Recovering cat needs to eat....

[jeninteriors]

I thought I would start a new thread so that more people might give advice.

My cat Zowie is recovering from a bad infection, and I need some ideas or tricks to start her in the habit of eating again. She was on I.V. antibiotics and didn't eat for 4 days. She won't eat tuna or canned food so far. Maybe I need to just give it another half a day. What do you think?


Thanks so much,

 

[donna]

Jen,

Put a little bit of turkey or chicken baby food on your finger and see if she licks it off. If so, try feeding her that. Or you can try pieces of turkey breast. It may just be that she needs a little "jump start". Good luck.

 

[Anne]

I would also try baby food. It's okay if she only eats very little. However, if she doesn't eat anything for more than 1-2 days, you really should talk to your vet again.

 

[maryna]

Jen-Maybe the Eukanuba Maximum Calorie or Science Diet A/D? Both of the above have always worked for me, until last year when one of our cats developed cancer and went through chemo. She survived the cancer and chemo very well but had gone too long with very little eating and developed feline hepatic lipidosis. This disease is almost always secondary to something else; in Rini's case, she stopped eating because of the chemo but by not eating, she developed the fatty liver. (As fat is broken down to supply nutrients for the anorectic cat, the fat is deposited so rapidly in the liver that it cannot be processed. It becomes stored in and around the liver cells, resulting in liver failure.)

Unfortunately my first vet wasn't aware of this disease so I switched to a vet who only treats cats. She put in a feeding tube but by then her little liver was damaged beyond repair and she couldn't recover.(Honestly, I'm not sure I'll ever get over her death-I continue to blame myself for not switching vets sooner....)

I hope by now little Zowie has started to eat but I just wanted to warn you of the harm of continued non eating.

Please let us know how he is doing.

 

[jeninteriors]

As of Saturday morning, Zowie is gobbling up everything in sight. I'm sooooooooo happy! Now she follows me to the kitchen every time I get up. I think she's gonna be just fine.

 

[maryna]

Wonderful news! Thanks so much for letting us know!

 

[Anne]

Great!

Thanks for the update!