Esophagostomy tube

missthisbe

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I was wondering if anyone on this site has had experience with having a surgically placed feeding tube in a cat. Was it beneficial? Is this a reasonable thing to consider for a senior cat with chronic appetite problems? Were there risks or complications that arose afterwards?

My sixteen-year-old cat had a stroke last month. She has been finicky for years now, but about a week after the attack, her lack of interest in food has exacerbated, and it shows in her declining weight. She developed a cold that may be affecting her appetite, and she is currently on antibiotics, but my veterinarian suggested a feeding tube as a possibility if she does not show improvement from this treatment. I do not know personally of anyone who has had this done for his or her cat and was wondering what people's experiences have been.

Thank you. This is my first time posting, so I apologize if I have made any mistakes, but any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. There are quite a few members who have had feeding tubes placed for their cats. All have said the same thing - once you get used to it, it is not a big deal to handle, and it has been a life saver for many. I just wanted to let you know - to help quell your concerns - until others come along and can offer their first hand experiences.
 

daftcat75

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My Krista had a feeding tube. It wasn’t a big deal to her. But it saved her life. You will mind it more than the cat. The couple times she minded was when I fed too fast or fed too cold. Both you get instant feedback and adjust. Krista was pretty forgiving of the whole ordeal.

You can read a full account of it in Krista’s Care thread here:
Krista's Care
 

LTS3

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There's general info here on feeding tubes:


Has an appetite stimulant such as mirtazapine been tried before? Maybe some high calorie foods or supplements such as Oxbow Carnivore Care?
 

daftcat75

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Don't get too stubborn about it. If you don't think she will eat enough to sustain herself, a feeding tube takes the pressure off the both of you. It gives you an active hand in helping her recover. You can also give appetite stimulant and anti-nausea medicine with the tube in place. They can go down the tube instead of pilling your cat and the tube doesn't stop her from eating on her own. In other words, you can start with the tube. Then try the medications that might get her eating well enough to not need the tube anymore. I would recommend keeping the tube in longer than you think she needs it. It is easier to leave the tube in and not need to use it than to re-intubate her if she does still need it.
 
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missthisbe

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Antonio65

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Both my cats had an E-tube inserted. One because she couldn't eat on her own, the other one because she had lost her appetite and was wasting away.
The E-tube is easy to use and does not affect the ability of your cat to eat on her own if she feels like. It also makes it easy to administer any kind of med during the cat's illness without stressing it out at all.

I think that it's an important thing to consider when a cat isn't eating on its own and all other methods have failed. And once that the appetite has been restored, it can be removed quite easily by your vet. It can save the life of your cat.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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She has not been particularly responsive to mirtazapine. She will lick food but shows little interest in eating very much.
Many antibiotics can make a kitty feel nauseated. She might be going through that, plus the cold (stuffy nose?). In what way do you "present" the food to her: liquid, like a food slurry? shredded food? dry food? a pate cut into small cubes? I have found that when my cat has a stuffy nose, it's hard for her to breath while trying to eat at the same time. If I cut the pate in to pea-sized cubes, she is able to "lip up" the piece of food very quickly and therefore, still catch her breath. If eating is too difficult for a kitty, they just give up. But as your cat cold improves and she goes off of the antibiotic, she is likely to feel less nauseated, less affected by her cold, and more like eating. I guess if it were my cat, depending on the serious level of not eating of course, I might try to get her through the duration of the antibiotic course and try several ways to get her to eat on her own.I think there are threads here at TCS and articles, too, about helping a cat to eat. Like this-
18 Awesome Cat Feeding Tips By Thecatsite Staff Members

Also, have you and your vet talked about maybe using another anti-nausea med?
:vibes::vibes::alright:
You both are going through such a difficult time!



edited to add: I just remembered another tip of mine, to serve refrigerated pate works with my cat -- pretty much so that the fragrance of a room-temp cat food doesn't "trigger" her to just walk away from what she will assume to be a bad experience:
Cat Will Not Eat Following Injury/surgery
 
