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Health: Cat litter and lung diseases

March 12, 2013 By Sunny Lim

You might have heard from your friends that certain cat litters will cause respiratory problems in cats and humans. If you haven’t, this article might be helpful to you the next time you out doing grocery shopping.

No such thing as dust free cat sand

The most common type of cat litter found in the market and easily the most popular among cat owners has to be the clay type cat sand (the one that literally looks like sand). It’s inexpensive, clumps well – making it easy to scoop, absorbs moisture effectively resulting in less odour after the sand is soiled.

However, when you are clearing the litter box or when your kitty digs the litter, it kicks up dust particles which is breathed in and some of which consumed, when they lick their paws. You must be thinking that it’s no biggie especially when there’s already so much airborne pollutants.

The deadly particle

The problem however is that the main ingredient in cat litter, is Sodium Bentonite and some of which contains crystalline silica (this includes silica gel cat litter). Research has shown that prolonged exposure to crystalline silica dust may cause silicosis (a fatal lung disease) as well as bronchitis and tuberculosis. Secondly, Sodium Bentonite has the ability to soak up large amounts of moisture and expands in the process, that’s why it works so well as cat litter. Like how smoking clogs up the lungs, imagine what damage the dust would do if it absorbs the moisture and expands in the lungs.

Furthermore, ingesting Bentonite and silica dust may cause them to accumulate in the intestines over time. Because of their ability to absorb, it may cause malabsorption of nutrients, as well as blockages.

Cleaner alternatives

Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives available including:

Recycled paper
Pine pellets
Corn cob granules

Although they are more expensive, but like I always say, it might save you vet bills and heartaches in time to come. Besides, they are from environmentally friendly sources, biodegradable and can be flushed down the toilet in small quantities.

Alternatively, why not shred some news paper and sprinkle some baking soda? Works too! (Not baking powder. You can get one big box of Arm & Hammer baking soda around $4-6. Really cheap and you can use them for a ton of other applications! You can find them either in the baking section or laundry detergent section.)

But the best solution would be investing in a litter tray with a sieve, like the one from PeeWee. Because with a separate sieve, most of the cat’s urine would pass through straight to the collecting tray at the bottom. Rest of the urine would be absorbed by the litter which would break down and also fall into the collecting tray when the cat scratches the litter.

Giving a little more for a healthier cat

However, just like how healthy food seldom tastes great, ‘cleaner’ alternatives does have their disadvantages. You might find that some of the brands are not being able to clump or smells faster. But all of these disadvantages will be offset if you used a cat litter tray with a separate sieve. There’s a few clumping paper litter that seems to be highly recommended but still not yet available in Singapore, so I’ll have to keep a look out for that. But from experience, it’s just a matter of spending a minute more to pick up the soiled litter more carefully (Just use a scoop without holes, that would help a lot) or investing in a new litter box. No big deal. We can’t be thinking about ourselves all the time can we?

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Finally if you find this article useful, please share it! And if you are looking for pet groomers or pet care advice and of course pet grooming advice, please feel free to contact us!

Diseases: Natural cures to chronic skin problems

January 30, 2013 By Sunny Lim

Have you wondered why your pet’s skin problems keeps recurring after spending so much money on vet bills? Even if you’re the lucky few who don’t face the problem, please read on. Given the rise of unscrupulous breeders, there’s a high chance that your future pet is going to develop chronic skin problems. Besides, the recommendation I’m going to give today will help to improve your pet’s overall well-being. That in turn is going to save you a lot of medical bills and more importantly, heartaches.

I have two dogs and they are both on the same diet. Why is that only one of them is suffering from skin problems?

Unfortunately, whether your pet is susceptible to diseases is already written in the genes and others, are more prone to certain problems because of their physical attributes. The reason? Let’s go a little into the details. Female dogs ovulate twice a year and this period is the only golden windows in the year when breeders have the potential to earn money from the dogs in holding (or what we call the ‘breeding stock’).

Because of this pressure, they would try to breed whatever dogs they can, usually resorting to in-breeding or line breeding (mating siblings or close relatives). This act results in what we commonly see in humans when genes of both parents are closely related, the incidences of birth related defects or genetic problems would be higher.

Furthermore, because of the defects, it lowers the animal’s chance of getting bought, the breeder in his effort to utilize all resources efficiently, would use the defective pet for breeding again and in turn, creating a next generation who are carriers of the faulty genes.

In addition, businesses being businesses, would seek to minimize costs and maximize profits. With that in mind, would you think that the animals in the farm would receive quality care? Would they be fed quality food that is essential to good health? That is why so many animals grow up with poor immune systems that’s so prone to diseases.

Secondly, some breeds are more susceptible to skin problems than others. E.g. Dogs with wrinkled skin (Shar-pei, Pugs etc) are more prone to Skin Fold Dermatitis where because of moisture trapped between the folds causing bacterial and fungal growth.

My pet has not have skin issues for the last couple of years up until recently. What’s wrong?

Just like in our human bodies, viruses, parasites, malicious cells are present in and on your pet’s bodies all the time. They lie dormant only because they’re being suppressed by the body’s immune system. Whenever your pet is exposed to long term stressors physically or mentally, take for example separation anxiety, possessiveness, change of environment, pregnancy, heat cycles, illness, allergens from food or the environment, it may cause the body’s immune system to weaken and cause skin problem outbreaks and other problems like intestinal parasites and obsessive paw licking.

What do I do then?

