Decreased senior appetite, normals labs & imaging

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sidneykitty

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I’d rather she didn’t eat fish because it’s inflammatory. But I’d rather she eat than not eat. Something I’ve done with Krista is mix a Tiki Cat tuna can with a Rawz rabbit can. You’d think rabbit and tuna don’t mix. But you tell her that. Maybe you can find something similar with Amber where you mix a Tiki Cat tuna flavor (Krista’s favorite is Tiki Cat Grill Ahi Tuna) with a Fancy Feast or something else you want her to eat instead.
I did try that earlier today, didn't have any luck. But it certainly has worked before!
 

mrsgreenjeens

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So how did she act after having the Tuna? Did she seem to feel ok or did she hide under the bed? And is she still e ating the new kibble?

How about bowel movements? Without the cisapride, is she still "going" ok?
 
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sidneykitty

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:ohwell: She did not eat much over night last night (night she usually eats the most) and would not eat for me this morning. Luckily the vet had a cancellation and was able to take her in.

She's getting an enema now and waiting for her to poop. :sniffle: My poor pumpkin.

Planning to restart Cisapride longterm. They showed me a photo of her xray and her whole digestive tract is pretty full up so they think her stomach is not emptying as it should, but not sure why.
 

daftcat75

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:ohwell: She did not eat much over night last night (night she usually eats the most) and would not eat for me this morning. Luckily the vet had a cancellation and was able to take her in.

She's getting an enema now and waiting for her to poop. :sniffle: My poor pumpkin.

Planning to restart Cisapride longterm. They showed me a photo of her xray and her whole digestive tract is pretty full up so they think her stomach is not emptying as it should, but not sure why.

Stomach is probably not emptying as it should because her senior girl digestion doesn't work as well as it used to. Let's having her eating again. But then I really wish you would try to get her off the dry food. In the meantime, maybe digestive enzymes might help.

This is the one I use with Krista. She gets 1/8 tsp in every meal.
Feline Optagest | inClover Natural Pet Supplements
 
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sidneykitty

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So glad she is home now. They said she had a single hard fecal ball that was causing problems, so they only needed a small amount of saline enema to get it out. All the stool that followed was a good consistency.

Right after that and getting some Cerenia, they said she seemed to feel MUCH better! And she gobbled up some wet food while she was hanging out in her suite and she also had a second poop. They housed her in a whole room for herself with windows on bird feeders. :hearthrob:

Now she's home, seems to feel better. Ate some wet food right when getting home.

I asked the vet daftcat75 daftcat75 if it could just be old age, and she said they couldn't really give me an answer unfortunately. I'd love to get her on wet food only. We'll see how it goes. I'll look at the enzymes, I've thought about it before but I don't want to give more stuff without the vet being in on it at the moment.
 

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Well, I'm so glad she's back home and the current issue (poop) is resolved. Let's hope the new daily regimen of cisapride will keep it coming and this won't have to happen to her again. The horror :eek2:. I just can't even imagine what goes through their little minds when they get "invaded" like that. But now she's home safe and sound :catrub:
 
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sidneykitty

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Well, I'm so glad she's back home and the current issue (poop) is resolved. Let's hope the new daily regimen of cisapride will keep it coming and this won't have to happen to her again. The horror :eek2:. I just can't even imagine what goes through their little minds when they get "invaded" like that. But now she's home safe and sound :catrub:
Me too! I know I feel so bad. :sniffle: This is exactly what I had hoped to prevent.

Thanks for your help and suggestions and support all.

The vet sent me home with some Cerenia tablets and Cisapride. They were going to give me transdermal Mirtaz, too, just in case for the weekend, but they had run out! Hopefully we will not need it.
 
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sidneykitty

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She's just had some wee diarrhea ploops in the last day. Two of them had bright red blood on top. From what I have gathered, that means its from the lower GI tract as its fresher? I hope its just from the enema and nothing to worry too much about...

Last night she ate approx. 1/2 can of wet food - I mixed tuna/trout with turkey.

Giving her 1/4 tab Cerenia was an adventure today...the vet staff tell me she is so easy with them but when I try to pill her at home its a nightmare. She squiggles and wriggles and cries and gets mad. I managed to get it in the second time and dashed a squirt of water with a syringe after because I worried it got stuck in her throat.
The first go, she spat it out. The second, successful attempt, I licked my finger to wipe on her nose (wetting it to encourage her to swallow - old trick we used at the clinic) and got a small taste of the Cerenia myself by accident. For the record it tastes like most tablets, not very good. I probably deserved it!
I pilled plenty of cats working as a vet assistant, but somehow doing it to my own is a challenge!

Today she's eaten a portion of 1/2 can of turkey. Here's hoping...
 

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I imagine the slight diarrhea ploops with blood WERE as a result of the enema. As long as it's not too much blood, it's probably nothing to worry about. Of course we know you'll keep an eye on it.

