Moms cat and the new Vet
 

Well as I posted yesterday I took Winston to the new vets office...Well today was my mom's turn to take her kitty in..and we met the new vets partner! he was just as great!

Brady has the rodent lip. My mom was so impressed with the vet as well because he took the time to explain things to her and she loved his bedside manner as we put it!

We also found that Brady's rodent lip has improved over the past 2 months and he has received no prednisone or any form of treatment...So after a lengthy discussion we decided to give the depo shot a try...the vet seems to think it will clear it up in 7-10 days..As well mom thought Brady had some kind of mites or bugs on him..we knew for sure it wasnt fleas cause she is not finding anything like a flea and no bites..as it turns out Brady has been scratching some areas around his neck and lower jaw and that is from the rodent lip...what mom what finding was his skin attached to the hair folicle..

Brady went from 13 lbs last August to 10.9lbs today! Brady eats Orijen and we have introduced him this weelk to the Venison and Green Pea and so far he likes it..I was impressed with the vet having more knowledge than the last and he fully indicated what Sugarcatmom had said about giving the cat a different protein like venison or duck! He also stated that he would think that the canned would be better for him as well!! :thumbs up

So all in all moms happy I am happy and most importantly her little guy Brady is healthy and a very happy kitty...

Sugarcatmom can you help me with the amount to get Brady to eat? Mom has been dividing the large can into quarters and giving him that once per day....so after increasing this amount how much of a can will be adequate for him? 1 can per day? I will be getting mom to slowly reduce his kibble as well..

Cindy

While I am talking about this little cutie here are a couple of pics of Brady!!

Great news Winston! :highfive:
Brady's a cutie! :cloud9:
I'm no sugarcatmom, but I did manage to get Jake's weight down pretty easily with the wet food. What is Brady's ideal weight?
For an easy way to cut down the calories, take what he has been eating, and cut it by about 20%. Then monitor his weight every three days and adjust accordingly.

Jake was 17lbs, and we figured he needed to eat about 200 calories a day to cut down. A can of Wellness grain free Turkey or Chicken is about 280 calories a can, so we split the can into 5 portions and fed him 4 times a day. (If that doesn't make sense, it's because I'm bad at math.. but my fiance isn't, so it really works out properly - I might just have Jake's calorie count wrong). Anyway, once we got him down to his healthy weight (12lbs), we started to split the can into quarters, and now he's successfully maintaining.. :thumbs up

The key is to make sure he isn't losing too quickly, and you can really tell if he looks like he's losing muscle mass near his hindquarters - if that's the case, then up the amount a bit.. and if you can, cut down the dry food completely.

Hope that helps until sugarcatmom gets back on here!

Winston,I am happy little Brady is ok:thumbs up
I recently change vet too and I love him,it's more than half the battle if you are comfortable with your vet.
As for feeding,I feed my 3 cats morn/lunch/dinner each time they split a can of Wellness and they seem perfectly satisfied with that amount.
They do get some treats,usually boiled chicken,then just a little bit of dry food,which I am trying to wean them off,since they are 3 neutered males.

The vet said he is good where he is! far from being 13 lbs last year..so he is 10.9 now...My mom feeds him 1/4 cup of dry in the morning and 1/4 cup at night! he is food MOTIVATED so I dont want to over feed while making the transition...This week the dry has stayed the same but we have been giving him 1/4 of the large can per day...I will have to check out the listing on the can but I will need a magnifying glass for that..:laughing:

Cindy

Ahh.. sorry about that - I was actually wondering how much lower you wanted to go :laughing:

Jake's maintaining on just one can of Wellness (5.05oz) a day. He's 12lbs, but also a pretty big cat. :shrug:

That's awesome that you guys have found a decent vet! He sounds great.

And Brady sure is a hunk! I love the shiny black kitties:lovestruck:.

As for food, a 10ish pound cat would typically get somewhere around 200-300 calories per day (20-30 cal/lb). Supposedly, the NB Venison is around 156 calories per can, although the accuracy of that is debatable. Which means, I would feed approximately 1.5 cans per day (without the dry), give or take. That would be a good place to start, and if Brady seems overly hungry, maybe he needs a touch more. If he gains weight on that amount (perhaps take him to the vet for a weigh-in in a month), then give him a little less. Hope that helps!

THanks Sugarcatmom! Other than trying the depo shot we were really happy with his weight coming down and also to alleviate my moms worries he had no kind of bugs....shes been through a rough 3or4 months so this was a happy day! it put her mind to rest...

Also having the vet agree on the canned transition was helpful cause I dont think mom understood me when I was explaining it! and how it might help the rodent lip problem...

Brady was the best behaved kitty! he had us in stiches laughing! he was rolling around on the exam table on his back and puttting his paws up towards the vet like he was saying hi! it was cute! he didnt even want to investigate the office..he just stayed on the table...(he didnt even know he was given the needles!)

