Jeanne & Dottie
Member Since 2016
Well, I solved Dottie's potential eating issue, so I thought I'd put a post in here.
Dottie hasn't been eating well of late, and while she's never eaten a whole lot at one time, the fact is, since she lost her teeth, her appetite has been off. At least I thought it was her appetite.
I'd put her food down, and she'd hang her head over the dish as if wondering exactly how she was going to get it all down. She put me in mind of when I was a child, and a dish full of food I didn't like, (applesauce) was plopped in front of me. Dottie had that deer-in-the-headlights look. Totally perplexed.
She'd start to eat, and a few bites in, would begin to make faces. She'd spit out what she had in her mouth, and open her mouth wide, as if something were stuck where the jaws joined.
I put that down to her finding some of the tiny little bones that I've found in kitty pates. They're miniscule, only the size of grains of sand...but some of them are downright sharp, and for a cat who'd just had dental surgery, I suppose these could hurt if they get stuck in a crevice of a newly healed surgery site.
But I removed the bones, and she was still stalling at her bowl. After a few bites, she'd shake her head, and make those faces, and go to a corner to groom.
So this morning I determined I was going to really, really watch her eat. Up close. I got down to eye level with her. I guess what I found shouldn't be surprising, but I was surprised all the same.
Cat faces are a lot like ours. Although their muzzle does project from their face..the front of their mouth, and their nose, are more or less right in front. So when a cat eats soft food, such as pate, it uses it's front teeth much as a contractor will use a steam shovel..to grab up bites of food, with the help of the cat's tongue, and then the food is rolled to the hard palate, and then towards the back of the mouth for chewing and swallowing.
But Dottie doesn't have those canines. She has no teeth at all. So to pick up food, the poor baby must mash her whole mouth front into the dish, because her tongue alone isn't strong enough to shovel that food into her jaws. And when she mashes her face into the food, the lower edge of her nose goes in too. With each bite, she's at risk of getting food in her nostrils. And now her chin is soaked with food, too..if she tilts her head slightly, more of the lower jaw gets coated.
This is a very bad thing, from the cat's point of view. They're so dainty. Finishing a dinner with that Pie-in-the-face mess dripping from their chin is something no cat ever wants to experience. In Dottie's case she'd rather leave than eat. She's worn out from trying to scrape food off her bowl with her tongue..and let's face it..that pate soon presses tightly against the bottom of the bowl, defying any tiny tongue to get under it. And the whole eating thing was just too humiliating.
So..I get it....the texture of pates is less desirable for toothless cats. Hard to pick up, hard to keep in their mouths, and hard to clean off their chins. Dry food she could pick up, although a bit clumsily, but it shouldn't be an option because she's diabetic. How can we make it better, and give our kitties their dignity back?
My solution was to take a couple of cans of cat food, toss them in a nutri-bullet, and make a puree...very similar to the puree used to do syringe feeding. I measured out an ounce of distilled water for each can of food, tossed in some FortiFlora and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and gushed it all up until it reminded me of a soft serve scoop of ice cream. Hey, I like milkshakes! Maybe Dottie would, too.
And it worked! The moment I put down the 'milkshake', Dottie rushed the bowl.
She ate more at one time than I have EVER seen her eat. A full ounce +added liquid, of food. (Only about a quarter-ounce of water added per ounce of food, blended in, remember?) This is the first full meal she's eaten since her surgery, weeks ago.
Not only that, but Gizmo, who had also started to go 'on strike'..got curious about what Dottie had in her bowl. So I gave him a dollop of 'catsoup'. And HE scarfed it up, too! So this stuff is a hit, all around.
I don't know why I didn't consider letting Dottie have 'liquidated' food before. I thought that option was only for syringe feeding. But it isn't. For cats who have just lost their teeth, the whole process of eating has radically changed, and cats just don't take change well. Especially when that change is messy.
I know others have been having a hard time tempting their kitties to eat. Some have whole families of cats who have gone on food strikes. I wanted to suggest this option for them because, hey! It worked for me. I didn't even have to hold the bowl for Dottie..that's something I've been doing for weeks!
Think of the goupy blended stuff as kitty 'milkshakes'. Because that's what the stuff looks like. I remember when I was sick, my mom would make me milkshakes.
