Poor appetite

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SusanandOwen

SusanandOwen

Member Since 2013
So... we finally got Owen home last night after a rough few days at the vet's and e-clinic. While he was hospitalized, Owen would mostly eat voluntarily only when my DH and were there encouraging him, so we were thinking he'd probably eat better generally once we got him home. He did eat a bit last night when we first got him home, but this morning he hasn't shown much appetite at all. (DH is syringing food to ensure he gets enough calories, but he doesn't like that much.)

He did have a quiet night and actually hopped up onto our bed at one point (a nice surprise) so I think he is feeling "ok" although he does (understandably) still seem very, very tired. I guess 5 days in intensive care will do that to you.

Any ideas about how to get him to eat better? I feel like we've taken a big step backward today compared to yesterday when I was able to get him to eat pretty well while he was at the vet's.

ETA: Owen is currently on subQ fluids, an antibiotic, pain meds, anti nausea meds and insulin.
 
here are some tips on getting him to eat.

Cheryl & Winnie wrote:
Enticing a Cat to Eat

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 :
FortiFlora -- a probiotic you can get at vets or online. is very smelly and cats love the taste of it.
parmesean cheese
smashed crumbles of dry food
bonito/tuna flakes (Can be found at Asian markets or sometimes in the Asian food section of a large grocery store.)
halo chicken treats (freeze dried chicken) -- crumble into dust over food -- my Wolfie loves this stuff.
pour 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 and it shouldn't contain soy -- 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 or Gerber Stage 2 -- you want a baby food that is only a protein + broth (although the Gerber contains cornstarch). It should 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

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)
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Thanks, Wendy. We've tried most of what is on that list (and he is being syringe fed) ... except for the oregano, which I've never heard of! Guess we can try that as well.

I suspect his tummy's upset and that is why he's not eating. I have a dose of Cerenia for him but the vet's instructions were to give it this evening, not this morning. I have a call in to them now to see if he can get it earlier.
 
Wendy&Tiggy said:
Could be pain. When did he last get his pain meds?
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I'd be surprised if it's pain - he got his pain meds this morning and he's not acting painful otherwise. He's walking around and stretching out when he lays down. Usually if he's in pain he does the meatloaf thing.
 
Does he sniff food and walk away? Does he make kinda lip smacking noises when he smells food? Those are signs of nausea.
 
I know how frustrating it is when they won't eat.
Are you currently testing him for ketones?
 
Are you offering the same food in a dish that you are syringe feeding?
If so, they generally start disliking that food because of the feeding so you want to be offering a different choice in the food dish.

I hope you can find something he'll eat.
 
He's normally a great eater - he even ate relatively well at the vet's yesterday, which surprised them because his BUN is still quite high. He is on Cerenia to control the nausea but only gets it once a day so I do wonder if that is bothering him.

Ketones have not been a problem so far. He has been offered all sorts of different food - canned, dry, snacks, shrimp, tuna, liver, you name it. I did syringe feed him a chicken/liver pate when I got home from work and that got him to eat a few bites of tuna and some of his dry snacks, but not enough.

I ended up taking him back to the vet's to have a blood panel done and have the vet look him over. His BUN is up a bit from yesterday and the vet feels that is the problem. He recommended putting him back on an IV drip so he is back in the e-clinic tonight. They will syringe feed him to make sure he gets adequate calories.

I am so sad. He looked so happy to be home yesterday and my DH and I were both beyond happy to see him hop up on our bed last night in his usual spot, snoozing with us.
 
I'm so sorry Susan. Have you ever done subq fluids? Maybe you could ask your vet about them tomorrow. I use oral zofran twice a day for nausea in one of my cats. He also get cerenia a few times a week when he is feeling worse than his normal. Pepcid can help with stomach acid. Have you gotten any info on phos binders? Hopefully his BUN will come done some more with the IV fluids. I'm guessing his creat is elevated as well. Some cats can feel pretty bad when their BUN and creat are up. My Brie had a creat of 3.9 this summer and that was when we found out he had a kidney infection. He was totally asymptomatic with it which is hard to believe. Luckily I had his bloodwork done when I did. I had another cat years ago with a creat of 2.4 and he was symptomatic. He had CKD and his appetite was really poor. There are so many more things we can do now to help kitties with nausea. It is very frustrating when you are trying to make your kitty feel better and nothing seems to help. Hydration is very important so if you've never done fluids maybe you could get a demo at the vet office.

