Curing the Common Cold for Your Cat

Was that a fit of sneezing you just heard? You call out to your youngest child and ask if they need a tissue, only to hear a reply of “it wasn’t me”. Your mind tries to rationalize if it wasn’t you then who. You advance into the next room and find a teary eyed cat that really needs to have her nose wiped. Yes, the cold season can affect your precious cat too.

Now we all know the common cold will eventually work itself out of your system if you take care and heed to a few home remedies, but how do you tell a cat to get plenty of rest and eat properly. Well certainly you could tell them and chances are they would listen to every word, but it would not change the outcome because they already sleep to much being indoors for the winter and you already control their diet with regular feedings.

A trip to the vet could enlighten you as to how to proceed with your much-loved cat, but it would also lighten your pocket book too. The remedy could be already in your medicine cabinet, you just don’t know it. I received this handy tidbit from my daughter who worked in an animal clinic at the time. Her comment was simple if you take her to the vet they will probably give her a bunch of tests to prove she just has a cold and then feed her some vitamin C. I’m not a vitamin taker so I actually had to go to a store and purchase a bottle but the cost was minimal.

My daughter returned home and showed me how, and I was amazed at the results and how quickly they took effect. Buy administering just a quarter of a Vitamin C tablet to our cat for four (4) consecutive days her symptoms disappeared. Over the years, we have come to know the symptoms, runny eyes, fits of sneezing, lack of appetite, sleeping constantly. We have been able to cure the common cold in our cats and they have lived a rich life just celebrating their 16th birthdays this past December.

With the use of two straws, we can easily administer the piece of Vitamin C and make her happy and healthy once more.

Here is How Straw Method:
Take two straws and cut the one straw just a bit shorter than the other.
Carefully place the longer straw inside of the shorter one; this will act as your plunger.
Take one Vitamin C tablet and cut with a knife on a cutting board into four (4) even junks. This is easy as most have markings on them for cutting.
Draw the straw plunger and take the piece of Vitamin C and place it in the end of the straw, making sure the longer straw is ready to be pushed with ease.
Cradle your cat in your lap and stick thumb and forefinger on opposite sides of the jaw and gentle open enough to insert straw towards the back of the tongue.
Push the straw plunger and the Vitamin C will drop onto the back of the tongue. Remove fingers and allow cat to swallow.

While this is extremely simple, it may sound complicated written out, you do have alternative. Since we have two cats and one likes the straw method, our other cat also 16 years old prefers this method.

Here’s How Syringe Method:
Crush one quarter of a Vitamin C tablet and mix with a half a teaspoon of water.
Fill syringe with mixture and administer into cats mouth as close to the back of the tongue as possible for easy swallowing.
Because Vitamin C can leave an after taste in your cats mouth be sure to have a fresh supply of water that they can drink.

Please Note: While we maintain this practice with our cats, and it has proved to be very successful we never need to give either of them Vitamin C longer than four (4) consecutive days to relieve their runny eyes or sneezing symptoms. It is not recommended to give cats a regular dose of Vitamin C as preventative medicine. Only use when needed for best results. If in doubt, consult with your veterinarian first.