"My cat got a double dose of Benadryl. Will she be okay?"

Question in title asked on Quora. Here is the answer. 

Benadryl, which is the brand name for the medication diphenhydramine, can be safe for cats in certain situations, but it is important to consult with your veterinarian before giving it to your cat. Benadryl can be helpful for allergic reactions, such as hives or swelling, and can also be used to help with motion sickness or anxiety.

However, it can also be toxic to cats if not given correctly. Cats can get diphenhydramine poisoning from ingesting too much Benadryl or from ingesting Benadryl that contains other ingredients, such as decongestants or pain relievers, which can be toxic to cats.

Here are some of the signs of diphenhydramine poisoning in cats:

• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Dilated pupils
• Loss of coordination
• Seizures
• Coma

If you think your cat has ingested Benadryl or is experiencing any of the signs of diphenhydramine poisoning, it is important to take them to the veterinarian immediately.

Important: Never give your cat Benadryl without first consulting with your veterinarian. Your veterinarian will be able to advise you on whether Benadryl is right for your cat and, if so, the correct dosage.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Can cats get sinusitis?

Cats can, indeed, get sinusitis just like their human caregiver. Respiratory infections (URIs) are common in cats. They can lead to secondary, bacterial infections of the frontal sinuses. These occur with some frequency. The signs are the same as those that you would expect to see with people. 

Cat with a headache head-pressing to alleviate it. Pic in the public domain.

The symptoms include a persistent, purulent, nasal discharge, often just from one nostril accompanied by sneezing and sniffling. The cat will probably have a headache although they can't tell you that. Once again, you can deduce this from the fact that people have headaches when they have sinusitis. Sometimes cats 'head-press' when they have headaches.

The cat may appear to sit with his eyes partially closed and his head hanging. He will suffer from a diminished appetite and lose weight. This is all very typical with humans except humans although feeling bad with sinusitis continue to eat normally.

An abscessed tooth can also lead to an abscessed frontal sinus. There may be a swelling below the eye. But this is uncommon in cats.

Sinusitis in cats can also be caused by a fungal infection but this is uncommon. The fungal diseases concerned are cryptococcosis and aspergillosis. Cryptococcus is often associated with exposure to pigeons. This may occur when dust from pigeon poop blows in through an open window.

A veterinarian will diagnose feline sinusitis through external symptoms and demeanour as mentioned above confirmed by an x-ray which may show increased density in one sinus.

Also, the treatment is the same as for people namely antibiotics which should be chosen carefully and based on culture and sensitivity tests. Surgical procedures can be performed but I would expect this to be as an absolute last resort.

Turning briefly to people, as I understand it, sinusitis can be caused by allergens and minute foreign bodies such as pollen being inhaled. A cat might be particularly sensitive to environmental, airborne, particles such as pollen which may cause sinusitis in that individual cat. If that is true, I would expect the owner to run some tests to see whether keeping the cat inside, in a filtered environment, alleviates the condition.

In people, there are a number of treatments that can be used without the intervention of a doctor such as NeilMed sinus rinse. It's a question of using all one's means to prevent the inhalation of particles which can trigger the production of fluid in the sinuses because they irritate the membrane in the sinuses.

Cats have two frontal and two sphenoid (wedge-shaped) sinuses. My book tells me that the small sphenoid sinuses don't often cause problems.

Ringworm transmitted to cat owners from their cat can be cured in minutes with UVB light

I feel that I need to pass this information on again. This is because I have yet to see this cure for ringworm on people discussed on the Internet. It is probably there but I've not bumped into it. Anyway, I can absolutely confirm that the most efficient way to get rid a ringworm on a cat owner because their cat gave it to them is to use UVB light. 

Ringworm being removed with UVB light. This is in the process of being cured. Photo: MikeB

Here are the same symptoms about 3 days later:

Ringworm transmitted to cat owners from their cat can be cured in minutes with UVB light.

The picture on this page shows ringworm on my left leg after three, 40 second sessions of UVB light on consecutive days. It is not yet cured as you can see but you can also see that it is on the way to being cured. I would expect it to resolve by itself now without further treatment within about seven days.

