The past week or so has been a tad bit stressful.
Sputnik took a turn for the worse and stopped eating. Needless to say I was beyond distressed.
He's fine now, and actually doing much better than he has been in some time. We're still not sure what exactly happened, but the vet doesn't think it was related to his bladder problems.
Best we can figure, he just got really constipated and then stopped eating. Then he got really dehydrated and it sort of started to spiral out of control. I finally decided to give him subcutaneous fluids and after three days of fluids, the poopy floodgates opened, and he very quickly returned to his normal hungry self.
However, the past 2 weeks have been a steady stream of me trying everything short of a tube down the esophagus in order to get him to eat.
So, while I've spent less than $100 on groceries for myself so far this month, I fear we're nearing the $500 mark in terms of cat food. Remember what I said above about the sane part...
Of course, this doesn't mean that they've actually eaten all of this food. In fact, the house has been littered with bowls of half eaten (or in many cases barely touched) bowls of food as I struggled to find something that little Sputty would eat.
Generally speaking we don't waste too much food around here because what one cat won't eat, another usually is happy to gobble down. Unfortunately, all of Sputnik's food was laced with kitty laxative in order to get his little bowels moving, so I couldn't let anybody else have it.
And since I've been opening can after can, trying to get him to eat, there has really just been more food here than 4 cats could reasonably eat!
Sooo, we're slowly returning to "normal" and I'm beyond thrilled that he's feeling better. Unfortunately, this little episode has taught him that if he simply turns up his nose at a bowl of food, mommy will bring out something even more delicious! Oh, the tangled webs we weave!
Anyhow, pickiness notwithstanding I don't think any cats are in danger of starving around here!
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| Once again, let me refer you to the sanity disclaimer above. |
Not really been in that situation with cat food, but I have spent a lot of time and some money nursing a dying chicken and syringing sugar water into her beak, and feeding her blueberries. I'd been hoping that she'd recover, but as she was turning her beak up at anything that wasn't hand fed, it was a bit tricky!
ReplyDeleteWhen the Merlcat was really ill at the vets, he finally started eating again when I went in and tapped some plastic, which sounded like his food bowl. That obviously triggered some 'ooh, food time' association in his stressed out little brain, and he gobbled down the extra tasty food the vets had for him :) The whole week of intensive care in the vet thing was pretty expensive, but luckily as I had had him from a kitten, he was insured...
I think, when it comes to animals, it'd be a much worse feeling to have not tried hard enough, than to have spent a bit too much trying to sort them out..
oh yes.. Pavlov's cats! I did have a little success by pouring some dry food out into a bowl. That sound always gets him.
DeleteAnd I totally agree-I'd much rather go overboard trying to help them than spend the rest of my life wondering if I could have done more.
I'm glad that Sputnik is eating again. Unfortunately, when my cats have lost their appetite, they have never regained it. However, they were all suffering from kidney problems. Right now one of my cats is on a very expensive prescription food that they all eat (it's okay for all of them) When I tried different kinds of food for different cats, it didn't work. They were all too sneaky, ate each others food, and the sick cat got sick again and almost died. Pets require a lot of work and cost, but as far as I'm concerned, they are well worth it.
ReplyDeleteMealtime is certainly a challenge around here. Fortunately nothing really bad will happen if they eat each other's food-its just not ideal. And they are most definitely worth the work and expense!
DeleteSo glad to hear that Sir Sputty is eating and doing better. Personally, there is nothing worse than a cat that won't eat. In that situation, sanity IS NOT AN OPTION!!!
ReplyDeleteHere's my emergency list: baby food (chicken & turkey in broth & sweet potato or squash varieties), canned pumpkin, sliced turkey and chicken, Hill's canned A/D with water added (milkshake consistency)& chicken broth for hydration and nutrition. They aren't always successful & I have to resort to force feeding with a syringe. I like the one used to flush out wounds with a curved tip that I snip to shorten the tip. Obviously it's a new syringe, not a used one.
Your pantry looks like mine since I'm feeding a battalion of cats. All of mine recently are eating more than usual. I think they are getting tired of their dry food and eating less of it. It took me 5 months to find a grain free dry they all liked, then the distributor couldn't get it. I finally resorted to ordering online and now I have to start all over again. Apparently my cats & I have a Master/Slave relationship and I definitely am not the Master/Mistress.
Hugs to both you & Sputnik.
Thanks for your list of irresistible kitty foods, I'll keep then in mind for the next time (which I hope never comes). Have your tried Evo for a grain free dry food? Smoky practically refuses to eat anything but Evo!
DeleteYes and some liked it & others didn't. I've been feeding Precise Chicken & Turkey grain free. I've tried Pure Vita, B4 Grain, California Natural and Indigo Moon. Much like their mom (me) they prefer junk food. Acana & Orijen are either too pricey or don't have a chicken or turkey variety.
