Artie and his Issues

[artiemom]

Over the week-end, Artie was not eating much. Yesterday morning, I gave him one dose of Cyproheptadine. I waited, and waited... still not improving his appetite.

Artie slept all day. Finally last night, he decided he was hungry. He ate 3/4 of a can of food and some dry.

During the night, I left the other 1/4 can out for him, along with 1/3 cup of dry.

Artie was waking me up this morning, wanting food! He ate about 1/4 can for breakfast.
He is sunning himself, right now.

As far as his stool: 2 episodes of 6 inch soft plops. One in the box, when I woke up yesterday; with the other one just before I went to bed. I saw him sitting near his bathroom door. I told him to go, "Dig, Dig, dig". He went in his litter box. I had forgotten to scoop it during the day, so some pee was in there. He showed it to me, and walked out. I scooped it up, putting him back in the box, with the bathroom door closed. He grumbled at me, a "Ny-yah", then proceeded to dig, with me coaching him on. Yup, kind of poop on demand! That is when he did the 6 inch soft pile of poop....and I could go to bed!

When he woke me up this morning, it was way too early for me. I stayed in bed a while longer. He was not happy, waiting on the windowsill for me to get up.

Once up, he started yelling at me! running into the kitchen... his bowls were licked clean.

I had to give him his dose of cisapride and his pepcid before I could feed him. Artie was not happy about that.

Once it was time for him to eat, I asked if he wanted, "Num-Num?"... he jumped down from his cat tree, ran over to the kitchen, yelled at me some more, went in-between my legs, and ate.

His tummy is full, so he is basking in the sun, smelling low tide, listening to the doves cooing, and the traffic in the distance. Peaceful.

 

[katlady-18]

Always a great feeling when I come here and read that Artie has been eating and pooping!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Over the week-end, Artie was not eating much. Yesterday morning, I gave him one dose of Cyproheptadine. I waited, and waited... still not improving his appetite.

Artie slept all day. Finally last night, he decided he was hungry. He ate 3/4 of a can of food and some dry.

During the night, I left the other 1/4 can out for him, along with 1/3 cup of dry.

Artie was waking me up this morning, wanting food! He ate about 1/4 can for breakfast.
He is sunning himself, right now.

As far as his stool: 2 episodes of 6 inch soft plops. One in the box, when I woke up yesterday; with the other one just before I went to bed. I saw him sitting near his bathroom door. I told him to go, "Dig, Dig, dig". He went in his litter box. I had forgotten to scoop it during the day, so some pee was in there. He showed it to me, and walked out. I scooped it up, putting him back in the box, with the bathroom door closed. He grumbled at me, a "Ny-yah", then proceeded to dig, with me coaching him on. Yup, kind of poop on demand! That is when he did the 6 inch soft pile of poop....and I could go to bed!

When he woke me up this morning, it was way too early for me. I stayed in bed a while longer. He was not happy, waiting on the windowsill for me to get up.

Once up, he started yelling at me! running into the kitchen... his bowls were licked clean.

I had to give him his dose of cisapride and his pepcid before I could feed him. Artie was not happy about that.

Once it was time for him to eat, I asked if he wanted, "Num-Num?"... he jumped down from his cat tree, ran over to the kitchen, yelled at me some more, went in-between my legs, and ate.

His tummy is full, so he is basking in the sun, smelling low tide, listening to the doves cooing, and the traffic in the distance. Peaceful.

Sometimes a cat just has to yell. Because good help is SO hard to find.

 

[verna davies]

This can be chalked down as a good day. Hope you have LOTS more

 

[Mamanyt1953]

What lovely news to find when I got here! Another good day for our boy!

 

[Margret]

Always a great feeling when I come here and read that Artie has been eating and pooping!

Ain't that the truth!

Margret

 

[nansiludie]

So glad to have read a good report on Artie. I have a particular soft spot for tabbies and gingers, especially gingers.

 

[artiemom]

I will give an early, quick update on Artie. I have plans for today.

Artie is so far, so good. He did not poop much yesterday, only 3 inches. I will have to really increase the lactulose today. He was an eating machine yesterday and this morning.

We have been fooled so many times in the past about this.. He will clean himself out with his stool, become an eating machine, get full and constipated, and then refuse his food.

I am going to try to head that off... I will give him a lot more lactulose today.

Yesterday he ate; 1, 6 oz can of food.. and over 1/3 cup of dry food... almost 1/2 cup.
He wanted more wet, but I am not giving in so fast. I know what happens to him.

Artie woke me up early because he was hungry. I did stay in bed for a while longer, but it is hard to deal with cat fur sticking to my nose!! and my allergies!! so I got up, when my nose was too stuffed up and itchy.

