Syringe Feeding

[njg55]

One of my cats has been diagnosed with a respiratory infection. She's on antihistamines and had antibiotic shots during two vet visits; a prescription for antibiotic pills was ordered but hasn't yet arrived. She lost her appetite a couple of days ago and hadn't touched any dry or canned food or treats and may not have been drinking water, so in desperation my husband and I have begun syringe feeding. We're giving her turkey or chicken baby food alternately with water from a separate syringe. We just started this yesterday and plan to do it about four times a day, perhaps a couple more times with just water, until she regains some normal appetite, hopefully when the medications start to have an effect. We've been giving her approximately a teaspoon or two at a time. Do you think this is enough? I just want to give her enough nourishment to sustain her until she begins to recover and hopefully starts eating on her own; I'm not worried about weight loss at this point, just survival. Obviously these forced feedings are stressful for her, so I don't want to keep shoving food down her, figuratively speaking, more than necessary, but if she would benefit from slightly more, I'm fine with it as long as we do it slowly.

 

[Antonio65]

I have been syringe feeding my cat for weeks due to a terrible problem.
My main concern was that she could get the necessary amount of energy.
I purchased a dedicated food, very rich in energy and suitable for syringe feeding, like Hill's A/D.
Check on the label of the canned food the energy content and use this to calculate the amount of food
Kcal = 70 + (30 x weight in kg)
For example, your cat is 4 kg, then you have to feed her 190 kcal.
If your canned food had 120 kcal/100g then you feed your cat 160 g per day in three or four meals.
As for the water, I would give my cat not less than 60 ml a day.

 

[Antonio65]

P. S. : syringe feeding is a slow process. I would give my cat 40-50 g each meal and it took me about 25 minutes to do it. I would push 3-4 g at a time, then wait 30 seconds and push another 3-4 g.
This in order to avoid throwing up.

 

[orange&white]

However many calories she was eating on her own before she became ill would be ideal, but if that's too hard on her stress level then try for 80%. 50% would practically be starvation over a matter of several days, so if you can't get 50% of her normal calories, she'll probably need a feeding tube. Canned cat food is going to have higher calories than meat baby food, though the baby food has the advantage of being extremely creamy (no grit). I'd try her on a 50/50 slurry of the highest calorie canned food you can find, mixed with water. The higher the calories, the less you have to get down her mouth.

You might also try Nutri-Cal nutritional gel for a calorie and vitamin boost. The ingredients look pretty crummy to me, but that product has helped a lot of cats get over the hump and start eating again.

My senior went off food for 4 days this year and I syringe fed him 2.5 of those days before his appetite picked up. He was very fussy with the 50/50 canned food and water and started refusing to swallow so we both ended up wearing the food. I changed up to syringing 4 raw egg yolks a day, thinned with water. Yolks don't have any taurine, but otherwise are a nutritional powerhouse, plus they have a smooth consistency and pack 55 calories per yolk. That was my last ditch effort before taking him for a feeding tube. Fortunately, it worked and he was spared additional stress.

Best wishes that your kitty feels better soon.

 

[LTS3]

You can water down the canned food and syringe that for more calories and a source of proper nutrients. Pate foods are easiest to water down. You can also ask the vet for Hills A/D canned which is a high calorie food. The ingredients aren't great but calories and nutrients are what your cat needs right now. You can also ask the vet for FortiFlora to sprinkle over food. Few inappetant cats can resist the yummy taste of FortiFlora (basically animal digest). The vet can also prescribe an appetite stimulant if that is needed.

How big is the syringe? A full 5 ml syringe full of watered down food for a meal should be plenty. It will probably take awhile to get that much food syringed into a cat. Go slow and give your cat a break in between squirts.

 

[encino34]

I've been syringe feeding now for 9 days with my bella She is still recovering from a URI. I can only feed her 2-3 times per day and i try and get 2 5ml syringes each feeding along with her medication and lysine gel.

How long will i have to keep doing this? She wants to eat with the other cat. She is very interested when feeding my other cat oreo but when i put the bowl down she walks away.

 

[Antonio65]

If I have understood it well, you are giving her TWO syringes with 5 ml of watered down food TWO or THREE times a day.
This would make a total of 20-30 ml of food a day, that, in my opinion is at least 5 times LESS than she shoudl get.

High calorie content food like Hill's A/D has something like 1200 kcal/kg.
A 3 kg cat should receive at least 160 kcal a day, so, provided that you are giving her A/D, you should syringe her with not less than 135 g of that food daily.

 

[encino34]

She is 7lbs. Im using royal canine recovery RS and its also a bit watered down. What size of tip should i have on the syringe? The one my vet gave me is 5ml with a small long rubber tip on it. She only lets me give her 2 syringes then she flips out and starts chocking

 

[Antonio65]

Royal Canine is given at 1100 kcal/kg. Your cat is about 3.20 kg (sorry, we Europeans are more familiar with kg ).
You should feed her 165-170 kcal per day. This means you should syringe her with 150-155 grams of Royal Canin each day, in more meals. This is true provided that you give her the Recovery as it is. If you water it down, you should increase the food depending on how much water you add to it.

