Trinket: my next strategy

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Traci and Boomer

Traci and Boomer

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She STILL is weird about food and eating. I can't trust her to eat on her own reliably. nailbite_smile I'm tellin' ya folks, it gets weirder and weirder at our place. I have to spoon feed her or syringe her in order to KNOW that she's eaten. All while Merlin is trying to steal her food. :-x

I joined the Yahoo assist-feeding group and they are very nice. They suggested I get a baby scale so I will be able to track her weight to see if she is losing weight. So I have a baby scale coming my way now.

The vet probably thinks I'm nuts. This is her weight history:
10-11-11: 6.5lbs
11-1-11: 6.1 lbs
2-26-12: 8 lbs
3-11-12: 8.3 lbs

Seems great, huh? No clue when she's eaten though.
 
Hmmm .. this is all so weird Traci .. I really hope you can get it figured out, why she is so picky on eating anymore .. and good luck keeping an eye on her weight .. At least she's going up and not down! :-D
 
The vet called. She thinks I'm crazy for SURE.
She even said "stop hand-feeding her and maybe she'll eat on her own".....UMMMM, yeah, she NOT eating on her own - that's why I'm feeding her. AND she's not been weighed since the 11th. I'm gonna just keep helping her eat until that scale comes and I see she's gained another pound - :lol: - hopefully I am just nuts and she really is eating. Once I know this I'll check back into the nuthouse for a little R & R. :o :roll:
 
Hi Traci,
With my cats tiny crumbs of freeze dried chicken generously sprinkled over a bit of soupy and warm food work wonders. If necessary, such as before insulin but insufficient amount of food eaten, as soon as a kitty stops eating I put another layer of tiny crumbs over the food. If I hadn't observed this I wouldn't have believed it, with my triplets it works every time. I have heard that cats may develop an aversion to eating if forced to eat with a dropper. Could this be going on? I realize at times we need to use a dropper. Hope Trinket decides to eat soon and lots!
 
Dear Traci,
So sorry to hear you having to do this.

My Civvie Slappy just stopped eating one day??? Ate that am, and when I got home that evening from work...no go.

I finally had to burrito her, and yes, use a dropper - with help from Patricia on the board here.

She was a dry food only girl, so this was not an easy thing. But she finally went from dropper to finger to spoon to bowl. It took a long time for her to eat from that bowl. and she would only eat from 1 bowl too??? WTH?

I could take the food, put it on the spoon, and hold the spoon 1/100 of an inch out of the food in the bowl and she would eat. Pull the spoon away, no go.
I finally got her to eat from the spoon while it was in the bowl of food. And still to this day, she will act that way? But not so much lately.

I know Slappy was very sick by the time we got to this point. I did not know why she got sick, but she was at the vet 2 times a week for B12 and fluids for about 6 weeks. Perhaps that was why she needed the help. During this time, she had blood work done and we found out that she has thyroid problems and have started meds. She is much better.

Hang in there, I would think that it will get better.

Is is a very picky eater? Slappy is. Now that she is on wet, she will only eat f.feast chicken. At first it was a/d from the vets. It took me dropper feeding her f.feast to change her diet. She is eating that now, but absolutely nothing else.

I believe you, I could have left food out allll day for her and without my help, she would not eat. I just allowed an extra 15 min in my morning schedule to help her if she decided not to do it on her own.

Good luck & sending paw hugs your way!
 
sophie said:
Hi Traci,
With my cats tiny crumbs of freeze dried chicken generously sprinkled over a bit of soupy and warm food work wonders. If necessary, such as before insulin but insufficient amount of food eaten, as soon as a kitty stops eating I put another layer of tiny crumbs over the food. If I hadn't observed this I wouldn't have believed it, with my triplets it works every time. I have heard that cats may develop an aversion to eating if forced to eat with a dropper. Could this be going on? I realize at times we need to use a dropper. Hope Trinket decides to eat soon and lots!
Click to expand...

Trink liked soupy food too. I just bought her a blender so she can mix it up while I'm not home. :lol:
I'll try the crumbs too. It's amazing when you finally figure out what the like/want to eat!
I may try Claudia, the animal communicator again.
 
Hi Ohbell-

I'm curious - what does "Ohbell" mean? Is that your name?

