Jasmine, baby, c'mon - listen to your mama!!
Maybe that pate style will come back in favor down the road
Maybe that pate style will come back in favor down the road
Hello, all.
My Jasmine has been losing weight recently, for no obvious reason. The earliest vet appointment I can get for her is next Monday, and I'll be asking them to check for thyroid problems as well as cancer and anything else they can think of.
In the meantime, I'm trying to get extra calories into Jasmine. She normally gets 1/2 a can of wet food, twice a day, plus all the kibble she wants to eat, and I've changed her kibble to Kitten kibble, which she likes, but I'm having problems with the canned food. I have some Royal Canin Mother & Babycat canned food left over from Bright Eyes's final illness - Jasmine won't touch it. Because she generally prefers shreds or chunks to paté style foods I picked up some Royal Canin Kitten food, thin slices in gravy - Jasmine won't touch that, either. I found some Authority Kitten Turkey Entrée Paté and tried her on that. She gobbled it up, and then proceeded to throw up in her water bowl (and that's making me wonder about a possible turkey allergy). Anything with fish in it, she won't eat (I know - atypical, but it is what it is). The only wet kitten food I've been able to find that she'll eat (and keep down) is Purina Pro Plan Kitten Food Chicken & Liver Entree, which is another paté style food, but apparently it tastes good enough to overcome the form factor. I called Chewy to see whether they could send me an emergency shipment of some other flavor of Purina Pro Plan Kitten Food, and the only other flavors available are all fish.
I have six days to go before she sees the vet, and I already know that she'll get tired of the same flavor before then. Can anyone come up with some other ways for me to get extra calories into her? What do they add to kitten food to increase the calories, fat? I'm wondering about frying some hamburger and draining the fat into her regular cat food. Starting to feel desperate here.
Margret
That might work for getting medications into her (and I'll bear it in mind for future use), but I can't see it as a way to get her to eat something she's decided isn't "really" food. Yes, she'd swallow it if I put it on her tongue, but she'd never give me another chance to put it in her mouth. It wouldn't be long before feeding time became a matter of first finding a cat who's in hiding, then wrapping her in a towel, and then struggling to keep her in the towel while using both hands to force her mouth open and put the food on her tongue.I put Poppycat on a counter (it's easier) have a pate with his supplements mixed in, and using a tongue depressor, scoop a little on the end, open his mouth and gently scrape the food off on his tongue.
Good luck getting a cat to eat anything it doesn't like. It took Mirtazapine to get Buddy to eat the the Hills wetfood, and as soon as the three day limit expired, he was back to a hunger strike. IBD or not, either find something the cat will willingly eat, master the use of a feeding tube, or watch the effects of anorexia blossom. In the end it ain't up to the guardian, or the vet...it's up to the cat to decide what goes over the gums and across the tongue. If you do find something your cat will eat, and have trouble finding it, I may be able to source it.Furballsmom , thank you for the information about Hare-Today. I may go that route if her current food doesn't work out.
That might work for getting medications into her (and I'll bear it in mind for future use), but I can't see it as a way to get her to eat something she's decided isn't "really" food. Yes, she'd swallow it if I put it on her tongue, but she'd never give me another chance to put it in her mouth. It wouldn't be long before feeding time became a matter of first finding a cat who's in hiding, then wrapping her in a towel, and then struggling to keep her in the towel while using both hands to force her mouth open and put the food on her tongue.
N Novus888 , thank you, but she's now been diagnosed with IBD, probably caused by a chicken allergy. At this point it seems to be a matter of persuading her to eat enough of a novel protein diet.
LTS3 , thank you very much. I'll save the information for use if it gets to that point.
Margret
Exactly. Some vets will tell you that a cat won't starve itself; when it gets hungry enough it will eat the detested food. And I consider any vet who tells me that to probably be a dog person. Jasmine proved to me years ago that if she doesn't get the food she wants she's perfectly willing to refuse all food (crying pitifully about it the whole time) until she gets her way, and she'll do it for months.Good luck getting a cat to eat anything it doesn't like. It took Mirtazapine to get Buddy to eat the the Hills wetfood, and as soon as the three day limit expired, he was back to a hunger strike. IBD or not, either find something the cat will willingly eat, master the use of a feeding tube, or watch the effects of anorexia blossom. In the end it ain't up to the guardian, or the vet...it's up to the cat to decide what goes over the gums and across the tongue. If you do find something your cat will eat, and have trouble finding it, I may be able to source it.
If she'll eat it
I am so sorry you’re going through all of this; I’ve got a similar situation going on with my cat, Dean. He HATES pates. He’s proven to me he will starve himself before he eats anything without shreds or chunks or something he deems isn’t food - like rabbit or venison. You might want to check out Koha foods - they have shredded food for cats and maybe there is something there that might interest your baby. Nice think is that you can order 3 packs instead of a whole case of it. Which brand is the pork stew that you tried? I’d be interested in looking at that one. Keep us posted on how Jasmine is doing.Well, the customer service representative at Chewy spent about 45 minutes with me, looking for novel proteins. Eventually we settled on 3: Pork Stew, Duck with Pea, and Duck and Lamb in Gelée. I tried the pork first, and Jasmine informed me that pork isn't food. Next I tried the duck with pea. It comes in 5 oz. cans, and I was disappointed to see that it's patée style (something that isn't mentioned on either the label or in Chewy's database, or they wouldn't have sent it to me). Despite the fact that it's patée style I tried Jasmine on it and she attacked it with gusto. Once. She hasn't eaten any of it since as far as I can tell. I'll try her on the duck and lamb tonight.
Margret