My husband Preston and I are quite fond of cats and share our home with 7 of the little darlings.
It is my practice to do a head count every morning upon waking, every evening before bed and even when I come home after being out for several hours. Last Wednesday (10 days ago), I realized around 4:00 in the afternoon that I had not done my morning head count and had not seen Casey (one of the twins!) all day.
I looked around the house and called, but no Casey. I went outside and called (we have a fenced, cat-friendly yard), but no Casey. I came back into the house and there he was looking all sleepy. I picked him up to cuddle him (which he loves) and he cried. Then I realized he wasn’t sleepy but feeling poorly.
I examined him to find a bump below his belly in the groin area. It was very large and tender and he would not let me feel around it. I went into action making our bedroom a “sick-room” and brought in a litter box, food and water and put him on our bed. He stayed there for the night, getting worse and worse.
The next day I was able to see the bump/lump better. It was huge! I thought I could see a tiny hole – like from a bee sting. I was looking for two holes from a pair of fangs as the little sweetie had brought us a black snake the previous week – still squirming and very much alive, but all I saw was this huge lump and maybe a little hole.
So, I thought the lump needed to be aspirated and I called a nearby Western medicine vet and took him in. It is my practice to use Western vets for diagnosis and then bring them home for holistic treatments. In this case, I thought intervention was called for.
The Vet examined him (and ignored my comment about a bee sting hole) and stuck in a needle to aspirate. Nothing came out. Well, a little did, enough for him to put on a slide to look at under a microscope. He came back all solemn telling me it was not pus but very large white cells that he could not identify. I remained calm.
He said we needed to test him for Feline Leukemia/AIDS. And, he recommended exploratory surgery. It would be a big deal to cut that lump out and it could be cancer. I remained calm.
He told me my other cats were at risk for FeLeuk and AIDS and I should have them all tested. I remained calm.
I thanked him and paid him my $40 and took my baby (who was a total champ throughout the whole process, never uttering a sound) to the car. Before I left the parking lot I called a Homeopathic vet I use that lives near Ocala FL and left a message.
I have used this holistic vet with great results for over 3 years. What’s surprising is that I have never met the man. All of the treatments/therapies have been via phone consultations. He has even helped with behavioral problems!
An hour later Dr. Wessner (352-245-2025) called me back and I gave him Casey’s recent history. He told me to give him two homeopathic remedies (that I had on hand), some plant-based enzymes to help his body absorb the material in the lump and he was sending me another remedy that I did not have.
Within 15 minutes of giving him the two remedies, Casey rolled over on his back – his favorite position and one I had not seen him in for 2 days. With that, I took the opportunity to place a hot water bottle on the lump. He remained on his back, but repositioned himself to clamp his leg over the bottle. Is this picture worth 1000 words? There is nothing more adorable than a trusting animal.
I kept up the hot water bottle and about 4 days into this the lump started draining. He licked it all the time. When he wasn’t licking, I was applying the bottle (which causes the material to liquefy and drain). He was the best patient.
He is still recovering. The lump is almost gone. He prefers our bed (his sick bed) for deep resting, but purrs easily and is moving around a lot. He never lost his appetite completely but has lost some weight. He is getting pureed chicken liver daily to speed his recovery.
The upshot of this story? Imagine where I would be today if I had followed the first vet’s advice? My sweetest of cats would be recovering from surgery, our wallet would be quivering and I would never forgive myself for putting him through those traumas.
So, please don’t let a vet (or any doctor) scare you into the action they advise without seeking other consultations…the first being your gut. That is why I remained calm…I knew he was not that sick! I also know what I do to keep him healthy (like feeding high quality healthy cat food and filtered spring water).
Raw milk from time to time is on the menu too. I also knew I had Dr. Wessner in my back pocket!
It took a little more work and a lot of trust by Casey, but I expect him to be giving us his “high-cry” for many years to come!
Holistic Cat Recovery!
It is now 2 weeks since I took Casey to the Western vet and then called Dr. Wessner, my holistic vet.
The swelling was completely gone after about 11 days from the first dose of homeopathics recommended by Dr. Wessner. What remains now is a little area bare of hair (from his licking) and two perfect little scabs.
Casey is feeling 100% himself. I saw him prancing in the yard yesterday and he has given us his “high cry” everyday. WHEW!
One other really cool thing that has come of this: he has become a real Mama’s boy and and we have really bonded. He gets it that I played a big part in his healing. He is grateful. He is sleeping more on the bed with us and sometimes, out of nowhere, he will come up to me and rub my legs asking to be picked up. SWEET!
Hi, Kate! Our cats were both severely overweight, and the vet told me it was from over eating, which I knew was NOT true. We always measured our cats’ food and did not feed them snacks, etc. We even had them on a “weight-loss” food. They were constantly crying and begging for food. Then I discovered Dr. Karen Becker, who teaches that dogs and cats should be fed a species-specific raw diet. Because of all the work that goes into my own health regimen (I have been working very hard to recover my health after years of Western medicine making me very ill), I do not have the funds or time to feed them 100% raw, but she also shares that the next best thing is a GRAIN-FREE food with whole meats listed as the main ingredients. Since we changed their diet, they have lost about 4-5 lbs and are very satisfied. We supplement with raw chicken wings, fish, etc. Dr. Becker gives a lot of great info on how to have healthy pets on her Facebook page.
