- Joined
- Dec 28, 2017
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We picked up Scarlet to foster 3 weeks ago. She had been riding in a crate for 11 hours, so when we got her, she was understandably upset (hissing and growling). Just a few minutes out of the crate, in the bedroom she's staying in, she started rubbing against us and meowing. All was well.
She's such a wonderful cat - not scared of us at all, likes head rubs and rubbing against everything, she sleeps with me on the bed, etc. The one thing that struck me immediately, though, is that she just didn't eat as much as other cats. Yes, I would see the dry food bowl go down, yes, she would lick the gravy from wet food (and get bits of the meat), yes, she drank a ton and used the litter box (both poo and pee). However, about 4 days ago, she stopped eating completely. Would walk away from anything I offered - and I tried a TON of different things. I even bought 4 varieties of dry food and put them throughout the room -- nothing.
Of course I've been keeping the shelter informed, and by yesterday, they had me bring her in (she's lost 1 pound already). She was at the shelter (vet checkup) for almost the whole day. My next instructions are to force feed her with AD recovery food for the next few days and take her in for followup on Monday (they did blood work and it should be back by then). I was initially scared to force feed but with a sudden boost of confidence (and watching YouTube videos), I took her into the bathroom, swaddled her, and got 2 full syringes of AD into her before she was just DONE. She was definitely not happy after that and went hiding under the bed.
My kids were in her room a few hours later, and they said she DID come out, walk around the room, look out the window, and jump on the bed with them. However, when I'm in there now , she's always under the bed. I spent a lot of the evening in there, and slept in there and still didn't see her come out except for briefly to use the litter box in the middle of the night....she didn't even sleep on the bed (which she's done ever since we got her). This is concerning for a couple of reasons: 1) I still have to force feed her through the weekend, but if we have to "chase" her out from under the bed, that ups the stress level for everyone; 2) what if the reason she's hiding is that she's sicker than we think?; 3) After a weekend of force feeding and a followup back at the shelter (where I'm sure she'll be there all day), will she every return to that happy-go-lucky cat that we got three weeks ago?
So I guess my MAIN question is how to get her out from under the bed? I don't really have the luxury of "giving it time"....I need to feed her twice today. So let's start there. Obviously I want to TRY and do it as gently as possible....Thanks!
She's such a wonderful cat - not scared of us at all, likes head rubs and rubbing against everything, she sleeps with me on the bed, etc. The one thing that struck me immediately, though, is that she just didn't eat as much as other cats. Yes, I would see the dry food bowl go down, yes, she would lick the gravy from wet food (and get bits of the meat), yes, she drank a ton and used the litter box (both poo and pee). However, about 4 days ago, she stopped eating completely. Would walk away from anything I offered - and I tried a TON of different things. I even bought 4 varieties of dry food and put them throughout the room -- nothing.
Of course I've been keeping the shelter informed, and by yesterday, they had me bring her in (she's lost 1 pound already). She was at the shelter (vet checkup) for almost the whole day. My next instructions are to force feed her with AD recovery food for the next few days and take her in for followup on Monday (they did blood work and it should be back by then). I was initially scared to force feed but with a sudden boost of confidence (and watching YouTube videos), I took her into the bathroom, swaddled her, and got 2 full syringes of AD into her before she was just DONE. She was definitely not happy after that and went hiding under the bed.
My kids were in her room a few hours later, and they said she DID come out, walk around the room, look out the window, and jump on the bed with them. However, when I'm in there now , she's always under the bed. I spent a lot of the evening in there, and slept in there and still didn't see her come out except for briefly to use the litter box in the middle of the night....she didn't even sleep on the bed (which she's done ever since we got her). This is concerning for a couple of reasons: 1) I still have to force feed her through the weekend, but if we have to "chase" her out from under the bed, that ups the stress level for everyone; 2) what if the reason she's hiding is that she's sicker than we think?; 3) After a weekend of force feeding and a followup back at the shelter (where I'm sure she'll be there all day), will she every return to that happy-go-lucky cat that we got three weeks ago?
So I guess my MAIN question is how to get her out from under the bed? I don't really have the luxury of "giving it time"....I need to feed her twice today. So let's start there. Obviously I want to TRY and do it as gently as possible....Thanks!
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