By the way, Ms A confirmed that Jon Jon (JJ) is a boy, so I'm glad that that gender issue was finally cleared up! I've been confused about JJ's gender because some folks called him JJ, while Ms A calls him An An, which is a gal's name. Furthermore, JJ does not have the alpha male look at all, but have facial features similar to those of a gentle female cat, plus, his ding-dongs seemed to have shrunk so much that it would be too easy to mistake him for a gal!
(Photos from early Dec '06; JJ looks cleaner nowadays)
I asked Ms A whether JJ has chronic or acute kidney failure, but she didn't understand those English terms, and could only tell me that JJ is in the middle stage of the disease, which was what the vet had told her. It didn't help that my spoken Mandarin, though passable, does not extend to more complex medical terms! My question sounded totally out of the blue to Ms A, so I suspect that the vet had not mentioned this point to Ms A. Ms A mentioned that the vet seemed so busy that she didn't even have a chance to talk to him much (Well, that's one reason why I never like to go to that particular animal hospital, if I can help it).
JJ didn't like K/D wet food, so Ms A had been cooking fresh fish for the fussy eater. Apparently, his royal highness the fussy eater would eat the fish if it was freshly cooked, but not if it had been cooked hours before. Poor Ms A had to coax him to eat the home-cooked fish as well as the antibiotics twice a day. Looking at her, one really has to admire her patience and dedication to care for such a difficult cat - one that cannot be touched too much, cannot be held for flea medication to be applied or for oral medicine to be administered.
What can I say about JJ, except that he is such a diva! Although they are buddies, JJ and Sugar are so very different in terms of "catsonalities" - one is difficult while the other is easy to care for. One is generally boh chap, while the other simply loves cat-friendly humans.
I've informed Ms A about the information which was kindly provided by Moglee and Calsifer such as adding cod liver oil and vitamin B to home-cooked fish, chicken, salmon, etc. which would be suitable for JJ. So, we'll have to see how things go, in view that JJ's diet is easily jeopardised by other cat-friendly passerbys who tend to feed them cats with junk food.
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5 comments:
Hi Aunty P, from what I learn (from conversations with vets & Phyllis), chicken is better for cats with problems.
& if he eats only home-cooked food & no dry or canned food, you may want to add Taurine & Selenium (available in cats multivitamins) or individually from GNC.
Dear Cat, thanks for the tip.
Fortunately, JJ is taking to dry K/D quite well...as long as the kibbles are fresh out from the bottle for his fussy royal highness! I'd given him steamed chicken previously and he likes that too.
Hi Cat and Auntie P,
Actually, chicken and other meats are better for cats per se. Fish is not, or had not been, a main part of the cat's diet, and so does not have some important nutrients that cats need and can get from eating meat.
That is why , ironically, if you feed cats fish, canned food is better than homecooked fish, unless you've added the nutrients yourself. Because of the lack of nutrients in fish for cats, having fish as a long-term primary food source may result in yellow liver disease.
Some info that help help:
- http://tippedearclan.wordpress.com/tlc/catfood-alternatives/
- http://tippedearclan.wordpress.com/tlc/catfood-tuna/
For the homeless cats we feed, we give them a capsule of cod liver oil and a bit of lysine (0.5 spoon of a macdonald's stirrer) about 3/4 times a week to help thee cope with the stress of living at humans' mercy and the fickle weather. It really helpes their overall health, which is definitely at a better level now.
Calsifer, yes, I had read somewhere that fish wasn't the main food source for cats in the olden days, but for some reason, perhaps due to an acute food shortage, meat was scarce and fish then became the substitute food for them. To the older generation like my parents, they will be shocked if I tell them that cats do eat meat!
BTW, JJ had been treated recently for mite/fleas but is still scratching (although to a lesser degree), so we're wondering if he has sensitive skin. My neighbour Ms A is a bit concerned that chicken may not be good if JJ has sensitive skin. Her dog once had sensitive skin and eating chicken made it worse.
In addition to cod liver oil and a bit of lysine, try to give him a bit of vitamin E - it is great for skin health.
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