TUMMY TUBE

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ohbell

ohbell

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Hello furries and beans,

I took my civvie Slappy to the vet yesterday and he suggested a tummy tube for her. EEEEEKS~~~~

Has ANYONE done this before. I am soo scared and dont know if Slappy would make it thru that.

She stopped eating last Thursday pm, vet on Saturday, fluids, antibotic, blood work....She is 15 so we did quick blood work there and sent off for senior panel...all came back great! Go Slappy Go! However, she has not eaten but maybe a table spoon of chicken (from Olive Garden) since. I finally syringe fed her some nutri cal and some of Sugar Beans ff Monday nite.

The vet gave me some a/d canned and a larger syringe to try last nite, and more fluids, b12 shot and sent me on my way and to think about the tummy tube if this doesnt work..... I finally got about 1/3 of the syringe down her last nite...boy was that fun~ NOT....
This am, she was at her perch for food, ate a bit of her dry (as she will not eat wet), ate more chicken (I mean alot compared to all week end) but did not see her drink any water (hope the fluids will help with that)...I DID NOT syringe feed this am - did not want to stress her if she is trying to eat....everything is staying down now we will do fluids tomorrow if she needs them when we return to the vet.

I just wanted some feed back before our appointment and discussion of tummy tube. I have had experience with human tummy tube as my hubby had one for 5+ years...It was directly into the tummy....not over the shoulder?????

Wow! I really am scared!
nailbite_smile
 
Mr. Hope,
ty for the information - i just read it and feel somewhat better as syringe feeding is terrible (for us both). The vet did mention that it would be inserted in the neck so I am assuming from the article that it would be the esophageal tube. I will talk with him about this tomorrow....she will have to get used to wearing a collar....that seems to be the issue if this is done.. Mommy will find my 'big girl paniies', put them on and proceed with the surgery if she need it thurs.... I will also find out if he has one of these collars at his office.
Again, ty and have a nice day~
 
My Mario had an e-tube. He pulled it out when I went to the pharmacy to get materials to re-bandage the insertion site. There is no reason for an e-collar.
 
Ditto what Larry said....no need for an e-collar. Mine all left their tubes alone till they decided to eat on their own and then they took their own tubes out.
 
Larry & Kitties, and Ms. Hope -
I was looing into the kity kollor---as I really dont want her to pull out the tube while I am gone to work! How easy is it to do that? or am I misreading the post?? Did Mario pull out the tube from the site or the tube from the kollar???? That scares me if she will be able to pull it out of the site, as my hubby did pull his out of his tummy and we had to rush to emerg. room and reinsert before it grew back up!
 
I depends on what kind of tube is used.

The 'old style' rigid tubes are very difficult to pull out.

The 'newer style' flexible tubes are easier to get out and sometimes work their
way out on their own.

Most likely, for a short-term use, the 'new style' one will be used.

One bit of advice I can give you:

when preparing the feeding syringe (you will use
a large syringe to put the food into the feeding tube),
be sure to mash the food through a very fine sieve before
filling the syringe.

There can be tiny bits of bone in the food, and these can clog
the feeding tube...something you do not want to have happen.

Go to a kitchen store and get a small strainer with the finest mesh
you can get. Smash the food through the strainer with the back
of a spoon. Then load the syringe with the strained food.
 
FWIW, all 3 of my esophageal kitties were only fed liquid Clinicare through their tube. It is a high potency licquid diet used for tube feeding.....also can be used to syringe feed cats when mixing food instead of using water.
 
Harley has had 4 tubes. 2 nasogastric (spelled wrong I'm sure). Both of which he sneezed out and 2 PEG tubes (out of stomach). I was scared to death about the PEG tube but once I got the hang of feeding, it really was not bad.

The tube is a flexible tube with a bulb on the end which is in the stomach. You feed liquid diet or very thin cat food into it.

The one thing I did learn was that you put the feeding in very slowly. The first time I fed, it was too fast and Harley vomited it all out and I cried. After that, not a problem. Because his health was so unsure, they kept the tubes in for several weeks after he began to eat.

I would not hesitate to do it again if Harley stopped eating. I found it much easier than the tube through the nose. If I knew how to attach pictures, I would attach the one of Harley with his tube. He even went outside with it on.

The first one came out when he was playing with his brother and the second one got caught on a clipboard. He did not even notice it.

Pattie
 
Mario had a rigid tube that he pulled out. The bandages was still around his neck. I noticed that the tube was being detached from the bandage and after I came back from getting bandage material the tube was out. You just have to check the bandage and rebandage more frequently than I did. Mario was eating on his own when he pulled the tube out.
 
