Pretty sick kitty

[jasesun23]

My 9 month old Siberian is not eating and no longer playful, he just lays around and makes a couple loud meows once in awhile.  I took him to the Vet and the vet agreed something seems wrong. Got some blood work and end up getting a abdominal ultrasound. Based on results Doc is leaning towards FIP.  Blood, showed high globulin, low-normal albumin, and anemia. ALB/Glob is .3  Ultrasound showed enlarged liver and spleen. Vet sent out for a Viral panel which should be back by Monday. Until then I want to try to get him to eat and drink as much as possible but that's proving difficult. 

He never drank water from a bowl, he did drink from the faucet but won't now . Most of his water was from his wet food. He has a wet food/raw food diet.  He's eating about 1-2oz of wet food a day. He's 10 pounds so that's not a lot. I'm using an eye dropper to force some water down and I'm also using the eye dropper to get some CatSure in him. 

He has a weird eating thing going on now. He licks the food, and as soon as he takes a chunk he tilts his head and make some weird chewing noises. Never did that before Vet checked his mouth and couldn't find any redness. Also had him chew on a tongue depressor and it didnt seem like he was in any pain. I'm mashing the food up as much as I can into a puree. I have some video of how he used to eat and how he is eating now. Has anyone seen a cat eat like he is eating now? 

example of how he used to eat

https://goo.gl/photos/eD2SQPWZnX9DhVrR6

how he eats now

https://goo.gl/photos/3R5djaihD5g8teX67

If anyone has any advice I'm all ears. thanks in advanced. 

Jay

 

[orange&white]

If he won't eat the pureed food then do you have a syringe to try to get a little more food into him?

At least you've got a vet giving you more info tomorrow.  The vet can make better recommendations.

Hopefully smashing the food down will help him eat more for today.

 

[jasesun23]

Hopefully by tomorrow will have the results of the FIV, Felv, and FCoV. He was FIV and FeLV negative 3 months ago. The Doc doesn't believe the symptoms point to either of those 2 anyway. So basically waiting to see the FCoV test to see if FIP is on the table. 

I can't shake the fact that maybe he's not eating because something is hurting him in his mouth. I can't find one video on youtube with a cat eating like that. Turning its head and chomping down like that. And as soon as he takes that first bite full of food and swallows he walks away like he doesn't want to do that again. Then again I could just be over analyzing. 

The waiting game is a difficult one to play. 

Also anyone know if there is any major negative to taking a course of antibiotics? Not sure why the Vet wouldn't give him one just on the chance its so kind of bacterial infection or not viral. 

 

[orange&white]

Poor baby.  Hopefully the results come back with something other than FIP.  I read a little bit about FIP after seeing your post.  It's pretty rare, but not as rare in shelter cats or cats bred in catteries.  It's also hard to accurately diagnose.

Probably a good thing that your vet isn't one to over-prescribe antibiotics.  Save them for when they are definitively indicated.

At 10 pounds, your cat should eat a minimum of 2% of his body weight, or 3.2 ounces of food.  How many days has he only been eating 1-2 ounces and changed the way he is eating?  If it has been more than a couple of days, you might see if he'll eat a raw egg yolk.  They are 55 calories, highly bioavailable and packed with nutrients, besides not requiring any chewing.  It's obviously not a long-term diet, but for a sick kitty a yolk might perk him up a bit if he'll eat it.

 

[jasesun23]

OrangeandWhite thank you for your concern. FIP is a difficult one to diagnose. Even if the FCoV comes back positive it doesn't guarantee FIP just that the cat has the corona virus. But with the other symptoms and a positive FCoV the Vet will most likely decide it FIP. 

I understand not over prescribing antibiotics with humans. They can tell you how they feel and if something is helping. Its so hard to know with a cat. I'm assuming he didn't prescribe antibiotics since the WBC wasn't high, but to see the cat sick like this and being unsure of whats causing it at the moment I'd think logically its a good idea to attack it form every angle

According to the cans of Weruva that I feed him, they say feed 1 oz per pound of body weight. And thats for an adult cat, kittens tend to eat more. Its difficult to decide how much food to feed a cat based on weight of food. Since all food has a different calorie density. For example raw food is very dense in calories so much less is needed. Some foods have alot of water and fillers, they have a low calorie density and much more food is necessary.  So a 3.2 ounce can Weruva is between 50-80 depending on the flavor. A 10 pound count from what I'm reading should get around 250-350 calories. From that the cat should be eating 3- 3.2 ounce cans. 

