Simba's still hanging in there, but Deb & I are struggling

[les26]

You are doing what you can, and I’m sure he loves you for it. I agree with you, he sounds like he is still enjoying life!

He makes us laugh, he can be what looks like sound asleep on a sofa or recliner and somehow he seems to make it into the kitchen before we do lol! Or he'll eat, and within seconds it seems like he is on the sofa or recliner, looking so relaxed and cute seemingly asleep!

We do the best we can for him, and he LOVES cooked hamburger, Deb makes it for him and he eats it, we keep it in the fridge and break some off into little pieces, add some water, heat it for about 8 seconds in the microwave, let it cool a bit and he gobbles it down. And at times loves baked chicken, but at times isn't interested in in, same with turkey, but we keep mixing it up so he doesn't get bored. And we have seen him eating some wet food the last few days which is good. And he does eat hard food too.

 

[les26]

Well now today he threw up 3 times, we don't know if he's eating too much (which he has been doing), the hamburger is lean, but he goes right back to eating, we don't know....

And last night he had diarrhea, and Deb said he had a little bit of it today too. He has been eating a lot of hamburger the last few days, I'm thinking that is it?!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Easy enough to find out - back off on the amount a little and see if that helps any. I know it is so hard to deny (or reduce the amount of) something they love. Maybe as a trial use hamburger as a topper by mixing some with his other foods?

 

[les26]

Easy enough to find out - back off on the amount a little and see if that helps any. I know it is so hard to deny (or reduce the amount of) something they love. Maybe as a trial use hamburger as a topper by mixing some with his other foods?

Yes, we are holding off on it, I just gave him some cold chicken and he ate it and drank, now is resting on his blanket on the recliner, I petted his head and said "you just rest, you'll feel better".

I'm pretty sure that is what the reason is that is causing both issues, it's the only thing that we have given him and I as well as Deb to a lesser extent sees how he enjoys it so we give him more and more in hopes he'll put on more weight etc., we've done this before but don't seem to learn from it until something like this happens. But we'll keep him away from it for a bit, then reintroduce it again slowly and less amounts. Deb said it is the better grade (lean) and she pats it with a paper towel to soak up any grease, but I could see how it still would get to him even with her doing that. And he has no teeth and eats so so fast!

Thank you!

 

[IndyJones]

Is their onion or spices in the hamburger or is it just plain raw ground beef?

 

[les26]

Is their onion or spices in the hamburger or is it just plain raw ground beef?

No it's just plain beef.

So far so good this early morning, no throw up anywhere, no runny diarrhea in any of the litter boxes, he was right there in the kitchen ready to go, ate his chicken and maybe some other food, so it seems like it was the hamburger or maybe just too much of it. I'll keep him on the chicken as long as he eats it, and when he seems like he is getting tired of it we'll try some hamburger but not as much as before.

It's like taking care of patients in a hospital lol!!

 

[les26]

I ordered a product called HomeoPet digestive upsets for him to see if that also helps him, supposed to help with vomiting and diarrhea and more. I am thinking about some Probiotics but it seems whenever we try something like that and spend a good amount of money on it they know it's in there and don't eat it, or it makes him worse like this Adorable Beast Gut Soothe did, so we are holding off on that. But I know Probiotics if he would eat them might help him digest things better, I'll think about it for a few days.

It's very nerve wracking, we just want him to be okay, and again it parralels what I am going through with my elderly parents, just more stress. But we know he is older, but he still seems pretty spry, we're hoping that it was too much hamburger and we know it takes a few days to calm down when they get the runs and he is not nearly like that today, a little bit but not as bad, so we'll give it more time. We just want him to be okay...

 

[neely]

We just want him to be okay...

I'm just catching up with your thread and I think many of us can relate to what Deb and you are going through. Your quote above rings true, "we just want him to be okay." I believe that's what we all want for our seniors. I'm having a similar situation with our guy, Carleton, and waiting for blood test results. Like you we've had many cats and learned a lot about health/wellness from each of them. It doesn't necessarily make it any easier but sometimes letting them enjoy life on their own terms is the best medicine. That doesn't mean to ignore their symptoms but since we live with them day in and day out we know the things they enjoy most, e.g. naps in a sunny spot, cuddles with their human, special treats, etc. Deb and you are doing a great job and Simba is lucky to have both of you.

 

[les26]

I'm just catching up with your thread and I think many of us can relate to what Deb and you are going through. Your quote above rings true, "we just want him to be okay." I believe that's what we all want for our seniors. I'm having a similar situation with our guy, Carleton, and waiting for blood test results. Like you we've had many cats and learned a lot about health/wellness from each of them. It doesn't necessarily make it any easier but sometimes letting them enjoy life on their own terms is the best medicine. That doesn't mean to ignore their symptoms but since we live with them day in and day out we know the things they enjoy most, e.g. naps in a sunny spot, cuddles with their human, special treats, etc. Deb and you are doing a great job and Simba is lucky to have both of you.

Thank you for the nice message, and good luck with your guy Carleton!

I went to Petsmart today and spent quite awhile in there checking out different dry foods with prebiotics and probiotics and other ingredients, and Googled the reviews on my phone and bought a bag of Blue Tastefuls Sensitive stomach that has prebiotics and is made with chicken and rice. Some of the other ones had pumpkin in them, but I was always under the impression that you give cats pumpkin to make them go, lately that's not his issue, so we'll see if this helps his vomiting as well as Samantha, she has been a vomiter forever, eats and throws up, we did try sensitive stomach food with her before but maybe this one will help them both and the rest of them, we'll see!!

