I am in the same boat! Biggie gets at least 12 meals a day sometimes…but lately I’ve scaled back a little since he has been flat enough not to need so many meals…but when I had to be gone today and yesterday for a long time he ended up puking after pooping which seemed to be related to his tummy being empty, b/c he hasn’t done that in a very long time…I hope I can help him get to feeling better again now that he’ll be back to his normal feeding schedule. I hope it is not a regular thing for Chispa either!
Thanks, Jackie! I'm sorry to hear that Biggie is having similar woes, and I hope it resolves soon.
In Chispa's case, I am hoping it's not a worsening of her IBD, which has been under control since we started her on prednisolone almost a year and a half ago. We cut the dose from 5mg to 2.5 per day when she was diagnosed with FD and she's done well on the smaller dose, but I am thinking it may be time for a repeat ultrasound to see what's going on in there. (She could also have SCL and not IBD -- it's impossible to know for sure without a biopsy -- but she improved so dramatically and has done so well on the pred alone that I am able to maintain my optimism that it was "just" IBD.)
Ugh, my civvie Isis used to do that almost every morning, and also during the day when she would go on random hunger strikes (she also has IBD, no biopsy but treated empirically and she's on the same pred dose as Chispa). You'd think ten meals a day would solve that issue! For us the game changer was to get her a microchip feeder (so my other gluttons couldn't barge in) and to just keep it full all day and night, and she just grazes whenever she needs to. Sometimes I'll wake up to use the bathroom at 3am and hear her eating in the hallway... she definitely keeps weird snacking hours. Though that wouldn't work for the 2 hours before shots when Chispa isn't allowed to eat, I just realizedThanks, Jackie! I'm sorry to hear that Biggie is having similar woes, and I hope it resolves soon.
Oh gosh ... free access to food might solve one problem, but the result would be one seriously ROTUND kitty!Ugh, my civvie Isis used to do that almost every morning, and also during the day when she would go on random hunger strikes (she also has IBD, no biopsy but treated empirically and she's on the same pred dose as Chispa). You'd think ten meals a day would solve that issue! For us the game changer was to get her a microchip feeder (so my other gluttons couldn't barge in) and to just keep it full all day and night, and she just grazes whenever she needs to. Sometimes I'll wake up to use the bathroom at 3am and hear her eating in the hallway... she definitely keeps weird snacking hours. Though that wouldn't work for the 2 hours before shots when Chispa isn't allowed to eat, I just realized
I've been trying to get her to lose a little weight, but it's an uphill battle. With that said, I thank my lucky stars every day that despite the list of maladies that you see in my/her signature, she has the appetite of a small horse and cleans her plate at every one of her ten daily feedings (thanks to the pred, I'm sure).
Thanks! I thought he was over the poop and puke. I’m going to up his budesonide for a few days in case he is having a little flare. He has only done it a couple of times these past few months, but having had other cats who did it every time they pooped puts my radar on high alert! I’m going to see if I can maybe train him to use a feeder but he really needs me to put the food right under his nose. He eats it fine as long as I do that. I guess we’ve both been so spoiled with me working from home…we just can’t be apart!Thanks, Jackie! I'm sorry to hear that Biggie is having similar woes, and I hope it resolves soon.
What kind of flares does Biggie have? I hope the budesonide will soon set his world to right.Thanks! I thought he was over the poop and puke. I’m going to up his budesonide for a few days in case he is having a little flare. He has only done it a couple of times these past few months, but having had other cats who did it every time they pooped puts my radar on high alert! I’m going to see if I can maybe train him to use a feeder but he really needs me to put the food right under his nose. He eats it fine as long as I do that. I guess we’ve both been so spoiled with me working from home…we just can’t be apart!
Well, in the past his flares were triggered by something external- usually it was the wrong food that gave him loose stool. Also antibiotics have messed his tummy up. And this summer he was having constipation and not eating enough when his DM was making him feel crummy, and had a few episodes of puking before or after pooping but that was in Aug. So seems like it’s hopefully controllable as long as he eats enough. This time at least he didn’t seem constipated.What kind of flares does Biggie have? I hope the budesonide will soon set his world to right.
As for spoiled, I hear you ... I've spent the last 2.5 years catering to a cat's (or two cats') every whim throughout the day and into the night, and happily so. I think we've spoiled an entire generation of pets. There's no way they are letting us go back to the "old normal" without a fight!
Large cell lymphoma is so scary -- I'm truly sorry that Biggie's sister had to earn her wings that way. But you're right about something worse putting things in perspective: Chispa and her (adopted) brother Chulo were both diagnosed with IBD/SCL by ultrasound (no biopsies) around the same time, and I felt like it was the end of the world. Chulo's symptoms were much worse, so we started him on chlorambucil every other week when pred failed to help. While Chispa improved on pred alone, he continued to lose weight. And just when I thought the chlorambucil had finally started to work, the vet found a mass under his tongue -- it was squamous cell carconima, aggressive and untreatable. I lost him to it exactly one year ago. So it's been a sad week for me. Even so, I'm grateful that he was my soul-cat for 14 joyful years and that I had so much quality time with both of them while working from home.
Awww I’m really sorry about Chulo. Cancer just really sucks but most especially the aggressive kind. All we can do is love and appreciate them while we are lucky enough to have them here.