Hi all. I haven't posted here (but read often) since I rescued my semi-feral two years ago. I got such good advice then, I'm hoping someone can help me with a new problem. This one involves my 15 year old female Remy.
Several months ago she started getting very picky about what she would eat. She gradually stopped eating dry food (though she had a few different choices) and would only eat wet food. (I should mention this is not a teeth problem, she eats crunchy treats.) She would eat one particular kind for a week or so and then refuse it. I would go through a few cans to find something she wanted and she would eat that for a week or so and then back to opening cans until I found something she liked. Over the last few months this got down to every few days and now we're at maybe a day and a half. If I'm really lucky I'll find something with the first can I open. More often it takes 2 - 4 cans. This is not because she is not hungry. She will be there meowing for me to feed her but turn her nose up until I find the right thing. Also she will eat chicken flavored treats (and only chicken) and turkey lunch meat any time. I try to limit this to once a day.
Things got worse about three weeks ago when I fell and fractured my arm and then had to have surgery on it. So I was at home with her all the time. Some days she would only eat about a spoon full of food at a time so I was trying to get her to eat every hour. Other days she eat normally. And we were still going through the day and a half limit on what she would eat. I was very stressed out trying to rest myself and worried sick about her eating. I don't know if she picked up on my stress and the change of routine or it was just a coincidence that these two things happened at the same time.
I finally took her to the vet last Friday to make sure there wasn't some underlying medical problem even though she is behaving normally otherwise and hasn't lost any weight through all of this. He called Monday and said the blood tests came back negative for what the he called "The Big 5" (diabetes, hyperthyroidism, etc.). He said an option would be an intestinal biopsy but I'm not ready to consider drastic measures at this point since the problem is not that she isn't hungry or eating at all. He also suggested something to stimulate her appetite and since she had eaten only spoonfuls that day, I agreed. He prescribed Mirtazapine 1 ml. every other day. After doing some research on it, I decided to go ahead and give her a dose . Within a hour she was ravenous and ate what she had been eating since Sunday night. Then Tuesday we had to go through the open cans until she likes something.again. So it increased her appetite but we still had the same problem. Since she was eating well, I didn't give her a dose yesterday (I have some misgivings about the drug). She stopped wanting that food today and tonight I opened three cans until she accepted one and then only ate a spoonful. If she continues that through tomorrow night, I may give her another dose. But since she's done that in the last few weeks, eat a little for a day or so and then go back to normal eating, I"m hoping she will start eating well tomorrow.
I've also wondered if the problem might be with her sense of smell or taste. I just really don't know what to do. It's frustrating for both of us to go through this every day and half. I'm hoping someone here might have had a similar experience and can offer some advice.
Several months ago she started getting very picky about what she would eat. She gradually stopped eating dry food (though she had a few different choices) and would only eat wet food. (I should mention this is not a teeth problem, she eats crunchy treats.) She would eat one particular kind for a week or so and then refuse it. I would go through a few cans to find something she wanted and she would eat that for a week or so and then back to opening cans until I found something she liked. Over the last few months this got down to every few days and now we're at maybe a day and a half. If I'm really lucky I'll find something with the first can I open. More often it takes 2 - 4 cans. This is not because she is not hungry. She will be there meowing for me to feed her but turn her nose up until I find the right thing. Also she will eat chicken flavored treats (and only chicken) and turkey lunch meat any time. I try to limit this to once a day.
Things got worse about three weeks ago when I fell and fractured my arm and then had to have surgery on it. So I was at home with her all the time. Some days she would only eat about a spoon full of food at a time so I was trying to get her to eat every hour. Other days she eat normally. And we were still going through the day and a half limit on what she would eat. I was very stressed out trying to rest myself and worried sick about her eating. I don't know if she picked up on my stress and the change of routine or it was just a coincidence that these two things happened at the same time.
I finally took her to the vet last Friday to make sure there wasn't some underlying medical problem even though she is behaving normally otherwise and hasn't lost any weight through all of this. He called Monday and said the blood tests came back negative for what the he called "The Big 5" (diabetes, hyperthyroidism, etc.). He said an option would be an intestinal biopsy but I'm not ready to consider drastic measures at this point since the problem is not that she isn't hungry or eating at all. He also suggested something to stimulate her appetite and since she had eaten only spoonfuls that day, I agreed. He prescribed Mirtazapine 1 ml. every other day. After doing some research on it, I decided to go ahead and give her a dose . Within a hour she was ravenous and ate what she had been eating since Sunday night. Then Tuesday we had to go through the open cans until she likes something.again. So it increased her appetite but we still had the same problem. Since she was eating well, I didn't give her a dose yesterday (I have some misgivings about the drug). She stopped wanting that food today and tonight I opened three cans until she accepted one and then only ate a spoonful. If she continues that through tomorrow night, I may give her another dose. But since she's done that in the last few weeks, eat a little for a day or so and then go back to normal eating, I"m hoping she will start eating well tomorrow.
I've also wondered if the problem might be with her sense of smell or taste. I just really don't know what to do. It's frustrating for both of us to go through this every day and half. I'm hoping someone here might have had a similar experience and can offer some advice.