Syringe feeding raw to kitty with kidney issues!

[allytt]

It's a long story so I'll go through this really quick, 5 months ago I hand-reared 3 orphans only to lose 2 of the 3 to babesiosis at around 5 months old. I have one survivor, ironically the runt of the litter who has really turned out to be quite the fighter. The treatment she received has left her with kidney troubles and an inability to eat solid food - she chews, swallows and then brings back up anything she has has to chew covered in a thick ball of saliva. We were hoping this would be temporary but as it has now been 10 days, it's time to try and figure out a more long-term feeding plan for her. The orphans were weaned from the bottle straight to raw, and my surviving girl refuses (even with syringe feeding) anything other than raw, so blended raw it is at the moment. I don't have a bone grinder, and being in Turkey, I have no idea where I would get one and even with a grinder, how I would get it to a consistency that would pass through a syringe. At the moment I am using egg shells to try and replace the bone she needs, but how will this affect her in the long term? We could be looking at chronic kidney disease and the saliva issue may never clear up (we are hoping both will reverse in time), so if anyone knows of any good sources of information for raw feeding cats with ckd or syringe feeding raw, I would really appreciate it.

 

[vball91]

Gosh, what a predicament. Thanks for saving this baby.

A lot of us on here use eggshells for calcium as opposed to bone. Here's the thread on how much to use to properly balance the meat and organs. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263426/...hydroxyapatite-to-balance-meat-or-meat-organs I don't know of any long-term issues with using a calcium supplement like eggshells instead of actual bone.

I am not sure if you can get the consistency of raw to a point where you can syringe feed it. What about adding lots of extra water to it and blending it to a thick soup consistency? Will she lap it up like that so that syringe feeding isn't necessary?

 

[peaches08]

What about a bullet blender?

 

[allytt]

A lot of us on here use eggshells for calcium as opposed to bone. Here's the thread on how much to use to properly balance the meat and organs. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263426/...hydroxyapatite-to-balance-meat-or-meat-organs I don't know of any long-term issues with using a calcium supplement like eggshells instead of actual bone.

I am not sure if you can get the consistency of raw to a point where you can syringe feed it. What about adding lots of extra water to it and blending it to a thick soup consistency? Will she lap it up like that so that syringe feeding isn't necessary?

Thanks for the link, that was exactly what I was looking for!

I am currently adding 1-1.5 parts water to 1 part chicken thighs (lowest in phosphorus?) and adding the appropriate amount of ground up eggshell, and blending it to the point that it will go through a 60cc syringe. For a few days she was able to lap up the blended food without being sick afterwards but today she coudn't even tolerate that without vomiting everything back up in a thick saliva ball. Her cold seems to be back too, she's sneezing again, so that could be part of the reason why. 

She's getting 100c sub-q fluids each day and seems to be able to tolerate food better after her fluids, so I might just try changing her feeding schedule around a little to make sure she is well hydrated before trying to feed her. 

Thanks again, I feel a lot better about the calcium now I have a guide to how much to give her. She's going back to the vets tomorrow for repeat blood tests, here's hoping we get good news!

 

[ldg]

Please keep us posted! Thank you for your dedication to this little girl!!!!!!! :heart2: :rub:

...with the kidney disease, you may want to consider replacing 10% of the meat portion of the diet with egg whites (cooked).

She still needs some liver in there (have you included any? It's essential for the nutrients, especially vitamin A. This is usually given at an amount of 5% to 10% of the total diet: depends on whether or not you include any other secreting organ, like kidney), but that should blend up nicely.

Also, she can get healthy omegas, choline and vitamin D from the egg yolk if you're not already giving her some. Again, shouldn't be a problem in a blender. One or two a week.

Vibes for you and your little rescue baby!

 

[allytt]

Please keep us posted! Thank you for your dedication to this little girl!!!!!!!

...with the kidney disease, you may want to consider replacing 10% of the meat portion of the diet with egg whites (cooked).

She still needs some liver in there (have you included any? It's essential for the nutrients, especially vitamin A. This is usually given at an amount of 5% to 10% of the total diet: depends on whether or not you include any other secreting organ, like kidney), but that should blend up nicely.

Also, she can get healthy omegas, choline and vitamin D from the egg yolk if you're not already giving her some. Again, shouldn't be a problem in a blender. One or two a week.

Vibes for you and your little rescue baby!

I will definitely keep you posted! We spent 7 hours together today at the clinic where I work, I'm lucky my boss has been amazing with her treatment. She had a barium x-ray today and it turns out the vomiting is actually regurgitation due to severe megaesophagus, this has changed our treatment plan completely. The loss of fur is a fungal infection (most likely also caused by the antibiotics she has been on) so we have to start treatment for that too. We are still hoping her kidneys will recover, her numbers were not too high so with fluid support sub-q a couple of times a week she should do fine. 

