Replied by Aka Sherri (College Station, Texas, United States) on 04/30/2012

My veterinarian suggested I give her 1 capsule of dandelion root a day to promote the appetite. He didn't know if it would help, but it couldn't hurt.

He obviously had no idea of all the other benefits of dandelion root.

I followed a rigorous schedule while she was sick and she did make it. She lived another 10 years without ever being sick again, at all!

The first thing you need to know is this. As you know, a sick pet will quit eating and drinking on her/his own. Lack of food and water usually kills our pets long before the ailment ever does. It is absolutley imperative that your cat be fed and watered every 4 hours. You'll have to check with your vet about specific amounts of each.

Now for what I figured out on my own that I believe saved my cat's life in addition to the dandelion root.

Everytime I fed Samantha, she would throw up. Anti-nausia medications did nothing to help. I was beside myself until I realized that it was the bile overflowing into the gut that made her throw up. So... At every feeding, I gave her enough to make her throw up the bile. We'd take a 2 or 3 minute break. After that, she could keep down all the food, water and medications I gave her.

We also had a designated place to eat. She would not leave that area until after we finished eating. We would take lots of breaks during feeding, but she would not be allowed to leave the feeding area. I believe this helped reduce stress for her because she knew that when we left feeding area, we were done eating. I think that is much better than letting the cat go wherever she wants to go when we take breaks, then going and retrieving over and over again. By doing it that way, she knew that when she would go back to her hiding place, she would no longer be interupted and stressed by hand feeding and watering.

I was VERY DILIGENT about keeping to a 4 hour schedule. I got up in the middle of the night to feed her, again that morning, I spent my luch hour feeding her......... I went to these lengths to save her and I personally believe that is why she made it.

I really couldn't tell if she was getting any better. She didn't seem to be. When I took her back for follow up blood work, they couldn't believe the difference! They were stupified!

I had to keep on top of it for another couple of weeks and still didn't see that she felt any better.

One day, I got special dinner for my other cat because she was getting so much less of my attention since Sam became so sick. That was the day I knew Sam was going to be okay! Samantha was resting next to her when I brought the special dinner in for Booh-Kitty. Sam JUMPED off of the bed and proceeded to gobble down all of the dinner! Thankfully, I had enough for both of them.

For about a year, Sam got nothing but that food because I knew she would eat it!

As soon as Sam started eating on her own, she felt so much better, gaining all her weight back and being her usual self again! Like I said earler, she lived another 10 years. She passed having lived a full, healthy life.

Even though I don't think that vet thought the dandelion root would help, I'm forever grateful to him. That was my first miraculous experience with herbal remedies and the thing that turned me on to natural medicine.

Interestingly, dandelion root is suggested.

Replied by Aida (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) on 05/01/2012