affection eating tips

[louisstools]

Ugh, she didn't really want to eat this AM. Took a ton of coaxing to get 0.6oz in her in four trips. Normal is around 1.0 so this is a bit low. She didn't eat over night and ended up going 10 hours between the last meal on Saturday and breakfast; I know she wasn't full from Saturday b/c she ate 25% less than normal. She did a poop but it was small and looked dry however yesterday she did two massive poops in the AM that looked healthy and hydrated. Drinking a ton of water though. Maybe she's filling up on water? When I changed her water yesterday she had drank an amount that shocked me, which is good!

 

[louisstools]

hmm, might have been the kibble went stale. It was on week 6 which might be pushing it. I keep the original bag closed with metal bag clips and in an air tight container. I changed it out and she scarfed down a normal amount for her lunch like I hadn't seen her do in a few days.
We'll see...at any rate she is eating when she is hungry....just not super much but still drinking a ton.

 

[louisstools]

I might have spoke too soon. She's in day 4 of not being interested in eating like she has been. Thought it was a bit of mild-constipation which she gets but she's not backed up. She's drinking a TON of water though. To the point I want to take the fountain away from her when she's eating b/c she'll do a bit and then just drink and drink and drink. She's been eating but 25% less. Weight has dropped since her last home weigh-in (every 4 days) but isn't anything to be concerned about. She's also not been interested in playing.

Vet visit tomorrow. Also found our or vet is retiring so we need to find another vet in the practice. We've liked 3 out of the 4 so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Furballsmom]

Vet visit tomorrow.

 

[louisstools]

Exam and urinalysis indicated a bacterial uti. Bacteria count shocked the staff a bit considering I hadn't observed any litter box issues...and I have cameras and do review the film.

Convenia shot -- she's had several of these -- should clear it up. Follow up in two weeks. Nearly canceled her visit today bc she was eating normally...go figure.

 

[Furballsmom]

Gracious sakes, little girl!

 

[louisstools]

After the antibiotics got working she did great for a few weeks. Then over this weekend she started backsliding on eating and just not being interested in her food. It's like a switch got flipped. She's laser focused when drinking but when it comes to food a fly buzzing a mile away will distract her.

My estimation is she is getting worse with eating and requiring more effort and energy from me to get calories in her. She's requiring more trips per day and each trip she eats less. It's to the point I'm having to remove her water bowls from her feeding area when she eats b/c they are so much more enticing and their presence distracts. I'm also having to physically restrain her a bit more to keep her focused on eating. After 2-3 bites she'll want to turn and go to her water and just a petting hand on her side will corral her to the food bowl.

She just won't eat. The vet has never seen this. We had a good conversation about her behavior and the vet is as concerned as I am regarding how much she'd eat if I wasn't there because it just doesn't appear that she wants to eat. We're doing exploratory diagnostic testing on her to try and come up with something. So far it's all been negative as she's very healthy. It's been expensive too, but as I told the vet let's do everything before we start to talk about going "tough love" or putting her to sleep. We still have labwork so hopefully that shows something really bad. We need a reason for this behavior because we're running out of options and plans. Obviously I don't want her to be sick persay but I just want an answer for why she won't eat so we can fix her.

 

[louisstools]

Bloodwork came back great and urinalysis showed no bacteria. A second vet at the practice looked at the xrays and is concerned about the thickness of the intestine walls and recommends an ultrasound to get a real idea of what's going on there. They're leaning towards inflammatory bowel disease right now. Particularly b/c she does have bouts of vomiting and she has good days vs bad days...it's not consistent. Yesterday she was leaping off the couch for feeding trips and today has been the worst fight to get food into her yet. After 9 hours of not eating over night my girl showed zero interest in breakfast too. However because my girl has been so picky with food the vet isn't sure that a diet change would do any good since the cat has never shown much interest in wet food.

So we'll have to wait a few weeks for the ultrasound before we know anymore.

 

[louisstools]

She did well for a few days but is not eating today. She is drinking and playing but I can't get her to eat food. Tried different bowls, locations, etc. Nothing. None of the tricks and it's worse than the last time she did this. 9 hours from her last meal to breakfast and she wouldn't even look at the food bowl.

Spoke with the vet and they didn't see a reason to bring her in just yet b/c they had just seen her and we're waiting for ultrasound next week before moving on. They did say if she's not eating by tomorrow AM or her behavior changes before they close for the day then they advise checking her into their hospital until the ultrasound for forced feeding, fluid ivs, and general observation.