How about the cisapride taste? Are you having difficulty giving her that one? Maybe it's because you have to break it up that allows the awful taste to come through. Depeding on how long you might need to dose it, you could always use empty gel caps. Or try coating it in some butter. Although that never worked well for me because then it sticks to my fingers, but some people swear by it.
 
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sidneykitty

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Yes I am guessing the blood and diarrhea are both from enemas. I'm not going to freak out yet. She needs time to get recovered and to normal again. It helps having been through the enema once before. The first time I was in a panic about when she was going to poop again.

The Cisapride is not too bad to give - I open the capsule and put the powder in a small amount of wet food. It was the Cerenia that was tough! But she only needed that this morning so I shouldn't have to worry about it again!
 
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The wet food feeding is not going well. Friday (enema day) she ate 1 full 3 oz can. She 1/2 can turkey in the morning and ate 1/2 can of mixed tuna/trout and turkey overnight. That's approximately 98 calories.

Yesterday, she ate 1/2 can of turkey. She barely touched the wet food I left out overnight last night. That's approximately 40-45 calories.

This morning, she nibbled some beef but then just walked away.

I don't understand how she could NOT be hungry at this point and is still refusing to eat the food I put down. Last night she came up and meowed and meowed and meowed for food in the middle of the night. This tells me she is obviously hungry. I walked her down to her bowl but she wouldn't touch the food that was there. So if she's hungry why won't she eat it?

This is what happens EVERY TIME I have tried to put her on all wet food and eventually every time I give in because she doesn't eat enough.

The problem is if I top it with something - treats, crushed kibble, kibble, baby food, broth, crushed treats, various wet toppers, cooked chicken, tuna, she just licks or eats whatever's on the top and leaves the rest. She won't touch kibble that touches wet food. So none of these tricks work.

Its exhausting trying to battle her to eat and I don't what the right thing to do is.
 

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Finally I placed some tuna in her mouth on her tongue and then placed the bowl in front of her and she finally ate some. I hate doing that and she hates me doing it and I don't quite understand why she then decided to eat.
I think it gives them a reminder that food is ok.

Its exhausting trying to battle her to eat and I don't what the right thing to do is.
I was thinking, is she losing weight or getting dehydrated? How about this, to ease your stress (I'm very familiar with this reluctant-feline scenario);
Let her eat what she wants to eat. I realize that's not necessarily optimal but the frustration of "arguing" with her can be intense and she'll pick up on your emotions.

Additionally, provide her with the option of canned fancy feast or friskies, or something from here below, but if she meets her daily caloric needs without eating canned food consider it a win;

Canned Cat food Spreadsheets
 

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As long as she's plenty hydrated, then I guess there's no reason to fight her on eating wet food. Let the cisapride do it's motility thing and hope for the best, at least for right now. If YOU'RE stressed, she can sense it and will be stressed too. Just try to go with the flow and maybe try again later when everything has evened out with her and she seems to be doing well. :alright:

If it's any consolation, I've got one who has to have toppers on his food at every single meal or he won't eat. This has been going on now for at least ten years. It's annoying, but what can I do. He is SO picky :argh:. I just spend at least an hour on Chewy.com looking at every single wet food they have trying to find anything I think he might like to try. I think the local Rescues will be happy again when I end up donating what I just ordered, but I've got to try something new as he's started rejecting his food even with every topper I have. My arsenol is running dry :sigh:. But he doesn't know what kibble is. i actually tried to give it to him once to see what would happen, and he looked at me like I was trying to kill him :flail:
 
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I was thinking, is she losing weight or getting dehydrated? How about this, to ease your stress (I'm very familiar with this reluctant-feline scenario);
Let her eat what she wants to eat. I realize that's not necessarily optimal but the frustration of "arguing" with her can be intense and she'll pick up on your emotions.

Additionally, provide her with the option of canned fancy feast or friskies, or something from here below, but if she meets her daily caloric needs without eating canned food consider it a win;

Canned Cat food Spreadsheets
It seems her hydration is fine. She has lost weight since April (was 9lbs), but she is currently stable at 8.6 lbs.
I do think she picks up on my frustration for sure. Would you recommend doing this until I can slowly try to increase her wet food:dry food ratio later on?

I had been trying to do that before and I started leaving wet food out alongside her kibble to see if she would eat it. Is that what you mean about providing her with the option of canned?

mrsgreenjeens mrsgreenjeens - I have been considering that. Its just that I read that liquid foods are easier to digest and move through with stasis... I don't want to feed her kibble and make it worse. :sniffle:

Ohh dear is that Darko or Stinkpot? I'm sorry to hear that - that's frustrating! I too have spent many an hour on Chewy/at the pet store trying to figure out what food she might like... I wish you the best of luck!

