Meal Time problems: refusing what is offered, wanting to eat in different spots, and medicine

louisstools

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I love my 10 year old girl cat but I'm at my wits end with meal times and could some advice to make this situation easier for both of us.

A bit of pre-story... prior to Sept 2021 my girl was on the same diet for the previous 9 years: Purina UR/SO rx kibble for chronic UTIs and she got .7oz for breakfast, .7oz for breakfast, and .7oz at bedtime.. In Sept 2021 her brother cat was diagnosed with terminal cancer and that flipped everything "cat" related on its head. His food changed from the rx kibble to a rx wet, his meal times changed and she wanted "extra" meal times and the wet food. This is why everything changed. She's also had constipation issues off an on but was largely managed due to this food making her drink more up until mid-2021.

After he passed in December I tried to get her back on the old diet of the rx kibble but for the first time in her life she started refusing food. So to get her to eat the vet said give her wet food. It took me about a month to find something that she could eat, partly b/c she will only lick her wet food and I needed to find a pate I could puree to be smoother and more soupy.

We found a brand she liked and after a month of eating nothing but this (4 meals a day, 5-6oz a day) her UTI problem came back with crystals. Vet recommended a blended meal plan of 3oz wet food and up to 1.5oz kibble (both by weight) a day.

Another month to adjust her meal times and allotments but her UTI goes away along with crystals. But the constipation returns, possibly b/c she's now older or maybe b/c of something in the diet, not sure; She had a full on blockage that needed an ER visit in July 2021 so she does have a history of constipation.

I've basically spent the first four months of 2022 recovering from meal changes related to the passing of our other cat and trying to get my girl cat back on a schedule that works and with food she will eat that keeps UTIs at bay. Lots of blood, sweat, tears, loss of sleep, and weight lost on my end. But with my vet's help we have a type of diet that works now it's a question of making it easier for both of us b/c I can't keep this up for years and years.

Problem 1: Sometimes she flat out refuses to eat what I offer her even though it's something she ate earlier in the day or the day before. She will only lick wet food so it needs to be runny but if it's too runny she "runs out of energy before finishing the serving". She also seemingly wants a different flavor every meal which presents problems b/c I have to puree her food with water to get the texture right and my blender won't handle single serving sizes (1.5oz). How do I solve this? I don't want to keep wasting food b/c it's hard to get at times.

Problem 2: Potentially related to not liking her food, sometimes at meals she'll eat a little bit then walk away and sit down a food away. If I move the bowl she'll eat a bit there. This can go on for maybe 5-6 moves before she gives up entirely or finishes the serving. How do I solve this? The last few weeks of her brother cat's life he ate like this b/c he was unable to eat on his own due to the cancer and he needed to take breaks. I'm not sure if she's replicating this behavior or if it's b/c she's not too interested in the food.

FWIW, she will exhibit the above two behaviors (refusing, wanting to be 'mobile') even at breakfast when it's been 16 hours (she wants to eat at 6am and 2pm and is content grazing the rest of the evening 🤷 ) since her last wet meal excluding the free grazing of the kibble (on average .6oz is what she eats between dinner and breakfast the next day). If I "give in" and try a different flavor that hits the spot she'll eat the whole serving in one sitting in like 90 seconds so I know she's hungry.

I thought about trying a tough love deal with her but she needs a daily medicine, lactulose, for the constipation. She's a real fighter and it's not worth it for me to try and give it to her orally with a syringe. (If she needed a long term medicine I couldn't sneak in her food I don't honestly think I'd give it to her b/c it's just so much effort.) So I've been putting it in her wet food but when she's not eating it all or being difficult about eating she's not getting the whole dose.

Appreciate any suggestions yall have.
 

maggie101

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If she were my cat, blood work and urinalysis. Refusing food could be he's nauseous or inflamed. My cat Maggie had struitive crystals, then my vet thought ckd but turned out she's ok. Took her back again because of loose stools. I have to be with her when she eats because of all the all the vet visits and meds I have to give her. When my vet thought she had ckd Maggie would lick her food,smell it, or sit by the bowl. One symptom of ckd. Does not do it anymore.
 
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louisstools

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If she were my cat, blood work and urinalysis. Refusing food could be he's nauseous or inflamed. My cat Maggie had struitive crystals, then my vet thought ckd but turned out she's ok. Took her back again because of loose stools. I have to be with her when she eats because of all the all the vet visits and meds I have to give her. When my vet thought she had ckd Maggie would lick her food,smell it, or sit by the bowl. One symptom of ckd. Does not do it anymore.
She's had bloodwork as recently as Jan-Feb of this year and urinalysis in March of this year. No mention of ckd - chronic kidney disease I assume.
 

