Hungry Kitty

[miss ellie]

Roxie went missing and came back after two weeks - clean but very thin and very hungry. She wouldn't let us out of her sight for the first two weeks and ate for England, Ireland and Wales. She has problems with her urinary tract so is on special food. She has put on a little weight since being back (about a month) but is still thin despite being wormed and is forever looking for food and will pinch our other cats' food at every opportunity. She's gotten so bad that I dread going into the kitchen now! As anyone got any ideas on how I can settle her back down. Thanks.

 

[moorspede]

Poor little thing, she's had such a tough time.

There are different types of feeders or puzzle balls available to slow a cat down, perhaps if it takes her awhile to eat it, her brain may catch up with her stomach and tell her she's full.

There are also feeders that you can key to your cat's microchip so that only the owner of the microchip may open it.

If you can, you could try feeding her more meals a day, only with less food. That would allow her to have food in her stomach most of the day.

 

[Sarthur2]

M miss ellie

Is she spayed, or is there a possibility that she is pregnant?

It sounds like she is truly in need of more food regardless.

How old is she and what do you feed her? How much and how often?

Let's see what can be done to help her.

 

[miss ellie]

Hi - it may help to give a bit of background. We live in a very rural part of Southern Ireland. Roxie was found dumped with her sisters aged about 2 weeks by a neighbour who fed them dog food and milk. At around four weeks old we took her, her sister and brother to join our other two cats and three dogs. This was about five years ago. Both girls were extremely nervous and even now are scared if the dogs start barking or people come into the house. At about eighteen months old Roxie started spraying indoors, usually on electrical sockets and with blood in her urine. The first vet I took her to diagnosed a urinary tract infection caused by crystals in her bladder. After a few episodes it was clear the antibiotics were not working so I took her to another vet who, luckily, was pretty much a cat expert. An ex-ray showed she had very few crystals but he thought that the lining of her bladder was weak due to the acid being produced whilst being under stress. He believed that something must have happened to her mother whilst she was carrying her kittens which caused a failure in Roxie and Lucy's ability to cope with stress. By this time I was keeping a diary as it seemed that she followed the same behaviours just before spraying with blood in her urine. This usually involved jumping onto the top of cupboards, fighting with her tail and fighting with an older cat. I was tearing my hair out trying to find something that would help Roxie and even tried some of the Bach Remedies to try and calm her down. Then a Calm food came into the country and she has been on the nuts together with the urinary tract wet food and it worked! - No more blood in her urine but she was still spraying which I believe had now become a habit. Then she disappeared..... but I think she was so pleased to be back she didn't spray or fight and was generally alot calmer. I was also surprised that, having been without her special food, the walls of her bladder hadn't broken down again so was actually thinking I could start her on normal cat food but after about a month she has started spraying again - no blood though. At the moment she is just on the Calm nuts but I will put her back onto the wet food as well to see if that fills her up anymore. Sadly, I think Roxie is unable to cope in a multi animal household (though she does have plenty of places to escape to) but rehoming is not an option as we love her too much! So.... sorry for the long explanation but I do hope that a solution can be found....

ps she is spayed and is fed once in the morning and once in the evening.

 

[moorspede]

I assumed that since your cat was gaining weight that it was a psychological problem; perhaps this is a nutrition issue.

 

[Sarthur2]

I think your cat needs a vet check to rule out anything serious.

I also think you should inquire about a low dose of a calming medication like prozac. It may help with the spraying and her general anxiety, which I think is causing her stress.

I would also give her a third meal, and definitely include wet food.

Please let us know what the vet says.