2 Of Our Cats Are Lethargic, Barely Eating, And Seem To Have Trouble Balancing

[SarahSoAwesome]

Also;
Sometimes finger feeding is the only thing that works, either sitting on the floor with them and literally scooping a little food onto your finger, or gently tucking a little bit of food into their cheeks.

Try making this;
tent test for dehydration and home-made pedialyte recipe - The Daily Kitten

Also, try making one of these;
Kitten Glop Recipes - Supplementing Cats and Kittens with nutritious formula you make at home: presented by Bengal Cat breeder Foothill Felines. --This website has a number of kitten glop recipes, with ingredients that you may very well have in your house.

These can be used on their own or combined with food. Also, if you heat the food a little - stir it so there aren't any hot spots from the microwave. Or you could heat some water, about a tablespoon, and add that to canned food. A small glass works to stir it all up.

• Chicken, beef or ham flavored baby food such as Gerber Stage 2 - make sure there is no garlic or onions in the ingredients

• Tuna and/or the juice, a low mercury/low/no sodium brand is called SafeCatch

• Salmon, mackerel

• Sardines (make sure there are no bones)

• boiled cut up chicken or turkey with no seasonings

• canned kitten food any brand - it's usually smelly. See if it's eaten on its own, then maybe mix it in or put on top

• Try mixing in Kitten Milk Replacer - there are recipes on the internet or store bought

• Fish, tuna or BBQ flavored canned wet food (I personally have never seen BBQ flavors, but...)

• Lickable cat treats or pouch treat 'gravy' poured over the food

• kitten glop (recipes in website link above)
• Bonito flakes
• fortiflora
• fish oil
• green beans, asparagus mushed up

• goat milk, or no lactose cow milk
• whole cooked eggs (the white must always be cooked) or raw egg yolk now and then
• broth with no salt and no garlic or onion or seasonings of any kind
• There are also commercial toppers, Applaws is a brand that can work well as a topper
  
• Some good treats would be freeze dried Purebites, Orijen, Meowtinis, Meowables

• There are also Lickimats that you could spread types of soft food onto, even plain unflavored yogurt, and even freeze it. Licking something can help a cat to feel better emotionally The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats
• shredded cheddar cheese
• chamomile tea, made from the little bags only, a couple cooled teaspoons a couple times a day in water or food, can helpcalm a stressed cat

Thank you for all the suggestions. I will look into that kitten glop thing. Right now until I can figure out a way to get their bloodwork done that won't literally break our bank, I'm just worried about them eating. They aren't dehydrated, the vet said so, so that's good.

 

[SarahSoAwesome]

I'm so upset, I'm so worried. I already almost lost my cat a few years ago when she had her second litter of kittens. There was complications during birth and she had to have an emergency c-section and spaying. That was at the same vet, they let us do payments back then, but they won't now. I can't deal with almost losing her again. Sorry for venting

 

[1 bruce 1]

I'm so upset, I'm so worried. I already almost lost my cat a few years ago when she had her second litter of kittens. There was complications during birth and she had to have an emergency c-section and spaying. That was at the same vet, they let us do payments back then, but they won't now. I can't deal with almost losing her again. Sorry for venting

Vent away. This is a good place to do so.
Are there any other vets in your area? Is the vet you use privately owned, or a corporation? (If it's corp., sometimes the vets, as people, would do this but the corp. policies mess stuff up and they either tow the line or lose their jobs.)

 

[Ladewyn]

Update: We went to the vet and they determined its not constipation. Unfortunately, they don't know whats wrong, as we couldn't afford to get blood work done. It would have been 150$ per cat for bloodwork, which, on top of the rest of the bill, would have been about 500-600$ which is my boyfriend's entire paycheque and then some. They gave them an appetite stimulant for now, but they still haven't eaten a lot (about half a can each of the royal canin gastrointestinal wet food is what they ate today). I'm gonna see if there's a vet around me that'll allow us to make payments, or see if this vet will do it if we give them something for collateral. I'm hoping and praying that they just caught a cold or flu.

It's getting a lot less common for vets to do payment plans because they have so many people who never come back to pay. They get scammed, so a lot of vets are taking the stance that they aren't bankers, so they don't deal in payment plans or loans. Furballsmom posted some good links, especially if you live in America. On the off chance you're Canadian, you can also check out Petcard (I don't have experience with them so don't know how good they are or what their pros or cons are, they're just the one I'm aware of operating in Canada)

 

[SarahSoAwesome]

I think its privately owned, it belongs to a group of 3 clinics in different towns around here. All owned by the same person I'm pretty sure. They all have the same policies too. They told me they don't do payments anymore cause too many people were taking advantage of it (just flat out not making their payments). The clinic thats actually in my town is WAY more expensive than the one we went to. And unfortunately my boyfriend does work full time so we probably can't qualify for a low-income vet. He makes like, 600$ a week, a little less, but it was 180$ just for both cats together for the visit, and then it'll be 300$ for both of them to get bloodwork, thats not including medication which is also pricey. So even at a "normal" oncome we can't afford a "normal" vet visit unless we completely forego paying other bills, which isn't an option, because he's gotta pay for his vehice biweekly

 

[SarahSoAwesome]

I am Canadian, yeah

 

[1 bruce 1]

It's getting a lot less common for vets to do payment plans because they have so many people who never come back to pay. They get scammed, so a lot of vets are taking the stance that they aren't bankers, so they don't deal in payment plans or loans. Furballsmom posted some good links, especially if you live in America. On the off chance you're Canadian, you can also check out Petcard (I don't have experience with them so don't know how good they are or what their pros or cons are, they're just the one I'm aware of operating in Canada)

That's what stinks. A few bad apples and all, but I understand the vets being upset.
If things go to pot with nowhere else to turn, would taking out a small loan and paying it back as quickly as possible to avoid interest rates be an option?

 

[SarahSoAwesome]

That's what stinks. A few bad apples and all, but I understand the vets being upset.
If things go to pot with nowhere else to turn, would taking out a small loan and paying it back as quickly as possible to avoid interest rates be an option?

That might work, I'll have to talk to my boyfriend, he's the one with good credit. Before I make any decisions like that though I'm going to see if they feel better after eating more. They've been nibbling on their food throughout the day. I hope they just caught a bug or a cold or something

 

[SarahSoAwesome]

Update: The kitties are doing a lot better today. My cat climbed the stairs by herself, wanting to go outside. Yesterday she was barely able to climb the stairs. They both seem to have a lot more energy too. Hopefully they continue to get better.