Young Kitten with Enlarged Heart
Answered by: Kerry Hackett
Question from: Suze
Posted on: January 03, 2008

Vets have given up on our kitten Bubba’s chances, I am interested in any holistic advice you can give us. She is about the size of a 6 week kitten but is close to 10 weeks old. The fluid has backfilled to her lungs and caused infections which are being treated with broad spectrum antibiotics. We have exhausted all our money and veterinarian options. Her xrays show her heart takes up a lot of room in her chest. There are no abnormal sounds to her heart or murmurs according to the vets she has seen. One lot of vets thought she just had phenmonia and would "grow into her heart". She has lost weight.. has periods on and off food. Mainly interested in lamb heart cut up very fine. Definitely smaller than her litter mates by almost half. Yesterday I thought we had a breakthrough. Today things look grim. We are willing to give anything a try right now.

This is a very difficult question to answer without alot more information, veterinarian’s reports, examinations, etc. So, on that front, I would suggest you look into the services of a holistic veterinarian found through the Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association; you can find a practitioner close to you by going to their website at www.vbma.org

In the meantime, perhaps look at the dietary information found in the works of Richard Pitcairn, "Natural Health for Dogs and Cats", "The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat" and "Cats Naturally" by Juliette de Bairacli Levy and "The Barf Diet" by Ian Billinghurst to try to provide general physical strength. As for her heart condition, I will mention some ideas I have seen in the following text, but as I said, in order to be effective, much more information is required.

"Where there is congenital malformation of the heart or great vessels or trauma to the chest, parsley honey wine is very effective in bringing relief. Take ten freshly gathered stalks of parsley (with leaves), place them into one and three-quarters pints of organic wine (it must be organic: red or white) and add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Simmer gently for ten minutes on a low heat, then add ten ounces of pure dark clover honey and continue to simmer very gently for a further four minutes. Strain and bottle while still hot (the receptacles have to be previously rinsed with rye whiskey or other strong alcohol). The bottles must be well stoppered. The sediment is beneficial and should be taken along with the wine. Give the patient two dropperfuls four times a day or whenever the breathing is difficult, rapid or includes open mouthed gasping. This wine will help any condition of the heart.... Enlargement of the heart is improved by an application of agrimony tisane, three dropperfuls, three times a day.... For all heart conditions, as well as administering the appropriate tisane and parsley-honey wine, you can do nothing better for your catthan to prepare a a standard infusion of hawthorn (leaves, flowers, berries and twigs can all be used, separately or together), sweeten the tisane with half a tablespoon honey per cup and give three dropperfuls three times a day." Claire Nahmad: "The Cat Herbal" (1999).

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