Not sure if this is the right forum for this topic. I'm writing this because my tank is nearly empty and I'm just at a loss for what to do.
For the past twelve years I had two cats: a boy Muggs, and a girl Missy. They were pretty much my life and gave me so much joy and happiness. In Sept of 2021 Muggs was diagnosed with terminal oral cancer. The cancer bore a hole in the roof of his mouth to his nasal passage and so he was unable to eat on his own or groom b/c he'd get stuff up in there. From Sept until he was put to sleep in Dec of 2021 my life became basically taking care of him. He was unable to eat on his own but otherwise healthy and I had to hand feed him six to eight times a day. He was still in pretty good health when I put him to sleep on Dec 3, 2021. My reasoning was he was terminal, he was starting to show some decline, getting vet care was extremely difficult, and the risk of an accident was always there and we had already had two accidents related to hole in his mouth.
I will point out for 11.5 of these years the cats were zero fuss. Three scoops of food a day, litter boxes cleaned every 2 days, and yearly check-ups. That was it. That's what I'm used to.
Because of the changes for Muggs, Missy got out of schedule too. After Muggs passed, I tried to get her back on schedule but she was refusing to eat. Vet check-up showed she had some dental issues. We fixed that and she would eat but was still fussy about food and I couldn't really find anything she would eat. Vet said she needed 5-6oz of wet food a day but that meant me giving her 5-6 meals a day b/c she just won't eat much in a sitting -- never has. It's been 6 months and I still don't have a food that she will reliably eat and I've tried everything Petco has. Most she will flat out refuse but others she'll eat for a time before deciding "no" -- and the food she will eat requires me to have pureed it to loosen it up for her.
This lasted a month before the stress of feeding got to me and I made a vet appointment for her diet. It coincided with her having UTI symptoms as well. I remember being at the vet's office and so stressed out I couldn't handle the vet tech asking me about annual vaccinations. I remember I kept saying "Just do whatever, I don't care, I can't handle this right now, I'm too stress with the cat."
Vet check-up showed nothing was preventing her from eating and that perhaps a diet of normal wet food would give her enough moisture to keep her UTI issues from returning. The vet also said she should eat about 5-6oz of food a day but to do that I had to feed her roughly 4-5 times a day. She has no teeth and only licks the food so it needs to be loose but not too loose. To date, I've found one brand/flavor she loves and a few that she seems to tolerate provided I puree them for her. After a month, we found a flavor and texture she could eat. But her UTI problems came back. That vet check-up with urinalysis showed it was a UTI and crystals were there. She got an antibiotic shot and was sent home.
A week later and her pee problems seemed to be ok but then I noticed she wasn't going poop as much. Another vet check-up and she had a bit of stool in her but xray didn't show megacolon or that she was obstructed. So we tried catlax brand hairball gel for a few weeks. It took a week to figure out how to get her to take it as she wouldn't just eat it and putting it on her paw freaked her out. She tolerated it mixed in her food though. The catlax hairball gel didn't give us the results we wanted so vet suggested adding some fiber as well. After two weeks of that she was pooping less so vet suggested to stop the fiber, keep the catlax hairball gel, and prescribed some lactulose. We're two weeks in with lactulose and she's pooping more in volume than ever. She's going mostly every day with a random day here and there that she skips for some reason. Her pee seems to be ok.
However she's now suddenly more picky about eating and I have no clue what to do. She is overweight and probably has arthritis but seems healthy otherwise. It's meal times that are killing me though. I can't figure out what she wants to eat. I'll put down something she ate the week before or even the meal before and she'll just turn her nose up at it. I have several variety packs of Fancy Feast and Friskies and she's turning her nose up at them now when she used to love them.
I'm at a point where I've not been sleeping well for 5 months and I'm not eating due to the stress. I'll wake up several times a night to check the wifi-security camera on the litterbox to see how she did to see if she's ok. I love her to pieces but I'm not functioning and I know I can't keep going on like this. I don't know what to do. She is a very sweet cat but has always been extremely skittish. I couldn't just give her up to someone else. Between the risk of them hurting her or her being paralyzed with fear (she hid for a 5 days when my ex wife moved out) I couldn't bear that. My mom offered to take her off my hands for awhile but frankly I wouldn't trust my mom to take care of her properly. That only leaves one option and I'm just so beside myself I don't know what to do. Other than a vet visit for a full workup to see if the source of all these problems is medical in nature.