Here is the same place about a week later:

UVB light cures ringworm in humans who have got it from their cat. Pic: MikeB

You properly know that ringworm itches. After the first session of UVB light the itching stops and the cure commences. In my experience, UVB light cures ringworm much more quickly than antifungal creams. The only problem is that even though there are no other ringworm symptoms visible, I know that it is still there and it will come back perhaps in a year's time. It comes back that infrequently but it invariably returns.

So, all I'm doing is removing the symptoms. I've not yet worked out how to totally cure myself of the disease (please comment if you have the final cure). I was given it by a black, three-legged male cat, Charlie, that I adopted from my mother who was recently deceased at the time. I looked at him in her home and could not leave him. But he had ringworm unbeknownst to me. That was many years ago and I've had this persistent and irritating disease ever since.

But I would strongly recommend UVB light to manage it. It is so efficient and totally painless and the cure starts immediately. You can buy these lights on the Internet and they are quite cheap. Buy a handheld one for ease of use.

My current cat has not got it from me thank God. But I always remove it as soon as it flares up. Perhaps that it why.

Experts say homeopathy as a feline treatment doesn't work but I strongly disagree

It seems to me that very few people believe in homeopathy as a treatment for cats, companion animals and their human owners. Dr. Bruce Fogle in one of his books, Natural Health Care, refers to homeopathy. He says an extensive review has been published in the British Medical Journal in 1991. The review analysed 107 controlled studies involving homeopathic medicines as treatments on cats under the heading of natural cat care.

Homeopathy works in my view. This treatment works in curing mange in foxes. Photo: MikeB.

He concluded that the studies were not well-designed but despite that 81 of the studies showed that homeopathic medicines were effective while 24 showed that they were ineffective and two were inconclusive. In 1994 a double-blind study published in the medical journal The Lancet concluded that homeopathy was better than a placebo in treating hay fever. However, no good studies of homeopathic medicines have been carried out on cats.

Dr. Fogle says that the number of veterinarians using some homeopathic remedies are increasing in Europe, North America and Australasia. He does say, though, that the vets who use homeopathy do so because they are willing to accept evidence from owners who swear by the treatments and they are so dilute that they can do no harm.

I would like to throw my hat into the ring on this one. I know that homeopathy works as a treatment. This is from first-hand experience. I have treated a number of foxes with mange which causes extensive hair loss most often on their tail and intense itching.  It is distressing to see. 

You simply add half a dozen drops of this treatment (see above) to their food and over a period of about two months the mange is completely cured. I have seen it with my own eyes. I swear by it and the fox charity who provided me with the homeopathic treatment knows that it works because they send out this product to countless thousands of people who report back with their success stories.

If you're interested in this fox mange treatment then please click on this link.

Dr. Bruce Fogle explains how homeopathy works. He states that the body is in a constant state of self-repair. The organs of the body and cells renew themselves constantly. Homeopaths believe that a vital force regulates the body to maintain health. Homeopaths work out how the body is trying to defend itself and they prescribe treatment on the basis of "like cures like". The remedy stimulates self-healing rather than suppressing the signs of the disease. "Like cures like" has also been called the "law of similars". It is the central principle of homeopathy.

The remedies are substances which if taken undiluted by a healthy person would cause symptoms similar to those of the of the disease being treated. So, for example, if a person is being treated for local skin irritation the homeopathic treatment is poison ivy but highly undiluted. Highly diluted poison ivy would be a suitable homeopathic treatment for flea bites in cats, for example.

Signs of heatstroke in domestic cats plus treatments

The signs of heatstroke in domestic cats are arguably quite important today with climate change and with some extraordinary temperatures, recently, in the north-west of America and up into British Columbia Canada where there have been temperatures approaching 50°C. They lasted for several days causing shock among the citizens and expert observers. People do not expect the effects of climate change to be so dramatically apparent so quickly. It was caused by a 'heat dome' but the underlying cause is almost certainly global warming, a man-made catastrophe.

Cat panting. Photo taken from video screenshot on YouTube.

For this reason, although heatstroke in domestic cats is, I am sure rare if not very rare, it is a possibility and it is therefore useful for cat owners to know the signs of heatstroke in domestic cats and what to do about it.

