I have returned seeking advice...

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Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)

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Hi all,
Got my internet today! Also have a "cat problem" to relate and see if you have any ideas.

Mullet, my civvie, wouldn't eat at all Sunday or Monday. He'd act hungry, but would just walk away from the bowl. He's 15 years old, so I was fearing the worst when I took him to the vet today. Mullet is the least vet-friendly cat I have ever had. He hates them. If he needs anything done, they have to sedate him. Today was no different. He got his 3 year rabies shot. He was also given some sort of "drunk cat" drug to calm him down so they could examine him. The first thing the vet noticed was a lesion on his tongue. Didn't know this, but he said that can be a symptom of kidney/liver problems. So then I asked him to run a blood panel. Just a quick whatever they can check there test. Turns out his blood results were perfect. Vet said for a 15 year old cat, his bloodwork was better than probably mine or the vet's was. So, they he checked "teeth". Turns out Mullet has a cracked tooth, lower right side, in the back. He's never had any dental work done. The edges of the tooth put the lesions on his tongue. So it hurts to eat.
Mullet is currently at 11.5 pounds, which is about a pound less than his norm. The vet told me that because they already had him punch-drunk, putting him under to take care of the tooth today was not an option. Didn't want to chance it with a 15 year-old cat. So, he sent me home with some nutri-cal to give Mullet every day, and I have to make his food easy to eat, with minimal chewing. Luckily, I've seen all the ideas here about how to make wet food more "appetizing", like mix it with warm water, use cheese, etc. to get him to eat. I never had to do anything for Bob. He'd eat rocks if they tasted okay to him. I've never seen him turn away from a meal. Anyway, I made Mullet some yummy salmon FF soup, and he ate a bit, then cried and followed me. So I pointed him back to the bowl, and he ate some more, then followed me. After about 6 reminders where the bowl was, he ate about the whole can, so I was happy. I'm thinking he was still loopy enough to not remember where the food was once he got his nose out of the bowl.
So, tonight, he ate okay. I guess I'll have to allow more time for feeding for a few days. Usually I just put the bowl down, he hoovers, and it's over in 10 minutes or less. I guess what I am after is any other "good ways" to get him to eat. I'm praying I don't have to resort to syringe feeding, because Mullet is just plain vicious when it comes to behind handled or having stuff forced in his face. I went with the "smear the nutrical on his paw and make him lick it off" route, and that seemed to work. Vet suggested giving it to him in a syringe, but like I said, that's a last resort with Mullet.

So, any tips will be appreciated.

OK, now I am going to attempt to somehow catch up with all the recent goings on.... It'll take me a while!

Missed you guys!
Carl
 
Welcome back Carl! It may look like a full moon tonight, but this weekend was pretty crazy for SEVERAL kitties & their beans!

Sorry to hear about Mullet, but at least it's something repairable! Does sound painful though.

Not sure if it would be convenient, but I feed some of my guys separately - with the doors closed, so no one stalks anyone else for their food (except maybe Paulo!). Not much wisdom, but it works!
 
Hi Carl...glad to see you back.
I'm so sorry about Mullet. Did the vet suggest a xray & ultra sound on the heart to see if the heart was strong enough to go through the dental procedure? Or does the vet just think age is the issue?
How about seeing a dental specialist instead of just the vet?

Baxter(16) needs his teeth cleaned. The vet won't do it until I have X-ray & ultrasound done on his heart. I am not even considering the vet doing the procedure. I want a dental specialist to do it.

Just a idea. Hope this helps.
 
Welcome BAck!
so glad to "see" you!
Myold cat Nikki always had teeth problems,
I knew they got bad when she went to the food but would not eat
the only thing that made her better was to have her teeth done
I think it is just too painful...maybe pain meds to help
Did he say when he would do the dental?
 
Welcome back, Carl! Sorry to hear about Mullet and his poor sore tongue. Poor baby. Hope you can get him fixed up soon.

Sorry, no eating advice here. :sad: An idea...maybe serve the food cold, or warm...something different. Maybe the change in temperature will feel better for him. ?????
 
So sorry Mullet is having toofy problems :(

I don’t have any other eating suggestions other than what you are doing (except maybe some shrimp juice in his food instead of water?), but I can recommend pain meds that really worked for us at Asher’s last dental, leaps and bounds better than last year’s dental with Tramadol/no meds at all since the tramadol sucked the 1st day.

