Hi Everyone,
I have 3 cats (that I've had for approx.2 yrs, indoor only). Christmas Eve we adopted 2 other cats. One came with diareah (which I was told he had been treated for and was fine now). Shame on us for not keeping the new cats segregated from the others for very long at all (when the hissing stopped, we allowed them out to run which was only a matter of hours). What a nightmare. Long story short, after a few Vet visits the 3 original cats are suffering from upper respiratory infections and the new one with diareah has been isolated because of diareah all over the place and a condition we were told is called Giardia. (I've done a lot of research on the Giardia and it's not good; the vet says with the meds he's on he should get better and with any luck the others won't get it; but it is very contagiouos)
They gave us some meds for it as a preventative measure for the other 3. My question is that my 3 original cats are really really sick with the upper resp. I have to force feed the ragdoll most of the time. The other two I have to mix wet food with water to get them to eat (they have always been dry food eaters and ALWAYS been healthy). This seems like an awful long time to be so sick. I got the impression from the vet that it has to pretty much run it's course and the important thing is to keep food in them to keep them hydrated.
Any ideas on how to keep them interested in food. I got the Hill's AD but even that doesn't entice them sometimes. I still have to force feed. Vet says between the sores in their mouth and the inability to smell properly they don't want to eat. Also, being sick, just like people they simply lose their appetite. Does anyone know whether they will just go to their dry food bowl when they are ready to eat again or will they develope a taste for the wet and not want to go back? If anyone can answer any of these questions I would appreciate your feed back. And yes, once again, shame on us for not isolating the new cats for very long. No good excuse except we never did with the other 3 and I guess we were just lucky.
I have 3 cats (that I've had for approx.2 yrs, indoor only). Christmas Eve we adopted 2 other cats. One came with diareah (which I was told he had been treated for and was fine now). Shame on us for not keeping the new cats segregated from the others for very long at all (when the hissing stopped, we allowed them out to run which was only a matter of hours). What a nightmare. Long story short, after a few Vet visits the 3 original cats are suffering from upper respiratory infections and the new one with diareah has been isolated because of diareah all over the place and a condition we were told is called Giardia. (I've done a lot of research on the Giardia and it's not good; the vet says with the meds he's on he should get better and with any luck the others won't get it; but it is very contagiouos)
They gave us some meds for it as a preventative measure for the other 3. My question is that my 3 original cats are really really sick with the upper resp. I have to force feed the ragdoll most of the time. The other two I have to mix wet food with water to get them to eat (they have always been dry food eaters and ALWAYS been healthy). This seems like an awful long time to be so sick. I got the impression from the vet that it has to pretty much run it's course and the important thing is to keep food in them to keep them hydrated.
Any ideas on how to keep them interested in food. I got the Hill's AD but even that doesn't entice them sometimes. I still have to force feed. Vet says between the sores in their mouth and the inability to smell properly they don't want to eat. Also, being sick, just like people they simply lose their appetite. Does anyone know whether they will just go to their dry food bowl when they are ready to eat again or will they develope a taste for the wet and not want to go back? If anyone can answer any of these questions I would appreciate your feed back. And yes, once again, shame on us for not isolating the new cats for very long. No good excuse except we never did with the other 3 and I guess we were just lucky.