Freaking out vs "this is normal"

Aww poor Sara. Mia has tooth resorption also but in two of her teeth, which she will have to get removed in a month or two. Both my cats like to never finish their bowl, lol. Hugs to you and Sara!

poor Sarah but I am glad her eating wasn't due to kidney issues, tooth pain can be fixed 

I know there is the whole risk due to her having health issues and then being put under. I'm quite nervous at the prospect of it. But I also know she's hurting and if that can be taken care of then it's worth the risk. I didn't think it was the kidney issues this time, because she definitely had an appetite, but she didn't want to eat a lot at once. I know that kidney cats are like that sometimes but it was different. I don't know how I could tell, but it was. It was the way she was eating her treats that really made me think it was her teeth. She'd pick it up, drop it. Pick it up, chew a bit, drop. Over and over and eventually she'd swallow it.

Sometimes I feel like I'm over-observant and overly-paranoid, but things like this make me glad that I am.

@Jenny82 - how is Mia handling it? A couple of months seems like such a long time, but I completely understand why in her case.

I think you're making the right decision by having it taken out.

Mia seems to be handling it really well but she could also be hiding the pain really well too. When she first started eating on her own she was grinding her teeth a little, but the vet thinks that was due to nausea. I feel bad that I didn't notice her teeth sooner when the vet showed me what they look like.

I'm just trying to figure out how to make her eat enough between now and getting it pulled (I'm about 99.99% sure that will be the collective recommendation). She eats so little at a time. And she doesn't seem to like the Clinicare at all. She'll take a couple licks, that's it. No more. She'll eat some of her food, as usual, but not all (and not really enough). She's not supplementing with dry either so that isn't good.

I'm definitely gonna have to throw the boys in my bedroom when I feed her, even though she's in the bathroom by herself (aside from me sometimes). They sit there and paw under the door and then she gets distracted from eating. It doesn't take much apparently. And she doesn't want to stray far from the vent, which is, of course, right by the door :frusty:

Could you syringe feed her on the side that isn't sore ?

How is Sara doing?

She seems to be doing a little better in the eating department. She did eat this morning before I left. Mom took another route around and gave her the Petsmart brand of Appetizers. It's a fish and shrimp one, and she always loved those. My mom said she ate about 80% of it, including the big shrimp in the middle of it. She apparently pushed it close enough to the door that one of the kittens pulled the bowl out under the door. Silly kitten. She'll get fed tonight and then again a bigger amount of food. She probably won't eat it all at once though, but she ate a little last night.

I think I've been focusing a bit too much on making sure she eats her kidney diet. I think that just needs to be put on hold for now. Eating anything is more important right now, mom reminded me of that after telling me what she fed her.

My saving grace is that she only weighs 7 lbs (that's the most she's ever weighed) so doesn't need a ton of calories to sustain that. We actually want her to gain weight (as much as she can) but I think we can deal with maintaining for the moment.

Donutte said:

She seems to be doing a little better in the eating department. She did eat this morning before I left. Mom took another route around and gave her the Petsmart brand of Appetizers. It's a fish and shrimp one, and she always loved those. My mom said she ate about 80% of it, including the big shrimp in the middle of it. She apparently pushed it close enough to the door that one of the kittens pulled the bowl out under the door. Silly kitten. She'll get fed tonight and then again a bigger amount of food. She probably won't eat it all at once though, but she ate a little last night.

I think I've been focusing a bit too much on making sure she eats her kidney diet. I think that just needs to be put on hold for now. Eating anything is more important right now, mom reminded me of that after telling me what she fed her.

My saving grace is that she only weighs 7 lbs (that's the most she's ever weighed) so doesn't need a ton of calories to sustain that. We actually want her to gain weight (as much as she can) but I think we can deal with maintaining for the moment.

Click to expand...

Can I hug your mother ?

Kittens Mom said:

Can I hug your mother ?

Click to expand...

Ha, she loves hugs! I just felt so stupid after she told me that. Because I already know to do this stuff!! She only gave it to her because it was easier than giving her the other stuff, no warming up the stuff in the fridge.

Sounds like a good idea. I'm glad she ate it!

