After the outbreak of the epidemic, Wuhan officially "lockdown of a city", whether staying in Wuhan or unable to leave the city of pet owners, as well as affected pet owners in other areas, pets at home have suffered a food crisis.
Left-behind cats and dogs only have enough food to eat during the Spring Festival holidays, which has become the concern of shoveling officials, who stay at home like an island, waiting for rescue.
What is the situation of left-behind cats and dogs?
If the shoveling officers have left enough water and food for their pets, then there is no need to worry too much about their survival. As for the litter box that has not been cleaned for many days being rejected by the cat owner, or the big dog only eating dog food and suffering from malnutrition, these are all minor problems. Wait for the shoveling officers to go home and then take care of it slowly. During the
special period, we are most concerned about the lives of the children.
If food and water are not enough, we need to consider the following problems that the children may encounter:
Fatty liver in cats caused by hunger
Obese cats, in
particular, are prone to fatty liver in the case of hunger. If the color of the gums, paw pads and ear canals of cats turns yellow, it is likely that liver function has been impaired. At this time, it is necessary to provide cats with some low-carbohydrate foods as soon as possible to supplement antioxidants, which can help protect liver cells from destruction and death. In addition, due to electrolyte imbalance, especially hypokalemia, it is easy to occur, so it is necessary to dilute rehydration salts and feed them to regulate the electrolyte balance in the body. Of course, if conditions permit, contact the hospital as soon as possible for biochemical examination.
Urinary problems in cats
Cats may have blood in their urine and closed urine because of long-term separation anxiety and the fact that the litter box is too dirty to urinate. If there is only blood in the urine, supplement the cat with food with high water content. After 3-4 days of observation, if it has not improved, it is necessary to go to the hospital to check whether there are problems in other places.
Pay attention to the refeeding syndrome
Cat owners all know that cats may eat more than usual when they are bored, and they are likely to eat up the surplus you have left early, so they will inevitably be hungry for a few days. When feeding a cat that has been hungry for a long time, it is best to skip the high-carbohydrate cat food and switch to canned and freeze-dried food to slowly adjust the cat's physical condition. Avoid cats suffering from re-feeding syndrome and endangering their lives.
Stress reaction not to be ignored
When cats and dogs are not accompanied by their owners, they will suddenly increase their diet and overeat, but it is not excluded that some pets do not like to eat. For highly dependent pets, the psychological injury is more serious if they stay in a closed situation for a long time.
On Weibo, a shoveling officer was reunited with his cat after returning home. At first, everything was normal, but the next day he died quietly in the cat's nest without a sign. From the joy of meeting to the discovery of the cat's still warm body, but only a few hours later, water and food are sufficient, why did it die suddenly? The source of guilt is stress.
1. When the cat is greatly stimulated, it will struggle until the hormones and important trace elements in the body are exhausted, and then some cells and tissues are destroyed, reaching the exhaustion period after trauma. Exhaustion occurs when stress is severe or persistent, when blood pressure drops, blood concentration drops, and no defensive measures in the body work, eventually leading to death.
2. The symptoms of stress reaction can be light or heavy, affecting the urinary system, digestive system, immune system, reproductive system, etc. Light is not eating or drinking, diarrhea, excessive licking hair, heavy is closed urine causing cystitis, causing feline plague or even death, long-term stress cat life is much shorter than other healthy cats. It is easy to die young.
How to deal with stress reaction
Of course, the shoveling officer should not panic too much, as long as the pet owner has a certain understanding of the response to stress, take timely intervention measures, do not abandon, warm companionship, help the cat to do a good job of anti-stress, the cat will recover quickly. When appropriate, they should also see a doctor in time so as not to delay the opportunity of treatment.
When you
get home and see the cat again, the shoveling officers should stretch out their soft hands and caress it heartily to let it know that it is no longer lonely! At the same time, do not take the cat out of the house immediately, which may also stimulate its stress response.
1. Prepare to welcome new members of the pet family, first let the aborigines stabilize their emotions before considering. Remind the shoveling officer who usually likes to play pranks to tease cats to stop at this time. Home is also the harbor of the cat master, which needs to create a warm, safe and comfortable atmosphere.
2. Although domestic cats and dogs usually look very delicate, but in fact they have a certain ability to adapt and survive, because the epidemic left them so long shoveling officials, do not blame yourself, there is still a long way to go in the future can be a good companion, in extreme cases can survive, rely on the usual resistance of cats and dogs.
3. Therefore, we should raise pets scientifically in our daily feeding to enhance the immunity of cats and dogs. Hubei pet owners, to believe that the strong hair children will survive, but if you leave because of force majeure, do not be too sad, protect yourself and your family, dear they will protect us in the cat star and the dog star!
About the author
Finally, thanks to the wonderful article provided by the public account of "Xiaoding Dang Education Pet"!
