Tips to motivate a cat with an esophagostomy tube to start eating on their own?

[Soyboya]

Hello!!
My Zelda and I have had an incredibly wild ride together over the last few months but I believe we can finally say she is in the recovery stage.
She had severe hepatic lipidosis due to malnutrition, removal of a foreign object in her small intestine, 3 day hospitalization for anemia.
The foreign object was missed - she is truly the strongest girl. She barely ate anything from Jan-Mid March. Feeding tube was inserted a little over a week ago now.
Her liver enzymes were still elevated in her last set of blood work, bilirubin had went up from 10.3 (which is already bad.) to 12 but she is now beginning to appear noticeably less yellow. I'll add pictures of my girl.
I know this will be a long road, and the healing journey for kitties with hepatic lipidosis is definitely long...
But for those of you with any experience with this: in what ways did you motivate your kitty to eat on their own? how long did it take for them to start eating normally?

 

[epona]

Sorry to hear you and your cat are going through this - it can be very difficult for us to deal with emotionally I think, as well as the additional care needed in terms of doing the feedings and stoma care etc.

Slightly different situation, I went through it with my Radar (may he rest in peace, but he died a couple of years after the events I refer to from something unrelated, he is sadly no longer with us though) due to post-surgical complications from middle ear surgery to remove polyps. He then stopped eating, he never developed liver issues thank goodness but had an oesophagostomy so I could tube feed him while he recovered and until he became interested in feeding himself again - which was about 6 weeks on the tube (and it was hell, we had a lot of complications).

He did start eating on his own again, but it was a matter of patience and perseverance - keep offering food in a bowl as the tube they have is usually narrow enough to allow them to eat and swallow on their own if they so desire - and offer different things at different times. A lot of it may end up in the bin but you just have to keep plugging away at it.

Wishing you all and your little Zelda all the best xx

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi there. Tbh, I don't have any experience with this, but it is my gut feeling - follows what was said above - that one week may not be enough to expect her to want to eat on her own. She is on a feeding tube, so from that standpoint she is fine. You can try every day in between tube feedings to see if she will take anything on her own - if she does she does, if she doesn't she doesn't. I don't see that you have anything to worry about at this point. Be patient and let her tell you when she is ready. she will. The motivation comes from healing.

 

[epona]

Oh also remember to look after yourself too, it can be very tiring having a beloved cat ill enough that they need to be tube fed, so make sure to eat regularly and well yourself, try to get decent sleep etc. - you can't help anyone else if you're not well yourself. It can be exhausting both in terms of the worry and keeping on top of feedings and care. (When Radar was well enough to have his tube removed after starting to eat again, I actually got shingles within the week which I am sure was due to being run down/exhausted/stressed).

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. It is way to soon to expect her to want to eat on her own. Give it another week without trying to get her to eat. You can cause food aversion if you do. Then start offering food before the tube feeding.

Any difficulty with the tube feedings?

 

[Soyboya]

Oh also remember to look after yourself too, it can be very tiring having a beloved cat ill enough that they need to be tube fed, so make sure to eat regularly and well yourself, try to get decent sleep etc. - you can't help anyone else if you're not well yourself. It can be exhausting both in terms of the worry and keeping on top of feedings and care. (When Radar was well enough to have his tube removed after starting to eat again, I actually got shingles within the week which I am sure was due to being run down/exhausted/stressed).

Definitely is exhausting! I have been on and off sleeping all day with her in bed with me. She finally started to really show interest in food two days ago, and now eats a little bit before each feeding! I don't unfortunately have too much time to relax until next month (its been hell!) with full time school, overtime work to afford her treatments. Thank god all the big expenses are hopefully done and over with.
Dont regret a bit of it though