Natural remedies for colds in cats: how to cure them naturally
Is your cat cold? In addition to medications, there are natural remedies to treat a cold in cats. Let’s see what they are and how to make cat feel better in a natural way.
If your cat is less active than usual, often approaches heat sources, tears and sneezes, it is likely that he has contracted the most common respiratory disease: a cold.
As for humans, natural remedies can also be used for cats to treat colds that may have caught with the first cold or during the winter season.
In this article we give you some tips to care for it naturally, with home care, but reminding you of the importance of keeping the situation under control and contacting your doctor if it does not improve over the course of the days.
Colds in cats: natural remedies
Felines have a particular predisposition to contract respiratory diseases and certainly the most common in cats is a cold. It is not a serious pathology, but it is important not to underestimate it: in this article we propose natural remedies to treat it without resorting to medicines and drugs, but it is good to consult the veterinarian for advanced states and in case of prolonged persistence over time.
So here are some tips to care for a cat with a cold in a natural way:
Help him eat: it is likely that there is a state of inappetence in the cat, caused by the virus in the body. Since it is essential that the cat continues to eat to strengthen its immune defenses, it will be necessary to stimulate it or keep up with it, even feeding it. For this purpose, we can try to dirty his mouth with baby food; if he likes to drink, we can offer him some meat and / or vegetable broth lukewarm or fresh: the important thing is that you eat nutritious foods. Chopping food so that it is easier for him to swallow may also be a good solution. Prefer moist recipes to dry preparations, even homemade, at a lukewarm temperature, to bring out the smells and flavors. Another trick is to get food on one of its forelegs, so that, while licking itself to clean itself, it ingests food and gets a little hungry.
Give him plenty of milled water, to ensure that he does not dehydrate.
It is important to keep him warm, both with the right temperature in the room and with blankets in which he can curl up and rest. Also avoid drafts: they will only make the situation worse.
Help him clean his eyes and nose: tears and mucus should not accumulate, which could form crusts and create hygiene problems, with solid and purulent residues. It is useful to take three different sterile gauze pads and wet them with physiological serum, so that cat can see and breathe better.
Increasing the humidity of the environment with a humidifier helps the cat to clear the airways. It is therefore good to always keep the special containers on the radiators full, perhaps also adding drops of chamomile or eucalyptus essence, which have a vasodilating effect on the respiratory ducts. Making your cat take steam baths is also helpful: to do this, just run hot water in the bathroom with the doors and windows closed and let the cat enter for 10 minutes, so that the accumulation of steam can release it. the nose.
Let him sleep and rest in peace, without forcing him to move, go out or play: sleep and rest will speed up healing.
In the convalescence phase
Once the stage of the disease is over, it will be important to prevent relapses. To do this, you could use natural supplements using homeopathic treatments to strengthen the immune system.
In case of catarrhal residues in the eye lids it is useful to make chamomile compresses that dissolve the encrustations: after making the infusion, soak a soft cotton pad and pass it gently on the cat’s eyelids, taking care not to rub.
If after 4-5 days of cold and after having put into practice the natural remedies recommended to fight it the situation does not improve, then it is better to take cat to the vet: the current infection is more serious than expected and must be treated as soon as possible, even using specific medicines.
What about honey? Is it OK for cats to eat it?
Honey in small amount is ok to give.