Right now I’m exhausted. Three days ago my healthy eight
month old kitten suddenly fell ill with a fever, very ill. A quick trip to the
vet for fluids and an antibiotic shot, and I stayed up all night feeding basic hydration solution every hour or two with a small medicine dropper. He kept trying to get up and
move, and getting him back in his bed wasn’t easy. Along with that I hardly had time
to pay attention to my tea. I drank a lot of it just to stay awake, and found
myself thinking about dehydration. First off, a recipe for a base re-hydration
solution:
Basic Hydration Solution
1 quart water (946 ml)
1 tablespoon white sugar (12.5g)
1 tsp table salt (6g)
Shake or stir and decant into a bottle. Keep refrigerated.
Daily, a cat requires liquid at about ¼ cup or 60 ml per 5 lbs (2.26 kilos) of
body weight. So that means about 2 tsp (20 ml) dose every hour or two for my
10 lb kitten (yes he’s a big boy at 8 months). I used a small medicine dropper and put a bit at a time inside his cheek so he could lap and swallow without choking. Anyway, this is a basic recipe and no different from
Pedialyte at the stores, but without the preservatives and cherry flavoring. I
tasted it myself and didn’t taste much of anything. It works for people too, you can add a bit of fruit juice to make it taste like something.
Green Tea and Dehydration
People turn to green tea as an addition to a healthy
lifestyle, and this can include copious amounts of exercise. Drinking a lot of
green tea and sweating can dehydrate a person of minerals. Some of the sheng
puerh teas I drink cause profuse sweating.
I’ve noticed that I’m somewhat dehydrated when I wake up and
my back hurts. Drinking a bit of water before getting up helps put some fluid
around my spine and I feel much better. Tea is a diuretic, and along with a
prescription diuretic I might need to replace minerals.
Potassium
This is one of the first minerals lost in dehydration.
Stores have so many “energy” drinks today, as well as “electrolyte” replacement
drinks, but so few have any potassium. The best way to get this is from foods
like
1. Avocado—the
highest potassium food item.
2. Sweet
potato—next in line.
3. Spinach.
 |
| Avocado and sweet potato yam are good for potassium replacement. |
I’m not big on avocado myself. Avocados don’t grow in my
climate so any we get here tend to be small, hard and yellow. Bananas and
potatoes are further down the list, even behind cow’s milk for potassium. Sweet potato is an
easy choice.
Sweet potato Fries
1 large sweet potato (serves 2)
1 teaspoon of olive oil (about 5 ml)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Scrub the potato, peel if desired and slice into small long
julienne “fries” about 1 cm or ¼ inch in width.
 |
| Cut fries in bite size sticks. |
 |
| Don't skimp on the oil, you need it for browning. |
 |
| The key to great baked fries is don't let them touch another fry. |
 |
| I don't like food photos myself. Plate for Dear Son. |
Magnesium is lost through sweating or diuretics. This is one of the few minerals which is absorbed
effectively through skin. My sister turned me on to magnesium oil spray. It’s
easy to apply after a shower, and she taught me to spray it on the front of my
lower calves (legs).
 |
| Magnesium Oil Spray www.skinwell.com My kitten scampered off with the sprayer top. |
Of course I didn’t put any of this on my kitten. I didn’t
find out what caused his high fever. He wrestles hard with my big Maine Coon
cat, so maybe he got an injury or had a virus. Luckily after just 24 hours, my
kitten got up and his fever broke.
Iron
Iron is not necessarily lost through dehydration or green
tea, but I mention it because tea pots are one way to supplement trace amounts
of iron. This is very important for women, so I want to write a little here.
A century ago before iron-rich foods were readily available,
women struggled with persistent anemia. Anemia is one of the first diagnoses
and tests doctors performed back then. Doctors checked for and assumed anemia
in menstruating women because most women had it. Nowadays with the food
distribution system, doctors no longer even think to test women. My doctor
found I had persistent anemia from a blood panel when she wasn’t even looking
for anemia. Doctors don’t think of it when they see what appears to be a
healthy young woman in the office. Yet actress Brittany Murphy died at age 28
or so from a cold and walking pneumonia. She wasn’t taking large doses of
medication, but the autopsy found anemia. Her blood and body had no strength to
fight the infection.
Iron-rich foods are ever more expensive, and many people are
foregoing red meat for either health or philosophical reasons. Women at both
sides of the economic spectrum might not get the iron they need, either because
they can’t afford iron-rich foods or choose to not eat them. I did not care for
red meat much in my younger days after growing up on a heavy red meat diet, so
clearly I wasn’t getting enough iron in my diet when I got an anemia diagnosis.
An iron supplement was an easy fix.
A tea pot like this one from potter Inge Nielsen is made
with iron-rich clay. The interior is not glazed.
 |
| Tenmoku glaze iron-grog clay pot by Inge Nielsen, Etsy |
My kitten started eating again and drinking water. He thinks
he’s well enough to play hard, but he’s still a little wobbly on his back legs.
I stayed up with him another night to hand feed him wet food and make sure he
was drinking water on his own before I slept. Now I’m very tired and somewhat
dehydrated myself! He wants to be on my lap all the time now, he is just so
happy to feel better. I’m $100 poorer, but at least I have my healthy kitten
back.
 |
| Winston Yes, those are tea crocks behind him. |