I was considering ordering some Almo Nature Complete cans from Chewy (as its not sold in store anywhere in my state from what I can see) because she used to quite like those back when my local store sold them and she's been keen on the Applaws cans recently. They're quite similar. I'm just nervous to order something and find out she won't eat it!

I have a Treat Trick I try with her to get her to eat wet food. I shake a bag of treats and call her name, give her a treat from my hand, then let her watch as I put treat #2 in the wet food bowl and this USED to get her to eat the treat, then eat the food. It was like it jump-started her eating response or something. Not so successful with that lately, though I did it today with a few kibbles and it worked somewhat well. She didn't eat as much wet food as I'd like, but she did eat some.

The thing is - when she eats wet food (and she's always been like this), she's a dainty little licker. She'll spend a long time at her bowl but when you go look at it she barely makes a dent.

It looks like she'll be getting some kibble this evening since she's doing such a poor job of eating.
 

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Even though I have a clear preference for wet food, firmly believing that a lifetime of kibble was behind Krista’s IBD, I also don’t believe in starving a cat into a diet she doesn’t enjoy. If she’s not eating enough with wet food alone, let her eat the kibble. Make sure she’s eating enough first. Let the cisapride do its thing. But do keep trying with wet food. Maybe try a new brand each week. Anything she eats more than a couple of bites, keep offering that. I find Krista used to do her own slow introductions. “What’s this new food? I’d better eat only a couple of bites and see how it treats me.” If she approved, she would eat more of it on following days. At least that’s when I still had the option to feed her new foods. She has so many sensitivities now that I just stick with a couple flavors I know she can handle.

I believe most pet food stores, Chewy included, will let you return uneaten food because we all know how picky cats can be. Some manufacturers will even send you samples if you write them.

She may never kick the kibble habit. But if you keep at it, you may be able to offset enough kibble with wet to keep things moving well.
 

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Well, you are correct in the fact that if it IS stasis, liquid food works best, but even canned food is not liquid, unless you are adding in a whole lot of some sort of liquid to it. But I get your point, and I'm sure wet is better than dry. However, if she isn't eating the wet food, then what are your options? I suppose IF she has a definite diagnosis of statis and they know the underlying reason for it and can fix that underlying condition (which I don't think is the case), you could have an E-tube installed and feed an actual liquid diet until things resolve. Otherwise, I'd let her de-stress with what she likes (the Go! hopefully since it's a decent dry food I think) and see what happens. Then give it go with wet food later when she feels better. Or offer it like you did today with the treat trick and if she doesn't eat much, then give her dry so she doesn't lose weight. I just don't think I'd withhold food from her right now. Cats will practically starve themselves if they don't like a certain food. Stinkpot will climb all over me begging for food, and I might offer him a couple of choices when he gets that desperate, and he STILL might not eat. So frustrating because I have NO backup since he doesn't eat kibble. I keep threatening him with an E-tube just because it would make MY life so much easier :rolleyes2: (and yes, I've had a cat with a feeding tube before. It was easier than trying to feed this cat )
 

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You're getting great advice :)

Would you recommend doing this until I can slowly try to increase her wet food:dry food ratio later on?
Yes

Is that what you mean about providing her with the option of canned?
That, and even putting the wet food in different locations throughout the house, at different heights such as having a dish sitting on a box, or even on a chair --this worked for another reluctant cat :sunshine:

There might be something here too if you haven't seen it already;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!
 
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sidneykitty

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daftcat75 daftcat75 - thanks. That's how we got her started on wet food a few years back. She only nibbled it and would only eat fish flavors. I almost feel like we're starting over again now. Thanks for the advice and encouragements! I will set small goals and try not to worry too much about the future and just focus on one day at a time. That's part of where I personally go wrong.

mrsgreenjeens mrsgreenjeens you make very good points. that's true wet food isn't liquid, either. I tried the treat trick again this afternoon but she outsmarted me and didn't eat the wet food.

Furballsmom Furballsmom oh that's a great idea leaving it around in different places. I started doing that with her water bowls to get her to drink more ages ago and it absolutely helps! Not something I thought of, definitely will try. I did think about raising it up and whether that would make any difference. One more thing to try.

That link is excellent help and I have referred to it before. Always good to remind myself of other strategies. :)
I've never heard of the Big Bad Woof before! Always use Chewy. Thank you!

It seems lately she gets very easily distracted while eating. I wonder if she doesn't like her feeding station anymore - there are too many distractions around?

I'm also wondering if she's having a hard time with me and my partner being home during the week more with working from home. I'm usually home 1-2 days a week anyway and she usually spends most of them sleeping in her bed, but she's not used to two of us around so much.

I've given her some more kibble this evening and she has eaten some of it. I'm hopeful she'll eat more overnight and I also left out some wet food beside it. Thank you all. Feels like you are Amber's little support team. I really appreciate it.
 
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