The first point is that it is an emergency requiring immediate recognition and rapid treatment. The main way that cats cool down is by panting in which they exchange warm air for cooler air. It also uses the cooling effect of the latent heat of evaporation. This is an early possible sign.

Signs

Heatstroke begins with noisy, frantic and rapid breathing. The mucous membranes such as the gums and the tongue are bright red. Saliva is thick and tenacious. The cat will often vomit. The temperature as measured with a rectal thermometer (which ideally should be in the first-aid kit) rises sometimes to 41°C or 106°F.

The temperature is taken to confirm what is probably evident by the appearance and behaviour of the cat. Left untreated the cat eventually staggers and becomes unsteady. They have diarrhoea which might be bloody and they become progressively weaker. The lips and mucous membranes become a pale blue or grey.

Eventually the cat collapses and goes into a coma and dies if the heatstroke is left untreated.

Causes

Common causes would be these extraordinary temperatures I've mentioned combined with the cat being perhaps in a place in a home where she is unable to cool down. I'm referring to an increased environmental temperature. Another example would be in a carrier in a car where she might have been inadvertently left for too long. A cat suffering from airway disease which interferes with the removal of heat from her body through rapid breathing may suffer from heatstroke. Along those lines a cat suffering from heart or lung disease which also interferes with efficient breathing may overheat

Finally, a cat that generates their own heat through exercise, seizures or a high fever may go on to have heatstroke.

Treatment

The treatment would be to call a veterinarian for advice and take prompt action. If you have a thermometer check body temperature. But do it carefully for obvious reasons. My reference book suggests the obvious (not a criticism) which is to cool your cat down. You can do this in various ways such as using ice packs applied to the head and groin area, cold towels under the armpits and groin as well as the head, or submerge the cat's body in cool water et cetera. And then you check temperature again.

When the temperature has dropped it is recommended that you see your veterinarian because delayed "secondary problems can include kidney failure, cardiac arrhythmias and seizures". There may be swelling of the throat. This makes the situation worse. A veterinarian may provide a cortisone injection to treat the swollen throat.

Obviously, preventative measures are better than reactive ones and I'm sure that's responsible cat owners do this. But I know there have been many premature human deaths because of the extraordinary high temperatures referred to and therefore it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that some domestic cats have died as well through heatstroke.

Reference: Myself and Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook third edition.

Do you use antibiotics for cat diarrhoea?

Dr Bruce Fogle says that cat owners often ask if he will use antibiotics to treat their cat's diarrhoea. The answer is that the vet needs to know the species of bacteria in the gut to be treated or if the intestines are severely damaged. Administering antibiotics in other circumstances to treat diarrhoea risks upsetting the good bacteria in the stomach and making things worse. A vet might suggest probiotics.

Do you use antibiotics for cat diarrhea?
No unless you know the species of bacteria to treat.
Photo: in public domain.

ANTIBIOTICS FOR CAT BITES

CAN PUMPKIN HELP CATS WITH DIARRHEA?

Your vet will tell you the causes of diarrhoea. There are many possibilities. If your cat goes to the toilet outside it can hard to know if she has diarrhoea. Vomiting often accompanies diarrhoea and the remains of poop stuck to the fur on the cat's backside is a giveaway.

What is a complementary treatment for cats?

Complementary treatments for cats are a form of treatment that is outside mainstream medicine and which can be carried out at home by the cat's owner with the advice of their veterinarian or under their supervision and perhaps rarely without this advice provided the cat's owner is knowledgeable.




All home treatments should be carried out with care and thoughtfulness. Cat owners should not assume that information on the internet on this topic is always accurate or correct.

Complimentary treatments don't necessarily cure but are additional to and supportive of mainstream treatments.

For example, for feline cancer complimentary treatments might include: nutrition (low carbohydrate, high protein and fats), vitamins, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, herbalism, homeopathy and Bach flower remedies.

Mainstream treatments for feline cancer include: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, cryotherapy (freezing cancer cells), hyperthermy (heat probes or radiation), diet and immunotherapy.