Cat Health

Welcome to our "Cat Health" page. You will find information regarding the general welfare, healthcare, vaccinations and proper care of your Ragdoll cat here.

Most of the information included here will pertain to all cats - not just Ragdolls. The comments and statements made on this page are not meant to replace the guidance of your veterinarian.

Establishing and maintaining a good relationship with your pets' veterinarian is key to giving your cats the best quality of life. It will help to ensure that your cats live long, healthy lives next to you!

Jump to:

• The Medical Triangle
• Cat Diet
• Raw Food Recipe
• Emergency Guide to Cat Health
  

THE MEDICAL TRIANGLE

What determines if your kitten will recover when she becomes ill? There are three things that determine a kitten's chance for a successful outcome. These three things make up what is often referred to as "The Medical Triangle."

You & Your Love

As the owner, you have an important say in whether or not your kitten has a good chance of recovering from an illness. Ragdolls are very receptive to love. Tender loving care from you is a key element in the recovery of your kitten from any illness.

If you take your kitten to the doctor when she first becomes ill, rather than wait a few days, her chances of recovery are greater. How much you spend on health care for your kitten also affects her chances of recovery. If your doctor recommends blood tests, radiographs, and hospitalization, and you decline these recommendations due to cost, your kitten has less chance of fully recovering quickly than if you followed the doctor's recommendations.

Finally, you must administer medications to your kitten as directed. If you are unable to give pills or liquid medications to your kitten, she may not recover. Also, if you stop giving the medications too soon (a very common problem), your kitten might temporarily recover but then relapse and become more seriously ill.

Your Veterinarian

Your choice of veterinarian also affects your kitten's chances of successful recovery. If your doctor is committed to continuing education and keeps up with the latest medical developments, this improves your kitten's chances for a successful diagnosis and recovery.

If your veterinarian believes in preventative care, this will decrease your costs of care, as your kitten is less likely to become ill. If your doctor recommends the best care for your kitten, this will improve her chance of recovery.

The Kitten Itself

Finally, your kitten ultimately determines her chances of recovery. No matter how good a job your veterinarian does diagnosing her condition and prescribing the correct course of therapy, and no matter how good you are in following the doctor's recommendations, ultimately the strength of your kitten will determine whether or not a quick recovery takes place.

If your kitten's immune system is strong, she has a greater chance of recovery than if she has a weak immune system. The strength of a kitten is directly affected by the love and affection it receives. This takes us back up to the first element of the medical triangle: you! By keeping your kitten clean, providing it with an adequate supply of food, water and love, you are building its chances of a healthier life and quicker recovery when she becomes ill.

As you may have noticed, the medical triangle is connected, and the closer the links are, the better. The more comfortable you are with the veterinarian you have chosen, the stronger your triangle is. If your kitten senses that she is in good hands, the stronger it will be in times of crisis.

CAT DIET

A Well Balanced Diet for a Healthy Immune System

The basic wisdom that many people are beginning to realize today about their own bodies (in terms of the foundations of good health and the root causes of disease) most definitely applies to our furry friends as well. Just as the good health of our human bodies is best supported by a diet of whole, fresh, minimally processed foods (along with a minimum of toxins and stress), so do the bodies of our cats and dogs stand the best chance of maintaining their good health when provided with these same factors.
A body that is well-nourished and free of toxins and undue stress is a body whose internal terrain is well balanced. This kind of equilibrium automatically gives rise to an immune system that's healthy and strong and able to function at peak performance to protect the body from succumbing to chronic illness.

One of the most vital keys to bear in mind when it comes to one's health is that it is the proper functioning, or lack thereof, of the body's natural immune system that ultimately determines one's susceptibility to degenerative disease.

Cats Are What They Eat

Since it has become abundantly clear to virtually every person on the planet that ‘we are what we eat,’ it goes without saying that this same adage most certainly applies to our pets as well. In the wild, cats naturally eat a diet of whole raw foods. At BigFlop Ragdolls, we believe that this is surely the most natural and healthy approach we can possibly take. Please review some of the many articles that have been written to document the benefits of the raw food diet (a few are shown below). We make our own food, based on the raw food diet. The recipe that we use to prepare the food that we feed our cats and kittens is shown below.

Some links to articles on cat nutrition (and raw meat diet):

http://www.catnutrition.org/handout.php
http://www.rawfedcats.org/benefits.htm
http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood#The_Dangers_of_Dry_Food

BigFlop Ragdolls’ Raw Cat Food Diet Recipe (Made WITH Real Bones)

2 kg [4.4 pounds] raw muscle meat with bones (chicken thighs and drumsticks or, better, a whole carcass of rabbit or chicken amounting to 2 kg; if you don't use a whole carcass, opt for dark meat like thighs and drumsticks from chicken or turkey). I use grain feed chicken.

400 grams [14 oz] raw heart (best not to use beef heart; if no heart is available, substitute with 4000 mg Taurine)

200 grams [7 oz] raw liver (don't use beef liver; if you can't find appropriate liver, you can substitute 40,000 IU of Vitamin A and 1600 IU of Vitamin D--but try to use real liver rather than substitutes)

NOTE: If you cannot find the heart or liver and decide to substitute with the Taurine/Vitamin A and D, then remember to REPLACE the missing amount of organ meat with the equivalent amount of muscle meat. In other words, if you cannot find heart, you add another 400 grams of the meat/bones. If you can't find the liver, add another 200 grams of meat/bone.