Finding out this maybe I should find a high calorie puree food, that way the little he eats will provide more nourishment. 

I will def go get some eggs. That is a good idea, thank you. 

 

[orange&white]

Oh, yes.  Sorry for the confusion.  I thought you were feeding all raw...I see that you wrote "wet food/raw food", so your kitty would need to eat more ounces on canned wet food for the same calories.

Note on eggs:  You probably know this already, but feed raw egg yolks only.  No raw egg whites (cooked egg whites are fine, but many cats don't really like the smell of cooked whites).  Avidin in the raw whites binds to the cat's store of vitamin B, but cooking the whites disables the avidin.

 

[jasesun23]

I didn't know that so thank you. Just tried a egg yolk, he licked it, seems to not dislike it but after 10 licks he walked away. Doesn't seem to have a appetite. I can always try again later. 

Jay

 

[orange&white]

He's just not feeling good.  It's always worrisome when cats don't want to eat. 

You could try a bit of unseasoned minced chicken, pork or beef....raw or boiled.  Even a bit of tinned tuna (as bad as tuna is for cats...they usually love it...sardines in water are healthy).  I'm just trying to think of things that have worked for me in the past with kitties who don't feel like eating.

Well then...I'm hoping to hear an optimistic report from your vet tomorrow for something easily treatable.  Good vibes your way. 

 

[jasesun23]

Thanks O&W. 

Turns out the Lady was right, kitten food does tend to have more calories per ounce. And on top of that certain brands have more than others. For example

what i was feeding him:

Wervua Cats in the Kitchen Funk in the Trunk is 51 calories per 3.2 oz

Wervua Cats in the Kitchen Goldie Locks is 54 per 3.2 oz

some new food I bought

Wellness Kitten Formula is 122 cal per 3 oz

Wilderness for Kittens Chicken recipe is 126 per 3 oz

Thats a big difference, If he only eats a couple bites it is better that he eats the higher calorie one. Fingers crossed. 

 

[Willowy]

Gerber baby food is good. A jar of the chicken flavor has 100 calories (the other flavors are lower so I stick with chicken). Which is about the minimum most cats need in a day (minimum is 10 calories per pound so that would be enough for a 10-pound cat) so that's convenient. You can mix it with a little water or Pedialyte to feed it to him by dropper.

 

[orange&white]

That is very good.  They say what to feed a sick cat is "anything the cat will eat".  Higher calories in less food sounds like the way to go. 

I've read that "most" cats need a minimum of around 200 calories a day for basic survival...up to twice that amount for growing kittens.  I'd try to get at least 200 calories in him until the vet can start on whatever treatment plan to make him feel better.

 

[orange&white]

Ah yes, baby food....read the labels...just 100% meat, not the ones with onion or garlic.

The kitten-formula foods should be nutritionally complete....if he'll eat it, I think that's a winner.

 

[Willowy]

I've never seen baby food with onion or garlic so I feel pretty safe recommending it without adding that all the time . But it is important, thank you. Gerber isn't 100% meat---it does have some cornstarch for thickening---but because it has more calories and protein than Beechnut, I prefer it anyway. It won't hurt the cat to have unbalanced meals for a few days; the most important thing is to get enough calories in him to prevent hepatic lipidosis.

So, yep, whatever he'll eat! Tuna, chicken, steak, whatever he wants. Baby food is easiest to feed with a dropper or syringe, but you can puree other foods yourself to make them liquidy enough. For kibble addicts, sometimes grinding the kibble to a powder and then making a paste out of it will get them eating, or you can syringe-feed the kibble paste.

 

[jasesun23]

Have some CatSure which is like Ensure for humans, been using a 2ml ear dropper to give him some every once in awhile. Going to run an get a bigger syringe and try food in that see how it works.  I'd guess he's getting 100-150 calories a day for the last couple of days. 

Going to talk to the Doc tomorrow about maybe doing an IV, gets some extra fluids and nutrients into him. 

I'll give baby food a try if food in the syringe doesn't work