I'm so frustrated and upset right now. - Page 2

I went back to bed this morning after giving Belle her meds feeling not very optimistic about her progress. She hadn't eaten anything overnight and she seemed nauseaus again in the AM. The prednisolone went in pretty easily, but getting her to keep her mouth open long enough to get the Reglan pill in was was horrible. Since it was just an eighth of a pill, it was really difficult to find once she spit it out and started desinigrating as soon as you started messing with in. Pill popper didn't work as it just crumbled the tiny little morsel when pushing it out.

So, I was just feeling that if she spits out all the food we give her and won't take her meds, getting her better was going to be a pretty hard to get her any better. When I woke up later and couldn't find her (she "hides" in a new place everytime she disappears...there are lots of places to look), I was almost expecting to find her with a pile of vomit containing the pill next to her.

However, I found her pretty much the same as she's been. I tried to give her some chicken baby food and she really had no interest. I remembered we had some canned chunked chicken and opened the can, through the contents in a dish and stuck it in front of her. She started lapping up the juice! She hasn't lapped anything, including water, in days (she'll take sips of water), but it's very slow going.

She came up to me a few minutes later telling me she was hungry.

I took a couple chunks of chicken and a little bit of juice in the blender to flake it up a bit, stuck it on a plate, and this is what happened:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24956202@N04/5303693026/

She was mainly licking the juice, and didn't seem too fond of the chunks, but at least she was showing interest in food! She did this for quite some time and still seemed to want more (although there was plenty of chicken still on the plate...the easy juice was gone, I guess). I tried some more chicken baby food - nope. I tried blending some baby food with some of the juice fromt he chicken - nope. Latest attempt was pureeing up the chicken even further with some juice. She hasn't eaten any yet, but I'm hoping next time she wakes up wanting food, I can convince her to eat it.

She'll still be getting her syringed A/D this evening before bed. Hopefully the Reglan goes in a bit easier next time. She's a little brat!

So...I now have a hungry cat who can't seem to find something that smells tasty to her.

She's still nibbling away on the chicken and if that's what gets her over this hump, I'll happily go out and buy 10 more cans of it. However, I know this is not a long-term solution (I am supplementing with a vitamin paste, which actually, of all things, seems to be the easiest thing to get in her - it's sticky, so if I put it on the roof of her mouth, she can't flick it out).

I can tell she's hungry because she's acting much more like her piggy self towards food. When I was eating, she kept trying to get to my plate or pull my fork down to her mouth. I said "Do you want treats" and she did...but she just sniffed and walked away.

I think she's developed an aversion to food. Really, baby food and some cat food don't smell all that difference. She won't go near the a/d or the i/d and didn't want any Friskies (what they usually ate in wet....because it's the only one they can accept). I think it's that cat food smell she is having a problem with. Anyone know a good food to introduce next? Something with more of a "real" smell rather than a cat food smell?

I'm a bit desperate here so I'm thinking maybe Fancy Feast or Meow Mix Market Selects. I'm guessing pates are going to be out for the the time being - something with juice of gravy would probably work best.

I've opened and thrown out so many cans of cat food in the last week!

So far, food of choice is Fancy Feast Grilled Tuna in Gravy from Mom's finger. I just opened up 3 cans and let her choose which one she wanted. Of course, the one she chose was the one I only bought one can of, so I'll have to run back out to the store a bit later. She didn't eat lots, but she was even eating the chunks (not just licking the gravy).

Anyone know if it's normal for a cat who hasn't eaten in a while to grind their teeth while eating...she seems to be working extra hard to "chew" her food. The vet did look in her mouth and at her teeth. I seem to recall Zoey doing this to her food too.

These cats don't have us wrapped around their little paws, do they? Right now I'm typing one-handed because Belle has decided that she wants to cuddle in my arms!

Thanks for the tip...I'll look for some shrimp when I'm out tomorrow. It seems all I've done on my holidays is visit the vet, shop for cat food, and care for Belle! She's lucky I love her!

Just wanted everyone who has been sending vibes that so far, they have been working. Belle did well today and keeps nibbling away on her chicken and Fancy Feast. She acts more and more like her normal obnoxious self by the hour. She's currently playing with a catnip caterpillar she got for Christmas but wasn't feeling well enough to play with.

I notice a difference in Delilah as well. She's still no where near friends with Belle, but I really think she was picking up on Belle not feeling well. She was downright snarly before to everyone, and now she just seems much more relax and less on-edge all the time. When I went to buy more of the tuna Fancy Feast, I picked up a Cat Dancer toy just for her. I've made them for her before, but she's never had a real one. I think she enjoyed just spending some playtime with mom.

I will be terrified when it comes time to begin tapering Belle off of the prednisolone. I'm trying not to think about that, as we are nowhere near that point where it is even an option. I'm just trying to think day by day at the moment.

She ate some treats!

I've always used Medical Feline Gastro dry food as treats for the girls. I had some leftover from when Zoey was sick (they gave me a baggy full to try, but she never ate it), and they went nuts over it when I gave them some of it. Delilah would never eat any commercial treats, and it really wasn't anymore expensive to buy a small bag of food than little packages of treats, so that's what they got.

I'd been trying when Belle was sick and although she seemed to want treats and would sniff them, she would not eat them. This morning I was headed out to pick up a couple things and Belle clearly wanted some treats. I gave some to her fully expecting her to sniff and walk away, which she seemed to do at first, but she actually at them! I gave her a few more, and she ate those too!

I'm trying not to be too optimistic, but I'm REALLY hoping that we're over their hump, and Belle is on her way back to normal. So, I want to thank everyone who helped out by sending vibes, suggestions, or just keeping Belle in your thoughts. When I get my camera back, I'll take some pictures and videos of Belle being her normal, annoying self, so you can see how improved she is!

Carolina....so sorry....life started again after holidays, and I didn't even notice your asking about Belle.

She's doing well - back to her normal, obnoxious self. She's still on 0.2ml of prednisolone every day for another week, and then we'll go to every other day for 14 days and then she'll be weaned off.

It bothers me a bit that we don't know what caused her problems in the first place, but I'm glad she's feeling better. I think she's eating more now than she did before she was sick...not doubt helped along by the prednisolone. She begs us for food constantly when we're eating...she used to do that when she was a kitten, but had really begun behaving as she grew older.

For now, I have both my girls on dry i/d, which they eat like candy....including Delilah, who is already chubby, so I'm not sure if it's a long term solution. Still trying to figure out a wet food for them....they'll eat the Friskies they were on before again, as well as Fancy Feast. They won't touch the wet i/d, nor do I really plan on paying $2.40/can for the long term. I really don't like feeding them a junky dry food and a junky wet food, but that might have to be the way it stays for now if they continue to do well.

Thanks for checking up, Carolina....sorry it took me so long to respond.