Syringe Feeding Advice

[Jludwick78]

Syringe feeding my 17 year old cat Elvis (the girl) with pancreatitis is the most difficult and frustrating thing ever. Any advice? Tips?


She hasn’t eaten more than a few bites on her own in 2 weeks so I’m desperate. I try to get 40ml in her. But I’m failing. Some days it’s only 10. She tries to eat some kibble but I think she has a hard time chewing it and it’s everywhere on the floor.


I’ve posted about her health in another thread. Quick reminder- she’s currently on buprex, cerenia and mirtazapine. Non of which seem to help.
I put her on 100ml normal saline sub q fluids today.

 

[mikameek]

How are you syringe feeding? Do you wrap her up in a towel? Are you alone or is possible to have someone assist you? What are you giving her in the syringe?

Lots of questions but I syringe fed my girl for a while!

 

[Jludwick78]

I do wrap her in a towel because if not her paw gets up there. It’s just me as I live alone and I am giving puréed Instinct can food in the side of her mouth as the vet instructed. Her head is all over the place and most of it ends up on me.
I have a 10ml and 30ml syringe.

 

[mikameek]

I do wrap her in a towel because if not her paw gets up there. It’s just me as I live alone and I am giving puréed Instinct can food in the side of her mouth as the vet instructed. Her head is all over the place and most of it ends up on me.
I have a 10ml and 30ml syringe.

Alright, so I was in a really similar place. I would wrap my girl up really tight (obviously not suffocating or anything, just to where she couldn't wiggle her paws out) and then put her in between my legs and hold her there with my legs. I then hold her head with one of my hands and use the other to position her syringe. I had to practice with timing but I eventually got it to where I could shoot good amounts into her when she had her mouth open towards me.

You're just going to have to practice. It took me a while to get decent enough to get it into her. Keep calm, make sure you breathe and try to keep her as calm and relaxed as you can.

 

[cheeser]

One of our cats is FIV+ and is almost always sick, so he frequently goes through phases where he has to be syringe fed.

In our case, wrapping him in a towel like a burrito didn't work out at all. But one day I accidentally discovered that the more control Buddy seems to feel he has over the situation, the less of a fight he puts up.

So now I sit on the floor and put Buddy in front of me so that we're facing each other, and he's sitting upright like he's looking out the window. Then without using a towel or anything to restrain him, I gently wrap my legs around him to get him positioned. If he starts to squirm, I just wrap my legs around him a little tighter.

Another thing that helps me is to use a smaller syringe, such as a 3 or 5 ml. The tip isn't as bulky and awkward as the 10 ml. I started out with, Buddy tolerates it better, and I feel like I have more control over the plunger. And the more comfortable I feel with the process, the more relaxed and cooperative Buddy is. Of course, it's a bit inconvenient to keep refilling the syringe, but after lots of practice, I'm pretty fast now. But until I got to that point, I pre-filled as many syringes as I thought I'd need for each feeding, and had them lined up on a plate like a little buffet line.

Hang in there, and hope you figure out something soon that works best for you and your kitty!