Assist Feeding - Surgi-Sox® for Cats with Tubes
by Kathy Fatheree

If your kitty has a feeding tube surgical implanted, your vet may have provided a special "shirt" to keep the tube secure and to keep your kitty from grooming or pulling at the tube.

Real-life experience quite often lends the best advice and this week we have a great bit of information provided to us by Pam Noman and her kitty Otto about finding a high quality shirt.

Pam writes:

After going through several of those flimsy mesh shirts that the vet hospital gave us, someone clued me in on Surgi-Sox. It's a snug fitting but "breathing" shirt made of the same material that Olympic male athletes wear in areas that need to "breathe" (and I don't mean the chest area either!). You can check it out at www.surgi-sox.com, phone number 1-877-787-4479.

I got the medium size for Otto who was / is 10 pounds (cost: $24.25). It goes on over the head and has two holes for the front legs. It fits nice and snug over the chest and stomach areas, sufficiently so that I could coil the tube up on his back underneath and not worry about it coming loose or hanging out of the shirt. It's washable, too, and doesn't lose its snugness when washed and dried. I still have it just in case.

The Surgi Soxi is much better than the mesh shirt from the hospital. Otto was always grooming at that thing and getting his teeth snagged in it. Plus after a few days it started stretching and then it was done. Also, I had to cut holes for his legs and the holes kept getting bigger as the mesh frayed. Basically it was just a tube that they cut in a cat length.

Click HERE to discuss this article on our PurrTalk.com Cat Forum!

On the Net:

Surgi-Sox®: Animal Bandage System

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Feline Nutrition - Kitten Diets
by Garry White

Do you have a kitten in your household? I do (Wilbur), and that boy is everywhere in my household! It’s anybody’s guess who strangles him first…Clarkie or me. But assuming that doesn’t happen (or until it happens), he does have to eat well, and kittens need special attention to proper nutrition. I won’t take up Newsletter space posting the growing curve of a cat, because we’ve all seen it, and the growth-rate for those first several months looks like the Northeast wall of Mt. Everest! Growth, of course, needs food, and lots of it. Problem is, kittens will eat anything that doesn’t eat them first, so it’s up to us to be careful what goes into that voracious opening just South of their nose. (I’m contemplating re-naming Wilbur to Funnel-Face, just so you know.)

With Wilbur, I’m following (well, sort of) a kitten-diet that I found on the Internet…it makes nutritional sense:

• Morning – Meat. Canned something or other, usually beef or chicken.
• Lunch – Scrambled egg-whites mixed with some kitten dry food.
• Afternoon – Some kind of canned fish food.
• Evening – Scrambled eggs mixed with some dry, sometimes I’ll add a spoonful or so of canned

Yes, four meals a day; I’ve seen numerous references to that regimen from qualified resources. Of course, that doesn’t include whatever he can steal from Clarkie’s bowl or plate, as well. And mind you, a little grown-up food here and there isn’t going to hurt him, but adult-cat diets are simply not designed for kittens, so I control it as best I can. And being a cat-parent, you know what that means, don’t you? It means that Clarkie seems to be eating a lot more food since the onset of Wilbur. Probably just coincidence.

Summarized, kittens need plenty of high-energy, high-protein, well-balanced food…and that does not include table-foods.

It is often touted that cats do not need (or wish for) variety in their diet, and I’d like to go on record now as vehemently opposing that point of view. I can’t call the professional declaration a "fact", because it isn’t factual; cats generally do love dietary change, as long as it’s in the food-groups they favor. For all of Lewie’s life, and Clark’s, I’ve often played a little game of just barely cracking the cover of two or three different foods and letting them "choose" which one they want. Try it sometime, and note the excitement, the brightness on their face as they sniff at this, that, and the other thing. And when you finally pull the lid on the one they chose…what a treat it is! Sometimes I even put a spoonful or two of each food, scattered around the plate. And nothing is wasted…put the unselected (or partial) cans in a Ziploc bag in the Fridge, and it’s simply part of tomorrow’s buffet. I suppose cats will eat the same thing every single day if they have no other choice, but then; so would you and I. My cats have a choice.

Below are a few of the great reference sites I used for my research. Enjoy.

On the Net:

LOTS of good kitten info, including diets and recipes!

Wilbur’s diet came from here.

If you have a kitten, please go visit this site.

Click HERE to discuss this article on our PurrTalk.com Cat Forum!

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ProActive Cat Care - More Summer Cautions
by Garry White

Sheesh! Will I ever stop worrying about your kitty? Nope. Anyway, below is another handful of things to think of…things I learned the hard way, Dudes & Dudettes.

• Home Parties. Not that any of you plan to have parties this summer, but just in case: If your kitty is indoor, do everyone a big favor and put him/her in a safe room with a Do Not Disturb sign on the door! This takes the pressure off you, the worry off your guests about keeping outside doors closed, and…Fluffy is safe while she sniggers at your slurred speech.
  
  
• Is your kitty an indoor/outdoor cat? If so, be extremely aware of reptiles during the summer. Cats like to go where it’s cooler during the hot days…as do lizards and snakes.
  
