Essential Care for Feeding and Managing Sick Dogs and Cats

Sick animals usually refuse to eat anything offered to them during illness. Preparation of suitable diet is therefore very important for voluntarily intake in order to avoid hand or forced feeding. Milk preparations should be made fresh 3 or 4 times a day for feeding the sick animals, and the refuse or left over material should be decarded and thrown away.

The pots for feeding should be clean and dry before and after use. Also clean the snout and lips of the patient each time after feeding. Nutrition may be provided in the form of Raw Beef Tea, Fish soup, Meat tea, sheep brain boiled with milk, egg albumin (white part) mixed with milk and milk thickened by mixing arrowroot.

Raw Beef Tea can be prepared by soaking 400 gram raw beef in 500 ml drinking water for 3-4 hours. Warm it gently and then strain and squeeze through a coarse muslin cloth before offering to the ailing pets.

Fish soup is prepared by boiling the fish in water or milk for 20-30 minutes and offered to pet after straining. Rice boiled with fish is also very nutritious and palatable.

Meat Tea can be prepared by taking 100 gram each of small cut pieces of beef and mutton together and then boiling it for sometime in 300 ml of water. Offer the pet after straining.

Essential Care for Feeding and Managing Sick Dogs and Cats: Key Guidelines to Follow

• Attend the pet regularly for food, water and natural calls.
• Provide necessary medication and aid as and when required.
• Avoid forced feeding to sick dogs or cats in case they refuse to eat.
• Offer them attractive and palatable feeds such as boiled eggs, meat or chicken soup, minced and boiled sheep brain or rabbit meat, cooked liver, boiled minced fish, soup mixed with little rice, cheese, powdered yeast, cooked wheat gruel pr cornflake with lukewarm milk, custard and potatoes.
• In case of refusal to food one or two spoon of glucose either alone or mixed with equal amount of skim milk powder may be tried orally.
• Feeding of ice cubes and ice cold milk during summer months may be beneficial to sick pets.
• In case of complete refusal to eat anything then infuse 400-500 ml Dextrose saline intravenously.
• Resort to nutrient enemas or suppositories in more debilitated cases. Nutrient enema can be prepared by mixing 5 to 10 table spoon of milk or meat broth and egg yolk and given through rectum every 3-4 hours. Before giving enema or inserting suppository, remove the faecal matter present in the rectum by finger or douche. The nutrient enema should be given slowly in order to place the content into intestine and to avoid ejection by excitement. Hold the tail down over the anu after raising hindquarter.
• Provide a calm and quite atmosphere to your pet during sickness.
• The pet should be provided a jute or paddy straw made comfortable bed rapped in a gunny bag or old towel suitably above the ground level. Small wooden box can also serve as a platform for this purpose.
• Avoid menace of flies by shampooing the pet with well diluted Savlon lotion or by dusting with Dogi talcum powder all over the body.
• Remove faecal matter from surroundings and keep floor clean by sweeping with phenyl mixed water.
• Feeding of vitamins, minerals and iron tonics during debility is good for early recovery. Administer 0.5 mg/kg Vitamin K by subcutaneous injection.
• Vimeral syrup, Polybion, B-complex and Liv-52 are good mineral and vitamin supplements for the purpose.
• Food supplement like spirulina, B-protein, Nutripet, Prosan, Provisar, Cerelac, Farex, Pet food and dog biscuits, Nutribix, may be offered for early recovery and better health.
• Electrol or Electrobion WHO recommended formula is good for oral rehydration of sick pets.
• Felovite-2 specially flavoured with tuna soluble is a palatable vitamin and mineral supplement for cats. Similarly, Purina kitten chow is special readymade food for growth of kittens with extra vitamins, minerals and proteins.
• Bene-Bac pet gel is live bacterial culture for dogs and cats which provides beneficial bacterial help to establish and maintain the microbial population in pet’s intestinal tract.
• Nutripet is a good nutritive food supplement for keeping good health.