affection eating tips

[louisstools]

I'm so sorry things are like this for you - the excessive thirst seems odd, though.

She's still drinking her normal amount so it's not excessive as I measure it every two days when I clean and change her water. But it is odd and has been how focused she can get when drinking compared to eating. She is far more interested in drinking than eating. Which is odd b/c historically she was anti-drinking and very food motivated.

 

[Alldara]

 

[louisstools]

Another month, and still hasn't recovered since Thanksgiving. I'm guessing this is the new normal. It's getting to the point where it's hard to not just scream at her when she's being bad by not eating. Some days I do scream at her and she knows it is directed at her but I can't take this defiance any more. She usually doesn't eat overnight and even going 10 hours in-between meals she will barely eat 5 pieces of kibble and shows no real interest. I've wondered if it is the food but then I go downstairs and see several hundred cans of different variety of wet food that she wouldn't eat and different bags of kibble she wouldn't eat and remember that THIS particular food was the "best" option.

In the meantime, the only thing I can do is just keep giving her mirataz until she eventually breaks and eats. I want to talk to our vet about something stronger, something that can break her will to not eat so we can get relief. If such a thing doesn't exist then I've think I have to put her down. I have an option for a cat sanctuary but I know she won't eat and I'd rather just end everything so that I can get relief. It's less about her eating and more about me getting relief from her. I can't keep doing this, it has my job in jeopardy in a time of crazy layoffs, and it's taken a real physical toll on me. Maybe things would be different if she at least showed some interest in food and simply didn't eat much but as it is it's like she hates eating. Drinking is fine but eating is a total no-go for her.

 

[Furballsmom]

Some days I do scream at her and she knows it is directed at her but I can't take this defiance any more.

I have a little bit of an idea of how frustrating it can be (from times of reluctant eating by both Poppy and Mr Captain, but nothing like what you're dealing with), but I promise you she isn't being defiant. Whatever it is that's going on, it isn't that.

Why not give her to the cat sanctuary? You're saying you know she won't eat, but honestly you don't know for certain what she will do. I would strongly suggest that you don't describe her background much, because they and she will be better off if they don't develop a preconceived perception of her - cats are too good at picking up on people's emotions. A fresh start at the cat sanctuary could be helpful for her. Truthfully, she needs away from your frustrations, as much as you need away from her.

 

[louisstools]

Why not give her to the cat sanctuary?

That wouldn't give me peace or relief. I'd be worrying about her, lots at first and then off and on until I got word she finally passed.
Sometime last year the behaviorist presented the sanctuary as an option because my cat wasn't really responding to the course of action that well. It's the only one in my area and it's one where the behaviorist works or helps out. The problem becomes I wouldn't be able to go visit or her or get information about her other than when she passed. That would be too hard on me. We've been together 12 years and then basically not separated since covid for more than a few hours a week. Giving her up would just be too stressful on me. I know, and believe me I've thought this over for hours and hours on end and I always come to the same conclusion. I don't know much but I do know how I react to things and that's why I wouldn't give her up.

 

[Alldara]

That wouldn't give me peace or relief. I'd be worrying about her, lots at first and then off and on until I got word she finally passed.
Sometime last year the behaviorist presented the sanctuary as an option because my cat wasn't really responding to the course of action that well. It's the only one in my area and it's one where the behaviorist works or helps out. The problem becomes I wouldn't be able to go visit or her or get information about her other than when she passed. That would be too hard on me. We've been together 12 years and then basically not separated since covid for more than a few hours a week. Giving her up would just be too stressful on me. I know, and believe me I've thought this over for hours and hours on end and I always come to the same conclusion. I don't know much but I do know how I react to things and that's why I wouldn't give her up.

Do you have the option of trialing her at the sanctuary? Just having her go for a week or so to see if she eats?

My thoughts are...if she eats there then giving her to them would be the best thing rather than having her PTS.

Another aside....have you tried taking her with you to say a pet friendly hotel for a night and seeing if she eats there? Did the not eating start when you were in this current place? Or during COVID when you started to be at home more?

 

[louisstools]

Do you have the option of trialing her at the sanctuary? Just having her go for a week or so to see if she eats?

My thoughts are...if she eats there then giving her to them would be the best thing rather than having her PTS.

Another aside....have you tried taking her with you to say a pet friendly hotel for a night and seeing if she eats there? Did the not eating start when you were in this current place? Or during COVID when you started to be at home more?

No, it's a one-time permanent surrender. They normally don't take in cats as old as mine but our behaviorist can "pull strings."

I would agree.

I have and she went 36 hours without eating or drinking. I had to travel for a funeral and she was going to be there two nights - I needed one night for the funeral and wanted another day (I was just going to be home watching tv and relaxing) without her for relief. But she wasn't eating or drinking so they called me and I picked her up. We've always lived in our current house and the not eating started in Fall 2021 when the other cat had cancer but it was before he was PTS. She was already being difficult but after he was PTS it got a bit worse and she hasn't re-gained it at least not like what it used to be even a few months before he was PTS.

 

[Alldara]

But you and her together never went and stayed in another place? Like you never brought her with you to the hotel?

 

[louisstools]

But you and her together never went and stayed in another place? Like you never brought her with you to the hotel?

No.

 

[louisstools]

Bit of an update since it’s been a while.