Artie ran to the kitchen for food. His bowl was completely empty!
So far, in 2 feedings, 1 1/2 hours apart, he has eaten 1/2 of a can of food..

I think I will feed him one more time before I leave, and set out some dry food for him. I will give him a dose of lactulose also...That is where we fight each other.

I do not expect him to eat much more, especially since it is a chilly, humid, dark day outside. Good sleeping weather for him.

 

[inkysmom]

That's better than my 2 cats eat, I think I'm a mean cat mommy! I only give them 1 small can of fancy feast and about a cup of dry food a day to share. It takes them more than a day to go through the dry food sometimes and they could easily eat two cans a day. They're 11 or 12 pounds and maybe 7.5-8 pounds respectively, and both considered healthy weights, but always begging for more cans.
Glad to hear Artie has been having a good day and that you're onto his patterns!

 

[artiemom]

That's better than my 2 cats eat, I think I'm a mean cat mommy! I only give them 1 small can of fancy feast and about a cup of dry food a day to share. It takes them more than a day to go through the dry food sometimes and they could easily eat two cans a day. They're 11 or 12 pounds and maybe 7.5-8 pounds respectively, and both considered healthy weights, but always begging for more cans.
Glad to hear Artie has been having a good day and that you're onto his patterns!

yes, but this food is a weight and digestive control food. It has 9% fiber.. and not many calories. Artie seems to need a lot of calories per day... do not forget he has IBD also..and it may interfere with his absorption of some nutrients...

He is a very slim 10.2 lbs. Artie is a big, boy.. very long, tall, lanky.
I have a large size carrier for him.

 

[inkysmom]

I know that's all true, I just felt guilty that I was starving my 2 boys lol. It's good that Artie seems to like the new food.
One of mine looks like a Maine coon and is a tall lanky cat, and they're both thin. The other just got diagnosed with allergies to everything, food, environmental, and the only dry food I can find so far is an indoor weight control, which neither if them like or need. Vet wants him on prescription food but he's so picky. My dog with ibd is skinny and won't eat any of the prescription foods so I have to feed him regular food and give him medications but he gets diarrhea and not usually constipation. But he has days where he won't eat much at all. So I can empathize although Artie is farther along and older and has been through much more.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I will give an early, quick update on Artie. I have plans for today.

Artie is so far, so good. He did not poop much yesterday, only 3 inches. I will have to really increase the lactulose today. He was an eating machine yesterday and this morning.

We have been fooled so many times in the past about this.. He will clean himself out with his stool, become an eating machine, get full and constipated, and then refuse his food.

I am going to try to head that off... I will give him a lot more lactulose today.

Yesterday he ate; 1, 6 oz can of food.. and over 1/3 cup of dry food... almost 1/2 cup.
He wanted more wet, but I am not giving in so fast. I know what happens to him.

Artie woke me up early because he was hungry. I did stay in bed for a while longer, but it is hard to deal with cat fur sticking to my nose!! and my allergies!! so I got up, when my nose was too stuffed up and itchy.

Artie ran to the kitchen for food. His bowl was completely empty!
So far, in 2 feedings, 1 1/2 hours apart, he has eaten 1/2 of a can of food..

I think I will feed him one more time before I leave, and set out some dry food for him. I will give him a dose of lactulose also...That is where we fight each other.

I do not expect him to eat much more, especially since it is a chilly, humid, dark day outside. Good sleeping weather for him.

Good job ARTIE! Excellent news!
Yes, when a cat wants service, he will not be refused! My Elvis is like this, too. My girls are much more cooperative.
I envy you your weather! It's unendingly hot and humid here in la-la land.
Wishing you both a wonderful day and evening!

 

[rubysmama]

Wonderful update. Good job Artie !!! Good job artiemom

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Excellent, excellent news! Hopefully, we can get our boy into a decent holding pattern for a good long while!

Hekitty did NOT wake me up today, and when I did drag out, I found out why. She can now open the Temptations canister by herself!

 

[artiemom]

so funny!!!!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Now it is. At the time, not so much!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Excellent, excellent news! Hopefully, we can get our boy into a decent holding pattern for a good long while!

Hekitty did NOT wake me up today, and when I did drag out, I found out why. She can now open the Temptations canister by herself!

 

[artiemom]

Artie update:

Artie ate 1 can plus 1/3 cup of food yesterday. He is maintaining that. I think he wants the wet food out constantly; to give him a sense of security. He just goes over to it periodically, licking a bit of the juice/water, and walks away.

I am feeding him every 3 hours or so, depending on his appetite.

I give him the dry food during the night. I feel it is a bit of a variety for him. Same food, but in a dry form.

I have woken up to an empty bowl, every morning; wishing this continues.

