Please meet Licorie. My new foster
By feralcat
@feralcat (426)
Canada
December 31, 2006 7:37am CST
Hey folks I would like you all to meet Licorice. She is 3 years old. and the shelter asked me if I could take her in my care and try to treat her. The vets are unsure exactly what Licorice is suffering from but it is sometype of immuno defiency disorder which has you can tell by the picture she has patches of fur missing and also her gums get to a point where they become quite inflammed and she can hardly eat and cries alot in pain. She recieves a shot once a month which lessens the pain and inflammation enough for about 3 weeks. Vet told hte shelter managers Holly and Lisa that eventually they will have to put her down but like them I beleive that this can be reversed; ot cured but reversed enough for Licorice to live a better life.
Because of treatment I do with 5 FIV cats to build hteir immunity and keep hteir systems strong by the use of natural therapy and supplementation, they asked if I could treat her with the same and see if her system can be rebuilt strong enough. She is in my care for about 3 months and I hope treatment will work.
Twice a day she gets at this point 250 - 300 of Ester-C, 15mgs of CoQ10, 2 - 400ui of Vitamin E, 500mgs of L-Lysine and a partial diet of raw meat aloing wiht her canned food (for ctra ammino acids, vitamins, minerals). I started doing this only last night.
Thought I would share this beautiful kitty with you all. She is so friendly and loves being woth you but at the moment she is isolated in the bathroom until she gets used to the others and vice versa.
5 people like this
18 responses
@samsonskola (3357)
• United States
1 Jan 07
I think she's just gorgeous no matter what. And I think she is just about the luckiest cat in the world because someone like you took the time to want to try to help her live a better life instead of just deciding to put her down and not bother. I think the world needs more people like you, and I know that this beautiful kitty will be loved and cared for no matter how much more time she has here with us.
1 person likes this
@mspretteekittee (80)
• United States
5 Jan 07
congratulations...i commend you i could never foster cause i would want to keep every kitty. you are a great person for taking in babies with needs.
1 person likes this
@hockeygal4ever (10021)
• United States
2 Jan 07
Awwww... she looks like our one kitty, who's about a year old now, Sydney.
@Alexandria37 (5717)
• Ireland
1 Jan 07
Well, I must commend you on devoting so much of your time to the care of these cats. It saddened me to read that this beautiful cat is unwell. I don't know a lot about cats, but I have kept a lot of dogs during my lifetime. One of my dogs, a golden retriever suffered similar symptons to your cat, and when I took him to the vet, he didn't actually tell me what was wrong, but he gave him some shots and told me to rub his gums and the bald patches on his skin with a solution of water and gentian violet. Within the space of six weeks, my dogs fur started growing again and his gums were also showing signs of healing. After about three months he was completely cured. I am not sure if this would work for you cat, but I just thought I would mention it. I do hope your beautiful cat will make a full recovery.
@Alexandria37 (5717)
• Ireland
3 Jan 07
Gentian violet ( JEN-shun VYE-oh-let) belongs to the group of medicines called antifungals. Topical gentian violet is used to treat some types of fungus infections inside the mouth (thrush) and of the skin. I also just remembered too, way back my husband suffered from a few bald patches on his head (allopecia) and his mum told me to use the gentian violet. His hair grew back within a couple of weeks and to-day, he still has a very good crop of hair.
While I am here, I would like to ask how Licorice is doing. Is there any improvement?
@tlmoore79 (99)
• United States
2 Jan 07
My cat,Jill, is pretty healthy although my kids keep letting her out and she gets pregnant every time... I don't know what to do. I keep making her appointments to get spayed and three times now she has already been pregnant by the time we get there. This last time her kittens were only a few weeks old and she had managed to get pregnant. I feel awful for her but don't know what to do about it.
@rebelann (111189)
• El Paso, Texas
8 Sep 20
Female cats are ready to breed before their litter is weaned which makes it difficult to get them spayed sometimes. Maybe you need to train your kids to be more careful rather than letting her out all the time.
@feralcat (426)
• Canada
1 Jan 07
I'm the lucky one to be able to try and give her all the help I know of. I alesyd feel lucky that they let me into their lives even if only for a short while. Puppies are great aren't they. My Shelby who is part border collie and sheltie and 17 years old now.
@margieanneart (26423)
• United States
5 Jan 07
Bless your loving heart. She is so lucky to have you. May I suggest something, and please don't think I am crazy. But, lay your hands on her, and pray to God. God is loving of all His creatures. Give Him a chance to help her. Do it in faith. Until then, I pray that she will not have pain.
@brendalee (6082)
• United States
1 Jan 07
Awe, she is very beautiful. I hope that you are able to help her. You have such a kind heart. Please keep us updated as to how she is doing. And thanks for not giving up on her. I wish there were more people around like you.
@brendalee (6082)
• United States
1 Jan 07
Well, if your crazy then I want to be crazy too. Can I ask you a question? Do you support all animal rights or just the cats? The reason I ask is because I am preparing to ruffle a few feathers in my town over an incident that happened with my dog. I may need some advice on where to start.
@feralcat (426)
• Canada
1 Jan 07
I will keep you updated on her progress. Giving up has never been part of my vocabulary when it comes to animals; some do think I'm crazy for going all out for animal rights and humane treatment but it's okay; I prefer being crazy because of my love of animals then being cold hearted.
@suscan (1955)
• United States
2 Jan 07
How beautiful she is. You are a wonderful person to work with those cats. We always take in foundlings rather then go to buy animals, We have always had great joy in our animals.