  
• Planning a trip away from home? If you’re thinking of kenneling Fluffy while you’re gone, I ask you to please give it more thought. The average home today is about 1,486 square feet (taken from a real-estate website), and that has been Fluffy’s domain. The average "Feline Retreat" (okay, it’s a cage so let’s just call it that) is 12 square feet. The front-seat area in your car is about 18 square feet…even assuming it had a toilet, food, and water, imaging living in there for a week or two.
  
  
• Taking Fluffy with you? Keep Fluffy in a carrier while you’re driving! Accidents do happen, and the last thing you need in a crisis is…Ohmigod, where’s Fluffy! Also, if your trip involves motel stays, leave someone in the room for those little jaunts to the store, or for meals, or take them with you! Years ago, a neighbor lost two registered Persians because of this: They left the cats in the motel room while they went to breakfast, and came back to an empty room. The maid (who later pointed to the NO PETS sign had simply scooted them out of the room.
  
  
• Leaving the country? (Gee, that sounds ominous!) Make sure you have Fluffy’s shot-records with you, and if Europe is on the agenda, you’ll need a pet-passport. The Scandinavian countries are especially strict on pets. No kidding. Some of the Latin American countries are (or were) reasonably tolerant, but still I’d have all the records along. And be prepared for Fluffy to spend some time in the lockup…many countries simply impound your pet while you’re there.

Let's be honest: Fluffy probably doesn't want to visit the Congress Street Clock Museum in Eugene, Oregon. The Eiffel Tower would give her vertigo, the San Fermin bullfight festivals that can be found all over the Pamplona regions of Spain would surely terrify her, and Mexican water would likely give her a serious case of the trots. So doesn't it make more sense to plan Fluffy's personal enjoyment (as well as your own) into the summer vacation?

Click HERE to discuss this article on our PurrTalk.com Cat Forum!

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Feline Obesity - What would Dr. Phil Say?
by Kathy Fatheree

Have you seen Dr. Phil's recent weight loss book? It's called The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom. It's not based on magic, but rather on good, sound advice.

Amazon.com has a good review of his book and shares Dr. Phils' 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom:

1. Personal Truth, positive thoughts.
2. Counter emotional eating.
3. Change your environment.
4. Master impulse eating.
5. Choose foods wisely.
6. Adopt an exercise habit.
7. Assemble a support circle.

Now, WHY, you ask, am I talking about a HUMAN weight loss book?

Well… Let's review those 7 keys with Kitty in mind:

1. Kitty Truth: Could Kitty have low self-esteem and think that eating is all that there is?
2. Emotional Eating: Does Kitty associate almost every event with eating? Events such as: When you get up in the morning, when you arrive home at night, when you simply say "Good Kitty!"
3. Environment: Could you move the food bowl to an out of the way location so that Kitty is not reminded of food all the time?
4. Impulse Eating: If food is left out all day for Kitty to graze on, it will be time to eat every time Kitty walks past the food bowl, hungry or not!
5. Choice of Foods: Does Kitty feel satisfied after a meal? Some diet foods are too low in fat and very unsatisfying to eat.
6. Exercise Habit: Does Kitty exercise at all? Or does obesity make it too difficult to move?
7. Support Circle: Instead of feeding Kitty each time the begging starts, spend extra time grooming, petting, playing or just talking. Kitty will love the attention and the support.

Click HERE to discuss this article on our PurrTalk.com Cat Forum!

On the Net:

The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom

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Kitty Potpourri - Dead Sea Scrolls
by Dan Malenski

Over the years, the remarkable and unique personality of the cat had given rise to many writings, quotes, and proverbs over the years, far too numerous to include in this article. However, I will include a humorous piece of work in which it isobvious that the unknown author was "owned" by a cat!

You may have seen it already, but it’s worth a repeat!

Here it is:

Dead Sea Scrolls.
If authentic, it would shed light on the question, "Where do pets come from?"

And Adam said, "Lord, when I was in the garden, you walked with me everyday. Now, I do not see you anymore. I am lonesome here and it is difficult for me to remember how much you love me."

And God said, "No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will know I love you, even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish and childish and unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself."

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam. And it was a good animal. And God was pleased. And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and he wagged his tail.

And Adam said, "But Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and all the good names are taken and I cannot think of a name for this new animal."

And God said, "No problem! Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG." And Dog lived with Adam and was a companion to him and loved him. And Adam was comforted. And God was pleased. And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it come to pass that Adam’s guardian angel came to the Lord and said, "Lord, Adam has become filled with pride. He struts and preens like a peacock and he believes he is worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught him that he is loved, but no one has taught him humility."

And the Lord said, "No problem! I will create for him a companion who will be with him forever and who will see him as he is. The companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know that he is not always worthy of adoration." And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam. And Cat would not obey Adam.

And when Adam gazed into Cat’s eyes, he was reminded that he was not the supreme being. And Adam learned humility. And God was pleased. And Adam was greatly improved. And Cat did not care one way or another.

Author unknown

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See You Next Week!

Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Kathy Fatheree. All rights reserved.
May be distributed in its entirety if full attribution is given and copyright notice is included.

Disclaimer: Unless otherwise noted, writers of this newsletter are not medical experts. Information covered in this newsletter does not in any way take the place of advice from your veterinarian. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information, Kathy Fatheree or anyone associated with this AssistFeed.com Newsletter cannot be held responsible for anything that may happen as a result of you using the information in this newsletter.

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