Just a tip... I found some Omega-3 powder for cats in my local PetSmart (not sure of the brand off the top of my head). I started giving it to my cats, who had caught a very persistent nasty cough after being exposed to a virus. They were on it for a few weeks and the coughs finally went away! The bag says that for cats with a weakened immune system, you can double their normal dosage for awhile to give them a boost, which is what I did (takes about a week of titrating up to the dose though). Of course there is no way for me to test whether the powder is what helped them kick the cough, but I sure am convinced! :) Also, it has another benefit - it tastes good! I mix my cats' medicine into their food, but often they can taste it and won't eat it. But if I mix a little of the powder in with it, they eat all the food without a problem. Nice easy way to get them their medicine!

Omega 3 fatty acids have been recommended for cats for various conditions. They may have helped your cat but many upper respiratory infections in cats are viral and it takes time for their immune systems to get rid of it. I have used fatty acid supplementation for inflammatory bowel disease in cats with a few very succesful cases.

[quote:f44ffc2ed0="drcpsmith"]Omega 3 fatty acids have been recommended for cats for various conditions. They may have helped your cat but many upper respiratory infections in cats are viral and it takes time for their immune systems to get rid of it. I have used fatty acid supplementation for inflammatory bowel disease in cats with a few very succesful cases.[/quote:f44ffc2ed0] Hmmm, I have a cat that was diagnosed with IBD, yesterday. 13.5 pounds, any suggestions as to a dose to help him out? Vet put him on steroids, antibiotic, and one other one that i can't remember. giving pills to a cat is kinda like herding them (though my Border collie tries:-)

does this powder have omega 3 ? im checking the flax seed organizations omega 3 page and can't find any info on pet powder, just that omega 3 pasta, etc is available for humans LOL. Care to explain if this is just the name of the product.

ps.... this was the page I couldn't find the reference to pets and omega 3 on.
http://flax-seed.org/omega_3.php

The easiest way to give a cat a pill is to lay a large towel flat on the floor, take your cat and roll it up like a burrito in the towel, pick up, sit on the couch and lay your burrito cat in your lap and give her/him the pill.

I like your simplistic attitude. One of my bengals runs a mile whenever he sees a towel coming as he knows I am going to try and give him a pill. My vet here in Portugal showed me the right way to give him a pill, but he still scratches me to death when I try.

I give my cats vitamins and meds every day with no problem. I use a mortar and pestle to change it to powder then I mix a little oil from a jar of anchovies. I add that paste into their food and they gobble it down! =^,,^=

Thank you for these tips. I have to sometimes give my Himalayan cat medication and afterwards I always have to count my fingers! The burrito idea sounds great...and gave me a laugh! I might also try the anchovy method!

Great ideas to give cats their medicine!

I have only rescue cats, they are the most loving creatures I have ever had!

These were wild cats!, and I mean WILD!; in the winter of 2000-2001 it was terribly cold here and on a January morning I discovered a little kitten, less than 2 months old, it still had blue eyes, sitting outside, I gave it some food and water and it hid; after 30 minutes I checked on him, and to my surproise he walked straight into my hands!, I took him inside and noticed that he was blowing big 'snot balloons' from his nose, and I had also noticed another kitten on the attic of the garage - my son-in-law grabbed her later that day. Boy, she was wild!

I had seen a georgeous cat in the garage back in December of 2000 and I had started feeding her there; she always sprinted out of the garage when she heard me come in - the door was always open to the outside for the dog, so she could come in to be more comfortable.

Anyway, these two kittens were sick, so I took them to the vet and they got antibiotics and a wormer. They both got rid of tape worm and the first kitten turned out to be a boy, his name is Frosty. Frosty is now 8 years old and he still has chronic sinositis, never got rid of that, it doesn't bother him much, only when it is colder he starts sneezing more.
The second kitten is a girl, she got well pretty quick, het name is Tinkerbell.
These two became tame in no time and whenever they can they jump on my shoulder and hig me and kiss me, they are very, very loving cats.

Now, to make a very long story short: there was still another kitten, that I discovered 3 weeks later, he was healthy and still is, his name is Sam. Their mother is Princess.
In April of 2001, on the 15th! she had another litter, with 4 kittens: 2 boy and 2 girls, when they were about 2 months old I grabbed them (tons of scratches on my hands and arms) and a week later I grabbed Princess, their Mom. Had Mom spayed.
All the cats have been spayed and neutered. I could only give 2 kittens away, had to keep the rest, they hid when people came to look at them, and Sam took care of his younger siblings from April and one of them is so attached to Sam that I could never separate them anyway.
Soooo, I have a whole family; in November of 2001 the Dad showed up, he was a dear, his name was Charlie. Unfortunately he died in June of 2008 of old age, he was also one of the most loving cats, very faithfull to me and his Princess, she adored him.

All these cats sit on my lap and shoulders at all times when I sit down to read or watch TV. Sometimes it is a bit much, but then, they are like little kids; when I come home they jump around me and against my legs like little dogs and kiss my hands .

I also have two little dogs with them; actually the youngest dog was eight weeks when I rescued her (someone was going to just dumpe her!) and when I brought her home in a box, Frosty jumped in and started licking her and took her by the neck to show her where the food and water was and Frosty and Sam showed het the litter box, so that little dog (now 5.5 years old) got potty trained by my male cats!
Now she goes outside, doesn't use the litter box anymore, but she and the cats still adore each other!

All are indoor cats. They are all turtle backs, except for the two from the second litter, their Dad was obviously a Siamese, they have the Siamese built, the slender long legs and slanted eyes; one is solid black, a female, Spookie (she spooks about anything!) and the other one (Sam's cat) is a male, white with black patches, his name is Patches - he is still so wild that I cannot touch him when passing by him, but he will lay on my lap and hug me.

I will try to find the omega-3 powder to give to Frosty, maybe that will get him over the chronic sinositis; it doesn't bother him and he doesn't mind my cleaning his nose, he is used to that.

I sometimes wonder how to give them a medicine if one of them would be sick, because there is no way I can catch Spookie or Patches, they are still too wild and scratch.
When applying Frontline (I have a large spray bottle) I have to approach them quietly when they sleep and quickly spray it over them; the moment they notice they jump up, hiss and run.

Maria, interesting!

I recently had to put my almost 18 year old cat down. I am still very sad about it. I was going to start trying some fish oil supplement to help with his arthritis, but I believe that he had a stroke. Anyway, I couldn't let him suffer any more.