Something happened in February that caused her to just not want to eat even more than normal. that is still going on and in early March she suddenly stopped walking to her food bowl and will only go to it if I carry her. She’s also drinking a lot more water which is fine, but the more she drinks the less she eats. earlier this month she stopped drinking from her fountain and went back to the old water bowl that’s been there for 12 years. she will drink from the fountain occasionally, but she seems to prefer the other water bowl now for some reason. she’s also eating about 25% less consistently than she had been which is causing her to lose weight slowly.

still working with the behaviorist and she seems to be OK with the cat eating less because "it’s the cat regulating." Theoretically that makes sense but I would expected at some point I would’ve seen the opposite which I never have.

I would say her eating is pretty much like it was before the appetite stimulant. She’s eating less at every meal, if I can even get her to eat at all, and we’ve had to add more meals throughout the day to get her calories in he. before February, we were down to about nine meals a day total. we’re back up to about 15 plus a handful of times where she won’t eat. If she’s really bad in the morning some days I’ll give her multiple doses of the appetite stimulant, but she’s still not eating at the level she was before February.

I’m kind of hoping it’s just seasonal allergies and in a couple of weeks she’ll be back to where she was in February. if she doesn’t bounce back this summer, that will probably be the end.

 

[louisstools]

And another update...

She's been hit or miss with eating since the last post. She's down 0.6lbs. We had a vet visit yesterday (5-14) to see what was up because she had been really not eating well the past five days and the water intake never slowed down. This time the vet heard congestion and ordered an xray that showed she has bronchitis. The vet didn't like the increased in thirst so we did a full blood work up to rule out all the common things...and diabetes showed up.

So bronchitis and diabetes. This coming Friday we start the insulin injections. After we get the diabetes sorted out we'll come back and treat the bronchitis. While I would never wish my cat or anyone's cat to have diabetes, I have to admit I'm actually glad we found a reason for her not eating as well and just her over-all behavior changes for this year.

 

[Alldara]

Looking forward to hearing how it goes. Please keep us updated.

 

[louisstools]

Well, she takes the shot pretty easily. I wish I would’ve known how easy this was years ago because any medicine I would simply ask for the injectable form. I can’t give her a pill, but giving her a shot is pretty easy.

however, the nightmare that is unfolding is 12 hours after the first shot she has to eat. anybody that’s still following this thread knows that my cat follows no humans schedule for eating. And she also doesn’t eat very well in the evenings, generally speaking. I have no idea how we are going to solve this.

 

[louisstools]

Just got news the from our vet's vet-tech that I need to get the cat on a two-meals a day routine where the bowl is down for a half hour, comes back up for 12 hours with no free feeding at all.

I'm beyond crushed. I have a appointment with the vet to discuss this but...for crying out loud, they know my cat. We've tried this before and it didn't work.

 

[louisstools]

Just an update

The good news is as of Friday the diabetes is under control. She takes the shots well but it's very hard on me to get that evening shot into her because I have to give it to her at a certain clock time and she has to eat within a certain amount of time. This means I have to start preparing her around 1:00 PM for the 7:00PM shot in order to try and "time" her to having a meal within an hour plus or minus of when we need to give her that shot. We can flex when we give her that shot...we can go "infinitely later" (or not at all if she's being a real bitch about not eating) but we have to be careful with how much early we go. Most days I give the shot as early as possible b/c of when she last ate. I'm lucky the amount of insulin she gets is fairly small so the chances of her going hypo are very low if I shoot her and she hasn't eaten in say 2 hours.

Her eating is still terrible and worse than it was last year. Whatever made her just stop eating this last February is still going on. The amount I can get her to eat is roughly the same (0.1-0.2oz, by scale weight) but it requires so much more effort. Most days I resort to just drugging her with appetite stimulant because I'm tired of fighting her and screaming at her doesn't get anywhere (even if it feels good). She never eats willingly and she never eats until she is actually full. She always requires a lot of coaxing and coercion to start eating and then a few carry backs and replacing the 15 minute old food with fresher food to keep her going.

 

[louisstools]

I don’t know how many more post I’ll have here. Since my last post, she’s just been an absolute nightmare and the amount of appetite stimulant I have to give her increases every day just to keep her eating... and her weight has been in steady decline. Ironically, a common symptom of diabetes is increased appetite, but she actually has a significant decrease in appetite from the diabetes.

i’ve talked it over with my behaviorist and I made decision that I’m gonna put Missy to sleep. We’ve tried everything and I just can’t get any relief from her. She just won’t eat and our days are filled mostly with fighting each other and yelling. I’m tired of being physically and mentally exhausted from the struggle and from being mad at her all day long.

Thank you, everyone who’s provided support and advice.

 

[louisstools]

It's been awhile and thought I'd give an update. After my last post, I had a conversation with our vet and she recommended we give Missy a few more weeks because it hadn't even been a month since her diabetes got regulated with insulin. That seemed reasonable so we gave her a few weeks and she did improve a bit on the eating. We have been blowing through mirataz to keep that appetite from completely going away though and we're trying to cut back. Her weight has at least stabalized and she's no longer just losing weight.

So it was a good bit of medicine from the vet to give her a few weeks. She's still around and getting ready to celebrate her 12th birthday next week. She's still as difficult to get calories into but for now she's at least tolerable.