Cat question

[Gardening with Rabbits]

He may be mouth breathing in response to the vet visit and procedure. That's a lot of stress for an animal that is mostly an indoor stay at home animal.

I don't think it's unusual for animals to have strong food preferences, especially if they didn't have a lot of variety when they were very young. IMO it doesn't indicate that there is a problem with the food necessarily. It does make it harder when the time comes to make some changes for their health. They get stuck in their ways too.

He used the litterbox again and the mouth breathing stopped. I took him to the vet, a different one. He was an old guy, almost seemed confused and could not get that he was at the vet last night but finally listened and said he needed fluids, so they put 200 mL under the skin, which made a huge lump. Brought him home and out of the crate an was walking crazy, but he has big saggy skin hanging with the fluid. I asked if he had megacolon and he said probably not, but needs to be on moist food and the lactulose for life, so I will have to try things. He did have a variety of food when younger. He even ate a piece of orange once. He ate anything. He used to sit in a chair next to DH in the morning and have some toast. He had wet can food but over time he quit eating it, and stopped begging for table food. He likes yogurt. Anytime he hears us open the container and we have tired to be quiet and there is no noise, but he hears, and eats a few bites. I have heard of cats getting hooked on Purina dry food. I will try new things and look for a water fountain and maybe even put another water dish in another room, have 2. The fluids may make him feel better and start eating. He is very tired.

 

[canesisters]

Try Meow Mix can in the little 'tubs'. My old girl started losing weight and, like your fella, had always eaten dry.
I offered her several different kinds of can; with chunks, just the mush, with lots of juice, fishy, beefy, even the stuff that comes in a tube that is supposed to be squirted out a bit at a time. Each time she reacted by sucking her head back into her shoulders - eyes squinted up like it hurt her just to smell it - and then tried to cover it while glaring at me .. as if I had dropped some poop into her bowl.

But when I mixed half of a cup of the Meow Mix with some dry and a little water she scarfed it up! The red label one - beef something - is her favorite. She doesn't like ANYTHING fishy. The smell is too strong I think.

If he likes yoghurt, then maybe mix a tiny bit of can food into some of that until he gets used to the smell & taste.
Warming the can food a little sometimes helps make it a bit more interesting to them.
Also, , don't try something new every single time you offer him something. Give him a couple of days to decide before you offer something new.

 

[Just-Moxie]

Constipated. How are you making the chicken broth? Just boiling a whole chicken, any seasoning? He still is constipated even after the manual evacuation. They said there was still some in there. He went this morning, but he has been sitting odd like uncomfortable. He is now just kind of sitting like normal, but breathing with his mouth open slightly.

I have 3 siamese now. I just pull off some of the rotisserie chicken, add some of the skin, and some bone of course. Boil for 15 minutes covered, then let cool to room temp. Strain and pour in the bowl. I add a little pedialite too, as we had an opened bottle from when we had the flu. I tied adding some herbs this last time, but they all turned up their noses at it. Ended up drinking it anyway.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Try Meow Mix can in the little 'tubs'. My old girl started losing weight and, like your fella, had always eaten dry.
I offered her several different kinds of can; with chunks, just the mush, with lots of juice, fishy, beefy, even the stuff that comes in a tube that is supposed to be squirted out a bit at a time. Each time she reacted by sucking her head back into her shoulders - eyes squinted up like it hurt her just to smell it - and then tried to cover it while glaring at me .. as if I had dropped some poop into her bowl.

But when I mixed half of a cup of the Meow Mix with some dry and a little water she scarfed it up! The red label one - beef something - is her favorite. She doesn't like ANYTHING fishy. The smell is too strong I think.

If he likes yoghurt, then maybe mix a tiny bit of can food into some of that until he gets used to the smell & taste.
Warming the can food a little sometimes helps make it a bit more interesting to them.
Also, , don't try something new every single time you offer him something. Give him a couple of days to decide before you offer something new.

I will try Meow Mix! I bought a can of Fancy Feast today with gravy. I put some in a dish for him and some for MIster. Blinky backed away so Mister came to eat it, so Blinky went to Mister's dish and his nose touched it and he backed off and then after he licked his nose he came back and ate some. The old female cat Peeky needs a change for her own good. Her hair does not look that good and she will not eat tuna or salmon, but maybe the Meow Mix and the dry will work for all of them.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have 3 siamese now. I just pull off some of the rotisserie chicken, add some of the skin, and some bone of course. Boil for 15 minutes covered, then let cool to room temp. Strain and pour in the bowl. I add a little pedialite too, as we had an opened bottle from when we had the flu. I tied adding some herbs this last time, but they all turned up their noses at it. Ended up drinking it anyway.