:thumbs up

hes beautiful:lovestruck: i really love black cats.. so glad he is feeling better too:)

I am so happy things are going in the right directions for Brady and your Mom. :thumbs up

Brady is a cutie and sounds like he was trying to win over the vet.:laughing:

Still don't understand the last vet: :crazy:

:highfive: to you and your new vet

Hey there! Winston liked him too!

Brady's too cute :lovestruck:

He is so special too! when my mom lost her last love Tippy (cat) after 15 years Brady filled that hole in her heart and helped her heal...He also came right after my Dad passed so equally he came just in time!! When mom saw him for the first time he looked at her and flopped down on the ground for a belly rub and the rest is history! and he has such a personality! we love him to bits

Cindy

He is a good looking kitty.
That is good that you mom and Brady like the vet too.

I am thrilled to hear your cat is fine! I always have a soft place for black kitties- had a few in my life! They are special!

Update

Brady is just loving the new DVP Venison and GP...Now he is up to 1/2 can a day and 1/2 the amount of kibble she used to give him..which was 1/2 cup per day.

Scugarcatmom do you think it would be overdoing it to jump him up to a whole can now? he has been eating it for 2 weeks at least now?

His lip looks much better this week!! it has reduced in size significantly..he is still scratching some spots aeound his head but Mom has a topical cream to put on that to see if it helps! but all is good in the wet food department!!

Cindy

Fantastic! Glad Brady is doing well. I don't see the harm in going to a full can, especially if he hasn't had any digestive issues so far. Just tell your mom to keep an eye on the litter box and if there are any signs of "trouble", maybe go back to a half can for a while.

Winston,that's great news for little Brady and your mom:thumbs up
When I was free-feeding dry+canned morn,night,I always had that nagging feeling,I was contributing to the chance my cats would get sick.
Now with feeding canned 3 times daily,I feel I do the best I can to try to keep them healthy:fingerscr

Winston, I am so glad Brady is doing so well on his new diet. He sounds like a heartbreaker. :cloud9: Just gotta love him!!

glad to hear brandy is well and hope the lip problem gets even better. after being on this sight for a few months i've also started feeding my cats more moist. right now as my bf and i work odd shifts there really isn't one of us home around lunch time so they get it in the morning and at night. i just started the night feeding so hoping it will cut back on the amount of dry they eat. Glad you found a vet that really knows what they are doing now if i could just find one of them :)

Update on Brady

Well I havent seen him for awhile and Mom has told me he is doing really well on the new canned diet..But in the past couple of days he started to drool and my mom thought he has something going on with the Rodent Lip again so we took him in.

I was really shocked to see how poorly his coat looked and his skin is very dry. As for the drooling it turns out that the rodent lip problem has gone now to the side of his tongue. His lips look really good but for some reason it has started inside the mouth.

The vet gave him another shot of the depomendral and gave my mom some type of an oil that you administer on the back of the neck like the other flea types. He is to get it once a week for a month and it is supposed to help his poor coat. So he always has had a beautiful coat but since I changed his food this happened? He is eating the Venison & Green Pea with a small amount of Orijen Fish??

Cindy

[QUOTE=Winston;707956]
I was really shocked to see how poorly his coat looked and his skin is very dry. As for the drooling it turns out that the rodent lip problem has gone now to the side of his tongue. His lips look really good but for some reason it has started inside the mouth. [/quote]

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear this. How are his teeth and gums?

[QUOTE=Winston;707956]The vet gave him another shot of the depomendral and gave my mom some type of an oil that you administer on the back of the neck like the other flea types. He is to get it once a week for a month and it is supposed to help his poor coat. [/quote]

Can you find out the name of the oil? I'm curious to know what that is.

[QUOTE=Winston;707956]He is eating the Venison & Green Pea with a small amount of Orijen Fish??[/QUOTE]

Any possibility of ditching the Orijen Fish, or at least switching to the Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea dry? Or some other grain-free, fish-free kibble (Merrick Before Grain Chicken is another one that comes to mind). I'm worried that Brady could be having an issue with fish, which is a common allergen for cats. I curse Orijen for even making a feline fish-based food. It's just not a natural protein source for them, despite the common marketing hype.

Now, even though I don't like fish as a food, I will say that a good fish OIL can be useful as a dietary supplement. It contains lots of Omega 3s and is known to have anti-inflammatory properties. Fats/oils don't typically cause an allergy response the way proteins do, so the fish oil shouldn't be a problem even if Brady is allergic to fish. You can find good quality wild salmon oil capsules (usually 1000mg per cap) at a health food store - just puncture one end and squeeze a few drops into some canned food. While you're there, get a bottle of 100 IU soft gel capsules of mixed tocopherols [url=http://www.nowfoods.com/?action=itemdetail&item_id=3400]vitamin E[/url]. Your mom can give Brady a half a cap a day squeezed into his food to help prevent oxidation of the Omega 3. It should also be good for his coat.

