Looking to add food to TD kibble only diet - advice please

[jorjor]

Do they not have a canned version of the TD?

 

[mservant]

Good question! I've never asked but think it's unlikely: the way it is designed to work is by abrasion on the tooth surface from very large, hard kibble which contain a high percentage of rough fibre. Unlike normal kibble the cat will chew and crunch the kibble before swallowing (leaving crumbs everywhere)!  Mouse loves his kibble and likes to eat it like a treat, thrown across the room so he can chase it, and hidden in little stashes around the room that he has to search for it. He is also very good at drinking water though I would like some hydration to come from his food. The biggest concern for me is that TD has quite a low protein content and I want to improve his nutrition / immune system in the hope it will reduce the number of herpes outbreaks he has.

 

[mservant]

Had a phone consultation with the vet today and they are going to prescribe L Lysine which I can pick up tomorrow - going to try the liquid as Mouse usually likes to drink stuff from his syringe but we'll see how it goes.  All being well we can get back to trying out different food in a week or so. Gives me time to prepare for the stinky sardine/ smelt shopping. 

 

[ldg]

Oh I hope it helps!

 

[mservant]

Thanks LDG.. 3rd dose this evening.  Even the 1/2 tablet is huge so I've been crushing and giving powder followed by little portion of wet food  treat. The powder seems to catch his throat a little even after he's eaten so I'm wondering about trying it mixed in with the food but suspect this might waste the tablet because he's likely to reject the food. Will see how it goes tonight. I wouldn't want to keep giving it as powder like I've been doing it was long term as he doesn't like it, but at the moment my vet isn't keen on long term use so not asked them about whether they could get it in chew/treat form or not. Mouse seems a bit better and more bouncy today anyway which I'm sure is way too soon to accredit to the L Lysine.  I'm enjoying seeing him bounce again anyway.  

 

 

[mservant]

SO FUNNY - I finished that last post quickly as could hear Mouse bouncing about in the hall and wondered what he was up to / checking he wasn't chasing a wasp. He was in hot pursuit of a mouse!  Nearly got himself started on to the raw food diet!  

 

  First time in over 25 years a mouse has ever dared come out in the open in this apartment,and it was a very large, well fed one. 

  Mouse failed to catch his mouse but gave it a few good swipes before it disappeared behind the fridge / washing machine......  I am hoping it will not come out again but have no doubt that Mouse does not share my view.....  (humane mouse traps behind the fridge ASAP tomorrow when I get back from work as far as I'm concerned).

 

[ldg]

:lol3: Poor Mouse - didn't catch the prize. :lol3:

As to the L-lysine and relationship to his behavior... I'm not so sure. Most people see an improvement within a few days. :nod:

 

[catspaw66]

Yeah, Silly had a flare-up, I increased the dosage of L-lysine from 250mg twice a day to 500mg twice a day. It took about 3 days to show the improvement - less sneezing, no runny nose.

 

[mservant]

A quick update. Mouse has been taking the L Lysine for just over a week now and tolerating being given as powder as long as he gets his toothpaste and a fish snack afterwards.  Not having much success on the fresh food stakes, seems he's even less of a fan of my cooking than I am. 

  I bought a couple of trays of the pate food he used to get when he was little, it's not an expensive one and I was really surprised to see on the packing it looks like it's really low on carbs, about 9% meat and meat derivatives and the rest is moisture (plus minerals etc). It's quite solid and chewy.  It's from Aldi?   I've been giving him about a teaspoon of that once a day and he'll sometimes take it but not always keen. Anyway, going to give it a break as his gums have a definite dark red line today and although he's still crunching his TD he's a bit tentative.  A few days of good tooth brushing and 0 snacks and I'm hoping he'll be back to clear. It's a pain as they were looking good a couple of days ago. I'm not sure it's the bits of wet food he's getting as he managed to shred some coloured tissue paper yesterday and seems to have eaten a small chunk of it - thinking it could be the dye from the paper that's irritated his mouth.... he's a pest. 

  Thankfully a very lovable one.

Planning to head to a health food shop in town later in the week to see if I can find the probiotics mentioned.

 

[mservant]

Another update.  Mouse's mouth has settled down again but he hated the L Lysine powder by the end of week 2. I'm now trying to get hold of the vet to ask about gel as think this might be OK.  I'm not introducing the probiotics until I get the L Lysine settled in but back to giving bits of wet food   My home cooking is NOT to his liking and the local fish monger doesn't smell good, don't think their stuff's very fresh. Luckily I've managed to find a source of tinned sardines in spring water which I'm hoping he'll like, alternating with Thrive canned chicken which doesn't seem to have much carbohydrate and good % of protein. I'll freeze in tiny portions and give a bit each time he gets the L Lysine (hoping I can get the gel to start it again this week).

 

[ldg]

:cross: I hope the new form of lysine (and the idea for his treat!) helps - seems like he needs and benefits from it.

Poor fella, such a sensitive system! :rub: You're such a wonderful mom, he's very lucky to have found his way to you. :heart2:

 

[mservant]

A nice update.  The Mouse likes tinned sardines in spring water - with sneaky L Lysine gel added!  He'll also snack on little bits of Thrive tinned chicken so I've got a couple of choices on the healthyish wet food front.  2 tea spoons of wet food a day.  