We LOVE our holistic vet! I have a 13-year-old Cocker Spaniel, Lexxi, who was having seizures. Our former vet wanted to put her on phenobarbital, which we would have been committed to for the rest of her life. I wasn't having it! After 12 years of going to that particular vet, we made the leap and tried a holistic vet. She found the root cause of the seizures and has found the right mix of herbal "cocktail" that has prevented Lexxi from having a seizure since April of this year whereas before she was having multiple seizures each day!
I feed my cat Taste of the Wild, too! I'm going to look for Evo and start giving my cat more of the meats we eat.
My sister in law is a Vet and she never mentioned NOT feeding my cat grains – I mentioned it to her and all she said was that there were better brands than Taste of the Wild but she never said whether it was a good or bad idea to feed cats grains. She makes money off sick animals so maybe she doesn't want the word to get out. She's a great person and I'm only half joking:)
Tina
Glad to hear that Casey has recovered so well.
I have 5 cats and one has had severe skin issues. At one point the pads of his feet had become infected so quickly that he was chewing them off. The vet did all the things that western trained vets do…blood work, tissue samples, medication, etc. They said it was most likely a food allergy and recommended a super pricey brand they sold for animals with allergies. After a lot of reading online I started making food for the cats. Here are two links that might help you: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood
and this one
If you are feeding your cat a raw diet only you need to be very careful about following the recipe. Cats eat meat and get their carbs from the "parts" of the small animals and birds they would normally eat. They don't get them from grains which are in most commercial foods. In the end I found a great dry food called Evo ( http://www.evopet.com ) to feed the cats. It is grain free and has the lowest percentage of carbs in a dry cat food. Once we switched the cats over this dry food along with homemade raw food the cats skin issues decreased greatly. The final change that helped him heal completely was to get rid of the clay based litters. The only flare ups he has had was when a bag of commercial cat treats was brought home. The skin issues started up almost immediately. Hope the links help 🙂
WOW! Thank you all for you comments. I am so thrilled to help so many of our sacred pets.
With 7 cats it is hard to find a diet that will suit all of them and me! Conrad won't eat raw meat. Victor (and Casey) love raw chicken liver. Curtis won't drink milk. Johnson won't drink milk until it is curdled. So, it has been a challenge getting the right diet that was acceptable to all of them and not too hard on me.
I feed them Taste of the Wild (a kibble – not ideal, but the best I have found) which is made from salmon and venison and is grain free. I tried Evo, but one or 2 of them rejected it. Several times a week I will mix the kibble with 2 raw, pastured egg yoiks. I put out liver and heart several times a week and sometimes a little raw ground beef. I was worried about giving them too much liver, but the organs are the first foods a predator eats and will leave the muscle meat if there are enough organ meats. I don't worry anymore. I also offer up sardines packed in water which is always a hit.
I leave raw milk out for them all the time. I noticed some wonderful little health shifts in all of them when raw milk became available. Some like it cold right out of the refrigerator, some like it room temp. and others, like Johnson, like it old and curdled (they are my healthiest ones!)
They also get the blood from my pastured chickens and beef that is present when I open the packages. I am trying to get a few gallons saved from the next slaughter so I can offer it to them more often. Maybe they are Masai cats:-)
Though I am not an expert, I have had many good experiences with healing cats holisticly. Feel free to contact me with questions: wapfsarasota at gmail dot com.
Wow, neat story! Thanks for sharing. It will give me more confidence to seek alternative help in the future for my (not so little) pup. It's good to hear stories like these.
I'm so happy to read about your cat and how you were able to care for your cat and heal him.
I had a chocolate lab that I loved dearly and in his last years he was so sick and I now fully believe it was because I fed him crappy dog food that I thought was suppose to be good for him. It breaks my heart every day that he died unhealthy because I fed him food that was suppose to be good for him; I now realize that the only ones who benefit from this dog food was the company that makes millions off making unhealthy dog food. It's not their fault – I should have known better, I guess.
Now, we have a kitten and I don't feed him any grains. In fact, my young sons and I don't eat any grains. Cats are carnivores and not meant to eat grains.
I hope our beloved cat has a better life in the end than our chocolate lab.
Tina
Thanks for this article & bringing Dr. Wessner to our attention! It is greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for this! Ever since switching to traditional foods, I've had a nagging feeling of guilt knowing how harmful the food I've been feeding my pets is. I refused their vaccination updates for the first time a few weeks ago, and it was my first time saying 'no' to the allopathic route… it felt good! What food are you feeding your kitties, raw or just good quality pet food? I'd love to switch my pups over but don't know anything about good brands. Thanks for the name of your holistic vet, his website is super helpful and I may call him if I can't find a holistic vet in my area.
Thanks for sharing this! My parents have had a similar experience with one of their dogs. He has had allergies all his life (he's 8 years old right now), and for the first several years my folks went the conventional route of allergy shots and tests, etc. His allergies became so bad he had managed to scratch off a good bit of his fur because his skin itched so bad. He honestly looked and felt terrible, and my parents were starting to think he would have to be put down because he was so miserable. When they heard about GAPS last year they started treating him like a canine GAPS patient and have seen great results. He is almost completely better now, with just the occasional flare up. He is also much happier and will be able to spend his last few years romping around like a healthy dog should! So real food and natural medicine definitely work for pets, too.