 

[louisstools]

I forgot to update my last post, but I opened a new bag of the same food later that day and she happily chomped it. The previous bag was nearly 6 weeks old. She's been chowing down easily since then.

Ultrasound showed a healthy cat. Our vet has run out of options other than a GI blood test and a referral to an internal medicine specialist. I told her about the reaction to the new bag and asked if she could just be super smell sensitive. She said that is a possibility. Since we've ruled out everything major she's ok with sitting on this a few weeks and seeing what happens.

That's probably going to do it for this thread

 

[louisstools]

She peed on my bed yesterday morning which triggered an urgent-ish trip to the vet. No sign of UTI but decided to do another round of convenia anyway. Also "since we were there" we went ahead and did the GI blood test that goes to Texas A&M. It's the last diagnosis we can justify doing. Though who knows maybe we do a full body xray/mri/whatever just to look at the whole cat. Insert "make it rain" meme.

If that shows up as negative, potential game plan would be to look at steroid shots and/or pain killers to see if that gives her a boost due to something we keep missing in exams and tests. A diet change could be a possibility...either a different urinary tract food or a novel protein diet to see if its food allergies....both of which are challenging given her past pickiness and her strong preference for kibble.

The good news is her potty habits are back to the litter box but today she is very lethargic and has severe decreased appetite...even for her. I think since breakfast in 5 feedings she's eaten nearly 0.1oz which is way, way, less than normal. Some trips its a literal bite or two and other trips won't even sniff the bowl. She'll come over like she wants food but then just sits and won't even look at the bowl. She has not had this reaction in the past from convenia though I know it is a thing. Here's hoping it doesn't last b/c otherwise we'll be in the hospital by tomorrow evening.

We are in the process of engaging a behaviorist local to our area to see what can be done in that area. I'll probably post a separate thread going over that and just use this mega thread as the diary of my girl.

I did have a frank conversation about the vet regarding quality of life and what happens after we've exhausted everything because I'm at a point where I really can't care for her if things don't start improving significantly and quickly. It has long affected my home life but it's reached a point it is severely interfering with my ability to work b/c when she's hungry I gotta drop what I'm doing and get calories in her. She won't eat if we miss that hunger moment by even five minutes and she won't make up the meal later. Gotta end this b/c she's telling me she wants a bite of food and I just want her to eat

 

[Alldara]

This was a wealth of information for me to prevent bladder issues with Nobel. I ended up changing his litter and food and some enrichment adjustments and he didn't have a flare up for his last 8 years of life. Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD) | International Cat Care

As for the dry food, you could try to portion it and freeze some so that it doesn't go stale. Ensure to keep the bag in case of recalls. Arcana is really smelly so that went well for Magnus.

i can't remember if she eats any wet food, but I also had luck with putting extra water and tossing it through a blender with my late cat. She ate that a lot.

 

[louisstools]

This was a wealth of information for me to prevent bladder issues with Nobel. I ended up changing his litter and food and some enrichment adjustments and he didn't have a flare up for his last 8 years of life. Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD) | International Cat Care

As for the dry food, you could try to portion it and freeze some so that it doesn't go stale. Ensure to keep the bag in case of recalls. Arcana is really smelly so that went well for Magnus.

i can't remember if she eats any wet food, but I also had luck with putting extra water and tossing it through a blender with my late cat. She ate that a lot.

Great suggestions and much appreciated. Trying out a freeze routine with this new bag I opened today actually. 6lbs split into four bags. Though this bag of kibble looks different in color and size than the current bag so who knows how it'll go.

 

[louisstools]

So far the mirataz has continued to be a miracle, we're on day five. Still awaiting results from the special GI lab.

We had a virtual consult with a local cat behaviorist (virtual b/c my girl will hide if anyone other than me is in the house). I'll probably do a separate post in detail on working with her so its more easily searchable. But so far it seems money well spent. Between the input data (videos, photos, questionnaire) and our conversation I feel the behaviorist was able to explain what happened to my girl. Basically a perfect storm of many things changing all at once (losing her brother cat, me being stressed, she had a big dental, change of meal routine, change of food type, change of food type back, etc) and for a cat that thrives on routine and control that's how we got into our eating funk. That's just the behavioral side and it is possible there is still a lingering physical issue, especially since the behaviorist is convinced the cat is 2-3 years older than I know the cat to be (I've just had her for 10 but she was a stray).

