Can anyone help me? What's wrong with my cat

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kylev

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Originally Posted by otto

If that's Denamarin, it's an excellent thing for her to be on. My Tolly has liver damage from taking seizure medicine, and his numbers have gone way back down on the Denosyl (which is sam-e only, you have sam-e and milk thistle)

It's wonderful that your whole household is taking an interest in keeping her fed and happy. Please keep us updated on her (what's her name? Sorry if you already told us)
Haha, she has no name, it's just cat. I never really thought of a name for her, I'd always just call her kitty or cat and it stuck. Yeah it's Denamarin, 90mg tablets, little blue ones, so hard to get that pill in her, but she takes it after intense struggle. Just picked up some Meow Mix wet food, got in the door like 10 minutes ago, she's still at the dish eating. Is it a bad thing that I'm not giving her the a/d food the vet gave me? She doesn't seem to be too into that stuff, but anything else with a gravy or sauce and chunks of meat she's into, but if it's a mush she hates it.
 

blueyedgirl5946

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HOw much have you tried to get the special food in her. Until I had some answers as to her condition, I would be trying to only give her what the vet said. Sometimes you can puree it a little in a blender or food processor, put it in a syringe and assist feed her in that manner.
 

momofmany

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Call your vet about what you are feeding her. If the vet thinks that Meow Mix is OK, then continue. Sometimes it is better for them to eat anything than nothing at all, but we aren't vets and don't know the full circumstances here. It may be that she must stay on the A/D.
 

okie89

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Just so you can research it for yourself, the name of the condition you are explaining (fatty liver; which is where the ducts get blocked) is called "Hepatic Lipidosis".

Originally Posted by otto

If that's Denamarin, it's an excellent thing for her to be on. My Tolly has liver damage from taking seizure medicine, and his numbers have gone way back down on the Denosyl (which is sam-e only, you have sam-e and milk thistle)
Yep, that is indeed Denosyl... good stuff!

Originally Posted by momofmany

Call your vet about what you are feeding her. If the vet thinks that Meow Mix is OK, then continue. Sometimes it is better for them to eat anything than nothing at all, but we aren't vets and don't know the full circumstances here. It may be that she must stay on the A/D.
I agree... they may even want her on an l/d diet!

Keep us posted! Glad to hear she's doing better!
 

otto

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Originally Posted by KyleV

Haha, she has no name, it's just cat. I never really thought of a name for her, I'd always just call her kitty or cat and it stuck. Yeah it's Denamarin, 90mg tablets, little blue ones, so hard to get that pill in her, but she takes it after intense struggle. Just picked up some Meow Mix wet food, got in the door like 10 minutes ago, she's still at the dish eating. Is it a bad thing that I'm not giving her the a/d food the vet gave me? She doesn't seem to be too into that stuff, but anything else with a gravy or sauce and chunks of meat she's into, but if it's a mush she hates it.
Then Cat is her name, and I will think of her so. (I think names are very important!
)

As someone else said, any food is better than no food, but do call your vet about her not wanting the a/d. It may be it was prescribed for the purpose of getting her eating, and getting extra calories and nutrients in her fast, it is a high calorie nutrition rich food for cats recovering from surgery, serious illness, or with anorexia problems.

Warm the a/d up, and add a little water to it. (mix well) It's a pretty stiff food. Warmed, with water added to loosen it up a little may make it more appealing to her.

And of course please do keep us updated on how Cat is doing.


PS if you want help/tips on giving pills I will be happy to offer some.
 

okie89

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Originally Posted by otto

Warm the a/d up, and add a little water to it. (mix well) It's a pretty stiff food. Warmed, with water added to loosen it up a little may make it more appealing to her.
Warming it up brings out all of the disgusting odors in the food, and with cats, the stinkier it is, the more likley they are to eat it. Also, you can try adding in a little chicken broth or tuna water instead of plain water to stinkify it. (Yeah, I said stinkify... it's a new word!!!)

Good luck!
 
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kylev

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Yeah she's eating and drinking real good, we've been watching her eat to make sure she's getting her intake. I'm starting to wonder if one of the reasons she might've stopped eating is because her teeth might be grinding. I give her wet food and it sounds like she's crunching on something, I wouldn't know because she always ate dry. I'll tell my vet about this first thing tomorrow. Does anyone know how long it takes for some noticeable results? I already have some but when does her skin turn normal color again? 6-8 weeks is what I read, but is there any faster recovery times noted?
 