Reagan had the e-tube and it was a breeze. Thinned down AD is what we used. He got to where I would head for him with the food in the syringe and flop down purring and wait for "dinner". Sure is easy to give meds that way too :mrgreen:

I was real scared at first but after a day or two it went pretty well......he didn't even try to pull it out but it was bandaged pretty well. No need for an e collar at all.
 
One group you would want to join: Yahoo's Feline Assisted Feeding group. Very invaluable info on getting cat to eat and tubes. They saved Shiloh"s life when he had the tubes. Good luck. Donna
 
Donna & shiloh
tyty for that site...checked it out and those kitties are alot calmer than our mess of a try the other nite....Slappy decided she wanted to eat!!!!!! :razz:
I also found out she loves sardines even tho she does not like tuna, shrimp or salmon....All of her olive garden chicken is GONE! She ate her dry this am, ate some of my precious Gumpy's lp script dry, and was socializing too... \M/

She stayed out from under the bed this am, most of last nite as well.

Perhaps we will not have to do the tummy tube, but i will not don my 'happy panties' yet...but I am going to move the apt. from today to tomorrow...just in case she takes a dive tonite.... Still very worried about this

I will not mess around if she stops eating...she will have tummy tube put in but now seeing the syringe feeding video, I feel I will be better at it in case I need to do this over the week end.

ty to Gail & houdini - everyone is helping me feel a bit better on the issue!

Hope everyone has a fun filled furry day! I know I will as my Lil Sista girl is at work with me again today, and hopefully soon she will be able to be with the rest of my furry family....waiting on Slappy to get feeling better...before the hissing begins!
 
Join the Yahoo Feline Assisted Feeding Forum - there is a ton of info and support on feeding tubes.

Maverick had the tummy tube (PEG Tube) and I do not recommend it at all. Go with an e-tube if you have to get a tube. Its much easier to place, less healing time, less complications and easy to replace if your cat pulls it out. Maverick needed two emergency surgeries due to a botched peg tube placement and he pulled it out before it was healed. It requires two weeks for a stoma to form (stomach wall and stomach). He needed his insides washed out as the stomach tore both times. My vet didn't tell me about e-tubes. I never would have agreed to a peg tube had I known.

You can also look up the Kitty Kollar for keeping an etube in place and aid in bandage changes.

Many members of the assisted feeding forum have had etubes long term when dealing with cancer such as lymphoma.

You've been given good advice. It is nice to see that so many people know about assist feeding and feeding tubes.

AD isn't as high in calories as some recovery foods. Even Wellness Chicken has higher calories. When blended with some water and strained it goes through the tube easier.

On the assisted feeding forum you will get other tips such as how to unblock a tube, not doing a pre-flush but making sure you do a good post-flush, you need to manage nausea, what medications you can put into the tube, etc.
 
ty Karrie & Maverick,
It is now 5 pm on Friday and Slappy is doing much better, eating her dry food, eating her sardines (did not know she liked), eating some hot dog and bacon...... small bits of all of it, but eating none the less.! Guess mommy bean sucked at syringe feeding and she thinks the tube would not feel good.... I am happy to know that soo many folks offered advice and put my mind at ease on the tube...if she falls of the perch and stops eating, to the tube we go without a doubt!
I check into the kitty kollar, sounds like the way to go as well.

Gail & Houdini - thanks a mil for the furry prayers.... they worked! ;-)
 
Good to hear her appetite has perked up. *clapping*

Sorry to sound like I'm beating a dead horse, but as you can see by Maverick's story in my signature, I do my best to make sure no one else goes through what we went through. If you are in the US you can buy a cheap shipping/baby/pet scale that you can weigh your kitty on. Its accurate to the ounce versus a human scale. The best way to know if your kitty is getting enough food is to weigh them.

We got the scale when Maverick had his tube. But 2 years later it caught his weight loss and his diabetes diagnosis - before any of the symptoms of diabetes showed up.
 
.no need for an e-collar. Mine all left their tubes alone till they decided to eat on their own and then they took their own tubes out.
Click to expand...

I think that the OP mentioned that she is talking about the Kitty Kollar (designed and commercially made after seeing the makeshift Elastikon collar on my Feeding Tube page) not an E-collar.

I have heard one report that the KKs are a bit bulky and so not as comfortable for the cat to wear as my less-bulky, homemade Elastikon collar.

I also agree on the comments favoring E tubes over the more invasive PEG tubes.
 
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