Cat has no sense of smell or taste.

[margd]

 
Hi all again!

The Mr. cat is named Solun and is around 2 or 3 years old. I'll upload some pictures with "now" and "then" effect. He is really a real fighter - getting better with each day.

So! To the topic with the litterbox training, I succeeded! What I did was cover the place he was doing his job with paper, plastic bags and just about a bit of grains as I said in the previous post. I put some objects around the place I wanted him to go - several boxes upside down, half-full bottles of water etc. so he stops going out of the place I wanted him to urinate. And that worked. He started to do his jobs only on the plastic bags with grains, so I just started covering his urine with more grains but didn't clean it and I guess that helped because he started going at the exact same spot on the grains with his own old urine there. I must say that for a week it was such a stinky mess.... but worth it ! Eventually, I removed the big objects around to see if he will ever go out of the grains area ever again and since he didn't for 3 days, I started making the area smaller and smaller with each day (and finally started cleaning a bit!)

The semi-final step I did was to put only the upper part of the litterbox (model like this one: http://www.catsofaustralia.com/images/litterboxrim.jpg) around the last piece of plastic bag with paper and grains. As I'm saying, I really did a slow and steady progress of getting the area smaller and smaller. Solun kept doing his things inside the "ring" so the final step was get the whole plastic bag with the same grains I didn't change for a week and put it inside the litterbox itself, but  just leave it at the exact same spot.

Solun is using with absolute no problem the Litterbox and I'm just so SO proud of that cat. He even started digging in the grains. Just in case I'll leave the litterbox at that spot for awhile before I move it a bit (it is on the doorstep to the balcony ...)

Cheers, friends!

I'm really impressed! 

Using the grains is terrific idea - I would never have thought of that.  Thanks for letting us know as I'm sure other people will find this trick useful. 

 

[elen nikkol]

Hi guys and gals, some of you asked for his pictures, so here he is (sorry the story is written only in bulgarian), but be careful, the old photos are really scary... :

https://www.facebook.com/losangelis...0205610137763766.1073741838.1563071415&type=3

 

[elen nikkol]

IMG_6581.JPG

• elen nikkol
• Jul 7, 2016

This is the young and blind gentlemen named Solun. Some of you asked for his photo. Maybe he can find a human girlfriend out here? He is looking for a new home...

 

[margd]

This is the young and blind gentlemen named Solun. Some of you asked for his photo. Maybe he can find a human girlfriend out here? He is looking for a new home...

He is certainly a very handsome boy.  I'm sorry he's looking for a new home.  I wish he could stay with you.  You've been taking such good care of him.  

 

[orsoborso]

First of all this blog is a treasure! Thank you for all the good descriptions and best practices.

My cat, Dimitrij 8yrs old, had a stroke a week ago. Since then he lost a lot of weight - from around 2.5 kg he is now around 1.5kg (never been a huge kitty)-, has no appetite, no bowl movement (no stool at all, even after an enema from the vet, because the x ray showed a lot of fur as well which is already dissolved by the paste we gave him). He lost the sense of smell, has issues with his trigeminal nerve on the left side (no menace response-no blinking when something get close), is able to swallow (drinks water voluntarily) but refuses all food, so we are trying to feed him from syringe. After a week, he is a little bit stronger (thank god) than before and hates this feeding process, tries to escape and fight against it. Next to the daily vet visits, this force feeding really frustrates to him. Is there any way we can ease this frustration for him? (probably he will get e-tube next week, but until then it would be lovely to cause him less stress) CBD could help him a little bit? Or does it have some unpleasant side effect in this condition? Any idea?

 

[fionasmom]

Welcome to The Cat Site. I am so sorry about Dimitrij's stroke. Is he able to walk and move around? What does the vet think was affected? You mention no bowel movement, no blinking/response on the left side of the face, not eating. Is there a general prognosis? To start at the end, he does need the feeding tube which will probably simplify the issue with the food. Many TCS member have used them and were happy with the improvement in their cat's condition once they started. If you are interested in CBD products, definitely tell your vet first. They can interfere with medications, making them either more or less potent than they should be, and I am not sure what CNS effect it might have on an animal with a stroke. If you get the go ahead to use it, you will probably need something flavored or in a form where taste is not an issue....but with no sense of smell that might not be a problem. The vet showed you how to syringe feed, or you knew previously how to do it? Will he eat Gerber's stage 2 baby food meats or any of the bisques or toppers that are on the market now?

 

[orsoborso]

Welcome to The Cat Site. I am so sorry about Dimitrij's stroke. Is he able to walk and move around? What does the vet think was affected? You mention no bowel movement, no blinking/response on the left side of the face, not eating. Is there a general prognosis? To start at the end, he does need the feeding tube which will probably simplify the issue with the food. Many TCS member have used them and were happy with the improvement in their cat's condition once they started. If you are interested in CBD products, definitely tell your vet first. They can interfere with medications, making them either more or less potent than they should be, and I am not sure what CNS effect it might have on an animal with a stroke. If you get the go ahead to use it, you will probably need something flavored or in a form where taste is not an issue....but with no sense of smell that might not be a problem. The vet showed you how to syringe feed, or you knew previously how to do it? Will he eat Gerber's stage 2 baby food meats or any of the bisques or toppers that are on the market now?

