Cats, like people, usually inevitably catch a cold or fever or have some minor illnesses. This requires owners to have simple knowledge of treatment and care.
Because sometimes the pet hospital is far from home, and some cats are very timid, on the way to the pet hospital or to the new environment of the hospital, will be very uncomfortable, but exacerbate the condition.
The first thing is to always have some medicines:
First, medical alcohol, 5% tincture of iodine, 2% gentian violet, 3% hydrogen peroxide, 2% boric acid solution, potassium permanganate (when used with 0.1% concentration), Xinjie Ermu (when used with 0.1% concentration), Lysol (when used with 3% to 5% concentration) and so on. These are mainly used for environmental disinfection and treatment of cat scratches or cat trauma;
Antiemetic and antidiarrheal drugs, such as Smita, Gastrofen, Atropine, Chlorpromazine, Bismuth subnitrate and Silicon Carbon Silver Tablets, etc.; and tablets to help digestion, such as multi-enzymes tablets and yeast tablets, etc., which can be used frequently;
Third, antiparasitic drugs, such as levamisole, propylthiobenzimidazole, praziquantel, tapeworm, mainly used to expel parasites in cats;
Fourth, antibiotic drugs and antipyretic and analgesic drugs such as haloperidol, penicillin, kanamycin, gentamicin, cephalosporin, aminopyrine, anacin and so on. Some medical experience is necessary in the use of these drugs;
v. Antifungal and dermatologic drugs such as ashwagandha, mycobacteria, clotrimazole, dermatophyte and daktarin cream.
It must be noted that when using self-contained medicines, the dosage should be well controlled and must not be used in excess.
Cat Ear Mite Disease
Ear mites are a disease that cats are very susceptible to. Sick cats scratch their ears with their claws from time to time. Brownish-black discharge is visible in the ear canal. Progression can result in suppurative otitis externa and otitis media, and deeper infestation can cause encephalitis with cerebral neurological symptoms. I had tried wiping my cat’s ears with a cotton swab dipped in 886 Ringworm Mite, but the results were not very obvious.
Later on, I used EarCare and put a drop in along the hole of the cat’s ear, then gently rubbed the heel of the ear for 1-2 minutes. After releasing, the cat will shake its head by itself, and the dirt in the ear will be shaken out. At this time, use a cotton wool to gently clean its external ear canal.
However, it should not be wiped clean at one time, for example, after wiping in the morning, wait until the afternoon and wipe it again, in order to clean it more thoroughly. When the ear mites are particularly serious, take the method of subcutaneous injection.
Inject ivermectin at the rate of 0.3 ml/kg body weight and repeat the injection every 7 days.
Feline Ringworm
Feline ringworm is a relatively difficult disease to eradicate, although it is not fatal enough, but once a cat has it, it will be itchy, often scratching with its paws, shedding hair, and if you have more than one cat, once a cat has it, it is very easy to infect each other.
This is because 98% of ringworm in cats is caused by the infection of Microsporum canis. If the cat’s resistance is good, it may be spared.
Ringworm is usually a hard scab, after which the ringworm area will lose its hair. It can be treated with topical medications such as Ajinomoto Purple Potion, Clotrimazole or Ringworm Cleaner, and oral nutritional creams or multivitamins. If the kitten has ringworm, when applying the topical medicine, be sure to knead it for a while to let the skin completely absorb the medicine, so that the kitten will not be poisoned by licking it.
If the mother cat has ringworm during pregnancy, it is best not to apply the topical ointment so as not to affect the kittens in the womb.
Fleas and ticks
Once there are fleas on the cat, it will frantically scratch, twitch or lick itself. Something like soot can be found in the fur of the cat’s coat, and these particles are flea poop.
If fleas are found, the first thing to do is to give the cat a good bath, and the bath can just flush out the fleas, you can take advantage of this time, man-made flea scratches, and then wash the pet’s mattress material, and carefully clean the environment with a vacuum cleaner, it should be able to gradually remove some of the fleas, which will help the indoor pets to be cleaner.
Flea control products can be divided into:
1. Flea growth control agents are biochemical products that are artificially similar to insect hormones, which can disrupt the flea’s early life cycle and cause death. These products are environmentally friendly compounds that do not completely control fleas, but they can reduce the amount of insecticides applied.
2. Flea dips are insecticides that are applied directly to the cat’s fur and allowed to dry naturally. The dips usually contain pyrethrum or synthetic pyrethroids, which are usually non-toxic and do not leave a residue, and are quite effective if used regularly.
3. Flea sprays, paints and powders are made by adding different kinds of insecticides, insecticidal auxiliaries or growth control agents into alcohol or water solution to become sprays, paints, and diatomaceous earth or silica to become powders. The key areas are the cat’s feet, back, tail, and buttocks, and should be applied to the skin as much as possible against the hair, and some can be applied before going out, so that the fleas jumping on the cat will die immediately and will not be brought back to the home, in addition to avoiding spraying or powdering on wounds or rough skin, and don’t spray it in the eyes because the insecticide will be absorbed into the body quickly by the skin-broken areas, and the alcohol-containing ingredients also have the potential to be harmful to the skin, and it is not suitable for use in the eyes of the cat. Alcohol content is also irritating.