Artie was a bear yesterday with the Lactulose. Again, he aspirated a bit of it...
I need to get about 4 cc into him daily. He fights so much. I take a towel, put it under his neck, like a bib. I put him in the back corner of my recliner. He is surrounded by either chair or my body. I put my left hand over his head, he opens his mouth when he feels the tip of the syringe (good boy), but he fights the liquid with his tongue, and his head bobs all around. I am physically restraining him with my body and the chair, the towel is for any drips. I have the palm of my left hand over his eyes, which are open and flailing!!

He is a worm.. and his tongue is pushing out the lactulose as I inject it in his mouth. He is spitting it out

I also have a syringe of plain water, for a chaser, a couple of wet paper towels to pick up the sticky drips, a dry paper towel as a placemat, a small cup with extra lactulose, just in case... It is a production to get it into him.

After I get the dose in, I have to close his mouth, he is dripping it out between his teeth, and wipe up the drips (saliva) with the wet paper towels.. also any drips which are on him.

I have to even use the dry paper towel to wipe his mouth.. keeping it clamped shut. I also wipe the outside of his teeth, because he is ready to spit it out...

And then, I let him jump down.

He will go away from me to pout... but.... if you look at him, you will see spittle drool dripping from the sides of his mouth, onto the floor. I then have to go after him, with a paper towel and wipe him again...

My floors have a constant sticky spots on it, from him. I can wash it and as soon as I dose him, the floors get messy. I cannot do it in the bathroom. I try to get him when it is a bit unexpected.....

I use a 3 cc syringe. He seems to need 3-4 cc per day. Twice a day is murder on both of us... but he seems to aspirate anything more than 2.5 cc.....that is his cut off..

And I do not wear good clothes when I give him his dose(s).

Yesterday he had 2 episodes of poop. One was 3 inches the other thinner and 4 inches.
They are a bit hard. So he needs the lactulose.

He is not eating as much today.. so he is getting stopped up a bit...

 

[tarasgirl06]

Artie update:

Artie ate 1 can plus 1/3 cup of food yesterday. He is maintaining that. I think he wants the wet food out constantly; to give him a sense of security. He just goes over to it periodically, licking a bit of the juice/water, and walks away.

I am feeding him every 3 hours or so, depending on his appetite.

I give him the dry food during the night. I feel it is a bit of a variety for him. Same food, but in a dry form.

I have woken up to an empty bowl, every morning; wishing this continues.

Artie was a bear yesterday with the Lactulose. Again, he aspirated a bit of it...
I need to get about 4 cc into him daily. He fights so much. I take a towel, put it under his neck, like a bib. I put him in the back corner of my recliner. He is surrounded by either chair or my body. I put my left hand over his head, he opens his mouth when he feels the tip of the syringe (good boy), but he fights the liquid with his tongue, and his head bobs all around. I am physically restraining him with my body and the chair, the towel is for any drips. I have the palm of my left hand over his eyes, which are open and flailing!!

He is a worm.. and his tongue is pushing out the lactulose as I inject it in his mouth. He is spitting it out

I also have a syringe of plain water, for a chaser, a couple of wet paper towels to pick up the sticky drips, a dry paper towel as a placemat, a small cup with extra lactulose, just in case... It is a production to get it into him.

After I get the dose in, I have to close his mouth, he is dripping it out between his teeth, and wipe up the drips (saliva) with the wet paper towels.. also any drips which are on him.

I have to even use the dry paper towel to wipe his mouth.. keeping it clamped shut. I also wipe the outside of his teeth, because he is ready to spit it out...

And then, I let him jump down.

He will go away from me to pout... but.... if you look at him, you will see spittle drool dripping from the sides of his mouth, onto the floor. I then have to go after him, with a paper towel and wipe him again...

My floors have a constant sticky spots on it, from him. I can wash it and as soon as I dose him, the floors get messy. I cannot do it in the bathroom. I try to get him when it is a bit unexpected.....

I use a 3 cc syringe. He seems to need 3-4 cc per day. Twice a day is murder on both of us... but he seems to aspirate anything more than 2.5 cc.....that is his cut off..

And I do not wear good clothes when I give him his dose(s).

Yesterday he had 2 episodes of poop. One was 3 inches the other thinner and 4 inches.
They are a bit hard. So he needs the lactulose.

He is not eating as much today.. so he is getting stopped up a bit...

Excellent FOOD report! Go ARTIE!
I still wonder if a top-loading cat carrier might be the way to go when you have to do something he doesn't like?
Keep up the great work, you two! Have a great day/evening.

 

[verna davies]

Oh boy, Artie is a determined little blighter when it comes to his medicines. It sounded funny the way it was written but I know its not. It must be so frustrating for you. Glad he had another good day. Cindy I hope you are looking after yourself.