I'm SO glad you wrote back!!! What you descibe is EXACTLY what I'm doing. I make the food soupy now because she seems to like it. I lift the spoon up to her mouth and she'll happily lap it down. Slowly I lower the spoon. She follows still eating. I set the spoon down - then she's all done. No more eating. It's CRAZY!!!
---OR---
I lift the food bowl up to her mouth and she eats. Set it down? All over.
I put the bowls up on other bowls so it's raised to her height - sometimes it works - mostly not.
---AND----
My cats LOVE deli turkey. Merlin growls over it if she comes close to his. She wants it too-she seems excited. If it falls onto the ground instead of being handed to her she leaves it and waits for me to dangle one near her mouth and she bites it. Then Merlin takes the one on the ground.

It's like she can't be bothered if it takes a little effort. The problem is that it's NO EFFORT for big chunk Merlin to come snarf it down!!!!
 
I just called the vet's office to leave Dr. Smarty Pants a message. I explained to the very nice and empathetic receptionist (different one that last time) that DUH - if Trink would eat on her own I wouldn't need to hand- feed her!!!!! Hi, I am not supid folks. Do you think I WANT to hand feed my cat? Ya think I enjoy this sh*t? :?

I told her my story like I told Ohbell in the last post....that unless I feed her she doesn't eat reliably or grazes... and I've got Mr. Vacuum Boy right next to me waiting to steal all her left-overs so when she feels like grazing there's nothing left!

I hope the vet gets the message and stops treating me a an imbecile. :roll:
 
God bless you Traci and God bless little Trinket. I know you just love spending all your extra time spoon feeding your kitty. ;-)
jeanne
 
Did you ever get to talk to dr. smarty pantz? lol - I sure needed that laugh!
When I was dealing with Gumpy (GA), I would call and tell them about her, and then when we would visit, they would all say how goooood she was doing......WELL, BS!
I know my cat, and this aint goooooood.
So, I just took pix of her at home and tool video too and sent them via email.....oh boy what a difference that made.... Again, I will say what you said, I'm not STUPID!
As I type, little ms. Slappy is sitting on her perch, waiting for round 2 of 3,4,5, of her feeding????? (I think she knows I was talking about her today-lol)

Ohbell is my nickname, my name is Shellie!

I would even say that something is going on with her shoulder area but if you are raising the bowl???
Just like Slappy not eating out of nothing other than maybe 2 bowls>>> you put in another one, nooooooooo momma, where is MYYYYYY BOWL> You just hand feed me now cuz I am NOT interested in doing it myself. She will (would) sit for hours and hours at her feeding spot, and not touch a thing until I would feed her!

Not mean to laugh at your frustration, just glad to know I am not alone ;-)
 
Hi Shellie-

Dr. Smarty Pants didn't call me back. I hope the receptionist left a descriptive message for her. Hopefully she knows now that I'm not a dope.

I too have thought of taking videos of her eating habits...then the vet will see that Trink's willing to eat for about 30 seconds on her own in the morning and that's pretty much it. Then what she leaves (if I don't guard it) will be snarfed down by Mr. Ready to Eat Anytime. I do leave out dry but I think she's only lightly grazing on it.

Maybe I'll get lucky and find a magic bowl like you did. Magic food would be nice too.

The receptionist at the vet said something about her neck being sore - guessing. I'd bet money it's nothing to do with her nexk and shoulders. She can turn her head fine and get all crazy playing. It's SO weird!!!!!

My solace right now is that I have a scale coming and I'll be able to track her weight. (and Merlin's too...I don't want him getting fat! :o )
 
Traci,
I purchased a baby scale months and months ago from craigslist....it used to sit on my coffee table.....ok anal I am, but it has finally found a new place to live....first closet in the hallway... I just have to know how much they weigh...it was driving me crazy not knowing and only guessing.

Since I finally got Slappy to eat ff, I dont have to worry about Bean eating it for her numbers, but I have to give her extra time cuz those other 2 girls will push her aside and eat it for her. She eats sooooo slow too. Even tho her eating has highly increased, she still is slow. Those other 2 know not to get in her spot and eat her food, but hey, momma is buzzzzy and lets go for it until I come around the corner, cats are scattin everywhere! lol

When I called the vet about my Gumpy, I ask - what is your email......stall stall stall, why they ask/ I said cuz I am going to take pix and video and send to you to view..... I was so angry, I dont think I gave them a choice to say no..... I am sure they are glad that I do not take my babies to them anymore.. cat(2)_steam

I sure hope Trinket figures it out and soon for your benefit! Heck, I already get up at 4:15 to make all of this happen before I walk out the door, and heaven forbid I might have an errand to run before I get home to start the feeding schedule - if I am 30 min. late, they knock me over in the kitchen, and give me that guilty feeling of weeeeeeee are starvinggggg - where have you beeeeeen?????

Good luck and let us know what dr. smarty comes up with
 
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