@Tisifone (639)
• Italy
1 Jan 07
Looks very nice :)
I have a black cat too, his name's Merlino. Sorry for not posting a pic but I've not reached 500 posts yet :(
By the way... one of my cats has the feline immunodeficency too. He wasn't responding to any therapy so we tried homeopaty. This was 5 years ago, when we though he was gonna die. After that treatment he didn't need anything else and now he's in good health. We treated first the symptoms (severe inflammation of the gums) with Granuloma dentis and then he got 1 injection a day with Galium Heel for ten days.
@Tisifone (639)
• Italy
2 Jan 07
You're welcome :)
Merlino is my black cat but he's healthy.
Another one of mine - Misty - is the one with FIV.
Galium was the remedy for Misty, but homeopathy only works if the choice of the remedy to use was made for that specific case. It depends on different things. The ones I posted were useful for my case. Your cases may need different remedia. I would suggest you to search for a vet that specializes on homeopathy. My vet is using it with great successes and, especially for comportamental probles, he's using Bach Flowers too.
@feralcat (426)
• Canada
1 Jan 07
You mean Merlino has Feline Aids? I have five rescues in my care that are FIV positive who were born with it and I have them on a cocktail of 8 or 9 different supplements daily that I administer via syringe in the mouth. Also I had Vitamin C to their food and pure liver powder for xtra protein and also give them a partial diet of raw meat.
So far they are doing very well but things can change so fast with this illness.
Thank you for the tips on the Granuloma and Galium Heel, will keep these in my mind for future use.
@Tanika (632)
• Australia
1 Jan 07
Heya, i think you do such great work with your cats from what ive read and this sounds like the best possible thing that could have happened to her. she is very sweet looking but you sure can see the sadness in her eyes. I know you will be sucessfull, but good luck anyway. Tanika.
@feralcat (426)
• Canada
1 Jan 07
Thank you but the work I do I take no credit for. The cats are the ones who deserve all the credit for letting me do this for them. There is a certain sadness in her eyes I agree. I had one feral cat Katherine who had the saddest eyes I have ever seen in my life and to be honest I would not want to sit and listen to her tell me her story of survival in the wild and the constant risks involved to live. I'se seen horrible things in my years doing this kind of work; things that really made me think hard to if this is the kind of work I did in fact want to do and keep doing but no matter what I kept on keeing on.
@enchantedemerald (454)
• United States
1 Jan 07
Hi Fellow Feline Friend,
Licorice is adorable and I welcome her to the mylot community. Have you heard of something called alopecia areata--this is a disorder where cats lose patches of their fur. I have heard of it before but I don't know a whole lot of info about this disorder or how to specifically get rid of it. The other thing that came to mind is Cushing's Disease. Dogs get this disorder more often than cats but cats can also be affected by this disease. Is Licorice losing any fur around her back legs as well? I have a little terrier that has Cushings Disease and it has been a battle but we are winning. My little dog has lost the majority of fur around her back legs and neck. Her skin is very transparent as well. The vet said she produces too much cortisol in her body. She is on 1/2 tablet of Lysodren twice a week now to keep the Cushings from getting too bad. Last year is was only 1/2 tablet once a week. What about bloodwork--any clues there to decipher what causing this? I hope these suggestions will give you some avenues to pursue in order to get Licorice back on track.
@feralcat (426)
• Canada
1 Jan 07
Thank you will look into this. She does seem have little fur on her hind legs. My main concern is the gum inflammation. I've been giving her Ester-C, Vitamin E and L-Lysine as part of the raw diet and she sure enjoys the taste of the gravy it makes which is a great thing since the L-Lysine can help lessen the inflammed gums. I also use L-Lysine in all water bowls for the indoor and outdoor cats to help guard against herpes. I've been fightig herpes in one particular cat for months now. Used 3 different types of antibiotics with no luck until I started using raw diet as part of her daily feedings. Not sure if this is what did it but the herpes have fially been kicked and the third eyelids have finally resided.
@mamabulldog60 (351)
• United States
1 Jan 07
Have the vet ull her teeth the stomatitis/gingitivis will go away she sounds like she has either FIV or Felv. For some reason immuno deficiency issues result in sore mouths and bad teeth, she will be able to eat great once the source of her pain is gone.
@mamabulldog60 (351)
• United States
2 Jan 07
Licorice may just have bad teeth, still removing them will give her some relief, I inadvertantly deleted you as a friend, take me back please LOL
@Withoutwings (6992)
• United States
4 Jan 07
She is a beautiful cat. I wish her the best. And I'd also like to say that you are a beautiful person to be taking in all these kitties that other people wouldn't bother with. Best wishes to all of them and to you.
@GardenGerty (157555)
• United States
2 Jan 07
I have heard a nutritionist speak strongly about feeding cats all raw diet. I have not tried that. Two of my three cats get very inflamed scabby skin, and I cannot kill out the fleas. They mostly go away in winter. I came to suspect the skin issue was from a particualr name brand EXPENSIVE cat food, as that is when it started. I have had good luck with a vitamin supplement that had lineic and linolinic acids as well as vitamins with another cat, but these two will not eat it. I may try your formula. The vet thought the younger one had FIV but he has had the shots, and his bloodwork was clear. He is a persian type mix and came to me with a chronic sinus infection, and a tape worm. My friends say I have an invisible sign that says "Block Mother for animals" His sinus infection seems to be staying more clear as he ages. I have had him about three years.
@cassiej2005 (202)
• United States
2 Jan 07
She's cute, I helped a cat out, i adopted from the ASPCA and then my 2nd cat I got from a local Wendy's and named her wendy!!