DeleteHmmm... We've tried Wellness Core and a few Felidae grain free varieties, but nobody liked either of them. Spoiled cats are such a challenge arent' they? :-)
DeleteWait, your definition of insanity isn't spending lots of money on cats, is it? Because if so, there's a lot of us out there I fear. ;) I remember the bad old days when Alex first had diabetes and had to take insulin. The money was flowing out like nobody's business, so much so that I was afraid to add it all up most months. But luckily that was a limited period of time.
ReplyDeleteDuring that same time I had to switch three cats from dry to canned food when none of them had ever had canned. And Alex, who really needed to eat, wouldn't at times. Not fun, so I feel your pain.
Getting picky eaters to eat is SO frustrating. I feel for you. Here are the things I tried that would work sometimes, and sometimes not:
1. Warm the canned food a bit (makes it stinkier and maybe a more appealing temp)
2. Sometimes I would get Alex eating treats, or dry food, and once he was eating I would shove a bowl of canned, maybe with more treats on top, under his nose. Sometimes he'd keep eating.
3. Cooked chicken when he wouldn't eat anything else.
4. Freeze dried chicken treats (for dogs, but they just had chicken in them) were a godsend. He'd always eat them, plus putting some of the "crumbs" on top of wet made it more appealing.
5. I would give him the less appealing foods (ones with more carbs or whatever, for Alex it's Fancy Feast, especially Elegant medley's flavors with cheese) that you know he loves if that's all they would eat.
They're still rather picky though and will only eat certain flavors, which will sometimes change for whatever reason only they know.
I really miss the old dry food days, now I know it's a lot less good for them, but man was it easier!
Good luck to you and Sputty!
That's a great list! Dehydrated chicken treats are wonderful aren't they? That's just about the only way I can get Smoky to eat wet food. And its heartening to know that I'm not the only crazy person out there spending a small fortune on cat food!
DeleteI think a sick kitty is as much a valid excuse to overspend as a sick child. You had no idea why he wouldn't eat, especially at first, and of course, he couldn't tell you, so were trying any and all things to help him. That's what being frugal is about, minimizing what you spend in some areas, so that you have the money to spend in others, when it really counts.
ReplyDeleteI am very glad that he's feeling better. That must've about driven you crazy, and I'm sure he wasn't feeling all so great either.
It would be so much easier if they could talk, wouldn't it?
DeleteActually I think you've brought up an excellent point. I'm very quick to beat myself up for spending too much money, but you're totally right. The point isn't to save money for the sake of saving it-it's to have money to spend on the things that matter. Thanks for the reminder!
Not on a cat but I took in a very under Fed and lacking proper nutrition growingjuvenile saint Bernard once previous owner knew nothing of the needs of a growing saint Bernard I cooked every meal and spent over a hundred a week getting her into proper condition! Glad your baby is feeling better!Nothing insane about it
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your support. I imagine a growing St. Bernard would put away a mighty big chunk of food!- Kudos to you for taking that on!
DeleteGlad that Sputnik is taking a turn for the better! I would not be thinking about the cost right now either, since it's medical related. When I got my current 2 cats (then kittens) 6 years ago, the vet recommended I vary their cat food a lot so they wouldn't become "addicted" to a particular shape or flavour, and that really worked. But if they were feeling poorly, I'd indulge them!
ReplyDeleteMy vet recommended the same thing, but for nutritional reasons. She said that each brand/flavor has different nutritional qualities, so it's best to vary their diet as much as possible to make sure they don't end up with nutritional deficiencies. But at the moment, salmon is the only thing he wants to eat... so salmon it is! :-)
DeleteWhen one of our cats was really ill at the tail end of feline leukemia (although we hadn't had the blood test results at this point so didn't know for sure) I gave him watered down chicken soup as he was struggling with anything solid due to having mouth ulcers. He also had some fish sandwich spread and lots of cat milk. He went down hill so quickly and when from being a great big fluffy fellow to being like a furry pipe cleaner. It was heartbreaking so I can totally understand how you've come to spend so much on cat food. They can't talk so you do everything in your power to find something that helps.
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard isn't it? I really feel like we've been given some sort of a cosmic second chance here, so I'm gonna do my very best to thoroughly enjoy each and every moment I've got with him!
DeleteThis isn't for long term feeding, but for constipation you can try boiled hamburger or chicken mixed with cooked rice (I think half of each). You can also try looking up diabetic cat food recipes for things that are easy to digest. (I think the hamburger/chicken/rice mix works as a low ash food for cats, but the person I know who used it as this, used it decades ago, so I'm not sure if the info has changed or not. I suspect it has.)
