Tiger's Home! 'The butter incident!'

**elleree** · 04-04-2008, 07:15 PM

Hey, I'm new here but I read your story about Tiger and I'm very happy he's better. It's silly because I don't know you or him at all since I just joined but I was all happy to hear he's doing better. He certainly looks eager for food in your video. He is a very handsome cat. ^_^

You mentioned some of your cats wheeze but don't seem to have asthma, wel here is a site I found that mentions a bunch of respiratory problems.

http://www.petcaretips.net/feline_re..._problems.html

I don't know that it will help but it won't hurt, anyway.

I hope Tiger keeps getting better.

~Elleree

**Emeraldgreen** · 04-04-2008, 08:17 PM

Thanks Jenn, I've hugged the fluffball for you.

And thank you Elleree for the link about respiratory problems. I will check it out! Just got home from work and haven't had a chance but I will definitely look at it. Welcome to PT and thanks for your well wishes for my Tiggy!!

Tiger is hanging in there. I know that doesn't sound great but it's the best way I can describe him right now. For the past few days he's been REALLY mellow and it has been worrying me. He is also getting progressively more snuffly sounding which doesn't make sense. It seems to me that he should be getting better with each day, not worse. So I was thinking that maybe it is a bit of an infection that has cropped up in his nasal area and he might need another Convenia antibiotic injection. I called the vet clinic that did the surgery and they felt that it could help and wouldn't hurt so they told me to set it up with my local vet. We have an 11:00a.m. appointment tomorrow.

The Transfer Factor FINALLY arrived the other day. It came to 65.00 including shipping for 60 caps. I realized that this was going to be fairly expensive for the first few months but after that it will be alot cheaper once he gets down to a few caps a week.

I was so excited when I opened a capsule and mixed it in with some stinky tuna and juice for Tiger but then was horribly disappointed when he sniffed it and walked away!! He is so sensitive to what's in his food, it drives me crazy.
So, I mixed half a capsule into some salmon cream cheese which he ate. He later had another half capsule mixed in with tuna and didn't seem to notice it as much. Today I bought some sardines and got another half capsule into him and hope to get more into him with some salmon cream cheese in a few hours. Giving him 4 caps a day is really going to be a challenge but I'm just glad that he's eating some of it. It's a start.
I've given some to Jimmy too and hope that it will help with his IBD. We'll see how it goes!

**jennielynn1970** · 04-10-2008, 06:22 AM

How did it go at the vet? Are his sniffles any better?? Healing thoughts on the way!

**Emeraldgreen** · 04-10-2008, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by jenn_librarian

How did it go at the vet? Are his sniffles any better?? Healing thoughts on the way!

Hi! Well, we went to the vet and I basically promised him it was our last visit because I can't think of what else any vet could do for him at this point, other than this last antibiotic injection. They gave it to him and we were out of there in 15 minutes so that was great.
He has his good days and his not so good days and some are a bit of both! Yesterday morning he was so lethargic but when I got home from work and walked into our bedroom he ran to see me and then promptly started to attack the cat scratching post with all kinds of energy. That made me so happy. His breathing is sometimes so noisy that I'm afraid he can't get enough air and at other times, like this morning, I can barely hear anything.

The Transfer Factor is so hard to hide. He is mr. fussy pants and thinks I've snuck into everything so he carefully scrutinizes everything I offer him to see if I've 'tainted' it with anything before he eats it. The only way I can get it into him is mixed into salmon cream cheese or sardine juice. My husband is not thrilled with overpowering odor of the sardines so I've only done that a few times. I seem to only be able to get a capsule and a half into him a day but at least it's better than nothing. I'm hoping it will help.

Jimmy other the other hand is doing awesome on the TF!!! I sneak a half capsule into his food every couple of days and the change in him is remarkable. He is putting on weight and his coat is so beautiful now. He was looking so gaunt before and his coat was terrible. It builds the immune system and I guess it is helping him with his IBD. And his breathing is a bit better too which was an unexpected surprise. So, I'm very thankful for this!

p.s. Tiger, Paddy and Jim are all out in their outdoor enclosure enjoying the sunshine and doing a bit of grazing! They love their grass.

**Catty1** · 04-10-2008, 12:51 PM

How big are the capsules?

Could you just pop several down his throat every day? Pill pockets with some powder in them - or the capsule itself? Maybe email that other lady - she offered to help - and ask her for ideas.

I wish TF was in injectable form...I wonder if even that Regress stuff would help a bit at this point....

PT Prayers for Tiger!

Great to hear that Jimmy is doing so well. He should have a talk with his buddy about TF!

**Medusa** · 04-10-2008, 12:58 PM

Well, it's more good news than bad, so we'll accept that for now. Hugs to Tiger and I'm so glad that Jimmy is doing well. They keep us hoppin', don't they?

**Emeraldgreen** · 04-11-2008, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by Catty1

How big are the capsules?

Could you just pop several down his throat every day? Pill pockets with some powder in them - or the capsule itself? Maybe email that other lady - she offered to help - and ask her for ideas.

I wish TF was in injectable form...I wonder if even that Regress stuff would help a bit at this point....

PT Prayers for Tiger!

Great to hear that Jimmy is doing so well. He should have a talk with his buddy about TF!

The caps are kind of a medium to large size. Unfortunately Tiger doesn't like the Pill Pockets. I have tried both the cat and the dog versions and he won't eat them, even with nothing inside them.

When I first emailed Bethany about TF and her cat she told me that she mixed the contents of the caps with butter and smeared it on her cat's paw and that her cat, like any cat, hated to be 'dirty' and licked it all off.
I haven't tried this yet but I probably will. I just don't like the thought of him eating all that butter. But maybe it's not so bad for him? I'm just worried it's going to be too rich and make him throw up.

I'm choosing not to pill him because of the incision inside his mouth. The caps are a pretty good size and even before he had surgery on the inside of his mouth, he was so difficult to pill. We ended up really struggling with each other and by the end of it he hated me and I was bleeding and the pill was not down his throat. It's hard because I don't know how long we have with him and if it's not long, I don't want our time together to be like that, with him running in the other direction when he sees me. Of course, it's a catch 22 because if I did get the caps down him, he might have alot more time with me.

I'll give the butter thing a go and see if it works. Maybe I can find a few different things with the same consistancy that I can smear on his paws throughout the day (butter, creamcheese, hairball remedy etc..).

**Catty1** · 04-11-2008, 03:29 PM

Cats generally like salty stuff...I'd say go for the fat and worry about the cholesterol later!

I use safflower butter, after my health food store expert scolded me for margarine. "It's two molecules away from plastic!" she told me.

1 lb butter, 1 cup Safflower Oil. Blend well and store. Will just be less salty, that's all. (or 1/2 lb butter, 1/2 c Safflower oil [olive is ok too])

Come on, Tiger, take your meds!