Bad pet parent?

[looseseal]

I had to take my dog to the vet on Saturday, he said he's spent the entire week dealing with allergy type stuff. I hope this doesn't come off creepy, but I think I saw that you're in SEIA, right? Maybe the rain last night will help some of that?

[audnicole]

Where did you get him from and what are the illnesses?

[Mrs.Beagle]

No, not at all.

My kitty came from a rescue/shelter, and I took her to the vet more in the first month and a half I had her than in the rest of the time combined.

[alzi]

What food is he eating?

[alzi]

Maybe switch him over to a food without fillers, he may have an allergy. I really like Wellness.

[fuckstick]

Most animals coming from shelters/the pound end up being sick for a little while due to their surroundings. Not sure about the cattery, but hopefully the antibiotics clear him up.

Iams isn't the best food brand, but if its what he was eating before you got him you don't want to switch to anything all at one go, you need to transition over time so they can adjust and not get sick. Decrease the amount of old food and increase the amount of new food (mix them together) over a period of at least a week. If your pet starts having softer stool, you're probably going too fast. Sometimes a little unflavored yogurt (provides good bacteria) or canned plain pumpkin (provides fiber) can help during the transition.


These are some of the best brands for cat food:
Blue Buffalo
By Nature (95% Meat formulas)
California Naturals
Chicken Soup
Innova
Innova EVO
Merrick
Nature's Variety Instinct
Solid Gold
Tiki Cat
Wellness

These are some of the second best, if the first group is too expensive/hard to find:

Authority
Avoderm
By Nature Organics
Fresh Pet
Natural Balance
Nature's Variety Prairie
Nutro
Organix
Pinnacle
Purina Pro Plan (regular & Selects)
Royal Canin
Taste of the Wild

Also, just to cover all bases, don't ever feed dry food only to cats. Its full of empty carbs and a dry food only diet can cause diabetes in cats. Believe me, testing and giving a cat shots twice a day isn't on the top 10 fun things to do list.

Re: acne - this can sometimes be caused by feeding them from plastic food bowls, so if those are what you have, you might want to try switching to metal bowls.

[verycontrary247]

Aug 13, 2012 8:50:11 GMT -5 alzi said:

Maybe switch him over to a food without fillers, he may have an allergy. I really like Wellness.

This was my thought. Iams is so full of corn and by-products I wouldn't be surprised if it was contributing to your cat getting sick.

[audnicole]

Aug 13, 2012 8:44:48 GMT -5 @astrid said:

Aug 13, 2012 8:38:10 GMT -5 audnicole said:

Where did you get him from and what are the illnesses?

We got him from a cattery (Ragdoll), which I know makes me crappy, but it's already done.

He had conjunctivitis/cold, then went in for vaccines, then acne (which was a big scab on his chin), and now conjunctivitis/cold again.

The cold/conjunctivitis thing is very very normal and can take a while to clear up. Not anything you're doing, just the way of the world. Vaccines help, but those things are like the common cold in humans, there's so many strains you can't vacc against them all. And its a virus, not a bacteria, so he has to build up is immunities against them.

I asked where you got him because, as a PP said, shelters are often overrun with URI (upper respiratory infection, the cold) and the eye stuff. A cattery would be no different.

Is he on Doxycylcine now? If not, call the vet and request it. Forget all the other stuff (amoxi, clavamox) Doxy will clear it up fast.

The acne is totally normal to. just like teenagers! You will likely have a bout with worms, as well, and, again, no biggy.

As everyone else has suggested, a better food will help in the long run, but isn't really your problem right now. for the health of your cat, though, i suggest going to one of the other foods. Iams is expensive and sucks.

(I run a rescue and have fostered over 300 cats That's my credentials)

[audnicole]

good on the doxy. that's a vet that is giving you the goods right off instead of pandering around (i'm a little bitter, can you tell?)

L-lysine is a supplement you can get to help with the eyes, it won't hurt anything and can only help.

I usually use terramycin on the eyes, as well, but your vet knows your situation better than me. the drops (which, FTR, are the same ones a kid gets when they have pink eye) work well.

[Tacocat]

A lot of kittens get upper respitary infections when they come from a shelter. What are his symptoms? It's usually running nose and eyes and sneezing. Once you start the medication, he should start improving within a few days.

[kellbell191]

Catteries are notorious for feline herpes and I would bet $$ he has it. I would call and complain, see if you can get them to cover some of the vet bills. There are lemon laws in most states.

Herpes is a lifelong illness they have that causes their immune system to be compromised. We get lots of foster kittens with it b.c. it is common with strays. I would ask the vet to put him on lysine and see if that doesn't help. We have been battling this with one of our adult cats (he caught it from a foster kitten) and it is a bitch but very treatable. If you get them on an immune system supplement and then also keep their environment low stress (feliway collar or diffusers help us with this) they can be totally fine and symptom free their entire lives. Untreated they are more prone to eye infections and upper respiratory issues. It doesn't shorten their life span at all, its just frustrating when they do have flare ups. We keep AC Poly bac on hand for when he gets an eye infection so he doesn't have to go to the vet all the time. Also keep a really close eye on him for fever, if the cattery is not reputable its possible he was exposed to FIP as well. There is no test for it and it is not treatable, it is a lot less common, but just be cautious.

Not judging or flaming, but this is part of why non reputable breeders piss me off. I think you're having a common experience in that catteries don't have the best track records with illness control and screening for genetic disorders. I hope the lysine and a better food sort him out. We feed our fosters Innova kitten because they have all done very, very well on it. I also highly recommend wellness, instinct and taste of the wild. Instinct is the most expensive of those three, taste of the wild is the best deal quality for cost.

It always takes us awhile to get foster kittens on track and healthy. Kittens are illness prone, expensive, and freaking adorable! I guess that's why they make them so damn cute.

[eightangryreindeer]

Aug 13, 2012 9:04:04 GMT -5 @astrid said:

That was helpful. I'm going to bookmark this, Fuckstick.

He's using ceramic bowls that we wash daily, so now we are just washing his little chin, too.

After he finishes this round of medication, we'll talk about switching his food over.

I'm telling you, get rid of the ceramic bowls and use stainless steel. Even if you wash them every day it doesn't matter. Jonny had feline acne and it didn't clear up entirely until we went to stainless.

Also, agree on slowly switching off of the Iams to a better quality food. We use CA Naturals and Wellness Core dry and Felidae wet.

[kellbell191]

Aug 13, 2012 9:41:13 GMT -5 @astrid said:

He's got the running nose and eyes, as well as sneezing. This time the nose has more junk and the eyes are just starting to swell. The drops are gentamicin (sp?)

I definitely think he's a good candidate for lysine. We use it on all fosters who come from the pound just to prevent any illnesses.

Stainless steel bowls are also a good call.

[hubes]

I don't have anything constructive to add, other than you aren't a bad pet parent. I just remembered that we have a cat.

[kellbell191]

Aug 13, 2012 11:33:33 GMT -5 @astrid said:

Aug 13, 2012 11:22:37 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

I definitely think he's a good candidate for lysine. We use it on all fosters who come from the pound just to prevent any illnesses.

Stainless steel bowls are also a good call.

Gentamicin is an antibiotic. Lysine is a preventative that he'd get regularly?

Yes, exactly, lysine is an immunity booster. Most of them take lysine for life, my former foster is off it currently so that isn't always true. We treated the fosters for recurring URIs and eye infections for months with the antibiotics and they only fully cleared up with lysine.

[3rdgrdteach]

When we rescued our kitties they both has a respitory infection. The doctor said he sees it a lot when a kitten is in a kennel. It is like kennel cough but for kitties.