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Curious because one sympton of ckd is licking her food or walking away. Went through same thing with Maggie. I kept moving the bowl around. it took almost half hour to feed her! So wish cats could talk!
 

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She is pretty young (compared to my cat at 17+yo) but even so, the blood work needs to include both CBC and Super Chemistry -even at her age. From what I am reading, she has issues that might need to be further investigated, perhaps through a full body ultrasound and x-rays. You don't mention anything to do with her litter box habits - other than needing lactulose. And you don't mention what is the current situation with her preceding UTIs. You could also try Miralax instead of lactulose, when mixed with water can also be added to food/treats. There are a ton of ways to try to get meds down a cat besides relying on just their food - more on that if you are interested.

The continual issue with changing out food to get her to eat more, may mean that one food makes her feel 'queasy', so another one appeals to her because of that. And so on and so on...

I'd like to know more about her because from what you have said your main focus is on the food issues - and, sometimes the food issue is the result of something else going on that creates the food issue.
 

maggie101

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She is pretty young (compared to my cat at 17+yo) but even so, the blood work needs to include both CBC and Super Chemistry -even at her age. From what I am reading, she has issues that might need to be further investigated, perhaps through a full body ultrasound and x-rays. You don't mention anything to do with her litter box habits - other than needing lactulose. And you don't mention what is the current situation with her preceding UTIs. You could also try Miralax instead of lactulose, when mixed with water can also be added to food/treats. There are a ton of ways to try to get meds down a cat besides relying on just their food - more on that if you are interested.

The continual issue with changing out food to get her to eat more, may mean that one food makes her feel 'queasy', so another one appeals to her because of that. And so on and so on...

I'd like to know more about her because from what you have said your main focus is on the food issues - and, sometimes the food issue is the result of something else going on that creates the food issue.
Maggie is also only 8! So issues that young can still happen.
 

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Is it safe to freeze the watered down food? I did a search and the articles are both yes and no.

Freeze it in ice cube trays. Then put the cube in a labeled sandwich bag so they don't get dried out in the freezer. This way you can have several flavors in small portions.
 

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Is it safe to freeze the watered down food? I did a search and the articles are both yes and no.

Freeze it in ice cube trays. Then put the cube in a labeled sandwich bag so they don't get dried out in the freezer. This way you can have several flavors in small portions.

Canned food? Yes, it's fine to freeze.
 
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louisstools

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Curious because one sympton of ckd is licking her food or walking away. Went through same thing with Maggie. I kept moving the bowl around. it took almost half hour to feed her! So wish cats could talk!
yeah, that's the thing, she'll do that to food X but if I give her food y she'll scarf it down in like 45 seconds. i think she's just being a butt head lol
 
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louisstools

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She is pretty young (compared to my cat at 17+yo) but even so, the blood work needs to include both CBC and Super Chemistry -even at her age. From what I am reading, she has issues that might need to be further investigated, perhaps through a full body ultrasound and x-rays. You don't mention anything to do with her litter box habits - other than needing lactulose. And you don't mention what is the current situation with her preceding UTIs. You could also try Miralax instead of lactulose, when mixed with water can also be added to food/treats. There are a ton of ways to try to get meds down a cat besides relying on just their food - more on that if you are interested.

The continual issue with changing out food to get her to eat more, may mean that one food makes her feel 'queasy', so another one appeals to her because of that. And so on and so on...

I'd like to know more about her because from what you have said your main focus is on the food issues - and, sometimes the food issue is the result of something else going on that creates the food issue.
I skimped on the litter box habits b/c I believe we have that under control but here's the gist of what I have observed this week. I have a motion activated camera setup to record all litterbox activity. Most of the time when she goes pee she'll just walk up to the litter boxes, do a sniff, go into one (there are 3 in the litter box area) and do a pee and leave. Seems like when she think she has to go pee she does go pee. For a poop she'll sometimes just pick a box and go poop but other times she'll go into one, sit/sniff around, not attempt to go poop, leave and go to another litter box and usually immediately go poop. Sometimes upon going into the second box she'll just sit/sniff and walk out w/o attempting to do anything. Sometimes she'll sit outside the boxes for a few minutes before going in and doing her poop. Sometimes she'll go into a box, sit for a few minutes, and then decide it was a false alarm and leave and go do something else. The camera footage is pretty good so when she's just sitting she's just sitting. That's pretty different than when she gets into poop position. The amount of poop that she is going since being on lactulose is like 4x what she used to go prior to it and it tends to be pliable to soft serve soft, dark brown, with sticking litter.

