General advice needed.

Hello all.

I'm a new member, and just recently (two weeks) adopted a fully black five year old female from the local shelter. I am what you call a nervous parent! My last cat we adopted only survived for 6 months due to asthma and a "rare" issue -- a collapsed trachea; hence my nervousness.

She seems to have acclimated very well. She doesn't like to be in a room without us, but I have avoided letting her sleep in the bedroom. Here are my concerns (I appreciate any advice!!):

1) I've tried many canned foods with her as well as dried foods but she is unwilling to eat most. She seems to like Tiki Cat wet food the most, so that's pretty much the brand I'm feeding her. She only eats about 1/2 of the small container twice a day. She seems to really only like the gravy in them. I know this isn't a lot, but I've encouraged her so much to eat more and can't get her to.

2) I bought a water fountain and she seems to ignore it, although it's hard to tell what goes on at night. How can I encourage her to drink more? Is it necessary to encourage?

3) I purchased pet insurance this time with Healthy Paws. Does anyone have any good or negative personal experiences with them? Is it worth having it? Our last cat cost about $10K in medical bills in the 6 months we had her. I'd like to mitigate my risk, if possible.

4) She has dandruff, and won't let me bathe her. She loves being brushed so I am able to get most of it out. I am feeding her fish oil now, and it seems to be helping.

I brought her to the vet several times since getting her. They did a "comprehensive" blood work on her and it all came back normal. She weighed 12.5lb when I got her and now weighs 12.2lb, so she has lost some weight. The vet had me give her Mirtazapine but after investigating it online it makes me nervous and I probably won't continue it although she had no bad reactions.

Again, thanks in advance for any advice!!!

We also adopted a shelter kitty that wouldn't eat wet food and only wanted the dry. I began mixing just a tiny but of the wet in with her dry (it was mostly dry...just enough wet to get the flavor in her mouth). Slowly I reduced the amount of dry and increased the wet. Now she loves it with no dry in it but I do still leave the dry out for her to snack on. She also had dandruff bad! We purchased a product called tropiclean oxymed oatmeal treatment. Followed the instructions on there 2 times a week apart...no more dandruff! Good quality food also helps! She had it bad too...she was scaly down her spine and had big chunks of dead skin! No more her fur is sooo soft now and her skin is no longer dried out. Hope this helps!

I also had a cat who was all about dry food only, but would lick up all the gravy. When she was diagnosed with pancreatitis, she needed to be on prednisolone. I would get it compounded so it was in liquid form (chicken flavored) and strain out the stuff she wouldn't eat so there was only the gravy so I could add the meds and be sure she would eat it. But the pancreatitis was a part of a food allergy, so when she went on a special diet, the food with gravy I was getting was no longer acceptable. I found one of the hypoallergenic pate foods, if mixed with the right amount of water, would resemble a gravy and this she would eat. So we do what we can.

As for the water thing, those fountains never appealed to Bailey either - she preferred drinking running water from the tap. But she also liked to drink from mugs, so I took to leaving a few of those around in various places so she had water to "steal" from a mug during the day.

Thank you guys for the quick replies. Just to clarify, she refuses to eat dry food at all. Daily she is just eating 1/2 a small can of the Tiki Cat 2X a day. I can give her more food and she just won't touch it. She does want to eat our food all the time. I have resorted to giving her a little bit of grilled chicken when we have it for dinner.

Quick update: Tonight I put a can of her food in the Ninja blender with about 2-3 tablespoons of water. Made it into a more liquid form and she ate 2/3 of the small can . I'm assuming eating about 1 to 1 1/2 of the small cans of cat food is not enough for a cat that weighs 12 lb's. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Thanks again!

Good to hear. Even if it isn't "enough" it is a start and an improvement. Yay! 

Squicker said:

Quick update: Tonight I put a can of her food in the Ninja blender with about 2-3 tablespoons of water. Made it into a more liquid form and she ate 2/3 of the small can

. I'm assuming eating about 1 to 1 1/2 of the small cans of cat food is not enough for a cat that weighs 12 lb's. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Thanks again!

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One 3 oz can is ok for a meal but not for the entire day. You would need at least three  of those 3 oz cans or one full 5.5 oz can or maybe even one full 5.5 oz can plus a little more a day.  You can split the food up into two or three meals spread across the day. You generally want to feed about 20 to 25 calories per pound of ideal body weight daily. If your cat is at a good weight, then for 12 lbs she would need to eat about 240 to 300 calories per day.

If she won't eat the dry, then don't bother feeding. Many people here discourage feeding dry. You can look over in the Food and Nutrition forum for some of the reasons why. Some people find that cats who refuse dry food are super interested in freeze dried raw food. That could be something to look into.

Plain cooked chicken (no spices, no salt / pepper, flavorings, nothing) is ok as a treat but limit it to no more than 10% of the diet. If your cat seems really interested in cooked chicken, then consider a home cooked diet. There is info on making a home cooked properly balanced diet here: http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-amp-home-cooked-cat-food

Just a quick update.

I figured out what food she was previously being fed -- Purina. As soon as I put some in her bowl she gobbled it up . I'm now in the process of switching her fully to Tiki Cat.

She's doing a lot better overall. Thanks everyone for all your help!

Squicker said:

Quick update: Tonight I put a can of her food in the Ninja blender with about 2-3 tablespoons of water. Made it into a more liquid form and she ate 2/3 of the small can . I'm assuming eating about 1 to 1 1/2 of the small cans of cat food is not enough for a cat that weighs 12 lb's. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Thanks again!

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If the kitty has a collapsed trachea, you can probably assume she will have a certain amount of discomfort or pain during eating. I've never had experience with a collapsed trachea, but I've had a cat with upper GI issues and an inflamed esophagus from frequent vomiting... it hurt for her to eat at times.

If I were you I would definitely continue to "slurry up" her food like you have just done, using a blender and some extra water ... this will be easier for her to ingest. You might consider she has some pain or discomfort and perhaps a small dose of pain killer (like buprenorphine via injection) could help her at her worst times of being unable to eat. A good discussion with your cat's vet is what I recommend, if you want to explore that further.

Best wishes!

Congratulations. I understand your fears. I'm a sorta obsessive parent. Very hands on. As for fish oil? I don't know but read that olive oil is good (id read the web sites on it first and the fish oil. All cats are so very different) as for encouraging water? I would so the little one gets used to it. Just leave a bowl out for her with her food and keep it refreshed. Baths are pretty much not needneeded unless she's dirty. She'll groom herself ph balance think and waterproof coat. I have no clue why so many people bathe their cats. Bed? I would for emotional comfort. For both of you. It's sad when a cat doesn't sleep with mom or mom and dad. Make sure she gets her shots and spayed at 6 months.