Not eating

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Nicole & Baby

Nicole & Baby

Member Since 2009
Baby is diabetic & is not eating. It has been 1.5 days, we have an appointment with vet this afternoon, I have enticed her to eat a few kibbles of dry :cry: I have kept water down her with a medication dropper. She has urinated in the past 8 hours, when she tried to have a bowel movement it was noisy & sounded like diarrhea, but nothing came out. She is a bit lethargic but still interested in supervised outdoor time and playing. I skipped her insulin this morning due to no appetite & I'm not home to monitor. I know all the tricks to entice eating, so I don't need advice with that, but I would like vet advice, what do I ask them to do? This will be a new vet for us, we moved to South Florida 1 month ago. This is not related to the move, she has been eating normally since we arrived any advice is appreciated. Thank you, I'm scared for her....but remain positive & hope she just ate a lizard or insect.
 
*update if any eyes are on this topic....
Baby was given a thorough physical exam, no lumps or bumps, no dehydration, pink good gums, eyes good, ears good, no temperature, alert. Nothing wrong there is obviously good, bittersweet too...because we have no "why". Full blood work done (results this weekend or Monday), fecal exam, recommended Pepsid too, gave appetite stimulant & AD food to assist with eating, gave syringe, sub fluids given under skin to control any potential hydration. Next steps: get lab results & potential x-rays to determine what cannot be seen/felt. Came home, few licks of food & tiny bowel movement. Please pray, I'm positive & have faith in her recovery :mrgreen:

(any ideas or recommendations are GREATLY appreciated, as something is obviously wrong)
 
J.D. was diagnosed with cronic pancreatitis in March and he was a little more lethargic than normal and was not eating as much. I have heard that a lot of diabetic cats have cronic pancreatitis. The best test for this is one that they send out to IDEXX called the Spec fPL and needs to be a fasting test, but I only fasted J.D. for 5 hours the last time because he was in the 40s (late in his cycle, at least), so I don't think it has to be an all day fast. My vet tried to do the pancreatitis test on their own IDEXX equipment in house and you don't want that test, you want the specific SPEC fPL test that is sent out to the lab. If she has cp, she will be nauseated, and you don't want to give an appetite stimulant without addressing the nausea too. I give J.D. Ondansetron for nausea, and Pepcid for acid tummy (that's where he sometimes throws up clear fluid when his tummy is empty), and appetite stimulants as needed, along with a pain medicine buprenex if needed. I'm just saying, that if Baby is licking her lips or eating a little and then licking her lips and walking away from the food that she may feel nauseous, and I would definitely recommend you get the SPEC fPL test(it cost me about $85 or so dollars total).

She does need food, and a cat can quickly go into fatty liver decease if she doesn't eat, so please syringe feed her.
I would highly recommend PMing Karrie and Maverick as she is a big help with assisted feeding advice.

I hope Baby feels better, real quick, if not tonight or tomorrow.
 
I know you said you didn't want advice on how to entice Baby to start eating, but I wonder what have you tried? Perhaps someone else might have other ideas if they know what you have tried so far.... Plus I could use some ideas :smile:
 
knolet said:
I know you said you didn't want advice on how to entice Baby to start eating, but I wonder what have you tried? Perhaps someone else might have other ideas if they know what you have tried so far.... Plus I could use some ideas :smile:
Click to expand...

Per knolet's request : Repost of my compilation of eating enticements. I hope it helps.

Remember -- getting to the bottom of why he is not eating is most important. That way you can treat the underlying cause ( or symptoms of underlying cause) . It is always very important to get cats to eat, as they can quickly develop hepatic lipidosis from lack of food.

Here are some things you can do do entice your cat to eat:

-sometimes in order to get a cat to eat you even have to resort to dry it is more important that they eat. there are a couple low carb / grain free brands -- EVO and wellness core.

-making a buffet to give him choices
- heating food

sprinkle food with :
- forta flora -- a probiotic you can get at vets or online. is very smelly and cats love the taste of it.
- parm. cheese
- smashed crumbles of dry food
- bonito tuna flakes
- halo chicken treats -- crumble into dust over food -- my Wolfie loves this stuff.
- poor a little water from tuna in water over food ( I use low sodium/no sodium added as other kinds in water has veg. broth in it and I assume that means onions, which are toxic to cats-- check labels)
-powdered oregano. yep sounds weird . but some cats like it and it will entice them to eat.

other ideas of foods to offer your kitty to stim appy:
- trader joe tuna for cats
-baby food -- beechnut turkey and broth or chicken and broth. they have no onions or other additives. some babyfoods have onions . please read labels if you can't find beechnut.
- kentucky fried chicken
- deli turkey /chicken
- plain cooked ( boiled or baked ) chicken breast
-canned chicken for people (watch the label that their are no onions)
- chicken broth -- low sodium
- Catsure
-Clinicare
-Catsip

If enticements don't work, you should consider:
-assist feeding ( syringe or make little meatballs and place in mouth)
-and/or talking to your vet about appetite stimulents ( mirtazapine or cyproheptidine)

Here is the link to the yahoo feline assist feeding group:


Feline Assisted Feeding Group


and if those fail talking to your vet about feeding tubes :

Here is Dr. Lisa's link on feeding tubes
 
Thanks everyone, I appreciate the support & Dyana - I am sorry to hear of J.D.'s diagnosis :YMSIGH: I will have to remember that test. Thankfully, Baby is now a hungry, hungry hippo - she is eating A LOT, BG levels are back to normal & she is too. Blood work came back "remarkable" in the Vet's words. I will keep everyone updated, also - Cheryl thank you for posting that for knolet :-D
 
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