Happy Holidays to all!!!

Wishing ALL A Very Blessed Yuletide!!

From all of us at Witch Cats Blog to all our dear friends!

Brightest Blessings & Merry Yule ~

Kim, Midnight, Haley, Kiki & Tabitha

Finally finished!

Today marks Midnight's sixth and final Laser Treatment Therapy session. Each session takes only 2 1/2 minutes (dogs take between 45 minutes to and hour) and he has been responding so well to them thus far. From here on in, he is only scheduled for a once a month session unless otherwise needed. It has helped him a great deal with his arthitis pain and I would most definately recommend it to anyone. Although the only down side is that our kitty absolutely hates car rides and does not travel well. The worst part of taking him to the vet is getting him from our house to there. Once he is there, he is much calmer, and after he gets home again, he is great! 

It is hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago, he could not even turn his back to groom himself and we could not so much as touch his backside without him crying in pain. Now, he is pain-free and flexible again ...

He had developed a respiratory infection from taking him back and forth for two weeks in this horrible cold winter weather. A few days ago, the vet gave him an antibiotic shot and it did very little. So now he is on oral meds ~ one pill three times a day and it seems to be helping as he is not sneezing near as much. It is highly possible that he lowered his immune system quite a bit by stressing himself out during the car trips back and forth to the vet. But, hopefully he will get over his cold now that he (and us!) have some down-time. He can rest and stay warm in the house for another whole month.

Homemade Treats for Yule

With the sabbat of Yule approaching, we do not want to forget our furr babies. What do they love most in the whole world (other than us)? Well, treats of course! Here are a couple of sweet little recipes, one for cats and one for dogs, which you may wish to try. Special Thanks to our awesome vet, Eagles Peak Animal Clinic for these great recipes!
 

 Chicken Treats for Cats

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup cornmeal

1 tbsp. softened margarine

While your oven is preheating to 350 degrees F, combine the chicken, broth and margarine, then add the cornmeal and flour. Knead the dough into a ball and then roll it out to 1/4 inch. Cut into 1 inch pieces and bake for 20 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Healthy Pumpkin Balls for Dogs

This snack is not only delicious, but it is also filled with fiber, vitamin A, betacarotene, potassium, and iron.

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

4 tbsp. molasses

4 tbsp. water

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pumpkin, molasses, vegetable oil, and water together in a bowl. Add the whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon to the mixture and stir until dough softens. Scoop out small spoonful's of dough and roll into balls on your hands (wet hands work best). Place the balls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and flaten with a fork. Bake approximately 25 minutes until dough is hardened.

(resource: Eagles Peak Animal Clinic Newsletter ~ Winter 2013)

Midnight makes Eagles Peak's Facebook Page!!

Our clients have been talking-cats meowing and dogs howling about the different types of therapy that EPAC offers. For new advance treatment we have Laser treatment. Amazing what this does! We also have the Oasis (Hydro therapy) treadmill. Hydro therapy focus on weight and rehabilitation. We also have Acupuncture available now by Dr. Lee Pickett, she will provide pets with this option right here in the clinic. Pets have pain too! Make sure we have the solutions for all kinds. Long happy-pain free lovable life with our furry family is what we all want! Please feel free to call or stop in and speak to with us about anyone of the therapies. If your pet is happy, so are you. When you both are happy, so are we!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eagles-Peak-Animal-Clinic/209140892456756
http://www.eaglespeakanimalclinic.com/

Midnight's Laser Therapy

Since Midnight's diagnosis of athritis in his back and tail, we have decided to take Dr. Ostrich's recommendation to put him on Laser Therapy as an alternative to pain medication and/or periodic shots.

Yesterday morning was Midight's first Laser Therapy session with his technician, Danielle. She allowed us to be in the room with him while she treated him and she explained to us all about Laser Therapy, what is is, what it actually does, and the beneftit of this kind of treatment. She also told us that they have worked on hundreds of dogs so far but Midnight is their very first cat to be treated there. 

All of us, Midnight included, had to wear safety googles to protect our eyes. The entire session lasted only about 10 minutes and our baby was an absolute trooper as usual. Danielle said it feels like a warm message and took a pic of him afterwards. She told us she was going to hang it up in the office lobby for all to see. She even printed off a color copy for us to take home ...

Eagle's Peak Therapist Danielle works on Midnight's arthritic back using Laser Therapy techniques.

So far, Midnight is responding to the therapy fairly well ... only 5 more to go! 

Thought for the Day

"Until one has been loved by a cat, a part of their soul remians unawakened."

Okay, I can breathe again now ...

The past couple of weeks since it has gotten so much colder here in Berks County, PA, our kitty Midnight has been limping and crying in pain if we so much as touched his backend near his tail. We finally decided we needed to take him to our trusty vet, Dr. Ostrich, to get him checked out. Turns out:

1. After placing a sample of his fur and skin dandriff on a slide and immediately looking at it under a miscroscope while waited, he had developed a yeast infection on his back; and,
2.  Upon examination, Midnight had to be scheduled two days later for x-rays of his spine.

For the infection, he prescribed a lotion we must apply on his back once a day for two weeks called, Ketomax. And, he also gave him a shot for the pain.

As for his x-rays, I took him back to the vet today and Dr. Ostrich took two shots of his spine. I got the results within a few minutes and the doc took me into a viewing room and, with Midnight in tow while I cradled him in my arms, went over the results. He showed me the x-rays and exactly what I was looking at and told me that the area between his tail and spine are arthritic and that is what is causing him so much pain. The answer: Laser Surgery treatments. It will take six consecutive treatments and then one session per month thereafter. 

Talk about relieved? I am so very happy that it is not something much worse and that we can help him with treatments. No pills, no shots, just a painless laser procedure with the added benefit of NOT having to put him to sleep while doing it. 

Thank you once again, Dr. Ostrich ... you're the best!!!