I crushed the pills using my mortar and pestle and mixed into a share of canned food for each in separate dishes and guarded each one as they ate.  Within a short time, the crazy, frantic scratching began!  I knew to expect this as I had done all the reading I could find on the product.  This is due to the dying fleas biting the cats more as they are irritated by the bacterium they had ingested in their blood meal.  The lit said that we should expect to see dead and dying fleas begin to drop off of them within about 30 minutes.  We found that it really became evident closer to two hours after the cats were dosed. 

I worked on them with the flea comb and was amazed at what came off of them.  Where I had only found very few this morning (thinking that we were getting ahead), poor Jade especially had herds (?) of fleas that I was now able to comb out of her fur around her neck and ears.  Goes to show that while I thought I was getting the majority out with the flea comb, many more were passing right through.  It also goes to show that we never could have conquered this with diatomacous earth or Borax and combing alone. 

The kitties are all greatly relieved today.  They are back to their old lovable selves and are feeling much better.  We will treat them again every 30 days until November and the end of flea season for the year.  Next year, we will know what to do and will begin treatment before a problem ever sets in.  Our house is still sprinkled with the diatomaceous earth for now.  Amazing how the population seems to have died out even in the carpets since treating the cats.  I still need to keep on top of this with the DE and vacuuming as any existing eggs and pupa fritter out.

By the way, the vet called the manufacturer while I was at home researching Comfortis online.  Apparently, they have now approved Comfortis for use in cats.

The Way Things Are

Minnie Mao is all better now and has been for some time. I would say that the whole thing lasted maybe a week and then she was back 100%. Thankfully! We love our little Minnie Mao! Even DH who was decidedly NOT a cat person when I met him almost twenty years ago.

You may have noticed that I did not post anything for several months (between February and July). The fact is that I was just not able to. We lost a number of kitties in that time. Quickly going from eleven down to our current five. Three of the male kittens and then three of the wild toms. As far as the kittens go, at that point we were just beginning to manage to handle them. I posted about the first two that we lost, but I will reiterate... They were all apparently wormy and I was able to take some fecal samples into the vet along with a couple of the kittens. We began to treat them them all for the Coccidia and worms. One of the twins (Sugar Bear) and Poppy (who we could not handle at all) became very sick. Poppy especially... and as the worms were flushed from his little body we saw that he was the most infested of all. We lost Sugar Bear overnight. We took Poppy in to the vet who kept him over that Monday night, even taking him home. Even with the best possible treatment, we lost him, too.

Some time later, we took Izzie in when he began to refuse food. He was tested for FIV and FeLV...Feline Aids and Feline leukemia. He came up positive for Feline leukemia. He was one that the wild toms were always picking on. This may be how he became infected. Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, we had him put down upon the recommendation of the vet. It was a tough moral choice. Even if he survived, he would always be a carrier and spread it to other cats. There was no way we would be able to keep him away from others.

One by one, we had all of the other cats tested. Praise God that neither Mama Kitty nor any of the other kittens were infected! Unfortunately, all of the wild toms were positive for Feline leukemia and one (Rocky) had both leukemia and aids. We had to put down Tommy Felix and Tommy Tiger. One of the Veterinary assistants who is particularly kind-hearted took Rocky home to live out his days. He was a wild, strictly outdoor tom, but would now be confined to living inside, isolated from all other kitties, but with plenty of human love. I heard recently, that he died a few months later.

I should point out that my dilemna about whether or not to vaccinate was decided for me at that point. All of the non-infected kitties were brought in and vaccinated for rabies and their first dose of the FIV and FeLV. Then a month later, they had their second round of FIV and FeLV vaccines and also the distemper vaccine. Our vet assured us that the vaccines that they use are the safest on the market today; there are no harmful preservatives or adjuvants in the mix... My concern was for the number of pets that end up having cancer at the point of vaccine injections. I will find some links for this and post them here when I find them again and also a link for the brand of vaccine that is used by our veterinarian.