She Only Eats Yoghurt Treats

Hi..

My cat is 16 & has been to the vets, only a op would fix her but with her age and weight, the vet said it would not help too much.

She was weaned of steroids 2 weeks ago, and she has such a bad appetite.

I buy her soup cat food, she only licks, doesnt eat solids. I buy these yoghurt meat flavoured sticks, she will eat 4-5 a day and they contain 70 calories each. I think thats the only thing keeping her alive nutrition wise. She does drink well but has diarohere once a day. Is it her diet? Or am i harming her by giving her these treat yoghurts?

Just without them, she wouldnt eat at all.

I was told to keep her comfortable

Hi!
See if there's anything else here that she might find interesting.

Are you handfeeding/force-feeding her?
Tongue depressors or wooden model sticks (found at hobby stores) are useful to get food (canned pate, sticky food or even nutrical) into the mouth of a cat

Just in case this is of any help, and check with your vet first to be sure there's no issues;

Try sitting with her some more and see if she'll lick other mushed up food off your finger or a spoon. The reddi whip helped another kitty recently but all of the things on the list have eaten by at least one cat.

18 Awesome Cat Feeding Tips By Thecatsite Staff Members

Also here is a compilation of things;

Try feeding in different locations - and utilize different heights. For example put a couple of books underneath the dish, next time use two thick phone books, or a small-ish box so the heights are varied....

Try some raw egg yolk. Egg white must always be cooked, and some people cook the white and make a slurry of sorts by adding in the raw yolk.

Try making these recipes - they're just as viable for an adult cat as for kittens;
Kitten-Rescue.com

These below can be used on their own or combined with food. Also, if you heat the food a little - stir it so there aren't any hot spots from the microwave.

Or you could heat some water, about a tablespoon, and add that to canned food. A small glass works to stir it all up.

• Chicken, beef or ham flavored (pureed) baby food such as Gerber Stage 2 - make sure there is no garlic or onions in the ingredients

• Tuna and/or the juice, a low mercury/low/no sodium brand is called SafeCatch

• Salmon, mackerel

• Sardines (make sure there are no bones)

• boiled cut up chicken or turkey with no seasonings

• canned kitten food any brand

• Try mixing in Kitten Milk Replacer - there are recipes on the internet or store bought

• Fish, tuna or BBQ flavored canned wet food (I personally have never seen BBQ flavors, but...)

• Lickable cat treats or pouch treat 'gravy' poured over the food

• kitten glop (recipes in website link above)
• Bonito flakes
• fortiflora
• fish oil
• green beans or asparagus mushed up, lettuce, applesauce, mashed chickpeas, black olives
• whipped topping such as reddiwhip
• dry pasta

• goat milk, or no lactose cow milk
• whole cooked eggs (the white must always be cooked) or raw egg yolk now and then
• broth with no salt and no garlic or onion or seasonings of any kind
• There are also commercial toppers, Applaws is a brand that can work well as a topper
  
• Some good treats would be freeze dried Purebites, Orijen, Meowtinis, Meowables, Only Natural Pet, Primal

• There are also Lickimats that you could spread types of soft food onto, even plain unflavored yogurt, and even freeze it. Licking something can help a cat to feel better emotionally The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats
• shredded cheddar cheese, string cheese

Is it possible she is queasy? I would ask the vet for a anti-nausea medicine for her to try. Also cats are like little kids. If mine had a choice they would just eat cookies/treats and only cookies.

danteshuman said:

Is it possible she is queasy? I would ask the vet for a anti-nausea medicine for her to try. Also cats are like little kids. If mine had a choice they would just eat cookies/treats and only cookies.

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Yes, this is a good thought, an anti-nausea medication might help.

Another thing that you could try would be pureeing a regular canned food, like the soupy one you've been feeding. I used a miniprocessor (a Cuisinart Mini-prep) to liquefy food when our previous cat was in her last weeks. Not all foods puree well so it may take some trial and error to see what works, but there were several that she would gladly lick up. It looks like you're in the UK, E ebonyandchina , so I'm not sure what foods you might have available but Sheba's pates sold in the US are very soft and would be nice and soupy -- very lickable -- if processed with a little more water.

I'd check with the vet about the specific question about the diarrhea and the Sheba snacks you're feeding now: probably the primary downside is that they're not complete food but if your main goal is to keep your cat comfortable, whatever you can feed her is good. They're high in calories, which is a good thing.

Good luck and welcome to the Cat Site. I'm sorry you came here under these circumstances but hope you can get some helpful suggestions.

Maybe try the Tiki Cat Mousse? It's a thin pate similar to those. You could also try to add kitten milk replacer to any pate and blend to achieve a similar texture.

ebonyandchina said:

Hi..

My cat is 16 & has been to the vets, only a op would fix her but with her age and weight, the vet said it would not help too much.

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Why does your cat need surgery? What medical issue does your cat have that requires surgery?

Those treats are not giving your cat any vitamins and minerals. Can you take a can of cat food and make it into soup by adding water and putting it into a blender if needed? Then just syringe the soup into your cat slowly. Try to get a 3 oz can worth of food into your cat within an hour or so. Do a feeding at least twice a day, more if you can.

Ask the vet for suggestions. There are appetite stimulants the vet can prescribe. A feeding tube may be necessary to prevent fatty liver disease.

mizzely said:

Maybe try the Tiki Cat Mousse? It's a thin pate similar to those. You could also try to add kitten milk replacer to any pate and blend to achieve a similar texture.

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My guy is a licker and he LOVES the Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse pouches and Mousse Stix treats (the Mousse Stix are similar in size to the treats you are using). They are the only treats he eats although I haven't tried some of the great suggestions from other members in this thread.

Feeding her that many of the Tiki Cat mousse pouches a day would be quite a bit more expensive (especially if she doesn't eat the whole thing) than the Sheba Creamy Snacks, but would certainly be a step-up nutrition-wise (I'm wondering if there is a reason why nutritional information for the Sheba treats is so hard to find?).

Have you tried using a grain-free pate and mixing it well with equal amounts water? I do that (a spoon does the blending trick for me) with slightly warm water and "perfect-portion" style wet foods. It makes for nice little soup-meals that Greyman has no problem licking up. Whatever he doesn't slurp stays in the bowl, but it's usually pretty clean when he finishes. He especially likes the Wild Frontier but there are other brands too (Nutro, Sheba, Iams, Crave) with the same easy portions and a soft consistency that mixes well with water and will have more complete nutrition than the Sheba treats.