Regarding UTIs going back 10 years she's always had issues with UTIs and crystals from not drinking. She's never been a drinker. The kibble makes her drink more which helps dilute the urine and it has something in it that keeps crystals from forming. She basically had constant UTIs every 2-3 months until she was put on the rx diet and then for 9 years we had no issues with UTIs. She went off the diet as I described in the spoiler for about 2 months and started having UTIs that were diagnosed by a urinalysis along with the reported behavior issue of attempting to go pee but being unable. It's possible she was also constipated at that time but the urinalysis did show blood and crystals in the urine.

Regarding being queasy, that's interesting. I have observed that sometimes after a meal she will go into this cat structure that is a "hidey hole" and she'll sit there a minute or two and other times she may go sit behind this chair in the living room. Other than right after eating I've never seen her go into the hidey hole or behind that chair. I don't know if she does that sometimes to just digest or if she's got a tummy issue. It's not every meal, just every now and then and with the data I have on her eating it's not consistent with any particular food or even how fast she eats her food. It does not appear to be more or less since mixing lactulose in her food either.

Miralax could be an option, true. Lactulose is working when I can get her to eat the food. I've never not been able to get her to eat a full meal...it just sometimes takes a different food or I have to move the bowl around.
 
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louisstools

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I will add that my cat is pretty scheduled so when I say she's going for a poop or a pee I can tell by the clock based on past activity that is what she is very likely doing. She usually does not do a combo and normally will use a non-soiled box in the event I haven't cleaned them up yet (like I'm sleeping lol).

She usually does two pees in a 24 hour period 10-14 hours a part. Poops are not quite as scheduled but roughly once a day. I have data going back to October and she's only had 11 days where she did not go poop. When she was on 100% rx kibble diet she went poop every day just smaller and harder stools; not sure about straining since I had multiple cats and no camera and wasn't as good about cleaning the boxes. After going on wet in Dec she's averaged 2-3 days a month where she'll not go poop; she's had 4 days this month but even when she skips a day she does not appear to be straining, the stool is still pliable, and its a larger than normal amount.

She's on day 15 of lactulose and her stools are larger, softer, etc. She's skipped 3 days since being on it though she always goes the next day and does not appear to be straining nor is she making trips where she is attempting to go but can't. She might go down and just sit but she's not in the position and trying to go and unable to produce.

The observant might ask why is she on lactulose if she's only had 11 days in the past six months of not pooping. When I took her in for the UTI the vet said she felt a fair amount of hard stool but the xray didn't show it to be an overly concerning amount. Few weeks later I noticed she was straining to go poop and she was making multiple trips where she tried to go poop but could not. Camera has been a help.
 

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Drinking water helps but not enough. Have you tried tiki sticks or churu tubes,90% water. Hiding under the table is what Maggie used to do. Either in pain or queasy. Sorry,but I have learned it's best to see a vet than try to solve the problem yourself. It was a lot of stress on me and my cat. She's starting to do it again
 

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Another thing to consider is cats do grieve. Not in the same way as us but they do become distressed at the loss of a companion. Sometimes the stress from this can cause some of the behaviour you describe. If you've ruled out physical problems it could be she is just grieving.
 
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louisstools

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Drinking water helps but not enough. Have you tried tiki sticks or churu tubes,90% water. Hiding under the table is what Maggie used to do. Either in pain or queasy. Sorry,but I have learned it's best to see a vet than try to solve the problem yourself. It was a lot of stress on me and my cat. She's starting to do it again
I will try those tiki sticks or chruru tubes!

Hmm, my cat doesn't do this every meal, just sometimes. How about Maggie? You're right it's best to work with the vet and it's easier on both of us; we've had 7 vet visits this year already. Awhile back my cat did this after every meal and a vet visit found a dental issue.
 
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louisstools

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Another thing to consider is cats do grieve. Not in the same way as us but they do become distressed at the loss of a companion. Sometimes the stress from this can cause some of the behaviour you describe. If you've ruled out physical problems it could be she is just grieving.
Yeah, she went from having her brother cat that she tolerated to just me. She's always been a needy and clingy cat so its hard to say if she's more so since her brother's passing in Dec of 2021. I work from home so she gets plenty of attention all day!!
 

maggie101

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With Maggie it was every morning and threw up before eating every morning. Now I give her b12 pill. It has stopped her throwing up and diaherea.
 
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louisstools

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With Maggie it was every morning and threw up before eating every morning. Now I give her b12 pill. It has stopped her throwing up and diaherea.
I see. My Missy cat does the hiding not every time and rarely throws up. She doesn’t hide very long either...usually a few minutes and even then I can coax her out. Sometimes while hiding I can put the bowl near her and she'll come out to continue eating.

It may be worth a vet visit if I keep having issues with her refusing food she liked a week ago. This is a new development. I can call the vet in the morning and see what they recommend.
 
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louisstools

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Vet visit tomorrow. I have a couple threads about my girl but will try and update them all in case it helps someone who stumbles onto these posts in the future.
 
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