Coping With a Stubborn Dry-Food Eater With Serious Health Issue

gradys mommy

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Hello-

I had asked for advice with our two-year-old rescue cat, Grady, and have a few more questions than i did originally, so thought it a possibly more appropriate that I start a thread to better address the problems and concerns we're facing - and trying to avoid in the future - with his health.

Grady is a rescue cat who my husband and I adopted at 8 months old from a local pet store, where he had spent six of his eight months in a cage too small for a large cat of that age. But we rescued him, fell in love with him and his unpleasant start became a thing of history. Or so we thought.

We were told when we adopted him that Grady had allergies, which made his left eye weepy most days. Long story short, and many vet bills and specialists later, the weepy eye turned into two weepy eyes and he was diagnosed with ocular herpes at one year, three months.

To complicate matters, our home where Grady had only settled down into two months prior to adoption was destroyed by an F-1 tornado in April of 2015 and we all spent the following five months displaced in a hotel suite (no one was hurt and we thankfully had homeowners insurance). It was a very stressful time for us all, especially, it seems for our boy.

Grady's eating problems started not long after that.  Because of our cat's health issue and his history of trauma (though he remains a calm and easy going kitty, surprisingly) we went slowly and gingerly with our approach to his dislike of any form of what is considered a healthy cat diet (He even dislikes fresh-cooked meat that we humans eat and turns his nose fully up to all, including fresh salmon and dark or light meat chicken), so I believe Grady is going to be one of the cats that 1. will take a while to switch completely to a healthy diet and 2. will always be in need of regular treatment for his ocular herpes (started in his left eye in kitty hood and is now in both eyes) on an all-too regular basis.

I went to Petco yesterday and bought: Soulistic's  Polynesian Picnic - chicken and talapia along with  their Harvest Sunrise Chicken & Pumpkin. My luck, he hates them both. I also picked up their Island Illusion packet of salmon, tuna (and pumpkin) dinner, but have not tried that as of yet. And Applause,  it seems, also makes a chicken breast with asparagus in  broth packet as well as well that we'll try.

(Soulistic  was the only product Petco carries that is on Dr. Pierson's list of acceptable canned food for cats.)

Since we adopted Grady (at 8 months) he has been on Natural Instinct's canned salmon and their chicken, but stopped eating them all together when silly me started giving him a very wee handful of kibble at night (for his teeth lol) a few months back. So, likely, I'm the one who actually started Grady's downhill race away from canned food by re-introducing kibble to him in the first place. It's sure a lot harder getting them back off   kibble than it was back on. Sigh.

In regard to his ocular herpes, our vet has stained his eyes a few times over the past few months and the stained tears never travel to his nasa passagel, meaning the infection is so severe that the canals to his nose are too swollen for the stain to pass through and discharge normally.

Also, it is thought that Grady is partially Persian, as you can see, above, that he has a distinctly long, flat face face, much like those of Persians, which both our vet and the specialists we brought him to at  at UF Veterinary Small Aimal Clinic, Gainesville, concur likely further complicate Grady's eye condition.

Grady is currently being treated with neomycin polymixin B w/Dex for what is called epiphera. My question in regard to his ocular herpes/epiphera condition is, since the antibiotic drops help Gready immensely--like he's healed and a different and much happier cat-- can he stay on antibiotic-type eye drops full-time in effort to avoid more discomfort and damage to his eyes, or would staying on an ocular antibiotics or anti-viral drugs not be in his best long-term interest? When we stop the drops his misery returns almost overnight and involves his eyes returning to what is much like running faucets, causing him  tenderness and redness around his eyes, leaving him miserable and rubbing at his eyes full-time, and resorting to simply going to sleep to avoid the pain. I'm sure me cleaning his dear face (with warm water on cotton balls, tissues to pat dry) three to four times a day just adds to his misery, though we all have to say that, fortunately, he is an extremely well-mannered and easy-going cat by nature--which helps lots, of course.

