Thursday, April 19, 2007

Natural Cat Care

OK. I really don’t intend to make this a cat (or political) blog, but here goes anyway: Bill-cat had a bad weekend last week, so I returned to consulting “The New Natural Cat” by Anitra Frazier. Bill’s feeling better, perhaps thanks to a whole array of remedies described in that book. WF thinks I’m a bit over the top, but Bill still seems to enjoy life, and I wanted to help him out. It’s great to see him eating and acting like himself again.

I DO think that perhaps I’m skirting that line into “crazy cat lady” but I’m trying to tell myself that this is useful learning for PEOPLE health, too. One of the things that worked well for Bill was Rescue Remedy (he was really agitated and expending calories he wasn’t taking in, poor guy). I’ve never even tried it on myself, but a friend swears by it for herself and her cats. And really, if it works for a CAT (can’t just be in HIS head, eh?) that bodes well for humans.

I’m also making kombu broth (easy to do, because we eat quite a bit of kelp around here: yum) and he loves that, too. Good minerals. Vitamin C for stress, and a lowered protein diet for the fading kidneys. I mix more canned pumpkin into his food for fiber. Tasty nutritional yeast makes him want to eat more. It’s empowering to remember and use these things, feeling our way along with these natural remedies. I’ve used some “modern” remedies for Bill as well, and need to figure out how far we’ll go with that. A hard decision.

I hate how I can’t just trust modern American doctors/vets to use a more holistic, nutritional approach for pets or people... everything they prescribe needs to be researched and taken with a grain of salt, knowing their typical perspective.

But for now, I’m back to some evening-weekend-busy-work-work, then off to Vermont next weekend for a short, cheap retreat. Anyone familiar with Burlington? I love planning trips, but haven’t had much time to breath lately. Deep breath, thinking positive germ-fighting thoughts. I've been around too many crowds this past couple weeks, the germs might be getting me. Off to bed!

2 comments:

Deb said...

It's hard enough finding holistic human care! I've tried Rescue Remedy, can't say it did anything one way or the other, but I still believe there is more to living well than modern pharmaceuticals.

Anonymous said...

I have heard good things about Burlington, VT - supposed to be very progressive but a bit gentrified, like Ann Arbor or Madison.

Have fun on your road trip!