What are some good recovery/meal replacer or supplemental feeding products, and what are their pros and cons?

[cheeser]

Buddy is having more trouble than usual bouncing back from yet another herpes flare up, but I'm having trouble finding some of the meal replacer/supplement products that I had bookmarked a while back for future reference.

So what *is* available these days?

The Nutri-Cal been a godsend for getting much needed calories into Buddy, but I'm not too keen about all that sugar since Buddy goes through these cycles so often. The CatSure or kitten milk replacer products have come on handy, but they're only about 11-13 calories per tablespoon when reconstituted. And adding pre-mix to a jar of baby food helps to give me some peace of mind that Buddy is getting the vitamins and minerals that he needs, but he absolutely despises the taste, making syringe feedings a bit of an ordeal for both of us.

I just put a package of Oxbow Carnivore Care in my Amazon cart. It looks promising, and as best I can tell, the only downside is that I'm not sure how long it will keep in the fridge between uses. Sometimes Buddy doesn't have another flare up for another month or so.

Any other ideas? *asks hopefully*

 

[denice]

I don't know how you feel about prescription foods but I used Hill's A/D when Patches had a feeding tube. When he started eating on his own he seemed to like the taste and at the time he was a kibble addict. I did finally get him on all wet food. It is expensive and you would have to get it from the vets. I hadn't used it but Royal Canin's version of recovery food is called Recovery.

 

[She's a witch]

Back in Europe, every rescue I know would use the Royal Canin Convalescence Support feline for such purpose. That was a miracle and go to powder, especially when fostering orphan kittens but also sick cats, you either mix this with water or, better, with goat milk, and it was extremely palatable. For some reason I didn't see this product in the US. There's something similar but it's not the same and ingredients are different (granted, I don't remember exactly the ingredients for the European version but I do know they were not the best either, it's supposed to be short term solution only). This is what I found is similar, available in US (it's for both canine and feline though, and it has milk protein, which I'd be careful about):
Royal Canin Convalescence Support Instant

Full disclosure: I hate Royal Canin company. But their convalescence European product did it's job.

 

[cheeser]

I don't know how you feel about prescription foods but I used Hill's A/D when Patches had a feeding tube. When he started eating on his own he seemed to like the taste and at the time he was a kibble addict. I did finally get him on all wet food. It is expensive and you would have to get it from the vets. I hadn't used it but Royal Canin's version of recovery food is called Recovery.

I'm normally not too keen about Hill's products (or prescription foods in general), but their Urgent Care A/D has truly been a lifesaver for many of our sick kitties over the years. We also learned about it when one of our cats required a feeding tube.

Unfortunately, Buddy flat out refuses to consume it willingly, and he spits it back at me when I try to feed it to him with a syringe. The last time I tried it, it was like a scene from The Exorcist!

And he's usually pretty chill about syringe feedings and his daily med/supplement cocktails, so I'm not sure why he has it in for the Hill's A/D. But since it contains chicken, which is one of his allergy triggers, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. *shrugs*

Thanks for the heads up re: the Royal Canin. I'll go take a look at it. I'm normally not too keen on their products either, but I tend to be pretty flexible when I'm grasping at straws.

 

[cheeser]

Back in Europe, every rescue I know would use the Royal Canin Convalescence Support feline for such purpose. That was a miracle and go to powder, especially when fostering orphan kittens but also sick cats, you either mix this with water or, better, with goat milk, and it was extremely palatable. For some reason I didn't see this product in the US. There's something similar but it's not the same and ingredients are different (granted, I don't remember exactly the ingredients for the European version but I do know they were not the best either, it's supposed to be short term solution only). This is what I found is similar, available in US (it's for both canine and feline though, and it has milk protein, which I'd be careful about):
Royal Canin Convalescence Support Instant

Full disclosure: I hate Royal Canin company. But their convalescence European product did it's job.

Thanks bunches for the link and the info. Milk proteins don't seem to be a problem for Buddy, as some of his supplements are derived from milk proteins, and he tolerates them okay.

I didn't always have an aversion to Hill's and Royal Canin products. In fact, that's all we used to feed our cats because that's what the vets recommended. But after I accidentally stumbled across catinfo.org when Buddy developed some urinary tract issues, we've found that our cats often do better on non-prescription foods if we're willing to put forth some effort to figure out what works best for them.