Sandy
 
Sandy and Brie said:
I'm so sorry Susan. Have you ever done subq fluids? Maybe you could ask your vet about them tomorrow. I use oral zofran twice a day for nausea in one of my cats. He also get cerenia a few times a week when he is feeling worse than his normal. Pepcid can help with stomach acid. Have you gotten any info on phos binders? Hopefully his BUN will come done some more with the IV fluids. I'm guessing his creat is elevated as well. Some cats can feel pretty bad when their BUN and creat are up. My Brie had a creat of 3.9 this summer and that was when we found out he had a kidney infection. He was totally asymptomatic with it which is hard to believe. Luckily I had his bloodwork done when I did. I had another cat years ago with a creat of 2.4 and he was symptomatic. He had CKD and his appetite was really poor. There are so many more things we can do now to help kitties with nausea. It is very frustrating when you are trying to make your kitty feel better and nothing seems to help. Hydration is very important so if you've never done fluids maybe you could get a demo at the vet office.

Sandy
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Hi Sandy,

Thank you. DH and I are just sitting here staring at the empty space on the bed and we are both so sad. Having Owen at home last night was so great and to have him back at the e-clinic is just a kick in the gut. (Obviously we know it is a good thing he is there and being cared for but it's hard on us.) We did give him subQ fluids today at home and according to the vet he was relatively well hydrated, all things considered. But there is a definite concern about his kidney function and whether we will be able to get it to improve or not. He has one enlarged kidney right now and although we got an ultrasound and an xray that supposedly ruled out a stone, I think the vet is kind of stumped about what is going on there. He did tell us that the very elevated BUN is what is causing the challenge with his appetite (it was nearly 20 pts higher today compared to yesterday) but he feels certain that he can bring that down with the IV fluids - hence the overnight in the e-clinic (and he will spend the day at the regular vet clinic tomorrow on the same program.) I gather the question is to what degree they can get it to improve and whether they can get him to maintain that improvement off the IV. I love this kitty like a baby but the current treatment is costing us $1500 a day and I cannot afford that for much longer... we are over $6K at this point. <cry>

You are correct that his creatinine is elevated also, we haven't talked about phosphorus binders so I guess that is something I can ask about tomorrow perhaps.
 
Thank you all for the continued support... I can't tell you how much it helps. And Sandy, thank you for the prayers. I keep hoping God is looking down on my little Owie-cat and helping him get better.

My DH and I are fortunate to have good jobs at the moment so we will figure out how to pay for Owen's care as long as he is doing OK and has a reasonable chance of returning to good health. We are both devastated about his illness :( My poor DH cried last night, saying he should have done a better job with the syringe feeding so Owen could have stayed home with us, and I had to remind him it was the IV fluids that are the key right now.

On the bright side of things, Owen does look a bit brighter this morning, and gobbled up a bunch of his favorite beef feast this morning on his own, which was great. He will spend today at the regular vet's and then go back to the e-clinic tonight, and then probably back to the vet's on Saturday. We have a long road ahead of us.
 
Your poor DH, you are both doing as much as humanely possible for Owen and more than most!

Sending hugs and healing vines.

Keep us updated!
 
Thanks, Wendy,

My DH is taking this very hard. I had both Owen and his brother Mac before we were married, but Owen has kind of become "his" cat and he is very attached. He works at home when he's not traveling for business and Owen is his shadow, they hang out together all day and "do conference calls" together. He just went to the vet's to visit Owen and said he seemed pretty tired, he didn't get up as he's done before at visit time but the vet says he is resting comfortably so not to read much into that. I know he must be exhausted at this point, but of course it was hard on DH, as previously when we've gone to see him, he's kind of brightened up a bit and wanted petting and so forth.

We are getting another major blood panel done around 5 tonight and should hopefully know more afterwards. He will for sure have to go back to the e-clinic again tonight to stay on fluids and keep his BG managed, and probably will need to stay on this program through the weekend at least. He got a urinary catheter last night which the vets seem to feel is helping him quite a bit; I don't know what to think about that to be honest, as up until midday yesterday he was peeing OK on his own for the most part. Maybe they just think it's giving him a bit of a break since he's been sick for so long now.

Please say a prayer that we get really good numbers tonight, and that Owen rallies and is able to come home soon.
 
rhiannon and shadow said:
Prayers for you two and for Owen.
I know how hard it is waiting.
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Thank you so much. He is back in the e-clinic tonight but he perked up a bit when my DH and I took him there. We are really hoping he is significantly better tomorrow or Sunday....
 
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