Hope Brady is better soon!

Winston,so sorry about Brady,Rodent-Lip is new to me,never heard of it before in the 100 yrs I've had cat
I notice on Chico(black)that he gets more dandruff in the winter with the furnace going.
If your mom is home all day,like I am,maybe feeding canned 3 times/day,like I do,will eliminate the need for dry.
I still have some out in a dish,but they eat very little of it,I use it as a treat instead of Temptation.
:fingerscrfor little Brady:cat:

SCM..The product is called Dermoscent Essential 6...I found this link

[url]http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/Dermoscent-Essential-6/productinfo/DERMOSCENT/[/url]

Bradys teech and gums are okay..He still has a tiny spot of inflamation int he corner of his mouth and where the front teeth meets the lip on one side is a bit red....his tongue was worse...

He cleared up really quick last time with the shot he was given so I hope it works well. On the plus side it was 5 months in between needles vs daily prednesome pills that didnt help.!

Cindy



[QUOTE=chico2;708357]Winston,so sorry about Brady,Rodent-Lip is new to me,never heard of it before in the 100 yrs I've had cat
I notice on Chico(black)that he gets more dandruff in the winter with the furnace going.
If your mom is home all day,like I am,maybe feeding canned 3 times/day,like I do,will eliminate the need for dry.
I still have some out in a dish,but they eat very little of it,I use it as a treat instead of Temptation.
:fingerscrfor little Brady:cat:[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Winston;712583]SCM..The product is called Dermoscent Essential 6...I found this link
[/QUOTE]

Uh-oh. Why oh why do companies make products like these and think they're okay for cats?!? I'm sorry to alarm you, but please tell your mom to stop using this product immediately, take it back to the vet for a refund, and print off the following links/info for Brady's vet to read. This product contains essential oils that are toxic to cats:

[QUOTE]essential oils of [COLOR="Red"]rosemary, lavender, melaleuca, cedar, oregano[/COLOR],.... [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]Essential oils which contain phenols are particularly toxic to cats and cause liver damage. These include [COLOR="Red"]Oregano[/COLOR], Thyme, Eucalyptus, Clove, Cinnamon, Bay Leaf, Parsley and Savory

Essential oils which contain ketones cause neurological symptoms. These include: Cedar Leaf*, Sage*, Hyssop*, Cyprus*, [COLOR="Red"]Lavender[/COLOR], Eucalyptus, Mint ,Caraway*, Citronella ,Clove*, Ginger*, Chamomile, Thyme and [COLOR="Red"]Rosemary[/COLOR] (those marked * give particular cause for concern).

2008: [COLOR="red"]Cedar Oil[/COLOR], also being irresponsibly promoted as a natural flea treatment, is also highly toxic to cats and can be absorbed through the skin or licked from the fur and ingested. Laboratory toxicology demonstrate it to be poisonous.

Tea Tree oil ([COLOR="Red"]melaleuca[/COLOR], Melaleuca alternifolia) is a phenol-containing essential oil. Its active ingredients are cyclic terpenes which have a similar structure and action to turpentine (a known toxin) - in fact Tea Trea oil makes a good paint solvent! Cats are uniquely sensitive to phenolics and other benzene-based compounds. Benzyl alcohol (a preservative) is toxic to cats.

The acute toxicity for the major terpenic compounds (linalool, ocimene, alpha-terpinene, 1,8-cineole, terpinolene, camphene) is 2 - 5 g/kg body weight, which is considered a moderately toxic range. From a toxicologic point of view Tea Tree oil is comparable to oil of turpentine, which is readily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and skin. In addition, cats have relatively thin, delicate skin and Tea Tree oil is highly lipophilic (attracted to fats, solvent). This means that the oil is absorbed rapidly and enters the bloodstream. These factors may account for the poisoning cases reported to the NAPCC.[/quote]

[quote][COLOR="Red"]Cedar Oil[/COLOR], also marketed as a flea treatment, is also highly toxic to cats. It has been found to be toxic orally, when absorbed through the skin and an irritant if the fumes are inhaled (if the fumes are concentrated enough it may be absorbed through the lining of the lungs in toxic quantities). It is irresponsibly marketed by Cedarcide as safe for pets, but COSHH and toxicology data indicates it is toxic. Claims supporting Cedarcide are highly biased and were written for dog treatments (dogs have very different and more efficient liver function than cats). They are advertising claims, not scientific claims and perpetuate the misconception tha natural means "safe".[/QUOTE]

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