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missthisbe

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Many antibiotics can make a kitty feel nauseated. She might be going through that, plus the cold (stuffy nose?). In what way do you "present" the food to her: liquid, like a food slurry? shredded food? dry food? a pate cut into small cubes? I have found that when my cat has a stuffy nose, it's hard for her to breath while trying to eat at the same time. If I cut the pate in to pea-sized cubes, she is able to "lip up" the piece of food very quickly and therefore, still catch her breath. If eating is too difficult for a kitty, they just give up. But as your cat cold improves and she goes off of the antibiotic, she is likely to feel less nauseated, less affected by her cold, and more like eating. I guess if it were my cat, depending on the serious level of not eating of course, I might try to get her through the duration of the antibiotic course and try several ways to get her to eat on her own.I think there are threads here at TCS and articles, too, about helping a cat to eat. Like this-
18 Awesome Cat Feeding Tips By Thecatsite Staff Members

Also, have you and your vet talked about maybe using another anti-nausea med?
:vibes::vibes::alright:
You both are going through such a difficult time!



edited to add: I just remembered another tip of mine, to serve refrigerated pate works with my cat -- pretty much so that the fragrance of a room-temp cat food doesn't "trigger" her to just walk away from what she will assume to be a bad experience:
Cat Will Not Eat Following Injury/surgery
Thank you for your ideas. I've been presenting food to her in several ways. She has access to dry food, and I've tried both shredded and pate. I always cut the pate into small bites and try to redistribute the shredded food so that it's not just spread all over the plate and drying out. I notice when she eats, she does tend to be messy and get bits of it in her nose, which makes her slurp and blow out her nose a lot. At this point, she is really only interested in licking food rather than eating it. I am really not sure what to do because it seems like she is largely giving up. I am not sure if she can recover from this.
 
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missthisbe

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Thank you to everyone who responded. I think my cat's appetite is deteriorating further at this point. I don't know what factors may be involved-- nausea from the medication, stuffy nose, etc-- or if the damage from the stroke has affected her appetite to the point in which she is not interested in food. Her mood is good and she is still social, but she just does not want to do more than lick food dry. I think I will likely have to contact the vet on Monday to see if she still thinks the feeding tube is a viable option. I have never seen Thisbe act like this, and to me, it feels like she is maybe shutting down and not fighting to live. I am very upset, but I don't feel a lot of hope that she will recover from this.
 

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Don't lose your hope!
Call the vet as soon as possible and explain them the situation. The feeding tube can be inserted in about an hour. Walk in the vet's early in the morning and go home by midday.
Meantime you have to support her with high calories food, like Royal Canin Recovery, or Hill's A/D.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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missthisbe missthisbe - has it been many days already that your kitty has eaten very few daily calories? I agree with Antonio65 that contacting a vet much sooner than Monday would be a good idea. Cats can get fatty liver disease not only from not eating at all, but also if their daily intake of calories is very, very little. Is your vet or another local vet open on the weekends? Would you consider taking her in to an ER vet? She might really need the care of a vet right now, fluid therapy, blood work, and them trying to get food calories into her in a supervised manner. What do you think? I guess I'm just feeling, if she's really been eating very little for so many days, she needs vet help sooner than later (before Monday).

:grouphug2:
 
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missthisbe

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missthisbe missthisbe - has it been many days already that your kitty has eaten very few daily calories? I agree with Antonio65 that contacting a vet much sooner than Monday would be a good idea. Cats can get fatty liver disease not only from not eating at all, but also if their daily intake of calories is very, very little. Is your vet or another local vet open on the weekends? Would you consider taking her in to an ER vet? She might really need the care of a vet right now, fluid therapy, blood work, and them trying to get food calories into her in a supervised manner. What do you think? I guess I'm just feeling, if she's really been eating very little for so many days, she needs vet help sooner than later (before Monday).

:grouphug2:
She was at the vet this Thursday. At that point, she was under-eating. For the past two days, she has not really been eating at all. As someone above said, I guess it could be due to antibiotics-related nausea, but I'm not sure. She didn't eat anything when we came back from the vet, and usually she wolfs down food after we come back since she's typically a bit of a stress eater. That was before she'd even taken the medicine.
 

Antonio65

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As PushPurrCatPaws PushPurrCatPaws wisely said, Monday might be too far for a kitty who isn't eating enough calories, and the fatty liver disease can be a dangerous consequence of not eating enough. Recovering from a fatty liver disease is hard, and not always possible.
I agree that your cat needs help now.
 
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daftcat75

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Recovery from fatty liver disease is aggressive re-feeding via feeding tube. So yes, you should try the feeding tube sooner than later. But if fatty liver is already setting in, it’s not too late. The tube will help her through it.
 
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