She is having liver and kidney, along with chicken hearts, and I have started using cooked egg whites in her food. She is now up at 1.9kg from 1.2 at her lowest, so we are getting there, albeit slowly.

If anyone has any good sources of info regarding megaesophagus, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

 

Please keep us posted! Thank you for your dedication to this little girl!!!!!!!

...with the kidney disease, you may want to consider replacing 10% of the meat portion of the diet with egg whites (cooked).

She still needs some liver in there (have you included any? It's essential for the nutrients, especially vitamin A. This is usually given at an amount of 5% to 10% of the total diet: depends on whether or not you include any other secreting organ, like kidney), but that should blend up nicely.

Also, she can get healthy omegas, choline and vitamin D from the egg yolk if you're not already giving her some. Again, shouldn't be a problem in a blender. One or two a week.

Vibes for you and your little rescue baby!

I will definitely keep you posted! We spent 7 hours together today at the clinic where I work, I'm lucky my boss has been amazing with her treatment. She had a barium x-ray today and it turns out the vomiting is actually regurgitation due to severe megaesophagus, this has changed our treatment plan completely. The loss of fur is a fungal infection (most likely also caused by the antibiotics she has been on) so we have to start treatment for that too. We are still hoping her kidneys will recover, her numbers were not too high so with fluid support sub-q a couple of times a week she should do fine. 

She is having liver and kidney, along with chicken hearts, and I have started using cooked egg whites in her food. She is now up at 1.9kg from 1.2 at her lowest, so we are getting there, albeit slowly.

If anyone has any good sources of info regarding megaesophagus, I'd greatly appreciate it.

So you don't need to worry about her phosphorus levels now?  I ask, because if you do, then you probably do NOT want to feed her the egg yolks that LDG mentioned, since they are very high in phos.  But the egg whites are a great idea, and they blend up nicely in a magic bullet.  I use them to for my kidney cat.

As far as the megaesophagus, there have been a couple of kitties on this site with it.  I know they should have their food dishes raised.  And one cat who is doing very well takes an antacid and metaclopramide daily, plus predisone every other day.  He's lived with it now for 7 years.

 

[allytt]

At the moment I'm still watching the phos levels because her BUN and Creatinine are still elevated (1.9 and 66), we will be repeating the tests in a few days. I have been watching our phos intake, going for low phos dark chicken meat, cooked egg whites and eggshell for calcium. I'm lucky that our vet/my boss is a raw feeder and supports our decision to stick with raw despite the kidney issues and the megaesophagus.

I'm in the process of building a sort of kitty bailey chair at the moment. Because of the degree of her megaesophagus as well as an elevated feeding station she also needs to remain in that position for up to half an hour after meals. Hopefully when I get something sorted for that we will be able to move away from completely liquid food. 

However, at the moment my focus is, strangely, the fungal infection, because as soon as we have that sorted we no longer have to isolate her from the rest of the family and we can return to some kind of normality. It's a bit crazy at the moment, we live in a duplex apartment and at the moment we have Capulcu upstairs, and the rest of the gang downstairs. Hopefully within a couple of weeks we can get everyone back together! Any natural remedies for fungal skin infections? 

 

[ldg]

Yes, 500ppm colloidal silver applied topically. I use the brand Amino Acid & Botanical Supply, I buy it on Amazon.

You can also - as with fighting Candida - provide probiotics in rather large doses, specifically L. acidophilus. I'd recommend a human supplement for live cultures. A kitten dose is typically a child's dose: 5 billion CFU, split into 1/2 am and 1/2 pm.

Good point about the egg yolk. :anon:

 

[allytt]

Yes, 500ppm colloidal silver applied topically. I use the brand Amino Acid & Botanical Supply, I buy it on Amazon.

You can also - as with fighting Candida - provide probiotics in rather large doses, specifically L. acidophilus. I'd recommend a human supplement for live cultures. A kitten dose is typically a child's dose: 5 billion CFU, split into 1/2 am and 1/2 pm.

Good point about the egg yolk.

Thanks! Vet gave a medicated shampoo for her, I was rather hesitant at first but it seems to have done her a world of good, if nothing else in getting off all the gunk from her stay at the clinic. I will try and find the colloidal silver, but have never seen it available out here. I started her on kefir today for probiotics, also need a solution for the constipation - vet prescribed Psyllium as well as duphalac but she hasn't pooped since she had the barium x-ray the other day. 

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

This poor baby

.  Can you order from Amazon over there?  If not, I would think a drug store/pharmacy would carry colloidal silver.  It's actually a liquid.  Here's a link to what LDG uses:  .