This time the vet gave a 72 hour injectable Bupe that made Asher the happiest cat on the planet. I know for sure he was in no pain since he head butted us pretty much constantly for about 3 days.
I think this is the stuff: http://www.wildpharm.com/documents/Bupr ... _sheet.pdf

Hope your kitty gets thru this quickly Carl. I hate it when the kitties are hurting :(

Keep us posted....
 
About time! :mrgreen: we have missed you.

No ideas on the dental. Are they thinking Mullet is too old and they won't do it? That doesn't seem
like an option with his sore mouth and not eating. Syringe feeding - not fun for either of you. I agree with looking for a specialist.
 
Carl,

So sorry to hear about mullet. My other cat(non-diabetic) had a really bad tooth in back and cannot go through the sedation because of heart trouble he was born with. So he has trouble from time to time eating. Better now that i am only on wet food. I would pour water from tuna can on his food and that worked great.

Good luck and hope he gets better soon!
 
Hi Carl,
No advice as I haven't had a cat with teeth problems yet. But I did want to say, Welcome Back!!! :-D
 
I'm so sorry to hear about Mullet's tooth. I've noticed that Rx foods aren't well liked on the boards. That said, I've brought more cats than I can count, back from "the dead", by feeding Hills a/d (along with required meds). In my experience, some cats LOVE it, most cats like it just fine, and a couple won't touch it on their own without force feeding. IMO, although it's mostly liver, it's wonderful stuff for sick or convalescing cats (maybe because it’s mostly liver...I dunno). It's high in calories & protein, which could help with the weight loss.

Maybe you could pick up a can at the vet, and see if Mullet is one of the cats who love it. It's syringe-able, and therefore, is so creamy in texture, that maybe it won't be as painful to eat. There certainly wouldn't be any "chewing" involved to hurt the cracked tooth, but I'm guessing his tongue is still rubbing on the tooth no matter what he eats or drinks.

You could also try mixing the Nutri-Cal with the a/d (or any food for that matter), that is, after you already know he's liking the food without the Nutri-Cal mixed in. I've had cats not eat their food (which they readily accepted previously) once I mixed in the Nutri-Cal.

The link is below in case you want to check out the ingredients, nutrients, and calories.

http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-feline-ad-caninefeline-critical-care-canned.html
 
Missed you! There seems to be something about the mechanics of how cats drink (hold their tongue) that permits less painful eating=drinking of very very very soupy food when their tongue or tooth is injured. And not just the obvious soft vs hard meals. I once had a cat waiting for a dental procedure. What I finally figured out is that I had to put some soupy food down in front of her. She had a bit of it and left. In the meantime, I fixed a fresh bowl with soupy stuff and placed it under her nose whereeeever she had wondered to. Usually right under my feet. I'd repeat the process 3 or 4 times with fresh bowls and fresh veeery soupy and warm food, usually combining 2 flavors. She didn't much care for fish except as a seasoning. Go figure. For her it worked. I have noticed with Pudge that the soupy food rapidly thickens to a baby food consistency. That's too thick.

Good luck with Mullet's dental work.
Welcome back,
sophie
 
Thanks all!

I wanted to call the vet back today to ask some questions, but he was off work today of course. Supposed to be in tomorrow.
I'm confused as to why he didn't prescribe pain meds, or something to treat the sore tongue. I mean, as long as the tooth is still jagged, everytime he moves his tongue it's going to hit it. What I understood was that they couldn't do the dental right then because he had already been given some sort of "downer" drug, and putting him under would be too risky. And the vet wants to wait a week or even two until he deals with the tooth. And for me to feed him higher calorie food to stop any weight loss since Mullet won't eat as much as he had been eating.
So far, mixed results. The Nutical is not a flavor of the month for Mullet. I smear it on his paw to force him to lick it. The vet suggested using a syringe but that doesn't seem like a great option. One, I need a 2nd pair of hands to hold the cat while I try to force his mouth open or hold his head still to get the syringe in his mouth. Two, how do you syringe something thicker than mollasses easily? I have some big syringes, like 3, 5 and maybe 10 ml/cc.
Foods that have worked, (but I have to do what Sophie said, follow him around with the dish and keep him interested). Mushed up tuna and the water from the can went over well today. Yogurt too. Sliced cheese. Regular canned food, even soupy, not a hit with the MuShu man. I got him to eat a tiny bit of Turkey Friskees with Tuna juice, but not enough. Tomorrow, I will try a couple flavors of Gerber's baby food meats, and if I can stomach the smell and sight, perhaps some Spam. (I once had to eat some form of Spam in every meal for 30 straight days, and I can't look at a can of it without dry heaving). The vet suggested cooked chicken or shrimp, but how can that not hurt to eat?
What's frustrating is how well he hid the pain that must have been going on for a while until it got to a point where it hurt so bad he couldn't eat. He hasn't needed to go to the vet since the last time he got shots which was at least two years ago. I'm just wondering how long the tooth has been broken... For 15 years, Mullet's been a low maintenance cat, and not too "lovey", at least with me. Plus anytime I pet him or let him sit on my lap, my eyes burn, itch and tear. He's the only cat I've ever had a kind of allergic reaction to.
And thanks, Deb, for the tip on A/D. I didn't know it was mushy, so if I can get to town tomorrow, I'll see if they have a can I can try on him. I'm also thinking some FF or other brand that has a high cal kitten flavor might be worth a try.