I gave her some one of the FF Broths we had last night (I have tons of things that we bought when Lucky was sick) and gave her that last night after her "regular" supper. I gave her another of the pseudo-Appetizers this morning. I'm learning if I am patient, she will eventually eat the vast majority of it. I had her in the bathroom with it for about a half hour now, and she's still going at it. I imagine it's more difficult to chew, but it's what she wants to eat. She always was a bit more of a seafood fan.

I was actually turned onto Appetizers and Broths around this time last year, when she was diagnosed with hyper-t. Sara's T4 was at 21 and was going through a huge bout of inappetance where I had to assist-feed her because she just refused to eat. She lost 10 oz, which doesn't sound a lot but at the time, she had originally weighed 4 lb 14 oz, and got down to 4 lb 4 oz. We had finally got her to the point she'd eat human food, but would not eat cat food. The Cat Whisperer brought me some of her own Appetizers and Broths that she had for her cats at home, told me to use them as a "bridge" between the human food and cat food. It was great, and have loved them since.

And... she's done now. Only a tiny bit left of it. I'll have to stop and get some more of these things I think. It's what she seems to like.

Fancy Feast has a new product out now that is 100% nutritionally complete, (as opposed to the appetizers).  It LOOKS like the appetizers, but it's call Purely.  One of the flavors is Tuna, so you might look for that to try.  It's chunks of tuna in juice.  The most important thing about it is that it's nutritionally complete. 

So glad she's eating .  My girl is on a Fancy Feast CLASSICS crave right now.  I'm not happy about it because they are scary high in phosphorus, but if that's what she'll eat, that's what she gets .  Maybe tomorrow she'll be on to something lower in phos

I'm glad she's eating those!  Wow 4 lbs, she's a little one!

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
Fancy Feast has a new product out now that is 100% nutritionally complete, (as opposed to the appetizers).  It LOOKS like the appetizers, but it's call Purely.  One of the flavors is Tuna, so you might look for that to try.  It's chunks of tuna in juice.  The most important thing about it is that it's nutritionally complete. 

So glad she's eating

.  My girl is on a Fancy Feast CLASSICS crave right now.  I'm not happy about it because they are scary high in phosphorus, but if that's what she'll eat, that's what she gets

.  Maybe tomorrow she'll be on to something lower in phos

Click to expand...

I looked and picked a few up today.  I never understood why they didn't make them that way to begin with.

I've come across the name Purely online, was wondering what the difference was. The only thing I saw was people saying their cats didn't like it. I will have to look for those when I go to the store tomorrow. There is something called Purrrely Divine by Grreat Choice (which is what I have now, it's the Petsmart brand). I wonder if that is more like Appetizers or like Purely?

Oh my goodness, I've seen the phos levels in Classic (and the Flaked, that's even worse!). Gonna try to give her some of the k/d again tonight. Will leave her in the bathroom with it for a longer period of time. The "community food" will be doled out in a few hours so she'll eat some of that too. Then will offer some more k/d before I go to bed. Unless she decides she doesn't like the k/d of course. I'm hoping she will just because it has more calories.

And thankfully, she's not 4 lbs now. She's a whopping 7 lbs! Although she lost an oz the last few days so I'm considering asking the vet tomorrow if I can have a couple cans of the a/d. She LOVES that stuff.

Oh ok I read that wrong. Does the A/D have a better phosphorus level?

Jenny82 said:

Oh ok I read that wrong. Does the A/D have a better phosphorus level?

Click to expand...

No, but it's irresistible kitty-crack :lol3: It's also calorie-dense, 180 calories per 5.5 oz can. It's used a lot with kitties that won't eat because it somehow attracts them so much to eat it. It's actually 1% phosphorus, which is relatively high (the k/d has 0.4% phosphorus). The other aspect of the a/d though is the consistency. It's super-soft. The k/d isn't too bad in that department either, but not as good as a/d.

But, she ate all the food I gave her this morning! *happy dance* I gave her 1/6 of a can of k/d, and she ate the whole amount! She always left a few crumbs behind before. Not this time though, not a crumb to be had. Not a single one. So happy!

That's great!!! [emoji]10084[/emoji]️