I will try this. Thank you.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

He was still acting weird when we went to bed and I think part of it was the sedation. This morning at 6 he was eating the dry food, which is the new kind of Purina the hairball stuff and not the plain old dry Purina he was used to. He was still fussing and talking and acting crazy, but wanted tuna. DS went to work and this cat followed me all morning talking and fussing and I was pretty sure he wanted his old Purina. He got his lactulose and I never saw him drink. I went to town with DD and I bought a can of Fancy Feast and his old Purina. He dove into the dry, but still coming over to the dish I put tuna in, but I put Fancy Feast and he had some of that and a little tuna. I still have not seen him drink any water. I am going to get one of the fountains and put it in a different part of the kitchen and have 2 areas to drink from,and as soon as the snow melts, I will put water out in the pen. He was drinking water outside until it snowed and got too cold. I really do not believe he has megacolon YET. He is going to have to eat wet food and less dry and the other 2 will have to go along with this too. I will give him the lactulose for now, but it draws fluid from the body to the colon, so I think this will be a bad thing for him. If I could get him to eat enough wet food then maybe he would not need the laxative. Both vets said he HAS to be on lactulose FOR LIFE. I will always monitor how often he uses the litter box and if he goes 1 day without pooping then take action. if he is eating wet food I may try to go without the medicine but if he missed a day even eating wet food then I will just keep him on it for life. I just have a feeling he will be okay and this is a lack of water problem and not a megacolon problem. Time will tell. Thank you all for the advice and I will be making broth and trying Meow Mix. I did mix some of the dry with hot water and I am not sure who ate it, but I did it twice and it was gone. When I put it down he did not eat it, but when I came back it was gone and really he was the only cat awake.

 

[pjn]

good to hear improvement

 

[catjac1975]

I will try Meow Mix! I bought a can of Fancy Feast today with gravy. I put some in a dish for him and some for MIster. Blinky backed away so Mister came to eat it, so Blinky went to Mister's dish and his nose touched it and he backed off and then after he licked his nose he came back and ate some. The old female cat Peeky needs a change for her own good. Her hair does not look that good and she will not eat tuna or salmon, but maybe the Meow Mix and the dry will work for all of them.

With my pets I have always given them what I want to give them and never gave into the finicky qualities that cats can have. I have always given my cats dry barn cat food. They have me well trained by crying and looking sad multiple times of the day. I feed them outside on the porch several times a day. They supplement their diet with many wild rodents. Just once they all got quit thin and I wormed them and they became butterballs again. They have multiple safe places to sleep including a barn with a loft full of hay. I only let them in doing snow storms and single digit temps. My cats all live to be very old. I feel like the outdoor life keeps them healthy. I know many homes are not safe enough for them to be outside.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

With my pets I have always given them what I want to give them and never gave into the finicky qualities that cats can have. I have always given my cats dry barn cat food. They have me well trained by crying and looking sad multiple times of the day. I feed them outside on the porch several times a day. They supplement their diet with many wild rodents. Just once they all got quit thin and I wormed them and they became butterballs again. They have multiple safe places to sleep including a barn with a loft full of hay. I only let them in doing snow storms and single digit temps. My cats all live to be very old. I feel like the outdoor life keeps them healthy. I know many homes are not safe enough for them to be outside.

I was telling DS about how I used to feed cats. I lived where cats were outside in a barn, but I always had 1 cat that would be an inside and outside cat. They did have some dry cat food but I raised dogs and they were fed raw beef mixed with dry dog food and other supplements added, so I would just put a pan of that out on the ground after I fed the dogs. They also caught mice and things. We moved away and took the last outside cat with us and when we stopped raising dogs then she was fed cat food and she lived to be 18. My aunt raised a cat from a kitten and she lived to be 20 and dogs killed her. She was fed Puss N Boots cat food. She was indoor and outdoors. My aunt would feed her table scraps too. Mister showed up as a stray kitten when he was about 8 weeks old and he is 12 now. He is an indoor and outdoor cat. I think he might have been shot with a BB gun once, something happened where he will not go outside without me in the daylight. Cats disappear all over town, so I will never have another indoor/outdoor cat. I did build this pen with a 6 foot fence for the rabbits around the office back door and there is the little herb garden and a tree and I started letting Blinky and Peeky out when I am in the office. There is a Christmas ornament on the door handle with a bell and they have learned to ring the bell to go outside.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

He is back to normal today and feeling good, taking his medicine. He ate the whole can of Fancy Feast yesterday and tuna. He had tuna this morning. Tomorrow we will go look for the water fountain. I have seen him drink a little water yesterday. His little tiny Fancy Feast costs a fancy amount of money. I am going to go to Walmart to get a can of Meow Mix and Fancy Feast. There is something I have noticed. Peeky has had horrible hair lately and we switched to Purina Hairball formula dry food and her hair has started to look really nice. I thought my imagination and did not say anything and DS said last night, do you think Peeky's hair looks better? The first ingredient is chicken. The dry food they have hd for years was Purina Cat Chow Complete and the first ingredient is poultry byproduct meal. Fancy Feast ingredients are chicken broth, chicken, liver, wheat gluten, meat by products, corn starch-modified
Ingredients: Chicken Broth, Chicken, Liver, Wheat Gluten, Meat By-Products, Corn Starch-Modified and a list of vitamins and minerals. I am going to try making chicken broth for them. The only thing worries me about Blinky is I had started tuna a few months ago hoping to help him have softer stools and I put the tuna liquid in his dish with the tuna and he has been drinking that liquid up and still he was constipated this severe, so it may be he has megacolon and the muscles are not strong enough to move feces. I guess being on this medicine is not the end of the world.