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Originally Posted by Okie89

Warming it up brings out all of the disgusting odors in the food, and with cats, the stinkier it is, the more likley they are to eat it. Also, you can try adding in a little chicken broth or tuna water instead of plain water to stinkify it. (Yeah, I said stinkify... it's a new word!!!)

Good luck!
Clam juice works wonders for that
 
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kylev

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Has anyone had to do aggressive feeding? The vet said she should do about a can a day, she hasn't been doing anywhere near that, been wasting alot of food, now I've switched over to the syringe. Making a gruel paste and feeding her that way, I just wrap her up in a towel and make her eat, hate doing it but that's the only other option besides the feeding tube, so she's going to need some tough love now.
 

melissaw

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My mum has had to do force feeding on her kitties before like that
She has two persians (mom and son) and they both developed kidney stones within like a month of each other and the son got very ill after his operation...he is a picky eater as is so she had to force feed him until he was feeling better enough to eat on his own

Even now she has to hand feed him to encourage him to eat as he is a very picky eater and has started having seizures in his old age so when he's not feeling well she has to physically stuff food in his face to encourage him to eat

If Cat is not drinking enough then you can syringe feed her water as well...this is what I do with my CRF cat when she's not drinking properly...she doesn't much like it but its better than her being sick!
 

katkisses

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Originally Posted by KyleV

Has anyone had to do aggressive feeding? The vet said she should do about a can a day, she hasn't been doing anywhere near that, been wasting alot of food, now I've switched over to the syringe. Making a gruel paste and feeding her that way, I just wrap her up in a towel and make her eat, hate doing it but that's the only other option besides the feeding tube, so she's going to need some tough love now.
Bless you for taking such good care of her!


I have had to syringe feed several cats. What works best for me is using a blender (I bought a cheap one just for this) to smooth/liquidfy the wet cat food. It doesn't sound like it would work, but it DOES. It makes it really easy to get the food into a syringe. Ask the vet if it would be ok to add KMR to her food for the extra vitamins/calories, and also ask about Nurti-Cal. If the vet says ok you can just add these to the food by blending it up. You can get syringes from your vet or a pet catalog, make sure it's the ones without needles though. I try to get the biggest syringes I can for force feeding. That way I don't have to stop and refill the syringe so many times because it is hard to hold a wiggly cat & refill a syringe at the same time, lol. You can PM me if you have any questions, or just ask here.

Good luck with the feedings, it's not fun but sometimes you have no other choice. I hope she has a speedy recovery!
 

christinacat

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I think "aggressive feeding" is cruel! As long as she is eating, and you are giving her lots of brothy stuff, tuna juice etc. she is better off not being traumatized by being forced to eat.
 

blueyedgirl5946

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Originally Posted by ChristinaCat

I think "aggressive feeding" is cruel! As long as she is eating, and you are giving her lots of brothy stuff, tuna juice etc. she is better off not being traumatized by being forced to eat.
Sometimes aggressive feeding is the only solution. It is certainly not fun. I did it with Speedboat trying my best to get food in him. Hang in there and know that we are all pulling for you and your cat.
 

katkisses

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Originally Posted by KyleV

The vet said she should do about a can a day, she hasn't been doing anywhere near that, been wasting alot of food, now I've switched over to the syringe. Making a gruel paste and feeding her that way, I just wrap her up in a towel and make her eat, hate doing it but that's the only other option besides the feeding tube, so she's going to need some tough love now.
Originally Posted by ChristinaCat

I think "aggressive feeding" is cruel! As long as she is eating, and you are giving her lots of brothy stuff, tuna juice etc. she is better off not being traumatized by being forced to eat.
Christina, I understand what you are saying. It does seem like it's overkill force feeding a cat. But what you may not know is that a cat can die if it doesn't eat in 3 days, they get liver issues. Her vet said a can a day for this cat, and the cat is not eating much at all. If she did nothing this cat would get very weak and sick. If your cat was weak and not eating, what would you do? I doubt that you would just let it starve to death. When I take a cat that will not eat to the vet, they tell me to force feed. Cats have to eat, even if they don't want to. I know you mean well, I really do.






KyleV, are there any updates? Is she eating on her own yet? Many for you and her.

 

okie89

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Force feeding in cats is not ideal, but when necessary, it's just that, necessary. Espcially with liver complications. If it's severe enough, the vet may even need to place a feeding tube. That's why force feeding is so important if you can't get the kitty to eat.

Okie
 
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