It's accepted conventional wisdom that once a cat is trapped it learns to avoid being trapped--this is why it is important to give the trapped cat all available medical services at one go. But is that really the case? In recent weeks I've recaptured cats I previously had treated; some of them were my own housecats on a nighttime lark (yes, in the summer I do let them out).
This raises an interesting question and a possible opportunity. Many of us are trying to stabilize and manage feral cat colonies, and one of the health problems those colonies face on a regular basis is upper respiratory infections.
I propose this: That a thread/post be created to educate people on how cats with URIs should be treated. This should include full treatment protocols, along with a list of the drugs available and a weight/dosage chart for each. In a perfect world we'd leave all of that to veterinarians, but they're both expensive and overworked at the moment.
We also need to create a "virtual clearing house" for medication. There should be some place that we, as non-licensed volunteers, should be able to get drugs such as Clavimox and dosage information. I am not proposing that we dispense with vets, only that we lighten their load by treating routine infections ourselves....
This raises an interesting question and a possible opportunity. Many of us are trying to stabilize and manage feral cat colonies, and one of the health problems those colonies face on a regular basis is upper respiratory infections.
I propose this: That a thread/post be created to educate people on how cats with URIs should be treated. This should include full treatment protocols, along with a list of the drugs available and a weight/dosage chart for each. In a perfect world we'd leave all of that to veterinarians, but they're both expensive and overworked at the moment.
We also need to create a "virtual clearing house" for medication. There should be some place that we, as non-licensed volunteers, should be able to get drugs such as Clavimox and dosage information. I am not proposing that we dispense with vets, only that we lighten their load by treating routine infections ourselves....