Hello! Thanks a lot for the reply
Yes, he is able to move and walk around, just visibly too weak&slow, cannot move a lot, he needs to sit down or lie down when moves from one room to another. Today the vet started a steroid therapy and infusion, the plan is that he gets this in the upcoming 2-3 days. Our main goal is to try to feed him, until he recovers but that might take a longer time... As he is able to swallow they do not want to give him a feeding tube yet. We managed to find a bit less stressful way to feed him (instead of the syringe we wash and re-use one of the cat liquid treat bags as he tolerates it better now - okay takes longer time, but he seems to take it better). I used to feed my mom's sick cat that way years ago, but yes the vet also showed me again. Now we bought Purina convalescence (which we put to blender with extra liquid to get a paste-like texture), Alfa Reconvales tonicum and got a nutritional-convalenscence paste from the vet (Vétoquinol Care Calo-Pet) to support the nutrition. As I checked we do not have that baby food here, but I could order online.
Next to the steroids he gets some nerve system stimulants and B (1,6,12) vitamin medication.
There is no exact diagnosis as for the MRI an anesthesia would be required, which they do not want to risk right now.
This is where we stand now.

 

[fionasmom]

Thank you for replying and I certainly hope that you see some improvement. You are taking excellent care of him. The baby food was only a suggestion but if he is eating what you are giving him, and especially if it is cat food, you are probably better off keeping with that rather than doing a special order. It is probably a very good idea to hold off on anesthesia if you can while he is so weak. Please keep us posted as to his progress.

 

[orsoborso]

Dear All,

It is hard to say, but after a short improving period (last week Dimi started to eat a few bites on his own and got a little stronger as well), the situation got a wrong turn and my sweet Dimitrij's health turned back to the early state from August and he died yesterday. He still enjoyed our company, but was too weak, refused to eat and got weaker every day. His neurological symptoms also returned. After a lot of tests in the last few weeks it turned out that an autoimmune disease was in the background which caused the stroke and an acute renal failure. He got medications to both neurological and renal issues, but could only give a small improvement and a little bit of time for us to spend together.
Despite his balance problems and weaknesses, he could find a way (using the extra stair we made at the foot of the bed) to get up there and sleep with us. In the last week we gave him infusion therapy under his skin at home as well next to the normal medication and feeding, because the daily vet visits started to frustrate him even more and we wanted to make him feel as good as possible (we got trained by the vet to do this, this is also a common method for cats with renal problems here, only that his infusion contained some extra medicine). When on Saturday he could not drink on his own any longer and had huge balance issues even while lying, we realized that there is no way back. At least we could be next to him till the end. Yesterday afternoon after the infusion we put him on his favorite blanket on the bed, pet him, he purred one last time. After that dying only lasted a few minutes (maximum 5 but felt like ages). He stayed with us for my birthday and could also meet my parents one last time. He was a real blessing. I hope we could bring him as much comfort in this hard journey as possible and he is now in a better place where he can catch all the birds and jump on every high place.
We buried him with his favorite toy in my parents' garden where he always enjoyed watching the birds.

I would like to share what helped us the most to be strong enough to give our dear Dimitrij the possibility to die where he felt home - next to the vet clinic and all the support we got - 1. we always checked his mood and tried to avoid anything that made him upset/stressed out next to taking care of his needs and spent a lot of time petting him 2. we had to admit the possibility that we can just be there for him on his last journey - lot of conversations: what happens if we see any sign of pain, what would be the best, etc. 3. (the hardest part) getting ready for the death - we found a blog where a lady shared how her cat died, what happens (shared below). When it started we immediately knew and we could hold him till the end.

I also would like to thank you all, this blog gave us hope and strength to be able to support our beloved Dimi.

*****the below content is about dying******

This is the content which we found (together with our own experiences):
- on the last day hardly any movement, mostly lying - his body starts to get cold (ears and paws first) no matter of any blankets and heating
- one big and deep moan which is followed by opening his eyes wide open, having a full body spasm, pulling his head sharp back
- started hoeing with his legs only for a few seconds, maximum half a minute
- a few (3-4) deep breaths which sound very human cough-like after which his eyes stayed wide open with dilated pupils and his jaw opened and he did not move any more

 

[fionasmom]

I am so sorry for your loss of Dimitrij. His stroke was almost a month ago and you did everything that you could to try to help him and to make him comfortable. You fought the good fight for him and he was able to stay with you for a little while longer because you tried so hard on his behalf. He departed this earth in the exact way he would have wanted....with his family by his side as you always had been.