16 oz [2 cups] water

4 raw egg yolks (use eggs from free-range, antibiotic-free chickens if you can)

4 capsules raw glandular supplement, such as, for example, multigland supplement by Immoplex (Immoplex Glandular)

4000 mg salmon oil (see note at bottom of recipe*)

800 IU Vitamin E ("dry E" works well)

200 mg Vitamin B complex or

1.5 tsp. Lite salt (with iodine)

(optional: 4 tsp. psyllium husk powder (8 tsp. if using whole psyllium husks; see note at bottom of recipe**)

NOTE: If you will not be using the food immediately and freezing for more than a week or two, toss in 4000 mg of additional Taurine to make up for what may get lost during storage. It is also not a bad idea to sprinkle extra Taurine from a capsule on the food as you're serving it two or three times a week, just to be certain your cat is getting plenty of this critical amino acid.

1. Remove about half of the skin from the muscle meat. Chunk up (i.e., cut) as much of the muscle meat (minus most of the skin if using chicken or turkey, but leave skin on if using rabbit) as you can stand into bite-sized (nickel-sized, approximately) pieces. Save the chunked meat for later. Do not grind it. (I use scissors to cut the meat. Raw liver and hearts)

2. Grind the skin and raw meaty bones. Once ground, stir this meat/bone mixture well and return to refrigerator.

3. Fill a bowl with 2 cups of water and whisk everything (non-meat) except the psyllium. If you had to replace liver with Vitamin A/D or replace heart with Taurine, add the substitutes now. Finally, put the three mixtures together--the "supplement slurry" that you have just mixed, the ground up meat/bones, and the chunks of meat that you cut up by hand. Portion into containers and freeze.

Don't overfill the containers. The food expands when frozen and you don't want lids popping off. Thaw as you go. The food shouldn't be left thawed in the refrigerator more than 48 hours before serving. To serve, portion into a 'zipper baggie' and warm under warm water in the sink. NEVER microwave the food. Cats like their food at something approximating "mouse body temperature."

*Every two or three days, I suggest sprinkling a few drops of fresh salmon oil from a newly-opened capsule on to the cats' food. The Essential Fatty Acids in salmon oil are extremely fragile, and since we do not know exactly how much gets lost during freezing, I think it's wise to use a bit of fresh salmon oil directly on the food a few times a week. Most cats love the flavor.

**Not all cats require additional fiber (psyllium) in their diet. If your cat has been eating low-quality commercial food for several years, especially dry food, she may have lost bowel elasticity and may benefit from the extra fiber. As a general rule, I recommend using psyllium when an adult cat first gets raw food. I rarely add much psyllium to my adult cats' diet. Bear in mind that some cats seem to get constipated without additional fiber, whereas other cats seem to get constipated if they get too much fiber. Each cat is unique, and you'll have to judge what works best for your cat.

EMERGENCY GUIDE TO CAT HEALTH

Owning a Ragdoll is like having a baby. As parents, we should all be realistic and accept the fact that emergencies do happen. This segment is designed to be a handy guide for you, as a responsible Ragdoll "parent" to have as a reference. It will help you be prepared if indeed an emergency does arise.

Warning Signs of a Serious Injury:

The following may signal that your Ragdoll needs medical attention. You should seek veterinary care:
Anytime you find a lump on your cat's skin

• If your cat seems unusually short-of-breath
• If your cat experiences a sudden change in appetite
• If your cat starts to lose weight rapidly
• If your cat drinks often and urinates more frequently than usual

In Case of Bleeding:The following areas are pressure points on your Ragdoll which, along with direct pressure on the wound, will help stop bleeding.

• The upper inside of the front legs. Pressing here will help control bleeding of the lower forelegs.
• The upper inside of the rear legs. Pressing here will help control bleeding of the lower hind legs.
• The underside of the tail. Pressing here helps to control bleeding of the tail.

Note: Avoid using a tourniquet. A great number of limbs are lost because the blood supply is cut off for too long a time.

Coughing Can Be Serious:

Coughing is the most common sign of heart disease in cats. If your cat has been coughing for more than 24 hours, consult a veterinarian immediately!

Houseplants That Can Hurt Yourt Ragdoll:

Here is a list of common houseplants that are poisonous to cats: Philodendroms, Dieffenbachias, Jerusalem Cherries, Yews, Caladiums, Spider Plants, Airplane Plants, Cyclamens, Foxgloves, Dragon Trees, Mistletoes, Azaleas, Poinsettias, and Rhododendrons.

NOTE: To be safe, most veterinarians recommend you always keep houseplants away from your cats.

Symptoms of Internal Bleeding:

Symptoms to look for include: blood in the vomit, blood in the urine, pale pink or white gums & listlessness.
Press your finger against your cat's gums. If they don't turn pink after a momentary whiteness, contact your veterinarian immediately!

Testing Your Ragdoll for Dehydration:

To test your Ragdoll for dehydration, especially during the summer months, gently lift the skin along its back. Normally, it will snap back into place. In dehydrated cats, however, the skin loses elasticity, causing it to stay up in a ridge. If this happens, it's an emergency! Contact your veterinarian immediately.

In Case of Injury:

You should always have a pet first-aid kit handy in case your Ragdoll is ever injured. It should include some of the following things: gauze rolls, absorbent cotton, hydrogen peroxide, eyewash, tweezers, syringe (without the needle) for giving oral medications, a clean, white sock - to slip over an injured paw . . . and, very important . . . be sure to have your veterinarian's phone number extra-handy at all times!

How to Check Your Ragdoll's Pulse:

To check your cat's pulse, simply feel on the inside of his back thigh, where the leg joins the body, and start counting! The normal pulse is anywhere between 110 to 170 beats per minute.

Links related to Ragdoll health:

http://www.ragdoll-cats.com/Myths.htm