Help, my feral tomcat is gone!

[feralsrule]

Great news, since I force-fed him the paste yesterday his appetite is getting better. I left him a bowl of a high-calorie mix I made myself* and I'm pretty sure he ate most of it. Also today he had increased appetite for some solid salami

*I blended a quarter of a cup of wet cat food, a teaspoon of animal butter, some of the paste the vet gave me and lots water. The resulting extremely runny paste should be both rehydrating and high in protein, fat and total calories

It worked a little too well,  he's much more energetic now and I I'm having trouble giving him his eye drops.

His pupils are still dilated so I'm keeping him in the shack where there's much less light, to prevent strain to his eyes

 

[feralsrule]

Update

Mith is now grooming himself and is much cleaner but to improve the situation I also washed his cage and wiped him as much as I could with gentle,alcohol-based, wet wipes for human hands. He still doesn't eat his usual canned food but I'm feeding him salami and the gravy from the canned food. The goal is to help him get back to a healthy weight and start eating normally ASAP

He tends to stay in one side of the cage and won't approach the other so I find myself having to move food to that side if he is to try it. Judging from his behaviour I'm afraid he is getting bored so today when the sun goes down I'll take his cage out in the yard and let him observe the environment around him (can't do it mid-day as his pupils are still dilated and it would probably hurt his eyes)

I'll get some heavy-duty working gloves to be able to handle him because he won't come out of the trap even when it's open (!!!) and I'm resorting to squirting the eye drops in the general direction of his eye and hoping some of the liquid finds its way in.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Please be careful with the salami! Onion and garlic are completely toxic to cats.

 

[shadowsrescue]

Please be careful with the salami! Onion and garlic are completely toxic to cats.

Not to mention all of the salt.  In small amounts as a treat this is fine, but it really is not a good idea to be feeding him salami as his main meal.  This may lead to other health problems.  Try to find a cat food he will eat.  You may have to try lots of varieties to find one he likes.  You might add a tiny amount of salami as a topper or mix it into the food, but really it should only be a tiny amount.

 

[feralsrule]

It's not that kind of salami, it's something we call "parizaki" which is basically minced pork, fat and potato starch :-) Salami was the closest English term I could find that was kinda similar

However it does contain salt so I'll take you up on your advice and try some other types of wet food. In the meantime I have no other choice but to keep feeding him because he is very picky. I could also try feeding him canned tuna but it's just as salty :-(

 

[Willowy]

You can rinse canned tuna and that will remove most of the salt. Some soaks in but most is on the surface.

Do you have packaged baby food where you live? If so, the meat kind can be great for sick cats. Make sure they didn't add any flavorings (especially onion and garlic). Or you can cook some meat yourself and put it through a blender or food processor to make your own.

 

[feralsrule]

Tried another brand, he still likes (nay, loves) the gravy more than the meat but he eats it eventually. I took the trap outside now for a little bit to give him a chance to look around and not be as stressed. I'm also petting him often and he seems to enjoy it more than usually do hopefully this will help him feel better.

His "bad eye" eye looks better too but we won't know for sure for another couple of days. His pupils are still over-dilated so I'm keeping the light to a minimum.

 

[feralsrule]

I've managed to get him to drink. I put wet food with plenty of gravy which he likes and then fill the rest of the bowl with vitamin-enriched water (a mixture of the nutritional paste the vet provided and water). Since he likes the gravy he has no choice but to lap up the water along with it. Today he drank more than 100ml of water using this method.

His daily food intake is currently at about 250 grams of wet food and he also stated defecating which he hadn't done ever since I trapped him.

His eye is still bad and the improvement from the eye drops is minimal. His pupils are still dilated and I'm beginning to worry. I'll call the very tomorrow and ask for advice.

Another thing I noticed is that he won't leave the trap. I can open the door and he won't budge. I hope this means he feels safe in there and not that he's too stressed or in pain :-(