Questions About Syringe Feeding

[Antonio65]

I'm trying to feed my cat Pallina with a syringe, force feeding her.
She isn't a good candidate for the E-Tube, the surgery would be too risky given her current conditions, so I guess that force feeding her in her mouth might be equivalent to feeding her with an E-Tube.
She cooperates fine, she barely fights, she growls a bit, no spitting
All meds and supplements are given orally with a minimum of fight.

I know that I have to feed her around 150-160 kcal a day, and this is equal to about 130 grams of Royal Canin Recovery. I'm splitting this amount in many different meals.

Questions:
-How much food each push of the plunger? I'm currently giving her 2-3 ml at each push.
-How long the pause between two pushes? I'm counting to 10 between 2 pushes.
-How much food each meal? I mean, what is the maximum amount of food that I could push down her throat in a single meal? I'm giving her 15-20 ml/grams each meal, I fear that more food would be too much for he stomach to handle. The amount of food that I can give her each meal affects, of course, the number of times I have to feed her in a day.
-How often? How long does it take for her stomach to accept a new meal? I'm feeding her every hour and half/two hours during the day, or I couldn't give her the whole daily amount.

Thanks

 

[xcourtney3]

I don't have any answers, just wanted to bump this up for you <3

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

You should be able to give her about 30 ml per meal, and you should be able to give her a few ml at a time, and continue giving to her as soon as she finishes swallowing what you just gave her. Give her time in between to lick and swallow and do it again. No need to give a lot of time in between the few mls. If you find she vomits at 30 ml, then cut it down to 25 and see if that works better.

As for the time between meals, when we had our guy on a feeding tube, we were told to feed every four hours, so certainly that should be ok.

Here's a video on syringe feeding that might help you, if you haven't seen it:

Syringe Feeding Lucky Video/If your Cat is not eating

 

[Antonio65]

Thanks mrsgreenjeens , I will try with some more food each meal.

I remember that somewhere I had read something about not giving too much food to a non-eating cat, something like the harm of giving rich meals during the day to a cat that hasn't been eating for a while and with HL. The article said that it is better to start with small amounts daily, then to increase day by day, but I can't find it anymore. Have you heard of such a thing?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Yes I have. Basically you don’t want to start out feeding them the same amount that the used to eat. You need to gradually work your way up to that amount over a period of several days, but I don’t believe that is PER serving. I think that’s overall intake.

Did you discuss with your Vet how many daily calories she should start with?

I just found the thread where it's discussed. It's called Refeeding Syndrome. Here's the thread, and it's discussed in post #12: Cholangiohepatitis And Not Eating

 

[Antonio65]

Thanks mrsgreenjeens , that is exactly was I was looking for. So I had read it in TCS, I couldn't remember where, and wasn't able to find it on the web.

My cat hadn't eating properly for some days. She was hospitalized last week, the doctors would tell me she was eating fine and the right amount, but she lost 250 grams (about half lb) during the hospitalization, so I do not believe she was eating.

At home I started giving her the whole amount of food daily, before I remembered that I had read that post.
So what now? Should I continue the feeding like I'm doing now?

The vets didn't tell me anything about syringe feeding, because they were positive the cat would eat on her own once home.
So I started with the calories she sould eat for her weight...

Now what?

 

[silkenpaw]

I think if she is tolerating the feeds without vomiting or diarrhea, you can continue feeding like you have been. She was hospitalized for a while (?two weeks), so she was probably eating something or she would have lost even more weight. I don’t think I would be taking her to the vet to check her blood chemistries all the time, the point is for her to be comfortable.

Keeping you and Pallina in my heart.

 

[Antonio65]

I think if she is tolerating the feeds without vomiting or diarrhea, you can continue feeding like you have been. She was hospitalized for a while (?two weeks), so she was probably eating something or she would have lost even more weight. I don’t think I would be taking her to the vet to check her blood chemistries all the time, the point is for her to be comfortable.

Keeping you and Pallina in my heart.

Thanks silkenpaw ,

I've been syringe feeding Pallina since Saturday, she vomited one time at 1 am on Sunday, then again at 6 pm on Sunday (I was giving her small meals).
And this morning twice, the first one right after the meal. Was it too much (40 ml)? It was the same meal she had twice yesterday without any vomit...

She's taking a shot of Maropitant (Prevomax, similar to Cerenia) daily. It seems it isn't working, though.

She was hospitalized for 5 days (22nd to 27th) and she lost that weight.
She lost 530 grams in a month. She was 3.310 kg (7 lbs 4.8 oz) at the end of May and on June 23rd. She was 3.050 kg just a week later!
And now she was 2.780 kg (6 lbs 2 oz) on Sunday.

In 2 hours time she'll be visited by a new IM vet, someone I was adviced to take an appointment with.
I want to know if everything has been tried, or if there's something that hasn't been seen.
To begin with, Pallina has very high bilirubin secondary to a liver disease of unknown nature. At the University they didn't give me any diagnosis apart from a hepatic disease. I want to know what that nature is!

 

[silkenpaw]

I think if she vomits right after a meal, then maybe you are feeding too much. In between meals, it's probably some nausea. Forty ml does not seem excessive. Maybe ask your vet whether you can increase the Maropitant dose.

Sometimes it's hard to tell what the cause of disease is. The liver has a limited number of ways to respond to damage. You know there is something wrong but you can't always tell how it started.

Don't forget to take care of yourself, too.

 

[Antonio65]

I think if she vomits right after a meal, then maybe you are feeding too much. In between meals, it's probably some nausea.

Both things happen, so probably it's just nausea. Right now she's on 0.1 ml/kg of Maropitant. I don't think the vet agrees with upping the dose.
I will ask the new vets I'm going to see in about 1 hour.

Don't forget to take care of yourself, too.

No time for myself... nor money...

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm thinking the 40 ml might have been too much, or too quickly if she vomited immediately after eating.

Did you ask the new Vet about Refeeding Syndrome? Honestly, I think it's pretty rare, and I really think the only way to know if it's happening is with constant bloodwork, which is pretty stressful on not only the patient, but your wallet .

Anxiously awaiting the results of todays Vet visit

 

[Antonio65]

I'm thinking the 40 ml might have been too much, or too quickly if she vomited immediately after eating.

Did you ask the new Vet about Refeeding Syndrome? Honestly, I think it's pretty rare, and I really think the only way to know if it's happening is with constant bloodwork, which is pretty stressful on not only the patient, but your wallet .

Anxiously awaiting the results of todays Vet visit

Pallina has been hospitalized again, the fifth time in a month.
I and the new vet focused mainly on Pallina's conditions, rather than what she was eating and what tests she had done.
The new vet said he wants to do a couple of tests that other clinics hadn't done, one of these being a biopsy of Pallina's liver. This will be a highly risky operation, and Pallina could not survive it, but I don't want to leave anything unattempted, and anyway I have no other choices...

As for the feeding, I did exactly like I did previously, a couple of ml at the time, waiting a few seconds, or anyway till she had stopped licking and swallowing, then another 2 ml, and so on.
I also had some pauses to clean her mouth.
I think she was sick already, the new vet told me she is a desperate condition and was severely dehydrated, despite the amount of water she would drink and the sub-Qs I was doing.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Thoughts and prayers and with you and your wife and Pallina as she undergoes this biopsy. I understand that she may not survive, but as you say, what choice do you have, really? If you can't figure out what is wrong, it doesn't sound like she has a chance in the world .

Keep us posted. We're all here for you

 

[artiemom]

(( HUGS)))

Please keep us informed... all things...

ALL of us are here for you...

WE love YOU, Pallina and your wife!!!!
XXXOOO