Older kitty not wanting to eat/drink after surgery

missbeezel

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Hi everyone. First post here and also pretty long so I apologize. Just looking for any help I can get.

I have a nearly 18 year old indoor cat who has lived a relatively healthy life. Up until now she's still active and playful (aside from big jumps) and most vets are surprised at her actual age. At 15 we had our first big scare, brought her to the emergency vet one night after she started seizing and they could find nothing wrong with her aside from a large mass in her abdomen. We ended up electing to do exploratory surgery and they removed it but also discovered a smaller growth on her liver. The vet biopsied it but unfortunately the testing company mishandled the sample and BROKE it. Awful. Watching her recover from the surgery was heartbreaking and I was afraid a few times of never having my old girl back. Because of how she was post-op I decided not to let them go back in and to just elect a 'wait and see' (and pray) approach with that mass.

Last Sunday I noticed she had vomited a few times. The next day(Monday) when I got home from work I saw she had done it again. That night she started to vomit nearly constantly. Literally every 10 minutes. For hours. She would try to lay down and curl up next to me only to instantly get up and start retching. It was so mortifying. By the end of the night she was trying to vomit still but nothing was even coming out. The next morning I fed her the tiniest little bit of wet food which she ate right up and called the vet to schedule a noon appointment.

When I brought her in I elected to do the expensive 'senior citizen package' of ultrasound, bloodwork etc. As expected they brought up that mass on her liver and its position near the stomach saying it could be causing her discomfort/pushing on something and leading to the vomiting. They mentioned surgery. I had been 'waiting and seeing' for the past 3 years was it time to act this time? Would putting her through something like that again be worth it at all? Her bloodwork came back surprisingly good for a kitty her age, slightly elevated kidneys (which I also knew about and had been treating with diet, they hadn't gotten worse since her last checkup two years ago so I guess I've done at least one thing right) and also a slightly elevated thyroid which they said could also have been contributing to the vomiting but that the acute vomiting we'd been experiencing was unusual for hyperthyroid to be the primary culprit. While she was in their care she threw up the rest of the food I'd given her that morning.

They wanted to keep her overnight on fluids and I ended up allowing them to go in and do surgery. I honestly still don't know if I made the right decision. Would it have just somehow passed on its own? She was being my usual sweet kitty right up until I packed her in the crate to bring her there, still interested in food and water etc. I'd never seen anything like that night of vomiting though. And I've been playing this waiting game with that mass for years. She was still acting so energetically I wasn't ready to just say 'oh well she's old' and not try anything.

They ended up removing a node from her liver (on Wednesday) and keeping her for a few days. I picked her up yesterday around 4pm and brought her home. She was immediately trying to run around and get into her favorite room (I've isolated her in the front office where she was always fed/her litterbox is kept because there's not much for her to attempt to climb on and although it's not her FAVORITE room she much prefers it to the kitchen or bathroom etc). I took her running around as kind of a good sign I mean at least she was able to move. I even got her to purr a little bit and acknowledge me a little bit ago but so far she still refuses to eat. She sits over her water and kind of stares at it but doesn't drink. I DID catch her take the tiniest two sips once but I know she hasn't touched her food. She shows interest in the food bowl (and water cup. she has never drunk water from a bowl, will only ever drink from 'people' cups) when i put it in front of her and does her little purr/yell noise that she always does when she's fed but the instant her face gets near it she turns away. I'm just so worried. I really am starting to feel like i've just destroyed the poor thing.

I feel like she's just super traumatized. After her surgery 3 years ago I had difficulty getting her to eat and drink again. I remember her just sitting over her waterthen too and telling myself 'never again' yet here we are.  I realize this is a more serious surgery so it will probably take longer but the longer this goes on the more and more like a monster I feel.

When we left the vet's office she sent us home with two different antibiotics (one pill and one liquid) AND a one daily dose of thyroid medicine AND some pain medicine. I've never had to pill my cat before in my life and let me just say the first two attempts (last night and this morning) went terribly. Horribly. Tears and growls all around. I feel like I'm just traumatizing her more. Also I wonder if they're making her feel sick. I'm supposed to give her some more pain medicine soon but I'm hesitant to keep trying to shove these things down her throat until I see her eat.

I know this is kind of rambling on and on just wondering if anyone has been through something similar or if you have any ideas. Thanks so much for reading.
 

ruthm

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I'm so sorry your kitty isn't feeling so well and had to have surgeries.  We need to get your kitty to eat, that is very important.  I am very concerned that I did not see you mention something for anit-nausea or vomiting given for your kitty?  For vomiting, my kitties did well with Cerenia and Ondansetron for nausea. 