Bob's been following me around the house whining because he's not getting all these menu choices. I just tell him to "shut the hell up, you have had all the attention for the past 9 months, fatso!" Raising a kid was easier!

Anyway, thanks to all of you for the tips and well wishes. I'll update you after I quiz the vet tomorrow.
Carl
 
LOL, I was on a "NATO exercise" in 1981 or 1980, and we were living in a tent city in Norway. I guess Spam is easy to find and cheap, but they put it in every meal. The only other meat I ate that month was lamb, and that was cooked by locals. "Lambburgers" were actually delicious! They let us off base one day the whole time, and I got to eat at a restaurant that night. The menus weren't in English, but they had a display window out front with "sample meals" displayed, and we just pointed to what we wanted. To this day, I have no clue, but I'm guessing it wasn't beef, probably lamb. I don't know if it was just because it was something other than Spam, but it was the best meal I ate in Norway! What made the whole deployment worth it was that I got to see the Northern Lights a couple of nights, so that was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

Carl
 
Welcome Back, Carl!

So sorry about Mullet's tooth. Wish I had some sure-fire eating advice for you, but I'm still having those eating issues with Oreo. He's only 5, but now you've got me wondering if it's more than his obstinance at play. We've tried soupy, thick, warm, cold, Wellness, FF, mixing flavors, following him around with it, putting it on his face so he has to lick it off, different bowls, bowls at different heights, feeding off the lid of a bowl, feeding from a spoon...sometimes I hit something in the rotation that works if I'm lucky about once a day. Lately, he's only eating about 1/8 - 1/4 of a 5.5-oz can a day, but his weight isn't showing it, so I'll keep plodding along...

Anyhoo - I hope he can get his tooth fixed soon and get to feeling better!!!

SPAM used to be Jessica's favorite food...UNTIL one time Doug fixed wayyyyy too much and she ate it 4 or 5 times in the same week. Now, her favorite food is my chicken pot pie :-D

Libby (and Hershey, too!)
 
There are many perks to living this far north and the Northern Lights are one of them, we can see them on a regular basis but I just heard on the evening news that because of the Solar Flare we will see Northern Lights tonight like we've never seen before.

I'm excited and will be outside looking for them after dark.

Ps; Spam Corp Headquarters, yep here in Minnesota. I guess everything has a trade off. :lol:
 
Hey Carl, I didn't read all the suggestions but have you tried Clinicare? It's a liquid that you would probably have to get at the vet but Pet Smart has some liquid stuff also that's made by GNC. When Thumper had pancreatitis I used that to get some calories in her & also mixed it with A/D or even chicken baby food to make it more liquid so I could syringe it easier. I think you probably know not to get the baby food with anything in it....just the plain meat. I also mixed that Nutrical stuff in with the Clinicare, just put it in the microwave for a few seconds and it will melt enough so that you can mix it in. I have never had any luck getting any of mine to eat that stuff alone.
 
Sorrry Mullet is not feeling up to par.
Any sick cat or feral I ever had trouble trapping could be persuaded to eat mushed up canned stinky mackeral with water added warmed slightly in the microwave.
My vet always runs an EKG on any cat 10 or over before a dental, she has a hand held machine that does it, prints it out and automatically faxes the results to cardiologist to read and they get the resuts back the next day.
 
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