How much food is "enough" food?

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MMM

MMM

Member Since 2015
For the first time since I started this journey, I am in doubt about giving Bailey her shot. She went to her bowl and licked up all the gravy part of her food but didn't eat any chunks. I have been giving her tiny pieces of chicken as her treat before and after the injection, but I suspect those chunks aren't enough. I will give it a bit more time, but if she doesn't eat some more, I won't give her the shot. I'm going to ask my vet the same question (sorry I didn't think to ask it before - she is a picky eater so I should have known) but in case I can get an answer sooner this a.m. I thought I would ask it here.
 
It sounds like she is nauseous. Does she get cerenia or ondansetron now? If not ask your vet. My cats would drink the liquid but not eat when nauseous. At first I didn't consider nausea because they didn't vomit. I was wrong.
 
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Bailey was on Cerenia when we were trying to switch her to Atopica. That didn't work out, and being sick on Atopica kind of put her off eating any food with meds in it. Since it is important to keep her getting her prednisolone, my vet advised we discontinue the Cerenia. Of course, an hour and a half after her target time (and just as I was getting ready to leave for work) she sauntered over and ate some more. Sigh. She is not making it easy. Anyway, the assistant at my vet's office, who answered my email advised at least 2 tablespoons, so my instincts were correct. Bailey's timing - not so much. :banghead:
 
I don't put meds in Max's food. I use gel caps and chase with baby food when he will eat and a syringe of food or water if he won't. A sure way to get them off their food is to add something that smells or tastes bad. It's asking for food aversions so you are right to stop the cerenia if you can't pill her.
 
The compounding pharmacy adds chicken flavouring (and no sugar - I checked). For almost two years I have been giving her prednisolone that way and most times she would eat it - provided I added enough water to her hypoallergenic wet food to turn it into a gravy, and provided it was a small enough portion (1/8th of a can) that she would eat it all. She was eating it, along with the compounded cerenia up until the time the Atopica made her sick. Now she is off and on. I thought it was the Atopica, but it could be the other things she has going on as well. Yesterday, just as I was going out the door, and after she had chased a sparkle ball around for a bit, she did start eating and the bowl was empty when I got home. This morning she wouldn't get started, so I hand fed her a bit and once she got going, she ate more, so I was able to give her the injection. I just haven't been able to find a pattern or hit the right combination of factors to make her eat consistently (like I did eventually when it came to the hypoallergenic wet food). She has always been finicky about wet food, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised - I'm surprised she took to this stuff at all. Oh well. Hopefully the insulin will settle things down and we can get some consistency. It is early days. Thanks.
 
When Max was a kitten he had a parasite. I tried compounded med with chicken flavoring but it was awful. He foamed. I'm glad it works for you. I still think nausea when be in play here. You do know you can get injectable nausea medications, right?
 
Yes, I am aware of that. But she already hates the insulin injections. I don't want to introduce yet another source of stress into her (and my life) by having to take her for injections (or to learn to give them). She has another big trip next week, when she is seen by an internal medicine specialist. It is possible that she will need more tests while we are at the hospital, where she already had a pretty bad experience, so more poking and prodding, which she absolutely hates, plus they will show me how to use the glucometer while I am there. I'm trying to keep her as quiet and stress free as possible, and she certainly appears to be enjoying her sunbeam at the moment. She did eat some food once I got her going (I had to hand feed her about three or four chunks, then she ate the rest). She has periods of intermittent discomfort as well (perhaps the gallstones) so I'm already dosing her with buprenophrine. There is only so much I want to give her at once, especially if the specialist recommends something entirely different (who knows) in which case I may be introducing something else as well. She's already on three drugs (if you want to call insulin a "drug"). So I am off work now for the next few days and she tends to eat more when I'm around, which hopefully will help.
 
I totally understand. Just so you know the injections are sub-q, just like insulin BUT they do sting many cats. Just in case your vet suggests it, I wanted you to know.
 