Can you list the names of the medications given? The reason I ask is it can be traumatic to try and pill a kitty if you aren't used to doing it- there may be some of those meds that can be compounded into a flavor that kitty might accept more readily. Especially the pain medication, many vets will give pre-measured syringes of liquid Buprenorphine, which you can gently squirt into kitty's cheek pocket, much easier than forcing a pill. You might also consider getting the hyper-T med(my kitty had Tapazole in a pill form) in a transdermal that you use on the ear for example.

I'm sending tons of healing vibes for your kitty, please keep us posted.
 
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missbeezel

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Hi, thanks for the reply. They did have her on some anti-nausea medication while she was in the vet's care but didn't give me any to take home. I think what they have available for take-home is a pill anyway and I'm finding it nearly impossible to give her the ones I already have to give. 

They did give us buprenorphine in the syringes.

Also for antibiotics theres small amoxicilin pills and also a liquid one (it makes her froth at the mouth, thankfully the vet warned me about that before I did it myself!)

The other medication is methimazole for her thyroid, its a chew but i'm supposed to break it in half and pill her since she isnt interested in eating it otherwise.

The liquid ones I'm kind of getting in there but the two 'pills' are giving me difficulties. Maybe it'll get easier after a few days. I just got off the phone with the vet who wants me to keep trying, I was honestly hoping she'd miraculously say 'lets just not worry about any pills for a few days' but didn't happen. I'm going to try holding off on doping her up with that pain medicine a little while longer to see if that helps her appetite any. Just a half hour ago I finally saw her take a few real big sips of water which I feel is a good sign. 
 

ruthm

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You can do this-- take a deep breath, and then another! Kitty can feel your emotions, so as hard  it sounds try to stay calm when you are administering meds. I used to sing to Tiger, it made us both laugh. I wish I was kidding...but it was that or cry.You are doing a great job for your kitty, continuing to send healing vibes for you both.

If you have Cerenia tablets, you cut a 16mg pill into quarters and give one quarter. My Tiger accepted Cerenia in Duck Flavored Pill Pockets, I wrapped it in a little pinch of the pill pocket, then made other dough balls and threw them down for her to eat. For whatever reason, she could find the tiny Tapazole pill in the pill pocket though and would spit it out in her special hiding places. So gelcaps worked better.  I had to once try and pill her with Clavamox, which she absolutely hated, so I got size 4 gelcaps from Thriving Pets.  I rolled it into butter at first, but she liked it better if I wrapped the gelcap in the Pill Pocket. To chase it down, you can either syringe water gently, or I chased it down with a spoonful of BeechNut Turkey flavored baby food.

I'm wondering are you giving liquid compounded Metronidiazole as well? If so, I know it is horribly bitter, it caused Tiger to foam at the mouth as well. But I only had to give it for a week. You might have better luck chasing it down with something your kitty likes. 

Are you familiar with Fortaflora? It is available from either your vet, which would be more expensive, or you can get it online from Amazon. It has probiotic properties, which help the gut restore good bacteria lost from the antibiotics; but most kitties like the flavor, if sprinkled on food, it can help tempt kitty eat.

How much Bupe are you giving? My vet gave me syringes of .03, which knocked Tiger for a loop- I only gave her 1/4 of that amount.
 
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missbeezel

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Thankyou :)

The bupe syringes I have are .03 as well. I've been holding out giving it to her today just thinking the less I put things in her mouth the better but I don't want her to be in any more pain than she needs to be. Might give her half of one in a little while.

And yes, the liquid antibiotic is metronidiazole.

She's been continuing to drink water this afternoon although still no interest in food. She's also walking around a lot, a little too much for my comfort but I'm trying to look on the bright side with that.
 

zed xyzed

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Just wondering why she is on an antibiotic? is it because she had surgery? Antibiotics can cause an upset tummy. Do you know what the thyroid medication is? she she hypo or hyper. I think @catwoman707mentioned in one of her posts of a transdermal cream that is effective and doesn't seem to cause tummy issues   
 
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missbeezel

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They told me she's on the antibiotics to prevent an infection because the removal of a node in the liver is kind of a big surgery. She's hyper. The thyroid medication is methimazole. They also mentioned the medicine that absorbs through the skin but they didn't have any on hand and have to get it in I think. 
 

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Here is what I think.

I think you made the right decision for this surgery, it wasn't going to go away on it's own, and if her blood work looked good enough for the surgery to be done despite her age, then it's a good thing to have done.

Next is, I think you might be overthinking the food thing. As I read through this thread and saw she is now drinking on her own, and it has only been a day since she was brought home, I wouldn't get overly concerned about the food just yet.

I would get some chicken or turkey only baby food, warm it up some, so it smells wonderful, and offer it to her. 

It's nice and easy to digest and a good way to get her back to eating again.