I would add about 15 grams of water per can of Recovery (each can was 195 g / 7 oz). I would also add about 20 grams of Nutriplus Gel (by Virbac) to boost the energy content of the syringe. This gel has 6,000 kcal/kg. The result was a blended food with about 1.70 kcal/g.
Then I would put about 30 grams of this blended food into a 50 ml syringe and feed my cat not less than 4 times a day.
Syringe feeding is a slow process. I would take at least 30 minutes per meal, sometimes 35 minutes. I would push 3 ml of food into her mouth every 40-50 seconds. In my case I had to be slow because my poor cat had swallowing issues
The syringe must be inserted into the cat's mouth from a side and you have to be extremely careful not to choke her.

I would also give her 10-15 ml of water after each meal, because she wasn't able to drink as well.
I did this for 4 months, every single day, from 7 am to 11 pm.

 

[orange&white]

For us Americans, the RC Recovery is 183 kcals/can and the recommendation is one can per day for a 7 pound cat. That would be 30-32 of the 5ml syringes per day. At 7 pounds, you probably need to get at least half a can into her (15-16 of the 5ml syringes) to keep her alive.

Before the cat I mentioned above went off food for only 4 days, his brother had hepatic lipidosis many years ago. He survived with me syringe feeding him every couple hours for weeks on end, and it is very tedious and stressful. He did at some point start looking forward to being fed and eventually didn't put up a struggle.

If she won't eat enough, or if it is too stressful for her or for you, the vet can insert a tube through her nose, or implant a tube in her gut which you use to syringe meals in a short amount of time. They can also teach you how to do sub-q fluids at home.

Hope she gets her appetite back soon. Good vibes your way.

 

[Antonio65]

For us Americans, the RC Recovery is 183 kcals/can and the recommendation is one can per day for a 7 pound cat. That would be 30-32 of the 5ml syringes per day. At 7 pounds, you probably need to get at least half a can into her (15-16 of the 5ml syringes) to keep her alive.

If a RC Recovery can is recommended for a 7 lbs cat, then encino34 's cat which is 7 lbs should eat a can, not half a can
And the amount of food of a US can (ours are 7 oz) nearly matches what I had written before
Giving less than the recommended dose would be starving the cat.

He survived with me syringe feeding him every couple hours for weeks on end, and it is very tedious and stressful

This is absolutely true!
Syring feeding puts your patience to a test. If you survive this challenge after several weeks, then you know that probably nothing could destroy you!

the vet can insert a tube through her nose, or implant a tube in her gut which you use to syringe meals in a short amount of time

Feeding a cat via an E-tube isn't quick either. You can't rush the food down that tube or the cat could throw it up.

I wrote a wrong thing in my previous posts. Our Royal Canin Recovery comes in 195 grams can and has 1,200 kcal/kg, not 1,100 kcal/kg. Each can is 234 kcal, good for a 5.5 kg / 12 lbs cat.

 

[orange&white]

I'm saying that if the cat won't eat at least 1/2 the recommended calories, then the alternative feeding tube is necessary.

 

[encino34]

She maybe eats a can worth of food each day before she was sick. Now she gets about 1/2 the can, maybe a bit more. Me and my wife work all day and i have 2 jobs. IT makes it really hard to feed her. From now on ill get up an hour early and feed her then just before i go to work. Then when i get home then go to bed. I got a larger syringe that holds 35cc. I fed her 15cc tonight and she threw up 5 min later. I have it mixed with lysine gel too.

 

[Antonio65]

I'm speechless, you're going to wake up an hour earlier just to feed your cat. Hats off!
I don't know many people who would do this, you're a hero.
Hopefully your kitty will restore her appetite and feeding habits soon

 

[di and bob]

My elderly Burt refused all food too, but he would lap up a beaten egg yolk several times a day. He would also eat Arby's roast beef. Definitely encourage your little one to eat on their own with tuna juice, finely cut up bacon, shredded roast beef.ANYTHING to get them to eat. You can worry about diet later.

 

[encino34]

We have been able to get 80-100cc in her per day now. I will try the tuna again this afternoon. It's been a few days since we've tried that.

 

[orange&white]

That's much better! Thanks for the update. How is her weight holding up, and does it seem like the respiratory infection cleared? Hopefully the infection disturbed her sense of smell and she'll eat again when she can smell the food better.

 

[encino34]

She still wont eat on her own. She does sniff whats on the floor then walks away. Were going to either try dropping saline in her nose or pediatric nose drops. The whole house smells like wet cat food!

 

[Antonio65]

Can you nebulize (we call it aerosol) your cat?
The effects might last longer.

 

[encino34]

please explain what that is? Can i buy it over the counter? Thx