Giving medicine to cats | Allergies | Ragdoll Cat Forum

Thanks for your responses guys.  I teach and school just started, so there hasn't been time to check back in here. 

The vet did tell me the name of the parasite, but didn't write it down.  I have no idea what it was.  Just that it was something an outside cat would usually – not an indoor cat.  The first meds the vet gave them:  panacur susp.  and pro pectalin.  The pro pectalin is the probiotic that is difficult to give.  I took another stool sample back last week to recheck and she said there was still bacteria in stool but no parasite.  She gave me metronidazole to give Henley to make sure everything was all clear.  This seems to have helped.  No runny stool going down the side of the liter box lately. 

I would really love to know how the parasite came to be since neither cat goes outside.  I have a screened in porch that they love.  Could that be where it came from?  I just want to prevent this from happening again if possible.  A nurse at the vet told me to  try giving the paste like probiotic with a tongue depressor scraping on the roof of mouth.  Kitty one still got it on her face ( my fault, I guess)  and ran around the house for several minutes like a wild child and then hid behind a door till she got her face clean.  I did better with the next kitty.  She also didn't freak out…and she is the one that usually does.  Strange!  Are these meds typical?  I'm still working on what wet food to give.  Have read about several kinds on here I want to try.  Just don't have a petsmart or anything really close.  Grocery store and Wal Mart are the ones we have in town.  School is calming down some, so should be able to go soon to get a few new ones to try out. 

angiedsmith said:

Thanks for your responses guys.  I teach and school just started, so there hasn't been time to check back in here. 

The vet did tell me the name of the parasite, but didn't write it down.  I have no idea what it was.  Just that it was something an outside cat would usually – not an indoor cat.  The first meds the vet gave them:  panacur susp.  and pro pectalin.  The pro pectalin is the probiotic that is difficult to give.  I took another stool sample back last week to recheck and she said there was still bacteria in stool but no parasite.  She gave me metronidazole to give Henley to make sure everything was all clear.  This seems to have helped.  No runny stool going down the side of the liter box lately. 

I would really love to know how the parasite came to be since neither cat goes outside.  I have a screened in porch that they love.  Could that be where it came from?  I just want to prevent this from happening again if possible.  A nurse at the vet told me to  try giving the paste like probiotic with a tongue depressor scraping on the roof of mouth.  Kitty one still got it on her face ( my fault, I guess)  and ran around the house for several minutes like a wild child and then hid behind a door till she got her face clean.  I did better with the next kitty.  She also didn't freak out…and she is the one that usually does.  Strange!  Are these meds typical?  I'm still working on what wet food to give.  Have read about several kinds on here I want to try.  Just don't have a petsmart or anything really close.  Grocery store and Wal Mart are the ones we have in town.  School is calming down some, so should be able to go soon to get a few new ones to try out. 

If you gave the cats an antibiotic or steroid you should start giving them a probiotic to get their gut back in shape.  I don't believe the pro pectalin is a probiotic it's more like a product for runny bowels like pepto bismol for cats.  For runny bowels you can give magnesium glucocate, or citrate because gluconate is hard to find or slippery elm powder mixe with some water and boiled to form a paste then cool it down and give a little.  It coats the insides and helps with inflammation of the stomach or intestines.

For their probiotic I use Source Naturals Bifidyn in powder form, has no other additives like capsules or pills have in them.  I give that along with some pumpkin, rice bran, taurine and occasional brewers yeast mixed in their food.  Seems to keep their gut healthy.  I also supplement with fish oil and Vit E and I do feed them people food protein almost everyday.  They like chicken, turkey, mackeral, chicken livers, hearts and so forth.    

Jenny,

I will see what I can find out about the "hot" vs "cold" meats issue.  Do you know how they determined he needed cold meats?  And how was it determined that he runs hotter in his body than other cats?  I have never needed acupuncture for my cats, although some years ago I had extensive acupuncture done on myself for a chronic pain problem.  Just  an FYI, I actually came to enjoy the treatments, they calmed me and relaxed me, but did nothing to help my pain problem.   

Jenny was Trigg having specific medical problems for which you decided to go with acupuncture?  When you say tremendous improvement, what was improved?  Just asking so I can look into this with more detail.  Hope you don't mind.

Jenny said:

Trigg has skiddish tendencies – and I have no idea where they come from. He can be "spooked" by the dumbest things. And he was spooked for a long time leading up to the acupuncture, and when he came home he was more relaxed. Now on the tea pills, he is really calm. The tea pills are called "Shen calming" or something, so I call him "Shen Chigger" now! If you look into it, do make sure that the person doing it has been trained at the Chi Institute. I did do acupuncture on Rags and now in hindsight, I don't think the lady was a very good one.

Hi Jenny,

I think the acupuncture is a good idea.  However, the tea pills are a Chinese herbal type supplement as far as I can see.  I don't agree with giving herbs to cats. 

Fruit, veg and herbs are toxic to cats and they tend to cause serious intestinal issues.  At the very least, they destroy the gut lining.  This is what concerns me about using an herbal product for a cat.  The harm is cummulative and gets worse with continued use, so at first eveything may look OK.  At least 80% of the cat's immune system cells are located in the gut.

Hopefully the metronidazole is helping – my kitty takes that from time to time for IBD.  It's a very bitter medication, and what's always worked for me is using a pill cutter and putting the pieces into a veggie cap.  Then I run the cap under water to make it slippery, open mouth and place as far back in the mouth as possible and it slides right down.  Right now he's on a 4-week course of amoxicillin for a kidney infection, and I cut that pill up with a piece of Pepcid for acid and put it all in the veggie cap.  He will be on probiotics as soon as his amoxicillin is done, so fortunately we have the routine down already.  He doesn't like it, but it's pretty painless and he knows he gets to eat when we're done, so he runs straight to the food bowl!

cheryl curb said:

Whew! I finally got on here! Someone mentioned difficulty giving pills to cats. Our vet gave me a wonderful little tool they call a "pill popper". It works somewhat like a syringe for an injection except it is larger… and has a rubber tip on the end that has a little hole in it in which you place a pill, pull out the other end like giving a shot, open kitty's mouth and push the plunger in his throat. Works wonders! Our kitty has developed Clostridium…I am assuming from the boarding place because he was fine when we took him there…and I have been giving him Metronidazole for almost 2 weeks now. He is on his second course. After reading the posts/blogs and E mailing with Jennifer, I am going to start him on probiotics tomorrow and see if that helps. I wonder if Ragdolls have sensitive tummies or…what happened? We have left him at this boarder's place before so I doubt if it is stress, and she makes sure all her kitties have been immunized so I have no idea how he got this. Any suggestions? Thanks…