By Valerie Faeroy
Intro by Michael: Valerie wrote a comment and I have converted it into this article. You can see that Valerie has struggled to convince her vet to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in her cat. Although it affects people there seems to be scepticism as to whether it affects cats. Valerie is sure that her cat suffers from SAD. Valerie asks, what can be done? My oversimplified suggestion (perhaps?) is to use the same treatment as is available to people, an artificial sunlamp.
Dr Desmond Morris (of Catwatching fame) states cats can lick vitamin D from their fur and ingest it:
“If cats have been in sunlight they increase their grooming even more….because the action of sunlight on their fur produces essential vitamin D.”
At the bottom of the page I have another page on this subject which may help.

Valerie’s Question:
Since my cat was 2 years old, from the end of July, when the light begins to change until March when the days become lighter and longer my cat becomes anorexic. He then requires hand and often syringe feeding until the days begin to lengthen again. Without this intervention he would literally starve to death.
Vets do not believe that animals suffer from Sad Syndrome and only laugh at my despair at not being able to help him and always want to give him steroids. My cat Pippin is now, against all the odds 14 years of age.
The anorexia has damaged his liver and 18 months ago he was classed as beyond ‘gravely ill’ with liver failure, kidney failure and only 10% of red blood cells.
He has made a slow recovery but easily gets jaundiced, meaning the damage is permanent. Now it is October 2018 and already Pip has started to lose weight.
I can’t get the advice I need, but does anyone know if I can give him seratonin or melatonin or may know if I can supplement with Vitamin D and if so, how much could I safely give him.
I love my cat and he is only alive, and happy because of my daily intervention, but I would love to get him through this winter by supplementing him with what his body seems to need.
I 100% know that Pip suffers with Seasonal Affective Disorder. From March until August he is absolutely normal. His liver is now damaged because vets in England don’t believe this condition exists.
He is on Hepaticare Dr Mercola Probiotics and just started on CBD oil. Any advice or ideas would be very welcome. Thank you.
From Valerie
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If Valerie reads this, I’m sorry for the struggle you’ve been through for your cat. I understand the frustration about trying to work with vets who are more interested in preserving their image of superiority over their clients than working with them and perhaps learning something new. It’s a difficult field to be in, but they need not make it harder by doing that.
Great sounding advice Harvey. I’ll take note and keep an eye on my cats for SAD.
Thanks a lot Harvey. Hope u and your cats are well.
Salmon and sardines are a good source of vitamin D as well as a host of other vitamins and nutrients which the cat sorely needs being somewhat run down. These tasty fish will also perk up his appetite. She can also try mashing salmon and sardines with some of his dry or canned food with a little extra water added. Vitamin D is actually scarce in food. Cod liver oil should be avoided because it has an enormous amount of vitamin A and will damage a cat’s health. Most cheeses have little vitamin D but Swiss, Ricotta, and processed cheese have a useful amount. Cheese is alright for cats because most of the lactose has been removed during it’s manufacture.