meat

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By Janice Reichle, Diadem Silvers

Very often, when a cat or kitten is sick, the first symptom is loss of appetite. And, according to a medical technician employed in a large, well-known animal hospital, more cats die of malnutrition/starvation during illness than from the illness itself, usually an upper respiratory infection. Even in mild URI, cats quit eating simply because they can not smell the food and what they can not smell, they will not eat. At one time or another we have all had to deal with a situation in which we could not get a cat/kitten to eat no matter what we tried. If the invalid will lick baby food off of your finger - fine - but if that does not work, what will? You have probably tried "a good, smelly cat food - tuna" on the advice of your veterinarian. For some reason veterinarians seem to think that no cat can resist fish no matter how sick he may be. After failing with baby food and fish, you will resort to force feeding. If a cat really does not want to eat, even spooning baby food in that tightly clamped jaw will not work. You may have tried force-feeding with chunks of beef or bits of cut-up chicken heart. If the patient has a sore throat, that will be next to impossible. And, when a cat is not well, the digestive system is not working well and so the chunks of meat may be vomited, undigested, as long as 24 hours after feeding. The other disadvantage to you in forced feeding is that no matter how sick and lethargic it may be, the invalid will seem to have super strength when it comes to fighting and at the very least you will have fingers full of tooth marks.

Many people depend on the high-calorie supplements in a tube, sold under various trade names. The same technician, referred to previously, told me these are "empty calories" and will not properly nourish animals in illness. They are a supplement - nothing more. As she has been long involved with one of the largest and most famous animal medical centers in the country, I treat her word as "gospel".

For a long time I have been a proponent of tube-feeding in supplementing large litters of kittens, raising babies from mothers with no milk or nourishing sick animals, etc. Since the tube must be small enough in diameter to to insert in either a tiny throat, a sore throat or a violently protesting cat, the choice of what to feed is small. Even diluted baby meat will clog the openings of the tube and a milk substitute, depending on the illness involved, may cause diarrhea. I have had very good luck with something my mother used when she was breeding dogs many years ago. It is simple to make and store to keep readily available: Concentrated beef broth. This is NOT the canned broth purchased in the super market nor is it made by boiling a quanity of meat as with soup. It can be frozen and stored for long periods and the recipe is simple - buy LEAN beef and cut it into cubes no more than an inch in size. Place them in a large jam or mayonaisse jar or something similar without a cardboard liner in the top; do not tightly pack cubes in the jar. Screw the top on loosely; not as tightly as you would for storage. Put the jar in a pan of water and try to keep the level of water approximately the height of the meat in the jar. Bring the water to a low boil or simmer and eventually you will see broth in the jar; pour it off and continue the process (which may take two to three hours) after loosening the meat a bit. Keep doing this until no more broth can be poured off. I prefer to pour it through a strainer. What you have left is a dry looking, useless meat (to be thrown away) and the concentrated broth. As you can see, there will be a great deal of nourishment in a very small quantity. After the broth cools, you can skim off any accumulated fat on the top. Depending on the illness of the cat, you may or may not want any fat left. A little is fine if diarrhea is not a problem. Because you need so little, you may be able to give it by dropper in the side of the mouth; only a few droppersful at a time need be given. I am always reluctant to use a dropper if a cat is not co-operative so I prefer to tube-feed. A cat can be maintained this way for long periods of time. Some years ago, a cat of mine was "drugged" (I use that word advisedly because the poisoning attempt was not successful) at a show. He was maintained for three weeks with the concentrated broth and occasionally, some Esbilac. Another advantage of the broth is that they do like the taste and frequently, when they begin to eat on their own, it is the broth they choose.

You may say that this is fine for nourishment during illness, but what about that all-important fluid intake? Sick animals are usually as unwilling to drink as they are to eat. It is much easier to give fluids sub-cutaneously in the quanities needed than it is to force fluids by mouth. If you have a good working relationship with your veterinarian, he will be willing to tell you how much fluid to give and show you how to give it. Cats usually do not object to fluid therapy IF you warm the container of fluid before use.

If you have had the experience of a cat or kitten biting through the feeding tube, here is a suggestion. Cut off the closed end of a needle cover (from a syringe used for injections) and slip the tube through the cover. Position the cover so the cat/kitten bites it instead of the tube.

You may find other uses for this "high protein" pick-me-up.

Copyright Š 2000-2005 SGE News Photo Gallery. All rights reserved. Copyright Š1996-2004 Janice Reichle/United Silver Fanciers. All rights reserved. Downloading, copying and printing of this article is permissible for private use only. It is strictly forbidden to download, copy or print any material for the purpose of republication elsewhere on the internet or in print.

Meat Concentrate - High Nutrition Lifesaver