ReplyDeleteWhen my one cat got a UTI I spent $500 in one month on vet visits alone. $100 on food doesn't seem so bad. Since I switched to the kidney prescription food that the vet sells, I spend about $50 a month just in food. (Because I have 2 cats, and one of them MIGHT develop kidney disease, and I can't feed them separately, so they both get the same food in the HOPE the one doesn't get an UTI again or kidney disease in the future)
I think we used to feed my dog hamburger and rice for diarrhea when I was a kid. Didn't know it worked for constipation too!
DeleteI'm feeling really glad to have pet insurance right now, 'cause this whole little adventure is into the thousands by now. But as Lili pointed out above, that's the point of being fugal, to have money for the things that really matter.
I have used & recommended hamburger or chicken & rice for diarrhea. It works, even when everything else failed. I can't imagine it would work for the opposite problem. Since milk gives cats diarrhea, I'd recommend milk, yogurt & cottage cheese first for constipation.
DeleteI'm sorta confused about fiber in general for cats. People seem to claim it works for both diarrhea and constipation, which is curious. My vet said that different cats react differently... and my former vet (who is no longer practicing but has a great website) says that it generally helps constipation at first but then makes it worse as time progresses. Hmmm...
DeleteI had been giving Sputty a bit of psyllium to help his constipation, but we think he may have gotten a bit too much and this might have contributed to him getting stopped up.
Anyhow, for the moment we're holding off on the fiber. He's still getting Miralax twice a day, and we're working on tapering down his painkillers since these are quite constipating. Gotta keep that boy moving! :-)
I think the hamburger/chicken/rice is just suggested for any problems related to digestion because it's supposed to be easy to digest, not because it really does anything.
DeleteWell, that makes sense. It sure worked on my dog!
DeleteI'm glad your kitty is well again.I have been there a few times with the not eating drama and I imagine it will happen again.Cats seem to stop eating at the drop of a hat.
ReplyDeleteYour pantry looks like mine.I am trying to transition my 2 over to wet food, so I waste a lot of food, since I haven't really found a food they like (excet for the dry)
Since this is my only food waste I don't feel so bad.
You've gotten a lot of good information on foods to tempt kitties.I've syringe fed many times...it can get them over the hump sometimes.
Marie
I've only got one dry food junkie, but it can be a real challenge getting him to eat canned food. And I've had him since he was 8 weeks old! But apparently he was weaned onto dry food and the die was cast. Sigh.
DeleteHave you tried crushing some dry kibble and sprinkling the powder on the wet food? It seems to work for Smoky at least most of the time!
Have you read about Dewey the library cat? He was also picky with food and sometimes changed his food preferences day to day. I can't imagine it - it had to be so frustrating! Luckily, all my cats have been good eaters (and the medicine my one cat takes won't hurt the other one if by chance she finishes his wet food).
ReplyDeleteI don't think buying that food makes you crazy - it makes you a good cat mama :)
I have one cat who is soooo easy - he's happy with pretty much any food you give him. His brother is the polar opposite, the world's pickiest eater! I can't figure out how they came from the same litter!
DeleteI'm assuming that Dewey was named for the Dewey Decimal system? Sounds like a handful!
Yes, the author was the head librarian in a small town and found him in the book return as a kitten. She named him Dewey Readmore Books because he lived at the library! I really enjoyed the book; I just wish it didn't end with Dewey's death (don't all animals books seem to end that way?). :(
DeleteOMG... I cant believe somebody would put A kitten in the book return! I have to confess that I never read or watch animal stories because they never end well and I just can't take it.
DeleteNow you've given me something new to obsess about. My cat can become a picky eater and get constipated and diarrhea at the drop of a hat??????? Say it ain't so!
ReplyDeleteWell, you know, this is my mission in life - spreading my neuroses around... :-) Hopefully, your cat won't develop any eating "issues."
DeleteSeconding the all meat baby food! Worse comes to worse, you can syringe it in... I like to add taurine to it if I'm going to be feeding it with any regularity.
ReplyDeleteAdding taurine is an excellent idea. Fortunately we didn't get to the point of the syringe, although I did give him some liquids by mouth before I decided to go sub-Q. Here's hoping he keeps eating!
DeleteHow awful for you, but I'm glad Sputnik is doing better now. My parents had a similar scare with their dog last week, where she had a stroke and went downhill fast. They were worried that she wouldn't still be around for me to see her now, but now she's almost back to normal.
ReplyDeleteAll of the cats we had growing up were good eaters, so I can't help you out with that. I like that he has now figured out that he can be picky! They are sometimes too smart for their own good!
Plus, at least you won't have to buy more cat food for a long time!
Ha! At this rate we won't need to buy cat food for a loooong tine. At least we're prepared for an emergency!
DeleteI'm glad your parents' dog is doing better.
