Hi,
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a cat with a lot of health problems (which is why this is in Cat Health rather than Cat Nutrition). She has decreased in weight from 7.3 last August to 5.1 today. The vet says it's possible that this more due to stress (either from the health problems or from a new cat that arrived in late August) that led to a decrease in appetite that led to a long-term lack of interest in eating a lot of food.
I am currently trying to determine whether this is the case by feeding her A/D food and counting her calories very carefully per day. She would probably eat 50-60 calories per day if it was her own choice, but I feed her off my finger and via syringe and have been working my way up the past few days to 180 calories per day (today will be 140 if all goes well). However, it's not an ideal situation because she doesn't want to eat more than .5-.6 oz of A/D at a time, and that's only off of my finger. She has a growth in her abdomen (unclear whether it's cancerous
) and if that is affecting her ability to eat a lot at one time then I'm okay accepting that and moving on. However, she seems able to eat .5-.6 every 45 mins to an hour. Based on how cats supposedly digest, this makes me feel like she COULD eat more in one sitting, she just doesn't feel like it/is in the habit of eating this small amount.
Does anyone have any luck with increasing cat meal sizes? She used to be much better about this, so it's not just her permanent state. I'm wondering if it would help if I just syringe fed her more each sitting to get her used to it, but I would much rather she was able to do it voluntarily. She can't really have dry food bc of her chronic UTI problems. She is sometimes willing to eat Nutrical, but again in small portions. She has no interest in food toppers (except, very occasionally, Fortiflora).
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a cat with a lot of health problems (which is why this is in Cat Health rather than Cat Nutrition). She has decreased in weight from 7.3 last August to 5.1 today. The vet says it's possible that this more due to stress (either from the health problems or from a new cat that arrived in late August) that led to a decrease in appetite that led to a long-term lack of interest in eating a lot of food.
I am currently trying to determine whether this is the case by feeding her A/D food and counting her calories very carefully per day. She would probably eat 50-60 calories per day if it was her own choice, but I feed her off my finger and via syringe and have been working my way up the past few days to 180 calories per day (today will be 140 if all goes well). However, it's not an ideal situation because she doesn't want to eat more than .5-.6 oz of A/D at a time, and that's only off of my finger. She has a growth in her abdomen (unclear whether it's cancerous
Does anyone have any luck with increasing cat meal sizes? She used to be much better about this, so it's not just her permanent state. I'm wondering if it would help if I just syringe fed her more each sitting to get her used to it, but I would much rather she was able to do it voluntarily. She can't really have dry food bc of her chronic UTI problems. She is sometimes willing to eat Nutrical, but again in small portions. She has no interest in food toppers (except, very occasionally, Fortiflora).