How can I get water down my young cat?

[mandycat]

I posted last week about my cat that will not drink water, or anything else. She has not been drinking since the 5th (10 days ago) except for a few hours the morning after she received an injection of chloramphinicol (sp?) for a kidney infection. That morning she ate & drank normally from 8 am to 2 pm. She has drunk nothing since.

She was eating fairly normally until a couple of days ago when two more oral meds were added.

However at present I'm more concerned about the lack of fluid intake. I have been forcing water down her by more or less pouring it down her. She is getting tired of this (as am I) and is becoming more & more uncooperative with each session.

She is running a fluctuating fever. Feels pretty normal to the touch in the morning but temp goes up as day progresses. At the vets (6:00 pm) she has had temp of 104.5 on two visits. So I think she really needs fluid. Vet said to try to get 4 oz in daily since she hasn't been getting dehydrated with this amount.

Has anyone else had to force water on a cat? How did you do it. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Betty & Mandy

 

[hissy]

I would get her to the vet and have them do subcu fluids on her. You need to be careful pouring water down her throat with a syringe or however you are doing it, you could put water into her lungs if you do it to fast. I know you have taken her to the vet, but if she is severly dehydrated she could become anemic and develop other problems. If you are feeding her wet food, and she is eating it, she is getting some water. But I would take her back to the vet if she were mine.

 

[mandycat]

I'm glad you saw my message, you are so knowledgeable about cats.

The vet has said she isn't dehydrated. Her skin turgor is good. So he hasn't suggested any subq fluids.

The choking/aspiration is what I am worried about. She is already a little anemic on her blood work last week. She will not eat wet food!

Although she got 4 oz water yesterday it has been 14 hrs since she last peed. That is unless she peed somewhere in the house other than her litterbox. At this point I'd be happy to find that she did, but haven't been able to find any.

We have an appointment for 5:30 pm Monday. He does not have morning hours on Monday. He did say though that if any problem with her over the weekend I could leave a message & he'd get back to me. So will probably try to contact him tomorrow.

Thanks again. Was just hoping you'd have some magic answer, something other than the syringe method. Don't have any idea what it could be but since I've not cared for a kitty before I'd hoped there was some secret of experienced cat owners that I wasn't aware of.

Now at 2:30 am she is asleep in her favorite spot, in front of the screened open patio door. She doesn't feel overly warm to the touch.

I am just so concerned about her since she hasn't improved with the antibiotics allthough on the culture the organism was not resistant to any of the antibiotics. She has been on chloramphenicol since Tuesday & also Clavamox & Flagly since Friday afternoon. That Flagyl must be horrible tasting stuff. She wasn't bad with the first dose since she didn't know what was coming. Yesterday when it came time for that one she went wild though. Hissing & spitting which she has NEVER done before. I just feel so sorry for her!

Thanks again.

 

[sandie]

I understand your frustration!! I always cringe when I have to give them something they need to make them feel better. I am very lucky and work for a vet, so we keep fluids at home, and it's always easier to get it into them subQ.
The 2 things you can try at this point would be to use pedialite instead so that you can use a little less fluid. The second would be to get some Lactaid from the grocery store and see if she might like that. I would try the 2% since it has less fat in it.
Did the vet say anything else about the bloodwork? Or as to what caused the infection?

 

[mandycat]

You said would need less of the Pedialyte. How much? Have been doing 4 oz water.

She hadn't peed from 1 p.m. up to 3 a.m. but when I got up at 7:00 found one BIG pee clump along with a small one. She ate a bit of her dry food.

He gave a copy of her lab work (2 pages) All were normal except HGB-9.1, HCT-26.5, Total Protein - just above noormal at 7.9 and A/G Ratopp - 0.5
Urine was cloudy with Moderate - Rods & Moderate amorphous crystals. That was on Tuesday

On Friday afternoon culture showed e.coli which was susceptible to all the antibiotics tested.

I can try the 1% Lactaid though doubt she'll touch it. At her best she would take only 5 or 6 laps of Cat Sip. She has been a very fussy critter about her eat & drink since about age of 4/5 months.

Well on to a day of struggles with meds at 10 a.m., 6 p.m. & 10 p.m. The worst will be the 6 o'clock Flagyl. Yesterdat she turned into a hissing, spitting wildcat when I picked her up for that. Had never seen her like that, didn't know she had it in her. I thought cats couldn't spit things out but she sure did a good job of getting that stuff out of her mouth!! Doubt she got more than 2 cc of the 3 cc dose down.

Thanks for the advice. Will try to pick up some Pedialyte today & give it a try.

Betty & Mandy

 

[hissy]

have you tried other food you could water down some? Boiled chicken with the juices? Yogurt with water? Anything that she might like you could make soupy for her? I wish you luck with your kitty. Will be thinking good thoughts. Please keep the board updated, I hope the vet finds out what is causing this, and that it is easily fixable. I would also try to just hold her, at this point she may not want to be held at all, but I would try to just hold her if she squirms away let her go, but show her that everytime you approach does not mean you are going to shove something down her. Good luck!

 

[mandycat]

I'm getting quite frustrated with my little dear. Tried the boiled chicken - wouldn't even sniff it. Haven''t tried yoghurt since this problem. Will try again though she refused it on earlier trials.

I forgot that early on she did eat some of her dry food which I had soaked in tepid water. She wouldn't touch it the second time. Maybe by now she has forgotten that & will nibble on it.

Am encouraged that I'm doing one thing right, at least. Have been doing the picking up & holding & talking gently to her every hour or so. Oddly enough she seems to accept this much more since all this business than before.

She can be so sweet at times. When we get home from the vet she just can't get enough of rubbing against my ankles which is not her customary behavior. We were at vet every day last week & each time was the same.

One of her meds is flavored with Fish Sauce from the Oriental Market & she seems to like that, at least the smell of it. So going to get some of that. This is what the vet used when he prepared her chloramphenical in liquid form. I questioned the salt content but he said it is so strong that only a drop or two is necessary so if it makes the medicine go down better he isn't concerned about the salt. (Ordinarily she won't touch anything fishy)

Since six months of age she has been extremely fussy about food except will go for almost any brand of dry food. Have tried at least a half dozen over time & all were fine with her except Purina One. What a little pill she is!

Thanks so for your suggestions & your concern for my ailing kitty. Will do a follow up after tomorrow's vet visit.

Betty & Mandy

)

 

[hissy]

Do you have any minced garlic in the house? Try adding a tiny bit of it to her wet food and nuke the food for a few sec. in the mircrowave, most kitties love garlic and perhaps the taste of it will motivate her to drink some water as well. Good luck!