Roger's Own Furniture

Roger kitty has his own furniture, good for scratchin'!

Dracula Kitties

Garlic is a wonder-food. It holds numerous beneficial properties for humans, felines, and canines. You will see numerous garlic snacks and supplements for cats on the shelves at your nearest pet food store. Your natural pet care books will suggest adding fresh garlic to your cat's diet to ward off pests and parasites, and for general immune and cardiovascular health.

But did you know that TOO MUCH garlic, or onion, in a cat's diet (or even in a dog's diet, to a lesser degree) can cause a dangerous condition called Heinz body anemia, which damages the liver and red blood cells? An overdose of onion or garlic can cause the usual flu-like symptoms along with discolored urine, allergies, and/or asthma.

Small amounts of these tasty ingredients in food and snacks are fine and may have some benefit to the system, but regular, fresh doses added to food should be avoided unless you're very confident in your dosage research and recipe. Certain treatments might call for such doses, but beware if your pet seems weak and unusually tired, discontinue the regimen asap, and make a trip to the vet to check vitals & blood count.

Topical applications, like the one below for ear issues, seem to be fine, but if your cat seems obsessed with the oil, you may want to brew weaker batches.

Remember cats and dogs do not appear to have Dracula's syndrome (repelled by garlic, right?) and so they are often happy to gorge themselves on these sulfur-y ingredients and then suffer later, so as owners, let's save ourselves from another pet crisis, and just 86 onions and garlic on the daily.

Bad Behavior - Cats Hunting Owners

Any cat owner who has experienced violent behavior from their cat, knows this can be quite cute and quirky. Or, it can be annoying and painful. Case in point, my Margene, has gotten into the habit of attacking me through my sofa throw when I'm on the laptop for too long.

She is making a valid point through her clawing, gnarling violence, though, because I haven't played with her for more than about 10 minutes total in the past 2 days. Many cat owners don't realize cats need to spend a certain amount of time hunting. This isn't helped by the fact that house cats tend to get fat and lazy. Still, the tracking aspect of hunting seems to be one of the more fulfilling exercises a cat enjoys.

I suggest that you play with your cat daily, and try to be patient. Often, their annoying or violent habits will subside with just a half hour of running a shoestring around the couch and floor. If your cat is lazy and just "watches the show" you should make sure you run the shoestring behind something or underneath something, like a pillow. They seem to enjoy it when the prey starts to hide. If you just keep it up for several minutes for underactive cats, and 30 minutes for an overactive cat, you can give them a great predator outlet, and they'll snuggle up later.

Stinky, Waxy Ears

If your cat has stinky or shiny, dark-waxy ears, then your cat may have a food allergy or yeast reaction in the ears. Any minor weirdness in the ears immediately calls for a regimen of probiotics, or acidophilus, in the cat's food for a month. This will provide friendly bacteria to the cat's gut to help fight yeast and (bad) bacteria overgrowth.

It is best if your cat is on dry food to convert her/him to a mostly-meat wet food for a couple weeks to see if the ears get a little better from the simpler diet with fewer carbs. Chances are, you'll have to go to the next step of a more strict fresh cooked or raw meat diet to fully correct the issue. You can use the ol' olive oil and garlic ear combo to help clear things out.

Be sure to see your vet if symptoms persist or if they are severe. For some cats, this is part of how their bodies' manage with the modern world and try as you might, they may just have to remain stinky, waxy ears! Any improvements in the diet will benefit in many other ways, and it may just clear up those ears.

Itchy & Crusty Ears Cont'd..

It is the action of the olive oil that is most important, as it just smothers the mites. Since the smothering can cause the mite to irritate the cat's ear more, make sure to let the ear breathe for a day between applications and change your solution if irritations persist. To make the ear oil, take a few tablespoons of olive oil and add to a cool/room temp saucepan. You can add a few slices of fresh garlic, lavender, or rue herb. If you don't have any of these ingredients, skip the next paragraph, and don't heat the olive oil...

Barely heat the burner on the lowest temperature it will allow for no more than 1 minute. The goal is to not cook the oil, but to flash-heat it just enough to stimulate the herbs to release their magic into the oil. Let sit for 5-10 minutes cooling before straining out the herbs. Throw out the oil if it smokes and start again.

Once completely cooled, you can add other oils, like a drop of lavender essential oil, a drop of tea tree oil, a drop of grapefruit seed extract or 2 drops of vitamin E oil, and stir gently and thoroughly. Lavender and vitamin E oil will soothe and aid in healing, and are best for highly sensitive cats. Tea tree oil and grapefruit seed oil help ward off infections of several types but are a bit stronger so don't use too much or it could make your cat uncomfortable (but either one is great for stubborn problems).

Use about 3 drops of oil for each application. Make sure oil is not cool to touch when you use it, body temperature is best. If your cat freaks out, get a bath towel and wrap the cat like its wearing a cape, crossing it over the chest with legs pinned underneath. Keep it tight around neck, but ***obviously do not choke the cat***, so he/she can't squeeze his paw through the neck and scratch you when he/she freaks out. Then apply oil. After oil is applied, fold ear flap over and down towards the chin and rub it semi-vigorously until it makes squishing sound, about 30 seconds. Cat will Shake Head Vigorously when ear is released, so watch out. Also beware, cat will look and act annoyed and oily.

The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care by Puotinen, says to apply the oil every other day for a week, then rest for 3 days, and then every 3 days for a month to be sure all generations of mites are killed and reinfection does not occur. I have applied too often in the past and the poor kitty's ears became seriously irritated from the dying mites' desperate digging. Don't forget the schedule and stay persistent. I've never had to do the regimen twice, even with terrible cases, because it always works. Consult a vet if symptoms worsen even after the first 5 days, or if they persist after the treatment period, or if the symptoms are severe.

More on ears next time...

Back to Ears and Their Problems...

Crusty, waxy, yeasty, stinky, oily ears... These are the pesky ear problems that can be really frustrating for cat owners. If you've noticed these conditions in your cat's ears, then you are one of those cat owners who is perceptive and close with your cat, and for that I applaud you.

I've heard numerous explanations for stubborn ear problems, and I'll try to run through some of those for you, but please remember that there is no substitute for the diagnosis of an experienced veterinarian. [And you may save yourself from some seriously ugly scenes - like one where I was treating my kitty, and I ended up bleeding, and I had one hand in an oven mitt and my cat decided to do the Super Head Shake the way they tend when fluid gets in the ear, and sprayed olive oil, cayenne and garlic ear solution all over my face.]

That being said, if your cat has dark, dry, crusty crumbles in the ear that could be described as looking like coffee grinds, then he/she may have a case of ear mites. Affected cats may scratch and twitch the ear often, and crumbles may spill onto the forehead. Ear mites usually need to be treated with daily applications (or more) of medicine to the ears. In natural medicine, ear mites are often treated with a variety of herbs infused in an olive oil base, and repeated persistently for weeks to months. I have found this to work quite well, and have never had to go the vet route. Now, how to....