I have a 6 year old domestic short hair cat named Rocky. For years now has has urinated inappropriately and vomited often. He is very anxious by nature. The vet prescribed him amitriptylene 10 mg. After a few days he stopped marking and vomiting. He has been on the pills for a couple of months now but he is lethargic, doesn’t purr and pretty much just lays around all day, he is unhappy. I decided to see if he would be ok without them so I stopped giving him the pills 4 days ago and he has already vomited 3 times. He has always had a problem with hair balls and dry stool as well. I really don’t want to have to give him those pills. For the past 3 weeks his fur has looked terrible and has been shedding like crazy. Up until 2 weeks ago we fed him Nutro Natural Choice canned cat food and Castor & Pollux dry. The pet store stopped carrying the Nutro natural Choice so we switched to Blue Buffalo Spa Select canned. He gets 1/4 can wet food twice daily plus an oz of dry twice daily. He is a normal weight, though I’ve had to feed him a little extra lately because he seemed a bit thin. My question to you is this, is there a natural/alternative remedy I can give him that will replace the pills? I’ve heard St. Johns Wort 100 mg (2x daily) + phenylalanine 100 mg (2x daily) is helpful for stress/anxiety in cats. As a human I avoid pharmaceuticals and hate to give them to my cat. Thanks for any suggestions you can offer!
Kind regards.
Hello,
Thank you for your inquiry to Holistic Pet Info. There are quite a few natural products you can try for feline anxiety. Several that HPI carry are Rescue Remedy, Composure by Vetri-Science, PetCalm by PetAlive and Quiet Moments spray. I have used all of these products with success, but you may need to try a few to find which works best for your cat.
Hairballs can be treated naturally with canned pumpkin. It is an excellent fiber source that works well, though some cats do not like the taste. He may like the taste of Hairball Aid better than the pumpkin.
I always have food hypersensitivities on my list for cats that chronically vomit. Ideally the cat may do better on a canned only diet, which I would make sure it has a very good quality protein, a moderate amount of fat and no to low carbohydrates. Some diets you may try are Halo, Wellness no grain, EVO or Solid Gold. Best of luck.
Regards,
Colleen Smith DVM, CVA, CVCP