I can understand why the antibiotic, it is a bigger surgery and much easier to keep the infection bacteria from even getting a chance to get started then it is to get rid of it, so that is a good thing.

If that is in pill form I would def. request liquid since it's hard and traumatic to pill her.

Metronidazole, I have no idea what that is given to her for, maybe that it is a bit of an anti-inflammatory perhaps, just doesn't seem all that significant.

The methimazole, I would definitely recommend getting the ear cream! It's been the best and easiest thing ever!

Also, if she was started on the meth yesterday, if that dose is a bit too big for her, it WILL cause her to stop eating, big appetite turn off.

You don't say what the dose is or how hyper her thyroid numbers were/are.

If/when you give her meds, always put all of her doses in to one syringe, so you only have to zap her with meds once. I would add the crushed up pill with a tiny amt of water to dissolve it too, and be sure to stick it as far back in her throat as possible, so she doesn't taste it so much.
 
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missbeezel

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Hey thanks for the feedback. I think the meta... medication is another antibiotic. I could be wrong. I'm not sure how high her thyroid levels are but I don't think they're super high, just a little elevated. I'm supposed to give her one half of a tablet of the meth.. medicine. Maybe tonight I will try to give a little bit less and see if that helps.

I probably am overthinking on the food thing I just know that she needs to eat to recover after such a big surgery. She'd been getting fluids at the vet and also food so she's probably not at death's door. They were feeding her with a syringe because she didn't want to eat for them either (her procedure was Wednesday afternoon). The vet also made it seem like it was very important she be eating by tonight, but maybe since she seems to be going a little slower through all the recovery steps she's just going slow with that too. 
 

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If it were me I would not give the methamizole tonight since she does not have super high thyroid.

Let her get back to eating first then get her going on the transdermal this week.

Yes, the metronidazole is another antibiotic but much weaker, so I'm assuming it's added in for it's anti-inflammatory properties.
 
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missbeezel

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Just had another spectacular fail trying to get her to take the medicine. Didn't get anything into her other than that liquid antibiotic. I'm afraid it might seem awful of me but I'm thinking about just stopping giving her the meds. I know there's a chance of an infection since she had surgery but I really feel like mouth trauma every few hours is no way to encourage her to eat. 
 

catwoman707

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Just stop then, but as soon as you can get her going again, at least on the amoxicillin, even if you have to dissolve the pill in a bit of water and syringe it in her throat.

Better safe then sorry.

It's not being awful, some cats are really tough to medicate.
 
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keyes

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Just a quick question because I didn't see any mention of it.  Are you wrapping her tightly in a towel (taco kitty) before you do her meds?  It's easier to medicate when they're unable to fight you trying to get away.  I went trhu a year and a half doing just that with my elderly guy and although not fun easier on the both of us.
 
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missbeezel

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Little update, opened a can of tuna as a kind of last resort and succesfully got her to drink a little bit of juice. She lapped it all up and I decided to try to give her some more with a little bit of meat and she drank the rest and took a tiny bite of the solid too!

Not ideal, but it's a start. Feeling much more hopeful! 
 

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It's a start!  In the past, I have saved the juice from tuna and put it in quart sized freezer bag and then laid it on its side in the freezer, so it's a very thin layer of liquid.  Once frozen, I've broken it into chunks and placed into wet food to entice my kitties to eat.  I just leave the bag in the freezer and take out a piece when needed.  It's not ideal to use all the time, but it works in a pinch.
 
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missbeezel

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update: 

She did eventually start eating tiny amounts out of my hand and drinking her water but the vet was concerned it was too little too late and suggested a feeding tube. I agreed to put it in (really really really didn't want to but i didn't want to regret it)

She had it put in on Tuesday and we've been feeding her (very slowly) the preblended food the vet gave us 3 times a day. I was told beforehand that cats aren't bothered by the tube and tolerate it well, but so far I've had nothing but a sluggish and depressed seeming cat. So heartbroken because I feel like she was making good (albeit slow) progress and this tube has just set her back. Had her at the vet's yesterday so they could reinspect the tube and make sure the bandage around her neck wasn't too tight etc. (she's been making lots of snoring noises since it was put in) and they didn't seem to be very concerned about anything. Maybe she's just weak still from her few days of not eating and taking a while to come back?

I'm feeling pretty down because I just don't know if this tube was the right thing to do even though it was very recommended and from my research online seems to be pretty successful most of the time. She hasn't left her little bed area the past couple days except for the litterbox or even made much of an attempt to drink water on her own. I feel like she just hates this thing in her throat and I'm feeling guilty about subjecting her to it. I feel like i almost had my baby back and now she's gone again. 

Trying to just wait it out and keep at it and hope for the best. 
 
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