Five years ago, my cat returned home from a 10-day absence. He was dirty and dragging his hind legs. Took him to vet, got x-rayed, nothing broken. Vet prescibed nothing but vitamin c mashed in his food to "make the cat stronger" was what she said. Cat didn't only get stronger, he walked, ran, and jumped normally again after 3 months of diligent exercise. So now, I give him vit C when flu season is on to "beef up" his immunity. Anyone else do this?
2006-10-16 05:24:13 · 4 answers · asked by Phoebhart 6 in Pets ➔ Cats
My kitty gets daily vitamin C(ascorbic acid powder from health food store, 150 mg./day-cheap &easy to mix with food). She also gets a minute dose of Thisilyn Milk Thistle for liver finction, and non-dairy pro-biotics. She is way healthier, no doubt about it. Check out holistic Veterinary sites. Like human MD's, Vets are given little to no training in nutritional supplementation, instead they tend to fall in line with the same Western medicine mind -set of waiting for a problem to arise & then dosing it with chemicals (drugs). Meds have their place, but just like we know that certain foods and the nutrients they contain will make us less likely to get disease or illness, the same is true for our animal companions. Look on line for holistic Vets, they treat by phone, and mine (Dr. Judy Stolz) has saved my kitty's life and restored her quality of life after 4 other Vets couln't help except for strong doses of Prednsione.The beauty of it is that with a Vet that treats homeopathically, you can treat the animal's symptoms even without a certain diagnoses. And it stirs the body's own healing mechanism to kick in & get stronger, so you have a cat that is not only feeling better, but becoming stronger & more resistqnt to disease. It works the same way for humans too.
2006-10-18 05:58:50 · answer #1 · answered by gettin'real 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin so you can't overdose the cat on it. Strangely cats make vitamin C in their bodies and don't usually require supplementation. Humans cannot make vitamin C in their bodies and if they don't get it from their foods a supplementation can be helpful. Cats don't make Vitamin A in their bodies (they get it from eating the livers of their prey) and humans do. So cats are very different from humans! If you want to read more about this there are some excellent articles on cat nutritional needs at: www.ThePetCenter.com.
You might decide to give some extra Vitamin A to your cat a couple of times a week. Salmon oil is also very good for cats because of the Omega 3 fatty acids in it. These supplements are not water-soluble and excess amounts can be stored in the cat's liver and cause medical problems so a few times a week should be sufficient. These supplements should be gotten from a health foods store so that they are "human-grade" products.
Large doses of Vitamin C are given to cats as part of some cancer treatments. I don't think the effectiveness of this type of therapy has been proven with scientific studies however.
2006-10-16 05:39:21 · answer #2 · answered by old cat lady 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cats don't get colds or the flu, but can get an upper respiratory infection which is like a cold (sneezing, congestion, etc.). Don't think the vitimin C will really do anything for him. All the vets I ever worked for told clients never to give human vitimins as they are dangerous for pets.
2006-10-16 14:37:31 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO cats dont get colds or flu,your cat would have got better anyway with a bit of tender loving care
2006-10-16 05:33:11 · answer #4 · answered by dumplingmuffin 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