Like humans, they can be stressed about anything and allergic to anything, therefore, a process of trial and error is inevitable.

If your dog is calm and you don’t think it is mentally unbalanced in any areas, you can follow these recommendations:

See a vet and get skin tests done to see what might be causing the problem (Bacterial? Fungal? Demodex or Mange mites?) Medications can be prescribed to ease symptoms for a moment. Zymox is a range of enzymatic products usually prescribed for bad cases of bacterial and fungal infection. It’s usually my choice too because of its natural ingredients which doesn’t have any of the harmful side effects that other medications, steroids or antibiotic does. You can get it from the vet or from The Grooming Table.
Identify if there’s any changes in your pet’s lifestyle or environment lately. Food, new member in the family, new pets, pregnancy, products, floor cleaners used etc.
Feed your pet a high quality, grain free diet, or even better, commercially available raw diets (commonly known as BARF diets). If you see an improvement, you can try reading up on how to prepare raw diets at home for your pets. A complete, raw, varied diet that is close to their ancestral diet helps to bring the body back into balance. (More on this the next time.)
Eliminate any forms of bread, biscuits, commercial treats. They either contains carbohydrates which fungus feed on, yeasts or contains toxins that just wrecks the system. Here’s how to make your own.
You can also try using raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar aka ACV (Bragg or Solana Gold) in their diets or as a leave on treatment. For small dogs, add a teaspoon into their food daily, 2 teaspoon for a medium breed and a full tablespoon for large dogs. It contains numerous enzymes and minerals which has a variety of benefits, including improving digestion, balancing the body PH levels, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial properties and much more. As a leave on, dilute 1 part ACV with 3 parts water and apply to the body after shampooing and conditioning. Dry as normal.
Bathe your dog every 1-2 weeks. Too much sebum will be removed if bathed too often which will stress the skin to produce more sebum. Too infrequently, the bacterial flora will over colonize on the dogs skin especially if the skin is already weak.
Always apply conditioner after bathing. This helps to bring the skin back to balance after being exposed to cleaning agents. Also rinse the conditioner thoroughly as too much product left on the skin will also encourage bacterial growth especially in hot and humid weather. For more information, read our article on how to give your pet a bath.
Dry thoroughly after its bath.
Do not use any fragrances on your pet.
Although Singapore is warm all year round I have customers who claim that during cooler periods their pet’s skin did show signs of improvement. If really so, have your pet stylist give Fido a shorter clip or have the undercoat removed. Or place a metal sheet in sheltered areas to serve as a cooling pad.

Remember, the key is really a lot of trial and error. It is a tiring and painstaking process, but it is essential to solving the root of the problem. It is a long term solution to save your pet and your pocket, not antibiotic and steroids. I wish you all the best and please take a before and after picture of your pet’s skin and post it on our Facebook page will you? Or did you have any similar experiences? Please share it on our Facebook page.

Diseases: Dealing with diarrhoea

January 16, 2013 By Sunny Lim

Just the day I came back from Malaysia, I got the runs immediately the morning after. But from all the good food I had, it was well worth it.

That reminded about my Maltese which I adopted. She was never in the pink of health and she has bouts of diarrhoea or rather soft stools very often. However even with a healthy pet, they can get diarrhoea from a sudden change in diet, food intolerance, stress and intestinal parasites.

Soft stools caused but dietary intolerances usually go away pretty quickly if the stomach is given enough rest, but remember, If the diarrhoea persists for more than a week or is followed by any or a combination of the following symptoms, please seek medical advice from a vet immediately:

Black tarry stools
Blood/mucous in the stool
Foamy stools
Abdominal pain
Accompanied with frequent vomiting
Marked lethargy

Otherwise, here are some suggestions that may help your pet alleviate their symptoms after two days.

Keep a tube of probiotic product for animals in your fridge. Choose those that contains clay which helps to harden their stool.
If you don’t have probiotics with you, you can feed small dogs a teaspoon of plain yoghurt twice daily and a tablespoon for big dogs. It doesn’t work as effectively as the probiotic supplement, but what the hell, it’s a healthy treat!
Fast your pet for a meal and in the evening, feed it something light and in small portions. E.g. Cooked oats, rice, vegetables, pumpkin, sweet potato, chicken breasts, fibrous fruits like banana or guava. Save the broth for them to drink to help replenish their fluids.
To test if your pet is properly hydrated, pull on the skin on their neck and if the skin retracts back quickly, then they’re okay.
To be safe however, you might want to mix isotonic beverages into their drinking water or better, get electrolyte sachets from the pharmacy if you have one near you.
To make your own electrolyte supplement, you may stir some raw honey and pink rock salt/unrefined sea salt (those that aren’t pure white) into their drinking water.
If your pet refuses to drink, get a syringe without the needle, fill it with the solution you choose to feed, place the syringe between the space between the cheeks and teeth and feed the solution slowly. OR simply, add wet food or water to their diet. As a rule of thumb, a dog should be getting 60ml of fluid per kilogram body weight per day and cats half that amount.

Finally if your pet constantly has problems with soft stool due to poor digestion, may I suggest that you try this brand of pet food K9 Natural. From my own experience and from many others, pets fed on K9 Natural experienced very good absorption resulting in very little, firm stools. I really like that because I know that my pets are being fed with what they need and very little is turned to waste.

Again, if you have any feedback or if you have any tips that you’d like to share, please write us a comment! Good luck and may your pet be healthy always.

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