Fattening up a kitten

No no. Just canned with the Hills. I don't like it either, but Ollie wasn't really eating until he went to the vet. They tried some of the Hills Prescription Diet with him and he took to it. Later at home, I tried mixing some of the canned Science Diet kitten food with it to add a little more fat. Then after a little while, he wouldn't eat it anymore but was definitely trying to tell me he was hungry (crying to me, showing interest in what I was eating, etc.) , so I tried the Prescription Diet food by itself again and no dice. So just to see if he would eat it, I tried the Wellness kitten food (not even really trying to transition him, but just to get him to eat). He seemed to really like it and ate a whole can over the course of maybe 2 hours.

Before bedtime for him and after giving him his meds, I wanted him to have a little more to eat so that he'd keep the medicine down and he had eaten more Wellness kitten food, but not for a couple of hours and wouldn't eat anymore of it, so I tried the mix again with some dry food mixed in (trying actually to prevent diarrhea) and he ate about a 1/4 cup of that which I figured was enough to help settle his stomach with the meds. Then I left a whole can of Wellness for him to nibble on as desired overnight.

I'm just mainly trying to keep him eating at regular intervals. The goal is to eventually have him on Wellness food, but the priority is to get him to put on more weight which will help strengthen his immune system helping to fight his URI. I couldn't keep him on the food the humane society had him on (Purina One dry), because he wasn't eating it at all (even today).

I too am worried about digestive upset and diarrhea and am monitoring how he does. If he has a problem, I will work with it and try to find a way to avoid it. I just worry that if I don't get some food in him, his immune system won't have the fatty acids and calories (for energy) it needs to help him get better. I will keep an eye on him. I seem to be having another sleepless night anyways, so I will check on him hourly (quietly so he gets much needed sleep).

I've got 2 things going on at once that both feed into each other. The URI, the meds for which possibly could cause appetite loss due to nausea, and him being malnourished which had no solution until he started eating significantly at noon.

The only thing he and I are fortunate to have in this situation is that I cashed out of the market months ago before the storm hit when I could see what was coming (having a business degree in economics is helpful at times ) and have plenty of cash to take care of taking him to the vet beyond what the 14 day humane society plan covers.

I do appreciate the concern though for my little guy's well being. Rest assured that I am trying to be as careful as possible while getting him healthy and will take good care of him.

I don't have anything to add. It seems you are doing all you can do. I do know that when they have a URI, they cannot smell food as well so may not be as interested. Once the URI clears up a bit, then they eat.

When I leave this world, I want to be reincarnated as a cat you adopt

Originally Posted by Bonnie1965

I don't have anything to add. It seems you are doing all you can do. I do know that when they have a URI, they cannot smell food as well so may not be as interested. Once the URI clears up a bit, then they eat.

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try heating up his wet so that it's easier for him to smell.

Originally Posted by Bonnie1965

When I leave this world, I want to be reincarnated as a cat you adopt

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Sending healthy vibes to both sweeties.

Your new siggy is adorable.

I tried the Enisyl-F but my cats wouldn't touch it. I found these Lysine "treats" that worked well. I used to just buy the lysine capsules and mix the powder in the food, but after a while Church wouldn't eat it. I was using this chewable vitamin for him which he thought was the best treat ever (he usually won't eat treats) and I found out that the company made a chewable Lysine as well so I bought that. It was a big hit with him, he gobbled it up like a treat as well. It's called Vetri-Science Lysine Plus Soft Chews.
I'm not sure what the VAL syrup did but once he was on it he finally started to gain weight and get over the URI.

Originally Posted by laureen227

try heating up his wet so that it's easier for him to smell.

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I'll give that a try. He definitely seems to be having more difficulty today smelling food and I think it's because of the URI. He's sniffling and sneezing so I assume his sense of smell is affected and maybe even sense of taste.

Originally Posted by xocats

Sending healthy vibes to both sweeties.

Your new siggy is adorable.

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Thanks. TCS member laureen227 made it.

Originally Posted by Nekochan

I tried the Enisyl-F but my cats wouldn't touch it. I found these Lysine "treats" that worked well. I used to just buy the lysine capsules and mix the powder in the food, but after a while Church wouldn't eat it. I was using this chewable vitamin for him which he thought was the best treat ever (he usually won't eat treats) and I found out that the company made a chewable Lysine as well so I bought that. It was a big hit with him, he gobbled it up like a treat as well. It's called Vetri-Science Lysine Plus Soft Chews.
I'm not sure what the VAL syrup did but once he was on it he finally started to gain weight and get over the URI.

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Where did you find the Lysine Plus soft chews? I called the vet that Ally goes to and the vet that Ollie goes to (I assume in a couple of weeks I'll have them both at the same vet). They each had a different Lysine product. One was a gel and the other a paste and they both had different additional ingredients and were pretty pricey too (which isn't too much of a problem, I just don't want to buy it and have it be a total waste by her not taking it). I didn't know anything about either product. I'd rather try something somebody else has had success with. Any idea where I can find them locally? Also, are they safe for kittens? I went to Walmart and found 500 mg pills that I could crush up, but I didn't know what the safe and proper dosage would be for Ally.

Oh yeah... I forgot to mention. No vomiting or diarrhea yet... so his digestive tract seems to be handling things ok for the moment.

Originally Posted by carolinalima

For Alli, what you can do is buy from your vet Enisyl-F; a l-lysine paste that you can put it in her paw, and she licks it off. Lucky doesn't eat wet either, and that's how I give it to her. It must taste good, because there are no traumas/complaints. The pumps are pre-measured, and dispenses the right amount each time. Buy the first one from the vet; then I would buy it online, as it seems to be much cheaper.