 

[les26]

Thank you for the nice message, and good luck with your guy Carleton!

I went to Petsmart today and spent quite awhile in there checking out different dry foods with prebiotics and probiotics and other ingredients, and Googled the reviews on my phone and bought a bag of Blue Tastefuls Sensitive stomach that has prebiotics and is made with chicken and rice. Some of the other ones had pumpkin in them, but I was always under the impression that you give cats pumpkin to make them go, lately that's not his issue, so we'll see if this helps his vomiting as well as Samantha, she has been a vomiter forever, eats and throws up, we did try sensitive stomach food with her before but maybe this one will help them both and the rest of them, we'll see!!

A few minutes ago I saw Sylvester chowing down on the new food lol!!

 

[les26]

He's a funny little guy, if we sneak into the kitchen we see him eating dry food, but as soon as he sees us he comes over and pushes us like he is saying "okay, what else do you have that you will give me?!"

 

[les26]

For several days now, all of a sudden Simba is eating the wet food again, we are very pleased but also wonder why this turn of events. He had been yelling at us a lot for hamburger and chicken and pork, but ever since we had to put our little Stanley down Easter morning all of a sudden he is back to eating wet food and a lot, plus he has always eaten dry food, we hope this is a good thing...

We like to think that Stanley is trying to help him out, trying to keep him as healthy as he can be.

 

[les26]

Simba basically lives in the kitchen now, at least during the day, he stays in there and pushes us for food, we give it to him, he eats, but most likely it is because his thyroid is off, but as stated we're not going to take him to a vet at age 24, 25, 26, who knows? He's frail and if he would flail around in the carrier which we can't even get him in and break something we'd be a mess, even our vet and someone else said "just let him live his life out at home" so we feed him and he seems happy. He'll lay on the sofa or the recliner at times, usually at night, but he likes to hang out in the kitchen, lays in front of the fridge, and goes to the litter box and comes back in. But he is eating and eating regular wet food again, he got away from that for quite awhile but is back on that, but he still likes his hamburger and chicken and pork and whatnot lol!!

 

[FeebysOwner]

I can understand your worries. Have you ever considered finding a vet/vet tech that would draw blood from Simba in your home? The only reason I ask is if his primary issue is hyperthyroidism, a blood test could tell you for sure. Untreated hyper-T can lead to heart issues/high blood pressure. We just had another member, whose cat refused to take her thyroid meds and ended up going into cardiac arrest. I know that Simba is a lot older, and sounds like he has had a wonderful life, but just want you to understand the potential implications of not treating him for hyper-T if the tests would show he needs it. At least talk to the vet about this.

 

[les26]

I can understand your worries. Have you ever considered finding a vet/vet tech that would draw blood from Simba in your home? The only reason I ask is if his primary issue is hyperthyroidism, a blood test could tell you for sure. Untreated hyper-T can lead to heart issues/high blood pressure. We just had another member, whose cat refused to take her thyroid meds and ended up going into cardiac arrest. I know that Simba is a lot older, and sounds like he has had a wonderful life, but just want you to understand the potential implications of not treating him for hyper-T if the tests would show he needs it. At least talk to the vet about this.

We did talk to our vet about it many months ago, and she knows how years ago he had to be netted to get his teeth worked on and it was horrible, the woman who had many years of experience doing that said "I hope I never have to do that again", and she agreed with us it wouldn't be worth it having someone come in and upset the house and him. He's thin now, Deb is afraid they would hurt him if they could even catch him, and he as she said "is nice and quiet now, he'd never trust us again", and the others would freak out too.

 

[jaws239]

I've read through these chuckling at times of how well trained our babies have us! Other times feeling the sadness of knowing time was no longer on our side.

Whether it's with our 2-legged or 4-legged family, seeing time draw near is bittersweet -- joyful for the time & love we've been given; sometimes aggravated by their irritating behavior (& KNOWING you'll miss it one day....just NOT today!); & dreading that last goodnight yet not wanting them to experience discomfort.

Simba sounds like a sweet but hard-headed, determined, stubborn old fella. I wouldn't count him out of the game yet!
Kind thoughts for all of you

 

[les26]

His "routine" now consists of staying in the kitchen during the day, seeing what we have and will give him, but he likes to "hide out" in a little corner crook in the kitchen, he's not hiding because he doesn't feel good we think that he just likes this because he can still be in the kitchen but not in the main way lol! He goes in there, naps, comes out like he is on a mission to see us and usually "talk" to us, and then at night we see he goes into the living room and sleeps on one of the sofas with a blanket on it, usually with Sylvester next to him!! We figure if that's what he wants to do let him, it makes him happy, he still seems in pretty good spirits, doesn't seem ill or in any distress, in fact I think that he really likes this new idea of his!!

We got some probiotics for cats that we are easing into his food, we'll see how that goes. But he's still here and pretty spry!!

 

[neely]

But he's still here and pretty spry!!

And that's what counts! He's figured out a routine that suits him so he's still alert too. Deb and you are doing the right thing letting him tell you what he's comfortable with and what brings him pleasure.