She also observed from a video I shared that it was obvious to her when the cat was eating b/c she was hungry and when she just wanted attention/affection and it was concerning that the majority of feedings that the cat didn't really want to eat even if she did eat. I really was coaxing her to keep her going. Our goals are to create a sustainable schedule by eliminating feeding times progressively over a month, to de-associate meal times with attention, and to have dedicated play/pettings time.

She (we) hopes that the mirataz gets us at least a month to get the cat eating on her own (it is) and on a better schedule. The thinking is with me providing fewer meals (but leaving the food out) the cat will eat larger meals and possibly eat on her own. I do see the cat doing this in the AM with her breakfast since mirataz was introduced.

I have no clue if this will work. After the conversation when I realized how much work and stress this is going to be I felt like giving up and just focusing on one of the two permanent solutions. I'm just tired. But we've come this far so what's another four weeks? At least by then we'll have ruled out everything physical/medical and given the behavioral side a good try. Here's hoping the mirataz holds out for the next four weeks because if it doesn't I'm up a creek!

edit: I thawed the first bag of frozen kibble today. That seemed to work pretty nicely. It thawed out pretty darn fast.

 

[Furballsmom]

You can do it, we're here cheering for you and her!

 

[louisstools]

Thank you

Just got word from the vet regarding the Texas A&M GI test. My girl does have some minor elevated levels which is indicating some GI distress but not enough to say its IBD or any other gut issue. She thinks this could be causing some combination of pain and/or nausea which is why the cat wasn't wanting to eat. But the main thing is we now have something clinical where in the past we didn't!

She wants to do a probiotic to help get the gut bacteria back on track. There may be other medicine in the future but it is too early to tell right now. She's not sure if mirataz is the right thing long term given this blood work but doesn't want to change anything right now because we now have a cat that wants to eat and we're about alter the cat's food with the probiotic. IBD, diabetes, or a pancreas issue could be in her future but its too early to tell.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[louisstools]

Sadly the mirataz has been declining in its effectiveness since my last post. Each day has gotten to be more of a fight to get her to eat and I've had to suspend the steps from the behaviorist (walking away, not coaxing her to eat) to keep the cat eating. Today she has just refused to eat more than a few kibble. Drinking ok, playing ok, but just won't sniff the food. Clearly she is not feeling well but we've yet to find anything clinical. The weather has changed a bit...maybe that is partly it? But I don't see eye/nose discharge or sneezing or anything else "allergy" like.

I already have a vet call for later today so I'll see what she says. They can't find anything clinical to explain this poor appetite. Just slightly elevated folate and tli levels but not enough to explain this. Cat wouldn't sniff the probiotic (and that was on a good eating day) and given her refusal of highly palatable foods (like fancy feast, friskies) we don't have many options. The last conversation the only thing the vet said we could do is (paraphrasing) juice the cat up with steroids, pain medication, and appetite stimulant and see what happens because we all agree a diet change would probably not work.

I don't exactly like that but I feel we're running out of options. At this point I'm considering it in the hopes of getting a good month with her so we can end this on a strong note. I just don't see this improving. Obviously thoughts/prayers/vibes are helpful!

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[louisstools]

Just an update. My girl started peeing on my bed weekly and so we added a litter box upstairs. That seems to have helped as she's no longer peeing on my bed. We don't know why she was doing that...tested 3 times for UTIs ($$$).

The eating is really no change other than she is averaging 18 feedings a day. The appetite stimulant seems to only really give her a single boost in eating for about an hour and that one feeding is when she eats her most. Beyond that, it's tiny amounts, she will only eat freshly scooped kibble from the bag, and requires a lot of re-starting to eat.

The behaviorist has been a help but we're not making enough progress nor is it fast enough. Work is really starting to push me to, well, work and not take 20 minute breaks 5 times a day to feed the cat (which isn't unreasonable). I think the behaviorist said there are 6 issues we're working on regarding the eating situation. It's nuts and so far we've cut out one feeding trip...only 16 more to go.

The vet's research and collaboration with other vets leads her to think it's not IBD but just behavorial/mental. There isn't enough they can see clinically to think it's something physical. I don't know if this is good or bad. I'm leaning bad b/c behavior correction seems to be way harder. It's a struggle to not get mad at my girl when she's not eating. I need a life, I can't leave the house, work, or even watch a movie b/c of the constant feedings. I'm not sure if my girl is even fixable or not -- let alone if it's within the patience I have left. I don't know what we're going to do. I do know I'll never have a pet again after this.