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Yeah, I think that's the one Ally's vet carried.

Originally Posted by LawGuy

Then I left a whole can of Wellness for him to nibble on as desired overnight.

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You might want to be careful- if it spoils it might give him diarrhea.

good point. I checked on him hourly last night (I ended up studying for the GMAT all night) and will say that he ate it pretty quickly, but how long should I leave food out before replacing it? I tend to think 3-4 hours is the max, but I could be overestimating it. Maybe it's less time.

Also, he seems to really prefer the Wellness food (canned kitten food). He barely touched the others today when I offered them, but has eaten 2 cans of Wellness so far today. He's taking a nap now, but when he wakes up, I'll see if he wants more (plus he needs his second dose of meds).

So I went out a few hours ago and bought a dozen cans of it.

I did a google search and found this info about leaving wet food out....
this info might be a place to start.
I would error on the side of caution...
you do not want a case of food poisoning on your hands.
http://cats.about.com/od/catfoodfaqs...cannedfood.htm

A lot of people on TCS have asked the same question about how long to leave wet food out. The answer from other TCS members varies anywhere from 20 minutes to 12 hours. The best I can tell you is, do your own research and then do what is the most comfortable for you. I don't leave wet food out more than 10 minutes most of the time, max 15 minutes--but that's just because my kitties eat it up in that amount of time.

whoa.... from the article xocats posted, I'm leaving it out way too long for him.

Ally isn't a problem because when I do give her wet food, she eats it right up, but she prefers dry food by far.

I'll divide up Ollie's food into 1/4s of a can and let him eat those one at a time so that I don't risk bacterial or mold growth. I wouldn't have thought it would only be 20 minutes. Wow.. I learned something and it's a good thing I learned it before something bad happened.

My dog is fed 2 times a day and we've been leaving his food out until he finishes it for years (he's 17). His food sits out for hours and he's never gotten ill, so I guess I just extrapolated from that the notion that pet food could be left out for a little while safely.

Originally Posted by LawGuy

whoa.... from the article xocats posted, I'm leaving it out way too long for him.

Ally isn't a problem because when I do give her wet food, she eats it right up, but she prefers dry food by far.

I'll divide up Ollie's food into 1/4s of a can and let him eat those one at a time so that I don't risk bacterial or mold growth. I wouldn't have thought it would only be 20 minutes. Wow.. I learned something and it's a good thing I learned it before something bad happened.

My dog is fed 2 times a day and we've been leaving his food out until he finishes it for years (he's 17). His food sits out for hours and he's never gotten ill, so I guess I just extrapolated from that the notion that pet food could be left out for a little while safely.

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No need to worry- many many people leave an entire can out for up to like 12 hours and never have problems..Someone even posted that their vet does that. The justification was that cats are way more tolerant of parasites than humans. If you look at the stuff they eat in the wild, a lot of times it's much worse than food that's been left in the open air for a few extra hours and whatever grows in it from the air is very unlikely to cause problems. And it doesn't for many people. But it's a good thing you're going to divide it into smaller portions because with Ollie already having a URI and being on antibiotic that kills the good bacteria in his stomach, it might be more risky...

agreed. Does doxycycline kill the good bacteria too? If so, that's a shame and I would imagine I should expect diarrhea any day now.

If that's the case, do people ever use probiotics afterwards that are the kitty equivalent to the Flora-Q sold for us (Flora-Q has Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus paracasei, and Streptococcus thermophilus) ? I suppose even if they do, then that could cause an overgrowth which would need treatment by a targeted, non-systemic antibiotic like rifaximin.

Also, Ollie just got his antibiotics, but ate half a can in one sitting beforehand, and the other half afterwards in one sitting. That's 3 cans of Wellness kitten food today. He really seems to like that food. I figured since he seems to like Wellness more than any others, I'll just feed him that for the moment to keep it simple for his digestive tract. I also left out a bowl of the Wellness kitten dry food in case he decides to try it, but so far he won't eat dry food. He didn't eat the Purina one food the humane society gave me and doesn't seem interested in the Wellness dry food either - but I figured I should leave some out for him just in case.

YES, all antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria

probiotics are great AFTER the antibiotics are done

10-4 on possible usage after the antibiotics are done.

The only area of medicine I know a lot about is digestive and intestinal issues (being the son of a Gastroenterologist and having Crohns since I was 14).

Usually what happens with me is that I go on antibiotics for an infection. Then, if I notice that too much bacteria has been killed, I go on probiotics. Then, if I notice that there has been too much growth, I go on Xifaxin or a similar non-systemic drug.

Wow, I've never had to do anything besides eat some yogurt after taking an antibiotic...Do you take probiotics because of Crohns'???
Eating a lot like you said Ollie did today usually does result in softer poops but it's not a problem and clears up on its own, so if you see it happening don't panic I've panicked so many times when that happened with Jake lol but someone on here usually always reassures me that it's normal after overeating in kittens.

Do you take probiotics because of Crohns'???

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Yeah. Unfortunately, things are a little whacky with my digestive tract as a result of having Crohns. No worries, I've gotten used to it. I pretty much know the procedure when stuff starts to happen.

Eating a lot like you said Ollie did today usually does result in softer poops but it's not a problem and clears up on its own, so if you see it happening don't panic I've panicked so many times when that happened with Jake lol but someone on here usually always reassures me that it's normal after overeating in kittens.

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I've been checking. All solid so far, but we'll see. I was just down there (it's almost 3 AM) and everything seemed fine. He wanted some hugs and snuggling, and then he was happy. He also ate a bit more while I was down there.