What an odyssey! I'm glad Sputnik is feeling better. I haven't had a cat in over 25 years but our gerbils are impressively finicky about food, made worse by the fact that the older one has a pile of medical problems and we have to watch his weight and salt intake. The senior citizen gerbil cost $12 at the pet store but we've spent over $350 in vet visits and about $75 in kibble. At least when he doesn't like the kibble I can post it on freecycle and it will surely get used. It's just donating to charity, right?
ReplyDeleteWow. We had sone hamsters and gerbils when I was a kid, but they never lived very long. They were probably traumatized by the cat sitting on thin cage all day! Poor things, I shudder to think what their cortizol levels were!
DeleteI didn't know you could even take a gerbil to the vet! Sounds like yours has been very well cared for!
And I see some cat food donations in my future!
My cat lived to be 19 and a half, meaning I had an old and picky cat for a decade, I'm afraid. Times that she was miserable and just couldn't eat, I used to drizzle a little olive oil on her food (which was usually *my* salmon. She loved the soft bones, and skin too). Sometimes she would just lick up the oil, then go back a few minutes later and have a bit of food. I don't know what a vet would say,as she never saw one, but it always perked her up. Taking her off cat food in general and just giving her salmon or morsels of chicken, moistened with gravy or oil, gave her a new lease on life. I only fed her those when she asked for something, and made sure she always had fresh water. I understood how she felt, I don't eat when I feel crappy either. Her appetite would go up and down - but she did live to be almost 20, so I hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing story. I've never had a cat live that long... at least that I know of. All of my cats have bean rescued strays so we don't really know here old they are.
DeleteI've heard all sorts of horror stories about cats who are fed people food dying from nutritional deficiencies but this never made a lot of sense to me since cats have been around a lot longer than cat food has!
This story does give me a lot of renewed hope though.
I like the idea of feeding cats a more 'natural' diet...would want to research it properly first though! But, as you say, cats have been around longer than cat food...
DeleteWhat I've always heard is that they need taurine... I'm not exactly sure what taurine is, but I think it's destroyed when food is cooked? Maybe? Anyhow, that's all I know.
DeleteBeth over at myplasticfreelife.com feeds her cats homemade food, but I think she puts some sort of vitamins or supplements in it.
Maybe someday I'll get that ambitious!
There's taurine in salmon, sardines, trout, eggs and probably mice, too :) I just tried to think like a cat when it came to feeding my elderly feline.
DeleteNow I will also admit that very late in life she developed a fondness for ginger cookies. A fellow I was dating used to give her tiny crumbs of them - I married that man, at least in part because the old girl loved him so! (She was right, by the way)
She was a grey cat, and I have heard that they tend to be long lived. Or maybe it was the cookies!
Oh... in my experience the cat-o-meter never fails when it comes to sizing up the men in my life!
DeleteYou know, we had a gray cat when I was a kid, and I think he lived to be around 18 so maybe there is something to that.
At any rate, Sputnik seems to be doin' great at the moment. The other day he ran up the stairs so fast that he nearly knocked me over! On some level I know it's really not up to me, and I'm just gonna have to let him decide when he's ready to go. Sigh.
BTW, that's very interesting about the taurine. I wonder why people always say that it's so terribly dangerous to feed your cat people food instead of cat food. Perhaps it's all a ploy by the cat food industry!
We have a kitty that suddenly started having constipation problems after having the PU surgery. He had two very, very bad episodes and I vowed never again (we hope). It seemed that when he got constipated, he got extremely agitated causing him to throw up and also have the runs a little.
ReplyDeleteHe had diarrhea despite being constipated and was also vomiting all over the place. It took hours and hours of this hell for him to settle down and get the hard packed stool out.
So...the vet said he thought his problem was because he got upset when he got constipated and brought some of the other things on himself. I wasn't sure about that but he hasn't had the problem since we started him on laculose for the constipation.
The vet told us to give him the laculose twice daily. I just squirt it from a syringe directly into his mouth. That way I know he gets it and I don't have to fight trying to put it into his food.
I also give it to an older kitty that is having some hard stools. It seems to help her too.
I make sure not to miss any doses and he's been doing okay. He's supposed to be on prescription CD, but sometimes I have to spice it up with something else.
And, yes, I've been through trying to feed a finicky ill cat and, yes, I've also had plates and plates of food trying to get his/her highness to find something they liked. It seems like they like the food when you first open the can, but heaven help you if you refrigerate it and try to give it to them later. :)
You're not the only one who does that for your cats. Been there, and will probably be there again.
Check on the laculose and see if it works for you.
"...heaven help you if you refrigerate it and try to give it to them later." Oh... truer words were never spoken!
DeleteMy vet actually recommended Miralax instead of laculose. Apparently it doesn't have the taste that they object to. Anyhow, it seems to be working as long as I make sure he gets it twice every day.
It's such a challenge isn't it?