4. Flea collars.
Most of them contain organophosphorus or aminocarbonate insecticides, which are dissolved in the plastic and slowly released, and act directly on the fleas to kill them, and they need to be replaced before the expiration date of the anti-flea collar arrives. Healthy kittens can safely use flea collars from the age of 2 months onwards. When using the collar, it should be loosely attached to the collar to maintain the looseness that 2 fingers can be inserted, and to avoid getting wet which may affect its effectiveness. However, some cats that are allergic to insecticides may get contact dermatitis after wearing a flea collar, the symptoms of which are hair loss and redness around the flea collar. If the flea collar is not removed, the skin will continue to deteriorate to form a large, rough or even bacterial dermatitis, which will require treatment by a doctor.
Eye Diseases
Eye diseases are categorized into a variety of symptoms, such as eyelid swelling, inflammation, profuse tearing, excessive secretion …… Especially for Persian cats, as their eyes protrude, it is very easy to cause corneal ulcers. We can do it ourselves to remove the bonded secretions for cats and clean the eyelids that are sealed by eye poop. Gently scrubbing around the eyes with saline or warm tea, and insisting on it every day, can relieve the condition. Once the eye disease is serious, it should not be delayed and seek veterinary treatment immediately.
Internal Parasites
Parasites are usually found in cats, the most common being roundworms, tapeworms, and whipworms. Deworming is simple and can be done with medication. The general rule is to get rid of tapeworms every 4 months and roundworms every 6 months. It’s also important to change their cat litter frequently in the days following the medication to avoid reinfecting them with eggs from the cat poop.
Intestinal Diseases
The most common intestinal diseases are diarrhea and constipation. If a cat has diarrhea, the first thing to look for is if there is something wrong with its usual diet.
Some cats have allergies to dairy products that cause diarrhea, so stop feeding and change the diet. If the diarrhea is caused by enteritis, relevant measures should be taken.
First, fast for 12 hours, then feed gentamicin at the rate of 10,000 units/kg body weight, or mix with intramuscular injections to assist in treatment, dexamethasone 0.5 mg/kg body weight, injected twice a day. During this period, the cat should be given liquid food, such as fish soup, meat soup, and gradually transition to normal diet.
Constipation may occur in older cats, especially Persian cats. Oral paraffin oil, sodium docusate tablets can be given at this time, and experienced cats can also be given enemas to soften the feces.
But I still recommend food therapy: goat’s milk mixed with water in the ratio of 3:1 or cow’s milk mixed with water in the ratio of 1:3 (do not mix up the ratios!). Feed it to the cat, it is very effective.
Stomatitis
If you find that your cat is drooling, has a bad taste in the mouth or is red and swollen around the mouth, this is stomatitis, which is likely to be a mouth ulcer, mouth infection, etc. This causes difficulty in eating and drinking. This causes the cat to have difficulty eating and drinking, and if left untreated, the condition will worsen.
For treatment, the mouth can be cleaned with some weak acid solutions, such as boric acid solution, potassium permanganate solution, sodium bicarbonate solution. Because the cat’s mouth is more painful, it usually resists when the medicine is rubbed on it. Wrap the skimmed cotton wool onto the tweezers (round-tipped tweezers), dip it into the weak acid solution, press the back of the cat’s head, and put the tweezers deep into the cat’s mouth, letting it bite by itself, so that the medicine will be coated on the diseased part of the mouth. If there is redness and inflammation on the outside of the mouth, you can apply hydrogen peroxide, once in the morning and once in the evening, and gradually see the effect.
In the course of treatment, I also found a “special medicine”. It was when the family’s Dami was pregnant, due to the laborious trip to move, she was very hot, the whole mouth all inflamed, eating and drinking is very difficult. I saw it with my eyes and my heart. Cleaning with weak acids hurt her so much that she was very resistant and could not be treated. Since I had an inflamed patch on my face at the time, I was rubbing Marumi’s aloe vera cream on it.
After consulting my vet, she said that Marumi’s aloe vera cream has no adverse effects on pregnant women, so I decided to give Dame a try.
Sure enough, after less than half a week of rubbing it in, Dami’s condition started to improve, and after half a tube of rubbing it in, her mouth was all better. She was very happy.
Colds
In order to prevent your cat from catching a cold, the first thing you need to do is to immunize her. When kittens are 9 months old, they should be vaccinated. This is because until 9 months of age, the kitten’s blood still retains influenza antibodies from the mother’s body, and vaccination at this time prevents the development of immunity.
The second injection will be given after an interval of 3-4 weeks. At present, there are two major types of vaccines more commonly used in China: the imported triple vaccine and the domestic feline distemper vaccine. The triple vaccine is recommended.
After the vaccination, a booster shot will be given every year. However, not everything is fine after the injection.
If the vaccinated cat when its resistance is lowered and it comes into contact with a cat that is suffering from a cold, it may also develop the disease. The disease can be treated by inserting a 1/4 tablet of azithromycin into the base of the cat’s tongue and letting him swallow it.
If the cat has other infectious diseases, like feline distemper, typhoid fever, tetanus …… should be treated by a veterinarian without delay.