Strategies For Getting Calories Into Our Old Man Cat

[ameliashuman]

Our old man cat (Neil, age 11 something maybe, we don't know for sure) started having stomach problems (vomiting, losing weight, not eating as much. lethargy) about three months ago, we've been to the vet numerous times and are now at the point where he's on B12, has prescription food for kidney and IBS, is on blood pressure medication, a pain killer (pancreatitis), a steroid, a nausea pill, and now we just put him on an appetite stimulant. But he's still doing poorly (the appetite stimulant was just started yesterday so we may have good results without any other intervention) We've eliminated a large mass, but the test results are inconclusive for IBS vs. lymphoma. We're going to try him on the appetite stimulants to see if that works before doing biopsies. However, I just hate that he's getting very few calories. He'll eat about 1/4 of a can of wet food and maybe a 1/2 of a tuna meal topper. In particular he likes the broth/juice of the wet food and the topper. He'll lap that up and then leave the food. I'm hopeful the appetite stimulant will work, but in the meantime does anyone know of a broth/liquid food supplement that would get some calories into him?

 

[neely]

I'm sorry Neil is having health issues especially appetite problems. When our guy wouldn't eat we gave him a meat baby food without gravy or seasonings and it did the trick. However, every cat and their medical history is different. Here is an Article that may have some helpful ideas:
How To Get Your Cat To Start Eating Again

Best of luck, please keep us posted on his progress. I hope his appetite improves too.

 

[Jem]

daftcat75 , do you think you're experience and bone broth recipes would help here?

 

[Jem]

You mention the kidney food, so I assume he has CKD. What stage/how far along into the disease is he? Has the vet considered doing subQ fluids to help eliminate toxicities from his system? When my boy had CKD, the fluids are what kept his appetite up.

 

[ameliashuman]

The numbers were just slightly elevated so we thought it was the early stages of CKD. He received SubQ fluids two weeks ago at the vet due to dehydration, truthfully didn't notice much change then but at that time he also had pain behaviors that were taking up a lot of our attention, which the pain medications have seemed to help. I'll ask the vet about the fluids.

 

[daftcat75]

You can try to make a homemade meat stock to see if that stimulates his appetite. Or you can mix it into his food like a broth to up the appeal.

Bone Broth Is Excellent Nourishment for Older Pets

Meat stock is the strained liquid after round 1 in the link above. It is not necessary and probably not recommended to continue to round 2 for bone broth for IBS/IBD cats. Bone broth is high in glutamates which not every individual tolerates. Think MSG headaches. They are related. MSG is a glutamate.

How is his teeth? I hear he has a lot else going on but senior cats often have teeth problems.

The other recommendation I have is to consider a feeding tube. He may be having so much going on that the drugs may not restart his eating. A feeding tube will help you keep his nutrition high while he gets through this. Poor nutrition = poor prognosis. But cats can heal very quickly when their nutrition is kept up. The feeding tube will give you power back to help him. It won’t prevent him from eating on his own when he feels up to it. And it can be removed when he no longer needs it. It will also make giving meds a lot easier.

 

[ameliashuman]

Thank you everyone for these suggestions! We had considered that teeth may be an issue and attempted to present a combination of wet food and dry food soaked in water, he loves the water ignores the food. However, there are other things going on that the dental may still be a problem just overshadowed by everything else. I'll have to do more research. I hadn't ever thought of tube feeding, I always associate it with something you do in the hospitals, it
didn't occur to me that we could do that for Neil while he was hope. Again something to research, thank you!

We're going to try the meat stock, thank you for that link. Its going to be very helpful and I really hope it gets some nutrients into him. He now has a cold so that's likely to make things more difficult for him The poor old guy, every year he's lived with us (two) he's had some serious medical problem.

I've posted a picture of him playing the part of king of the bed.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Here's one more source to add to the great advice you've gotten already, because when you're facing a cat with eating issues I personally think you can't have enough options...also, ask your vet if you could try putting him in a bathroom with a steaming shower 10-12 minutes a couple times a day to help ease his airways.



Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[ameliashuman]

The last week and half seemed like they were going well, he wasn't eating a whole lot but he was eating and it was consistent. Then this weekend everything seemed to crash, he stopped eating, was barely drinking, very lethargic, was having episodes of clear pain, and breathing seemed shallow. We had an appointment for him early afternoon, but ended up taking him in early because he was panting/breathing rapidly but didn't seem to be able to catch his breath. They've put him in intensive care with IV fluids, they're thinking some type of kidney infection, plus progression in his kidney disease.

I don't know what happened, don't know what we missed that it got so bad so quickly. I hate being away from him and I hope this works. I'm just so sad and scared for him.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh my gosh!! Sending loads of prayers!!

 

[stephanietx]

I'm so very sorry! Definitely sounds like something serious is going on. Keep us posted.

 

[MissClouseau]

My thoughts are with you ameliashuman . Please don't forget just because he got worse doesn't mean you missed anything. Not only cats are good at hiding health issues but some health problems don't give out mild symptoms first that we could see.

I hope Neil gets better soon.

 

[ameliashuman]

He's on day 2 of fluids and is eating. He's still dehydrated though so they want him to continue receiving fluids overnight. It was so hard to leave him last night, I wish we could bring him home. But he looked better this morning and hopefully will be even better tomorrow. I also have an appointment tomorrow with the vet to come up with a proactive plan so we can avoid getting to this place again.

I suspect things are going to get tough from here on out dealing with his likely lymphoma and kidney disease. I just want to know that we are doing everything possible to prevent him from suffering. I'm still heart sick, I wish I could rewind time and just have more time before all this came down on our shoulders.

 

[Furballsmom]