My husband and I have spent thousands of dollars in vet bills and medications in attempts to help our cat including L-Lysine use daily (which does nothing, in my opinion). We so  want to do what's best for our boy--in all way possible. We are dedicated to his health but are not in a position to spend thousands more dollars right at this time, as we've only been back in our home, post tornado, since September, and there is so-so many other life  necessities  that  need our financial attention, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Sorry for such a long response and so many questions. I just wanted to get everything in on this post that would be helpful in determining which and what ways to best proceed in Grady's behalf.

Thank you ahead of time for your quality help and advice~

 *Special thanks to Red Top Rescue for all your advice and suggested reading via PM, Prior related posts on the subject of Grady and his health and eating challenges can be found here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/292686/herpes-eye-in-cats-need-some-help-information

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/288501/can-anyone-enlighten-me-on-natural-balance-dry-food
 
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mrsgreenjeens

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I'm in a rush right now, but want to say first that I'm so sorry about all your bad luck, and hopefully that's going to change NOW


Next, I would ask the Vet about the long term effect of using the eye medication. 

And finally, try crushing the kibble and putting it on any canned food to see if he'll eat it. 

Gotta run for now!
 
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gradys mommy

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MrsGreenJeans-

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I have a return appointment with the vet next week, so I will absolutely ask the vet about the continuation of medication in his eyes; the idea of him returning to red, runny eyes every day, all day, after two weeks of crystal clear eyes would be heartbreaking for both of us.

Again, thank you.

I would ask that if anyone has knowledge of a cat with ocular herpes (in both eyes) staying on medication full-time, with success and continued health, I would be more than interested in learning more about such antibiotic use.
 

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I'm in a rush right now, but want to say first that I'm so sorry about all your bad luck, and hopefully that's going to change NOW


Next, I would ask the Vet about the long term effect of using the eye medication. 

And finally, try crushing the kibble and putting it on any canned food to see if he'll eat it. 

Gotta run for now!
I agree! One of the steps in weaning our cats off dry food (after first cutting it back to night only and reducing the amounts) was to sprinkle 5-10 kibbles on top of their last wet food meal of the day. Then that got cut back to fewer and fewer kibbles, often crushed.

If Grady likes treats like Pure Bites or some similar freeze-dried meat-only treat, that's worth trying as a topper, too.
 
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gradys mommy

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Thank you, LisaH-

The idea of making crumbles for wet food out of dry to help transitioning Grady off of hard food is a great one, and I am doing so currently, with some success, and will continue in this and report back in a little bit.

Great idea~
 
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gradys mommy

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Happy update: Grady has left hard food behind! 






After following the good advice of those who told me to crumble up Grady's hard food and introduce it as a crunchy topping on his canned food--it worked and we have now left hard food behind, as we have wanted to for our cat's health sake. In fact, it was easier and went faster than I would have otherwise thought it would.





In total, it took us a little less than a month to make the transition, and Grady is happy and so are we.





Thank you to all who inspired us to push through kitty preference and choose kitty health instead.





The Cat Site is an awesome site for helping cat owners find the right answers to the many complex issues facing cat owners and their kitties.
 

cocobutterfly

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Totally late to this thread, but what a BEAUTIFUL cat Grady is!! Warms my heart to see another cat so loved and well-cared for. I wish him a long, happy, healthy life with his loving family!
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Yay!  Grady IS a handsome guy
, and I'm so glad he's converted over so easily to a wet diet.

Good for him (and you!)
 
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gradys mommy

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Thank you both for your kind remarks, and to all members who helped make a difference with their assistance and good ideas on this thread.

Now we can go on to the business of conquering his eye problems--and Living Life!
 

lisahe

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I'm very glad to hear that Grady was able to give up the dry food so quickly and with so little fight. It really can be done. Now here's hoping his eye improves, too! And that is a lovely photo of him: he has a very regal look.
 
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