Thanks. I hope I didn't come across sounding defensive. It is just there have been so many trips to the clinic and the hospital and tests and all that sort of thing, and this is a cat that doesn't do well with change, disruption and turmoil. When she first came to live with me (she was five years old at the time) she hid on a shelf in my laundry closet for almost three days. If I fed her a treat, she would take it, and she got down to eat, drink water and use the litter box (as long as I wasn't around) but otherwise she stuck to her shelf. On the third day she finally decided I was okay, came off the shelf, jumped in my lap and we bonded. Due to miscommunication at the hospital last week, she was there, hiding under a blanket for the most part for 18 hours. Knowing her disposition, I wasn't the least bit surprised to learn that she didn't eat the entire time she was there (but sure did once she got home). She was so happy to be home, but there have been a lot of changes for her at home as well. She's lost her crunchy food, I no longer give her the beloved treats that were sort of a ritual. Add to that getting the needle, having a syringe placed against her gums (when I can get it in there) etc. Plus she feels lousy and well, it is a lot to put her through. Perhaps in time, even a short time, she will forget it, but that doesn't change the fact that she is being put through this stuff. So the less "stuff" I have to add to the mix, the better. I will do what I can for her, but within reason. And I think the personality of our cats is a factor. In the hospital, Bailey shook like a leaf when I was there with her, and hid under a blanket when I wasn't. I have friends with a cat who had to go in for surgery and was at the front of her cage in the hospital, checking out what was going on. No hiding under a blanket for her. She is the same cat who hung around and watched a workman put in a tile floor in their entrance way. My cat - if she sees a man with tools, she immediately hides (the noise they make scare her). So while I know she's not a person, she does have a disposition to take into account. She is easily stressed (one of the reasons I have her - her former home had a lot of turmoil) and I want to put her through as little stress as possible. I'm really hoping once things have settled down on the home front, once she realizes that the injections are just going to be a part of life, but that those nasty times in the car are over, that she will develop more of a routine when it comes to eating. One of many hopes.
 
I've been using cooked chicken. She does like that, but it is still a change. At least she has stopped running to the place where the treats were kept and meowing for them. The new routines will be established - it just takes time.
 
I use freeze dried turkey or chicken. I buy it from honeyville.com which is much cheaper even though a lot of the large can, as much as 1/3 is powder. I use the powder sprinkled in Max's so while it doesn't go to waste it does bother me that there aren't more pieces. It's still cheaper than fd pet treats and human food without any additives, not even salt.

Max is also very much afraid of everything and everyone even though I've had him since he was a kitten. I believe his chronic pancreatitis is stress induced. I do understand.
 
Well, it happened again today, only this time she wouldn't eat the food from my hands (the cooked chicken, yes, but not her food). So my vet has recommended an appetite stimulant - cyproheptadine - and giving her back her hypoallergenic dry food. But I threw that out, so since I had to be at the clinic today anyway to pick up the glucometer and more needles, I bought dry food, but I got the diabetic stuff. While wet food is ideal, if she's going to be fussy about it, there is no point in fighting that battle as she continues to decline. I was surprised she took to the wet food at all, but in retrospect, it may be that the hunger from diabetes was a factor, and now that we are starting to control it, the "I don't like wet food" side of her personality has kicked back in. So I gave her 1/4 cup when I got home and she scarfed it down, and is now sitting in a sunbeam, looking more content than she has all day. Sigh. I will do the research on cyproheptadine and decide about that in the near future. It looks like maybe I won't need it, given her reaction to the new food, but I've been fooled before. For the first time since this kitty wrapped her paws around my heart, I wish I had a dog. With some exceptions, they eat anything.
 
I have used cyproheptadine for Max. A tiny sliver gets him to eat. I would not want to use it if there is any chance of nausea though because that can lead to food aversions. That is good that she ate the dry food. Eating is essential as you say.
 
Maybe check into Young Again 0 Carb dry food. Its about 5% calories from carbohydrates and internet only.
 
Thanks. If she continues with this, I won't get the cyproheptadine, but it is good to have the option, and good to know it works. Especially since nothing seems to go according to plan with this girl.
 
I keep some Cypro around just because every once in awhile China stops eating (for no reason) and just a crumb has her looking for a loose water buffalo to take down and eat.

It's great stuff but it doesn't take much and so far anyway, I've never had to use it for more than a day or two and her appetite has returned to normal and I can take her off of it
 
Chris beat me to it. I keep cypro around as well. It's inexpensive and good to have around. If ondansetron doesn't work after a couple of doses I'll give Nax a sliver of cypro to get him eating. I'd get some if I were you.
 
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You mentioned she licks the gravy. Are you feeding canned food with gravy? They are high in carbs. Best wishes.She's beautiful.
 
It is a "savoury" version of Purina DM food. She went "off" the pate version and seemed to like this one better - until recently. She is beautiful personality wise as well. Very gentle. She struggles and squirms and pulls away when I try to give her meds, cut her claws etc. but never bites or scratches. I love her to pieces and hate to see what she is going through. Thanks.
 
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