I have a 16 year old cat who has generally been very healthy. I've fed her a raw diet for many years (used to buy from Hare-Today but have had to use Stella & Chewy's due to work/time constraints). On Wednesday, I noticed that my cat had not eaten any of her morning food. I gave her new food that evening and noticed that she still wasn't eating. I didn't think much of it, as she sometimes will go back a bit later and eat. On Thursday, she was still being finicky, and I was starting to get concerned. That night, I ended up giving her a lot of Purebites, just so she wasn't completely starving. On Friday morning, she vomited bile. I couldn't get her to eat anything (not even treats). I ended up buying various Tiki canned foods and a couple of the supplemental chicken/broth packets, as I was pretty much desperate. Nothing worked. I ended up calling the vet early Friday and they took her that afternoon. I was afraid with the weekend approaching that I would be stuck going to an emergency vet. When I was going to get her prior to leaving, I realized that she had eaten the chicken/broth. I had left 3 different bowls out in the hopes that something would work.
The vet said that she was a bit dehydrated and gave her subcutaneous fluids, Cerenia for nausea, and Elura as an appetite stimulant. The bloodwork won't be back until Monday, but he said that he wanted her to be in a good position to make it through the weekend. He took an x-ray and didn't see anything concerning.
That night, she ate another pouch of the supplemental chicken/broth. I put out 2 different Tiki cans on the off chance she would eat them. This morning, I realized that she had eaten both of them, so I was very happy. She seems to be doing better. My problem is that I'm confused about how to property feed her and what to do moving forward (I haven't used canned food in many years). The larger Tiki cans (10 oz) say something like 1 1/4 cans per 7 lbs of weight. Since she's about 9 lbs, that would be about 1 1/2 cans. I'm just confused if I should feed her extra since she hadn't eaten for a couple of days and how to go about transitioning her back to her regular food. I'm stressed out about her not feeling well and worried about overfeeding or underfeeding her. If her bloodwork comes back okay, I was thinking that maybe I'll try the Hare-Today food again, and see if she'll eat it. I know cats can sometimes develop a food aversion, and maybe that's happened. If anyone could give me some advice about how to feed her during this period, I would really appreciate it. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly and don't want to jeopardize her recovery by messing up her nutrition.
The vet said that she was a bit dehydrated and gave her subcutaneous fluids, Cerenia for nausea, and Elura as an appetite stimulant. The bloodwork won't be back until Monday, but he said that he wanted her to be in a good position to make it through the weekend. He took an x-ray and didn't see anything concerning.
That night, she ate another pouch of the supplemental chicken/broth. I put out 2 different Tiki cans on the off chance she would eat them. This morning, I realized that she had eaten both of them, so I was very happy. She seems to be doing better. My problem is that I'm confused about how to property feed her and what to do moving forward (I haven't used canned food in many years). The larger Tiki cans (10 oz) say something like 1 1/4 cans per 7 lbs of weight. Since she's about 9 lbs, that would be about 1 1/2 cans. I'm just confused if I should feed her extra since she hadn't eaten for a couple of days and how to go about transitioning her back to her regular food. I'm stressed out about her not feeling well and worried about overfeeding or underfeeding her. If her bloodwork comes back okay, I was thinking that maybe I'll try the Hare-Today food again, and see if she'll eat it. I know cats can sometimes develop a food aversion, and maybe that's happened. If anyone could give me some advice about how to feed her during this period, I would really appreciate it. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly and don't want to jeopardize her recovery by messing up her nutrition.