Delicate start to feeding?

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Larry E Billig

Member Since 2019
Hello all,
My name is Larry and I'm new to the forum here. I wanted to post this here to maybe get some feedback on whats going on with our midaged female cat. When starting a feeding session we can only give her approx. 3 or 4 piece of dry food to start then wait ten minutes and then work our way up with a couple more pieces each time. If we don't do this she will throw it up. We've had her to the vet and had xrays, barrium tests, blood work and vet can't figure it either. Thought maybe someone here has maybe went through something similiar to this. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you....
 
Welcome! There's a lot of help available here for a wide variety of kitty health issues. We tend to focus on how those might impact a diabetic cat. :)

Is your cat diabetic?
Has she had her mouth checked for dental disease?
Has she had a dental cleaning recently?
Have you tried feeding her canned food in small amounts at a time (a few teaspoons)?
Will she slowly eat a full meal if fed the way you're doing?
 
We had her teeth cleaned a couple months back and a blood test was done and she wasn't diabetic. It wasn't too long after the cleaning she became this way. She doesn't necessarily like canned food but the wife sometimes gets some in her. She will eat a full meal, its just the fact that we have to start out with 3 pieces wait ten minutes, then five, then seven, and then you can pretty much let her eat what she wants but we still don't let her completely finish it all at once. Sometimes she even throws up the 3 pieces we start her on. It seems like her stomach is super super sensitive to start for some reason.
 
I'm checking with my vet on the acidic stomach thing. The girl that works at the vet's office said the barrium would have shown any esophigas(excuss the spelling) problems but she is going to ask the vet himself. Thank you all for the help.
 
Hey Larry, the Pepcid treatment worked great. Thank you very much. You diagnosed something my vet couldn't. Plus the fact I have over a thousand dollars invested for all the tests, treatments, medicines, etc. Definetly will have to change vet. Is the Pepcid thing temporary or permament in most cases? Thank you again....
 
Usually the acid reducer is temporary. However, there are some conditions where it can be long term. In that case famotidine is not the acid reduce of choice.
 
Larry E Billig said:
Hey Larry, the Pepcid treatment worked great. Thank you very much. You diagnosed something my vet couldn't. Plus the fact I have over a thousand dollars invested for all the tests, treatments, medicines, etc. Definetly will have to change vet. Is the Pepcid thing temporary or permament in most cases? Thank you again....
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That’s pretty common. I am surprised your vet didn’t suggest it. I am sure Larry will take a check. ;)

One other suggestion... Don't go too long between feedings. Better to do 4-5 small meals rather then two big meals so the acid doesn't build up

Any time you have a question don’t hesitate to ask. There's lots of collective experience in this forum.

If your cat is diabetic you're going to want to give up that dry food though. Even the dm food is too high in carbs.
 
The wife and I both work and nobody is home during the day to feed them in shorter durations. Auto feeder won't work either because we have another cat and he is fat and on a diet. She isn't diabetic but the other one is. She still has a tendency to regurgitate I think after drinking water beforehand. What type of acid reducer would be used for long term in case it's needed? Thank you all again..
 
Larry E Billig said:
The wife and I both work and nobody is home during the day to feed them in shorter durations. Auto feeder won't work either because we have another cat and he is fat and on a diet. She isn't diabetic but the other one is. She still has a tendency to regurgitate I think after drinking water beforehand. What type of acid reducer would be used for long term in case it's needed? Thank you all again..
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One like this only opens for the cat you want it to open for.

Also try raising up the bowl... Like put it on a book
 
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Janet, you state, "one like this". There is no photo or attachment? The cat is an extremely finicky eater. We have to sort of chase her around with the food bowl let alone make sure bowl is elevated.
 
