Regarding cat food, my vet suggested I put my cat on a no grain diet and some raw food.
He's doing very well with this and his cyst disappeared after taking him off the grain rich food.
He also lost weight because he's eating real food and not just fillers.
Can't help you with cat herbs as I've never tried this.
Bye.
Theresa Nartana

This is a timely topic for me, since a wonderful feral kitty recently adopted us and has moved in for the winter. I've been reading everything I can about holistic pet care- and looking forward to Juliette de Bairicli-Levy's books on the subject when I get my hands on them.

Our cat has a really tenacious upper respiratory infection- we've ruled out some of the nastiest suspects through blood tests (FIV, etc.). I was using garlic in his food for a while, but found that it can cause anemia in cats if used long term or in large amounts. Also learned what Margi warned about- I had been drop dosing tinctures into his food to help him, not realizing this was harmful. Now I'm only doing infused herbs or dried. The nasal discharge fianlly transitioned from thick green to clear thin, but this last stage has been really tenacious. It's been several months. I found out that many wild cats carry a strain of the herpes virus, which causes upper resp. symptoms. So maybe will try lemon balm/sjw infusion mixed into his food.

I was very assertive at the vet's about no vaccinations and no neutering while he's sick. It was interesting- they were taken by surprise by my strong opinions and acted like I was nuts, but then later said I was correct in my suspicion that all those things would have supressed his immune system. Hmm.

My time limit is almost up with the natural stuff until I'll try the antibiotics they prescribed. He has really bad, painful teeth in addition to having a clogged up head, so it might be okay to use the medicine to help him get over the hump with both inflammations (assuming there's bacterial issues provoking).