This is my first post here, but i wanted to thank everyone here for the help they unknowingly gave me while i was lurking.
One of my cats (Rajah) has been going through a real bad spell, she had some bad teeth and they did dental surgery and a bunch of extractions and unfortunately they missed a tooth that was also bad, although this didn't become evident until later. It was way in the back and her gums were so swollen from infection that it wasn't obvious that it was loose. So she had to go on wet food and she'd been eating dry Iams her whole life. (If i knew then what i know now...)
Anyways after the first surgery she never really started eating again but it wasn't obvious since i have another cat (Elvirah - Mistress of the Dark, The Shadow Kitty) who must have been scarfing down both portions when no one was looking. One day about a month later we looked at her and realized that she was too skinny and needed to go back to the vet. They agreed to sedate her and remove the stitches since they seemed to be bothering her, and that's when the vet found the other tooth. So they took that out and she had to through the whole painkiller/anti-inflammatory/antibiotic rigamarole again, poor baby.
And when her gums were healed still she didn't want to eat. She was a little more than 8 pounds before the first surgery (she has a very small build) and at this point she was barely 6 pounds. I was on my hands and knees every day begging her to eat some of the Hill's A/D they gave me. She'd take a couple bites if i was lucky. A few more if i top dressed it with Boar's Head Roast Beef. She's had multiple exams, bloodwork, prescriptions for Cypro for appetite and later Valium when the Cypro didn't work. The vet couldn't find anything to explain the loss of appetite.
So at this point i'm at the end of my rope, she's eating less and less of the A/D, won't touch any of the other brands of wet i offered her (Wellness, Innova, Innova Evo, Eagle Pack, Natural Balance, Wysong, Chicken Soup, Merrick, and probably more i'm forgetting) or the dry (Innova Evo, Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea, Felidae regular and the Chicken and Rice, heck i even offered her the Iams she used to eat since i was desperate to get something into her). She'd sniff it and walk away. My other cat didn't want any of these dry foods either which was ok since i'd rather they eat canned. I was ready to start syringe feeding her (probably should have started earlier but i was worried that it'd be so stressful she'd never eat on her own again) when i decided to give a couple more types of dry a try.
I find myself standing in the local pet food store that actually has the good foods, trying to decide between the California Natural and the Chicken Soup. I ended up going with the Chicken Soup based partly on the recommendations from this forum, and partially on it's low price.
I went home and offered it to her and she had her little head in the bowl chowing down before i even got the food scoop out of her way! She ate it! Enthusiastically!
And my other one likes it too! At Rajah's last weigh in this weekend she weighed 6lbs 1oz. I weighed her this morning and she was 6lbs. 5oz! I know that's probably mainly food weight but i'm thrilled nevertheless. I probably would have never even known about this food, much less tried it, if it was not for the recommendations of people on this forum. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
One of my cats (Rajah) has been going through a real bad spell, she had some bad teeth and they did dental surgery and a bunch of extractions and unfortunately they missed a tooth that was also bad, although this didn't become evident until later. It was way in the back and her gums were so swollen from infection that it wasn't obvious that it was loose. So she had to go on wet food and she'd been eating dry Iams her whole life. (If i knew then what i know now...)
Anyways after the first surgery she never really started eating again but it wasn't obvious since i have another cat (Elvirah - Mistress of the Dark, The Shadow Kitty) who must have been scarfing down both portions when no one was looking. One day about a month later we looked at her and realized that she was too skinny and needed to go back to the vet. They agreed to sedate her and remove the stitches since they seemed to be bothering her, and that's when the vet found the other tooth. So they took that out and she had to through the whole painkiller/anti-inflammatory/antibiotic rigamarole again, poor baby.
So at this point i'm at the end of my rope, she's eating less and less of the A/D, won't touch any of the other brands of wet i offered her (Wellness, Innova, Innova Evo, Eagle Pack, Natural Balance, Wysong, Chicken Soup, Merrick, and probably more i'm forgetting) or the dry (Innova Evo, Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea, Felidae regular and the Chicken and Rice, heck i even offered her the Iams she used to eat since i was desperate to get something into her). She'd sniff it and walk away. My other cat didn't want any of these dry foods either which was ok since i'd rather they eat canned. I was ready to start syringe feeding her (probably should have started earlier but i was worried that it'd be so stressful she'd never eat on her own again) when i decided to give a couple more types of dry a try.
I find myself standing in the local pet food store that actually has the good foods, trying to decide between the California Natural and the Chicken Soup. I ended up going with the Chicken Soup based partly on the recommendations from this forum, and partially on it's low price.
I went home and offered it to her and she had her little head in the bowl chowing down before i even got the food scoop out of her way! She ate it! Enthusiastically!