smells like chicken

metropical

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been feeding 11-year-old Owen only chicken, both commercial and DIY Alnutrin, chicken thighs based on Pierson.
Suddenly he turned up his nose at chicken both commercial and DIY.
Had blood work yesterday. All very ok. He had low B12 six months ago that was treated with a couple weeks of B12 injections then every month since.
Vet recommends an outside ultrasound to rule out GI issues. I like the vet, an associate of our long time vet, but I don't see the connection of what sems to be a boredom issue or olfactory. Just seems like referral $ to me. Maybe he's just bored of my cooking. My feeling is give hime what he wants a while and see if he returns to chicken rotation. Tried putting some of the comm tuna with the chicken comm and DIY. NG.
Anyone thoughts or experience like this?
 

Furballsmom

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My feeling is give hime what he wants a while and see if he returns to chicken rotation.
What does he want?

I would keep an eye on his litterbox output, and his weight to make sure he doesn't start to lose body condition.
 
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LTS3

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If your cat is just being picky about food, I don't see how an ultrasound would be of any help. If cat is not eating or is also vomiting or having diarrhea then an ultrasound or biopsy could be helpful to determine if the cat has IBD or some other gastrointestinal issue.

Can you try a different protein such as rabbit or duck? Sometimes cats get bored of eating the same thing over and over. Where do you normally buy the chicken from? It's possible that chicken from a different supplier / farm just smells and / or tastes weird and different to the cat and the cat doesn't want to eat it.
 

lisahe

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Based on our recent experience, I'd say that if Owen's vomiting or showing other symptoms -- at all -- I'd strongly suggest taking him for the ultrasound.

I'm not sure how much your vet's colleague charges but our Edwina (nine years old) had an ultrasound last Thursday... and then she had her spleen, a couple lymph nodes, and part of her stomach removed on Monday. Yes, she'd been vomiting, though that was on and off and lots of things seemed to explain that. Until, that is, she worsened a few weeks ago and the vet recommended an ultrasound. Our vet brings in a colleague who does very reasonably priced ultrasounds (under $300) so we may be very lucky on that piece of things. I'm so glad we did it!

I'm also remembering an old thread (here) where ldg ldg had a somewhat similar experience to ours (though her cat had an inoperable stomach tumor) and said she thought annual imaging for senior cats would be helpful in finding these sorts of problems earlier rather than later.

I confess that I would have responded to your post much differently a month ago, particularly since we've also had trouble with our cats getting bored with their food! But right now that ultrasound feels like it was a tremendous bargain. Plus it was quick and easy for Edwina. No matter what you choose, I hope Owen starts eating again soon and stays healthy!
 
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metropical

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boredom seems to be it. fed him some salmon cat food for a couple days. now he's back to his regular diet.
when he gets bored again, I'll go to the salmon/tuna option or cat bonita flakes to inspire him.
He's put back on weight after his food strike.

We have done "hero" medicine on 3 previous cats. We will not do that again.
One was radioactive seeds for thyroid. That was a waste of $1500 and 3 months.
With the added plus that the patient walked away one day never to be seen again.

Hero medicine is for the pet parent peace of mind.
And as pointless as it is for many human conditions, unless you can explain it to the patient.
No one is that fluent in cat.

SAV is a VERY profitable business. As much as we like our vet, he doesn't need extra $ for his BMW payments.
The outside ultrasound was quoted as $500 - $2500. And, in some cases, anesthesia is required. More possibilities to go wrong.
YMMD
 

lisahe

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SAV is a VERY profitable business. As much as we like our vet, he doesn't need extra $ for his BMW payments.
The outside ultrasound was quoted as $500 - $2500. And, in some cases, anesthesia is required. More possibilities to go wrong.
YMMD
Ouch, yes, that's a lot. We're ridiculously fortunate that, as I mentioned, our vet brings in another vet (apparently a very good one, another vet that saw our cat praised him highly) to do the ultrasounds and charges such reasonable rates. (Then again, our vet doesn't drive a BMW!)
 
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metropical

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in constant change. I think the hot weather was getting to him.
 
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