Sorry for the rant, I'm just at a loss for what to do and needed a place to vent and the internet was all I have.
For the past twelve years I had two cats: a boy Muggs, and a girl Missy. They were pretty much my life and gave me so much joy and happiness. In Sept of 2021 Muggs was diagnosed with terminal oral cancer. The cancer bore a hole in the roof of his mouth to his nasal passage and so he was unable to eat on his own or groom b/c he'd get stuff up in there. From Sept until he was put to sleep in Dec of 2021 my life became basically taking care of him. He was unable to eat on his own but otherwise healthy and I had to hand feed him six to eight times a day. He was still in pretty good health when I put him to sleep on Dec 3, 2021. My reasoning was he was terminal, he was starting to show some decline, getting vet care was extremely difficult, and the risk of an accident was always there and we had already had two accidents related to hole in his mouth.
I will point out for 11.5 of these years the cats were zero fuss. Three scoops of food a day, litter boxes cleaned every 2 days, and yearly check-ups. That was it. That's what I'm used to.
Because of the changes for Muggs, Missy got out of schedule too. After Muggs passed, I tried to get her back on schedule but she was refusing to eat. Vet check-up showed she had some dental issues. We fixed that and she would eat but was still fussy about food and I couldn't really find anything she would eat. Vet said she needed 5-6oz of wet food a day but that meant me giving her 5-6 meals a day b/c she just won't eat much in a sitting -- never has. It's been 6 months and I still don't have a food that she will reliably eat and I've tried everything Petco has. Most she will flat out refuse but others she'll eat for a time before deciding "no" -- and the food she will eat requires me to have pureed it to loosen it up for her.
This lasted a month before the stress of feeding got to me and I made a vet appointment for her diet. It coincided with her having UTI symptoms as well. I remember being at the vet's office and so stressed out I couldn't handle the vet tech asking me about annual vaccinations. I remember I kept saying "Just do whatever, I don't care, I can't handle this right now, I'm too stress with the cat."
Vet check-up showed nothing was preventing her from eating and that perhaps a diet of normal wet food would give her enough moisture to keep her UTI issues from returning. The vet also said she should eat about 5-6oz of food a day but to do that I had to feed her roughly 4-5 times a day. She has no teeth and only licks the food so it needs to be loose but not too loose. To date, I've found one brand/flavor she loves and a few that she seems to tolerate provided I puree them for her. After a month, we found a flavor and texture she could eat. But her UTI problems came back. That vet check-up with urinalysis showed it was a UTI and crystals were there. She got an antibiotic shot and was sent home.
A week later and her pee problems seemed to be ok but then I noticed she wasn't going poop as much. Another vet check-up and she had a bit of stool in her but xray didn't show megacolon or that she was obstructed. So we tried catlax brand hairball gel for a few weeks. It took a week to figure out how to get her to take it as she wouldn't just eat it and putting it on her paw freaked her out. She tolerated it mixed in her food though. The catlax hairball gel didn't give us the results we wanted so vet suggested adding some fiber as well. After two weeks of that she was pooping less so vet suggested to stop the fiber, keep the catlax hairball gel, and prescribed some lactulose. We're two weeks in with lactulose and she's pooping more in volume than ever. She's going mostly every day with a random day here and there that she skips for some reason. Her pee seems to be ok.
However she's now suddenly more picky about eating and I have no clue what to do. She is overweight and probably has arthritis but seems healthy otherwise. It's meal times that are killing me though. I can't figure out what she wants to eat. I'll put down something she ate the week before or even the meal before and she'll just turn her nose up at it. I have several variety packs of Fancy Feast and Friskies and she's turning her nose up at them now when she used to love them.
I'm at a point where I've not been sleeping well for 5 months and I'm not eating due to the stress. I'll wake up several times a night to check the wifi-security camera on the litterbox to see how she did to see if she's ok. I love her to pieces but I'm not functioning and I know I can't keep going on like this. I don't know what to do. She is a very sweet cat but has always been extremely skittish. I couldn't just give her up to someone else. Between the risk of them hurting her or her being paralyzed with fear (she hid for a 5 days when my ex wife moved out) I couldn't bear that. My mom offered to take her off my hands for awhile but frankly I wouldn't trust my mom to take care of her properly. That only leaves one option and I'm just so beside myself I don't know what to do. Other than a vet visit for a full workup to see if the source of all these problems is medical in nature.
Sorry for the rant, I'm just at a loss for what to do and needed a place to vent and the internet was all I have.