Whatever works, right?
Dottie hasn't been eating well of late, and while she's never eaten a whole lot at one time, the fact is, since she lost her teeth, her appetite has been off. At least I thought it was her appetite.
I'd put her food down, and she'd hang her head over the dish as if wondering exactly how she was going to get it all down. She put me in mind of when I was a child, and a dish full of food I didn't like, (applesauce) was plopped in front of me. Dottie had that deer-in-the-headlights look. Totally perplexed.
She'd start to eat, and a few bites in, would begin to make faces. She'd spit out what she had in her mouth, and open her mouth wide, as if something were stuck where the jaws joined.
I put that down to her finding some of the tiny little bones that I've found in kitty pates. They're miniscule, only the size of grains of sand...but some of them are downright sharp, and for a cat who'd just had dental surgery, I suppose these could hurt if they get stuck in a crevice of a newly healed surgery site.
But I removed the bones, and she was still stalling at her bowl. After a few bites, she'd shake her head, and make those faces, and go to a corner to groom.
So this morning I determined I was going to really, really watch her eat. Up close. I got down to eye level with her. I guess what I found shouldn't be surprising, but I was surprised all the same.
Cat faces are a lot like ours. Although their muzzle does project from their face..the front of their mouth, and their nose, are more or less right in front. So when a cat eats soft food, such as pate, it uses it's front teeth much as a contractor will use a steam shovel..to grab up bites of food, with the help of the cat's tongue, and then the food is rolled to the hard palate, and then towards the back of the mouth for chewing and swallowing.
But Dottie doesn't have those canines. She has no teeth at all. So to pick up food, the poor baby must mash her whole mouth front into the dish, because her tongue alone isn't strong enough to shovel that food into her jaws. And when she mashes her face into the food, the lower edge of her nose goes in too. With each bite, she's at risk of getting food in her nostrils. And now her chin is soaked with food, too..if she tilts her head slightly, more of the lower jaw gets coated.
This is a very bad thing, from the cat's point of view. They're so dainty. Finishing a dinner with that Pie-in-the-face mess dripping from their chin is something no cat ever wants to experience. In Dottie's case she'd rather leave than eat. She's worn out from trying to scrape food off her bowl with her tongue..and let's face it..that pate soon presses tightly against the bottom of the bowl, defying any tiny tongue to get under it. And the whole eating thing was just too humiliating.
So..I get it....the texture of pates is less desirable for toothless cats. Hard to pick up, hard to keep in their mouths, and hard to clean off their chins. Dry food she could pick up, although a bit clumsily, but it shouldn't be an option because she's diabetic. How can we make it better, and give our kitties their dignity back?
My solution was to take a couple of cans of cat food, toss them in a nutri-bullet, and make a puree...very similar to the puree used to do syringe feeding. I measured out an ounce of distilled water for each can of food, tossed in some FortiFlora and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and gushed it all up until it reminded me of a soft serve scoop of ice cream. Hey, I like milkshakes! Maybe Dottie would, too.
And it worked! The moment I put down the 'milkshake', Dottie rushed the bowl.
She ate more at one time than I have EVER seen her eat. A full ounce +added liquid, of food. (Only about a quarter-ounce of water added per ounce of food, blended in, remember?) This is the first full meal she's eaten since her surgery, weeks ago.
Not only that, but Gizmo, who had also started to go 'on strike'..got curious about what Dottie had in her bowl. So I gave him a dollop of 'catsoup'. And HE scarfed it up, too! So this stuff is a hit, all around.
I don't know why I didn't consider letting Dottie have 'liquidated' food before. I thought that option was only for syringe feeding. But it isn't. For cats who have just lost their teeth, the whole process of eating has radically changed, and cats just don't take change well. Especially when that change is messy.
I know others have been having a hard time tempting their kitties to eat. Some have whole families of cats who have gone on food strikes. I wanted to suggest this option for them because, hey! It worked for me. I didn't even have to hold the bowl for Dottie..that's something I've been doing for weeks!
Think of the goupy blended stuff as kitty 'milkshakes'. Because that's what the stuff looks like. I remember when I was sick, my mom would make me milkshakes.
Whatever works, right?
) 
She loves her soup now...but will she love it tomorrow? 
)
