I took in a stray cat a couple of weeks ago, after she moved into my garden and asked for help. She was outside for a long time, at least two months from what the neighbours have told me. I cant keep her indefinitely as we're renting and not supposed to have cats, so I'm fostering her until the local rescue group can find her a home. She has been wormed and flea treated but not yet vaccinated - that will be done by the rescue folk shortly.
I'm really struggling to find a diet that suits her. To give an idea of her history since I've had her (apologies for the excretory detail):
Day 1: Liquid diarrhoea. Starving so eating anything I put in front of her. Used a couple of small cans of random food to get her to trust me, then continued with Friskies, both wet and dry food, when it looked like I'd be looking after her for a while.
Over the first week: Poo slightly firmer but still not normal. Vomiting every 2 or 3 days - middle of the night, hours after eating, completely emptying her stomach down to bile. Starting to get fussier with meals.
Day 7: Started replacing part of her wet food with raw, hoping to take some pressure off her digestive system. Minced mixture of chicken, beef, chicken hearts, liver and egg yolk, plus some bigger chunks of chicken/beef/fish. Cat not impressed but eventually eating some of it. Dry food reduced to a few bits as a treat.
Week 2: Poo getting firmer. Now refusing to eat Friskies at all, switched wet food component to Dine, which she usually likes but sometimes will turn her nose up at. Continuing to vomit - can now see that some of the food being brought up was fed at least 10 hours before (chunks of raw chicken last given at lunchtime).
Day 13: Poo finally looking normal but another huge vomit. Took a sample of vomit to the vet - no sign of worms or hair, suggested it might be hairballs anyway. Started on Iams Hairball Control dry food in addition to existing raw/wet mixture.
Day 15: Liquid diarrhoea again. Huge vomit with a few patches of visible hair. Refusing to eat all raw food.
So it looks like hairballs might be causing at least some of her vomiting, but the diarrhoea is awful. When we had our own cats years ago we fed them Royal Canin Persian (we had a Chinchilla and a Siamese who groomed the Chinchilla) and they did really well on it, but I can't keep constantly changing her diet. Plus, if I buy it and she either won't eat it or it disagrees with her, that's a lot of money down the drain. And I don't know if her increasing fussiness is because she's just fussy, or because she's feeling unwell.
Not knowing her life history makes it hard to know what to do next. We need to get her completely well so she can find her forever home. Help!
(I should probably mention that we're in Australia.)
I'm really struggling to find a diet that suits her. To give an idea of her history since I've had her (apologies for the excretory detail):
Day 1: Liquid diarrhoea. Starving so eating anything I put in front of her. Used a couple of small cans of random food to get her to trust me, then continued with Friskies, both wet and dry food, when it looked like I'd be looking after her for a while.
Over the first week: Poo slightly firmer but still not normal. Vomiting every 2 or 3 days - middle of the night, hours after eating, completely emptying her stomach down to bile. Starting to get fussier with meals.
Day 7: Started replacing part of her wet food with raw, hoping to take some pressure off her digestive system. Minced mixture of chicken, beef, chicken hearts, liver and egg yolk, plus some bigger chunks of chicken/beef/fish. Cat not impressed but eventually eating some of it. Dry food reduced to a few bits as a treat.
Week 2: Poo getting firmer. Now refusing to eat Friskies at all, switched wet food component to Dine, which she usually likes but sometimes will turn her nose up at. Continuing to vomit - can now see that some of the food being brought up was fed at least 10 hours before (chunks of raw chicken last given at lunchtime).
Day 13: Poo finally looking normal but another huge vomit. Took a sample of vomit to the vet - no sign of worms or hair, suggested it might be hairballs anyway. Started on Iams Hairball Control dry food in addition to existing raw/wet mixture.
Day 15: Liquid diarrhoea again. Huge vomit with a few patches of visible hair. Refusing to eat all raw food.
So it looks like hairballs might be causing at least some of her vomiting, but the diarrhoea is awful. When we had our own cats years ago we fed them Royal Canin Persian (we had a Chinchilla and a Siamese who groomed the Chinchilla) and they did really well on it, but I can't keep constantly changing her diet. Plus, if I buy it and she either won't eat it or it disagrees with her, that's a lot of money down the drain. And I don't know if her increasing fussiness is because she's just fussy, or because she's feeling unwell.
Not knowing her life history makes it hard to know what to do next. We need to get her completely well so she can find her forever home. Help!
(I should probably mention that we're in Australia.)