I think the pet feeder Janet is talking about is the surefeed microchip pet feeder. It comes with a tag you can put on the pet's collar if the pet doesn't have a microchip. I have one for my cat and it opens when she comes to it so she can snack whenever she wants. There's an additional plastic piece (which you might not need) that you can get to go around the back of the feeder if case your other fat cat figures out how to snitch food while the first cat is eating. You have to ask for this piece but they'll send it to you for free from the manufacturer.
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Thought the pepcid was working but still having problems. I've had her on it for almost two weeks now but still have to start her with only approx. 4 kibbles to start. You can see her stomach react sometimes as soon as it hits her stomach, like she is going to throw up. After 10 minutes or so she seems alright. Sometimes though she can start and we let her go and it don't seem to bother her but we usually don't let her over indulge too much. It's usually that initial shock of the food hitting the stomach? She swallows hard sometimes also like it's acid but we give her a quarter of a pepcid in the morning and a quarter at night so the pepcid should have the acid under control. She is very finicky also. One minute she won't eat the food and then one minute later she will. Plus we offer a variety of good food such as Science Diet (2 versions), Pro Plan sensitive stomach, and canned. Usually if we put the bowl under her nose persistly she will try and then start eating it like mad. Anymore ideas would be great. I want to thank you all for your concern and help.
 
I have over thousand dollars spent on this vet and he come right out and said he didn't know what it was. I will try the prilosec though. When she (Missy is her name) eats dry food she will sometimes let pieces fall out of her mouth but not alot. I read somewhere this could be a symtom of some other problem but I thought it was normal plus the fact she doesn't want the food sometimes. Thank you again..
 
Sorry to hear about your loss. It hurts to loose a cat, especially one you've had for a long time. Well you sold me! The test the administers and the detailed results convinced me. We started Missy on it this morning. Thank you very very much again..
 
I've had her on Pepcid for 2 weeks and now Omeprizole for 2 weeks and she's still having problems. She will throws up white foam/slime early in the morning when I first get up for work which is approx. 2 am. You would think the acid reducers would prevent this. We give her a quarter of a tablet in the morning and a quarter at night. Plus she wants to eat cardboard, paper, etc.. We have 3 different types of dry food we try and give her plus canned (she just more or less licks the juice off of it). We still have to start her off with a little bit the first attempt in feeding and after that she can eat as much as she wants. She acts like she has no appitite and is very finicky. Once she starts eating after many attempts to get her to do so, she eats like crazy. She's lost weight. Anymore ideas I can maybe try? Thanks again...
 
Do you have a college of veterinary medicine in your area who can see your cat? You know, the super-specialists?? Best of luck!
 
Hello All,
Now Missy is suspected of having cancer. She has labored breathing problems now. Vet put her on a antibiotic for a week which did nothing. Now she taking a different antibiotic which doesn't look like its doing anything either. Plus he's given her two steroid shots with no results either. All the medications though stopped the eating disorder though but now she is facing a lot bigger hurdle and it doesn't look good. He's thinking it's a type cancer that doesn't show up in xrays and may be recommending her to a specialist after this bout of antibiotics. She can barely walk across the room without chest expanding breathing. With different types of antibiotics and steroid shots there wouldn't be nothing left but cancer would it not? Thanks again...
 
Being neither the steroids or the antibiotics working. Nothing showing up on xrays or skin. He also put some type of inhaler mask on her for asthma that didn't help. Being he can find it or figure it, plus nothing working. He thinks it maybe medistatic cancer.
 
Metastatic cancer is just cancer cells that broke away from the primary tumor and form other tumors in other parts of the body.
One hears about cancer that has metastasized to other parts of the body.

My Thunder coughed a lot and finally I went to the vet. X rays showed an abnormality in one of the lungs. It got worse and after I said good bye a necropsy showed lung cancer.
 
She has no cough just heavy breathing such as somebody that just got done running. Not as bad though when sleep or resting. Sometimes she shifts around trying to sleep to get into a position where she can breath better. Petting or loving on her she will really start breathing heavy so we watch how much we pet her. If it gets any worse we will have to put her down. We were hoping this antibiotic she is taking now would eventually work but it hasn't shown any sign of it.
 
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