 I'm giving him a 500 mg L Lysine maintenance dose for now (split AM and PM) as he seems to be in good form. I'll up it if he seems sneezy, runny eyed or mouth sore but got my fingers crossed he will have longer gaps between his run down spells once this new routine settles in.  Even though the quantity of wet food is minuscule it also means it's easier for me to start giving him nutritional supplements and other medications if he needs them. 

Thanks for all the advice guys. 

 

[ldg]

Oh that's wonderful! :bigthumb: Yes - it may not be a lot, but it's a step - and one that helps both of you!

:rub:

 

[mservant]

It's been a long time since I posted in this thread but thought better to update here than make a new thread and new members read Mouse's progress without the history.

  

    Mouse celebrated turning 4 years old today by deciding to eat a whole heaped teaspoon full of Lily's Kitchen fish / salmon wet cat food!   He ALSO guzzled down two whole tubes of chicken flavour Lick e Lix treat!  I offered him the Lick e Lix chicken flavour at 12-05 am just in to his birthday as he was off routing about in his food bowl.  Well his reaction was instant!  

   Paws up on my knees and lapping away at the end of the tube until the whole thing was finished.  As he won't touch kitty milk or anything this was a great leap forward in getting some variety in to his diet and options for getting medication in to him when necessary.   Then when we got up this morning I put a teaspoon full of the fish food down in a bowl next to his biscuits:  he went and had a little sniff, a lick, and then ate most of it straight away. Then one of my housemates called me through a few minutes later to say he had polished off all the crumbs.  I couldn't believe it.  The most he's taken of anything else has been a couple of little bites and then never touched what ever food it was again.  Because it's his birthday today and I want to keep the treats equal between all his human companions I let my other housemate give him another tube of the Lick e Lix chicken treat this evening and he was super happy to polish that off too.   He has eaten less of his usual food so not pigged out for the day but I know I have to get back to his usual diet tomorrow (and he will get an extra vigilant tooth brushing before bed tonight).

Tomorrow will be a new day but it will start with an offer of a little spoon full of the wet fish food, and if all goes well I will be able to continue to give him a spoonful of wet food each day, and occasionally rotate with the Lick e Lix and his previous Thrive fish freeze dried snacks.  

Extra happy as both the Lick e Lix and Lily's Kitchen look pretty good on ingredients to me, and the Lily's kitchen food is grain free.  

My little Mouse cat is all grown up! 

 

 

[mservant]

Super happy: Mouse ate another tea spoon full of the food again this evening.  This is the first time I remember him approaching wet food offered two days in a row since before his mouth problems developed.  

He is happy having just a little and then gives himself a good bath which is very cute to watch as he doesn't do this when he eats biscuits or freeze dried fish snacks.

I don't imagine we will manage to use a whole tray of the food as it would need to stay fresh enough in the fridge which I doubt it will, but even if he can manage half a tray over a few days it has to be good for him I think.   

 

[mservant]

I managed to get 6 days of twice a day treat teaspoons of food from the tray of white fish and salmon Lily's Kitchen before I decided it was getting a bit old to keep using even though Mouse was still happy with it.  He was still licking his bowl clean with each spoonful so I am definitely going to get this food again and keep this option open for him every few weeks.  His mouth is still looking fine so it hasn't upset his dental routine.

 I think he missed the Thrive freeze dried snacks he's used to on the days he had the wet food but didn't want to upset the balance of the TD prescription giving too many snacks.  It might be the lack of 'chase' he misses as much as the taste of texture becaused he much prefers his food to be moving and gets his snacks and dry food thrown so he can catch it.  No way I'm going to do that with spoon fulls of wet food. 

He wouldn't touch the salmon sticks I bought that were the same brand as the Lick e Lix chicken tubes but I figure 2 out of 3 test snacks being accepted is good, and the salmon sticks were more like dried food it's the best one for him not to like out of the bunch.  

I might try a different flavour of the Lily's Kitchen next and see what happens.  If other flavours are a nose up response at least I can go back to the fish one.  The sardines in spring water and the Thrive chicken wet food lasted 2 nibbles at best so this past week has been the most progress in varying tastes and textures for Mouse that I've managed since he was sick.  

 

[cat nap]

Just a quick question.  Could you somehow sprinkle or combine the Thrive freeze dried Snacks with the actual Salmon Sticks, or other food? 

Or do you think, that Mouse would figure that out quick, and still turn his nose away.

  (And then, problem may happen, if he starts to not like his favourite snack, either. 

)

Ahh, the lengths we go to, to try and convince them, that the food is good to eat.

 

 

[mservant]

Nice idea.  He likes his fish snacks all on their own and on the move so to speak, he chases after them like he does his TD biscuits.  I tried putting dry kibble with other wet food, like the dust fron his fish snacks and could do similar with his TD kibble.  He wasn't interested at all.  The TD is big and very crunchy as well so probably doesn't do too well set on top of wet food.    Finding this fish and salmon food is great and I am hopeful he will like at least one of the other flavours.  The Thrive was grain free too so it isn't that, might just be the stinky fish.  LoL.  He doesn't have much of a sense of smell which is one reason he likes his food moving - once it's still he struggles to find it even when his nose is right on top of it.