However, I can be pretty darned open minded when Buddy is going through yet another rough patch, and need all the help I can get! Heck, if someone were to tell me that he'd suddenly start eating enough on his own if I were to strip naked, paint myself blue, and run up and down the street while playing a tambourine, I'd almost be willing to give it a try. Almost.

 

[Azazel]

This wouldn't replace Buddy's regular meals, but how would he feel about having an egg yolk once a week? Egg yolks are full of awesome nutrients and will give him the much needed protein/energy he needs.

Or, if you're not okay with doing raw egg yolk you could hard boil an entire egg.

 

[LTS3]

The Oxbow is a powder. You just mix it up as needed. If you need to store the mixture, it'll keep for a few days in the fridge.

You may want to try the liver shake: "liver Shake" Recipe For Inappetant Cats

 

[cheeser]

This wouldn't replace Buddy's regular meals, but how would he feel about having an egg yolk once a week? Egg yolks are full of awesome nutrients and will give him the much needed protein/energy he needs.

Or, if you're not okay with doing raw egg yolk you could hard boil an entire egg.

The vet said no to raw foods, as Buddy's immune system is compromised and a bit wonky. So we've tried giving him cooked egg yolks from boiled eggs, but Buddy won't eat them.

However, he will tolerate me putting egg yolk lecithin in one of his daily med/supplement cocktails for hairball control, which is the best remedy we've found thus far!

 

[cheeser]

The Oxbow is a powder. You just mix it up as needed. If you need to store the mixture, it'll keep for a few days in the fridge.

You may want to try the liver shake: "liver Shake" Recipe For Inappetant Cats

Okay, that makes more sense, like the CatSure and kitten milk replacers that you mix with water. I read one review that said the powder itself only keeps in the fridge up to a week, which didn't make sense.

Thanks much for the reminder re: the liver shake. We usually don't feed Buddy anything raw because of his funky immune system, but I do confess to feeding him a raw egg yolk in an emergency situation when we needed to break up a hairball that he couldn't hack up. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do at the time, and worry about the potential consequences later.

 

[LTS3]

Okay, that makes more sense, like the CatSure and kitten milk replacers that you mix with water. I read one review that said the powder itself only keeps in the fridge up to a week, which didn't make sense.

The person was probably confused or something. Dry powder keeps a long time. It's the mixture of powder and water that doesn't keep for more than a few days.

I bet you could lightly poach liver and use it in the shake recipe.

 

[cheeser]

The person was probably confused or something. Dry powder keeps a long time. It's the mixture of powder and water that doesn't keep for more than a few days.

I bet you could lightly poach liver and use it in the shake recipe.

Cool! I'll see if there's anything else I need to add to my Amazon cart, and head to the checkout.

Guess I could try lightly poaching the liver as you suggested. Hopefully the smell won't get the better of me. Ah, the things we do for love!

 

[LTS3]

Probably the kelp powder or spirulina for the shake recipe. The other ingredients are easily found at any supermarket.

 

[cheeser]

Probably the kelp powder or spirulina for the shake recipe. The other ingredients are easily found at any supermarket.

Oooh, okay. Thanks bunches!

I should probably get some supplements for myself as well. All of this holiday stress on top of my usual stress is starting to get the better of me.

 

[cheeser]

The person was probably confused or something. Dry powder keeps a long time. It's the mixture of powder and water that doesn't keep for more than a few days.

Okay, now that I actually have a package of Oxbow Carnivore Care in hand, here's what it says on the back of the package:

Storage: A cool, dry location. Discard any remaining mixed product after 24 hours. Refrigerate opened packet for up to 7 days.

So while I'll probably keep any unused portion in the fridge longer than that, at least now I know where that info came from.

Buddy didn't much care for the taste, and didn't eat it willingly. But that's pretty much par for the course for him.

I'm not that keen about dried chicken being the second ingredient, as that's one of the proteins that causes problems for him. But I like that it's about twice as high in calories as the CatSure, and sometimes one need can outweigh another in a pinch.

 

[LTS3]

I've kept the open package of powder longer than 7 days at room temperature with no issue.

Maybe Buddy will change his mind after trying it again.

 

[cheeser]

I've kept the open package of powder longer than 7 days at room temperature with no issue.

Maybe Buddy will change his mind after trying it again.

Buddy usually goes through these cycles pretty frequently, so if we don't use up this packet this time, there will be another cycle just around the corner. So it's good to know that longer term storage won't be an issue.

I think that between Dad's declining health and our holiday company, the stress just got the better of Buddy, so it's taking him longer to bounce back this time.