I have a 7 year old male cat who has had chronic diarrhea with no decrease in QoL most of his life. He has always been small, but suffered a small amount of weight loss upon his last vet visit (down 1 lb form last year). My vet decided we should try a strict hypoallergenic diet (rabbit) to try and deal with the diarrhea; he did warn us that it can take months for a difference to show in the litter box.
It was going all right for the past 6 weeks. But as of the past couple of days, Gelfling has started to turn his nose up at the special food, eating 1-2 tablespoons a day, sometimes a little more. He makes the "hungry" cry all the time and tries to steal our table food and the other cats non-hypoallergenic food. So it seems to me that is is hungry, but just doesn't want the other food.
I've left a message with my vet because I don't know what to do. It seems to me that *eating* should be the priority here, since he weighs so little (he is a small cat, stature-wise, very delicate looking) and you can definitely feel his bones more than you should be able to. I also feel that he has lived with the chronic diarrhea for so long, with no ill effects (always playful, not lethargic, very loving), perhaps it's not that big a deal. A
nd I worry because he has always been a very skittish cat who runs and hides from anyone who is not me or my husband -- this now creates a HUGE problem in terms of feeding, if he has to stay on the hypo diet. He won't eat for anyone but us, and we both travel quite a bit. Before the hypo diet, he would eat dry food that was left out for him (and the other two cats) while we were away, free feeding without a problem. I am concerned we'd have to start kenneling him, and I don't know that he will eat at all if we do that.
Basically I am freaking out right now. Can anyone talk me off the ledge?
Thanks very much,
Dawn
It was going all right for the past 6 weeks. But as of the past couple of days, Gelfling has started to turn his nose up at the special food, eating 1-2 tablespoons a day, sometimes a little more. He makes the "hungry" cry all the time and tries to steal our table food and the other cats non-hypoallergenic food. So it seems to me that is is hungry, but just doesn't want the other food.
I've left a message with my vet because I don't know what to do. It seems to me that *eating* should be the priority here, since he weighs so little (he is a small cat, stature-wise, very delicate looking) and you can definitely feel his bones more than you should be able to. I also feel that he has lived with the chronic diarrhea for so long, with no ill effects (always playful, not lethargic, very loving), perhaps it's not that big a deal. A
nd I worry because he has always been a very skittish cat who runs and hides from anyone who is not me or my husband -- this now creates a HUGE problem in terms of feeding, if he has to stay on the hypo diet. He won't eat for anyone but us, and we both travel quite a bit. Before the hypo diet, he would eat dry food that was left out for him (and the other two cats) while we were away, free feeding without a problem. I am concerned we'd have to start kenneling him, and I don't know that he will eat at all if we do that.
Basically I am freaking out right now. Can anyone talk me off the ledge?
Thanks very much,
Dawn
