update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice needed!

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Birdi

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Hi, an update on Jim...

And need some advice on getting Jim to eat... he is the kitty who when into spontanous diabetic remission, had seizures, bit up his tongue so bad it had to be amputated.

He can move whats left of it forward to the front of his mouth (he gently bit my nose and did a little lick and I felt it) but it doesn't come out of the mouth.

He had a complication with his feeding tube - he developed a bacterial infection round the tube entry site which really knocked him back. He was so weak. He is now on another antibiotic, and 3 days ago he had the feeding tube completley replaced and moved to a new site. He is improving - still getting over the anathestic, it was rough for him. I was supprised he survived it.

We are now at the stage were it's time to start to get him eating. he is being feed z/d via his tube - the vet is keen on this as they think his itchy ear issues are diet related. Prior to his accident, he was eating dried nut z/d and a raw beef product. (a couple of weeks prior to all this he had a hematoma on his right ear)

Obviously now, he needs to be on a wet diet, as he needs to get as much fluid from food as possible. I have done a ton of reading and will never feed a cat dried food again.

The thing is he really doesn't dig the wet z/d - we tried prior to his accident several times and he almost recoils from the smell of it. Do cats ever eventually give in and eat what you put in front of them?

I feel that at this stage we just have to get him eating - anything- anything he wants. He can have the most expensive caviar - I don't care! I don't think this is the time to convince a picky cat, with a serious mouth injury who has to learn to eat again, to eat a food he has never been attracted to. It's awkward, as the vets are dead set on him eating the z/d, and I don't want to annoy them as they have been great.

The idea with food allergies I believe is to feed them novel proteins - they think he might be reactive to beef.

I'm thinking, I'll just go ahead anyway, and try venison (get myself a steak and we can share it!), chicken, rabbit (there is a gormet market that sells it for human consumption). He also likes a little raw fish occsionally as a treat. And fancy feast and ziwi peak.

So, anyone any thoughts? If we can get him to eat he will be fine. His blood sugar has remained stable through out all this. He is improving and is currently on my lap smooching and purring like a mad man!

Today I have him at work - I am a free lance music producer/ engineer and bring him to my studio. He loves it here - gets very animated and engaged -jumps on gear, hangs out with me more so than at home.

thanks,

Bird
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

So glad to hear Jim is doing better! You certainly can feed raw; it is often better for kitties with food allergies. But the meat itself is not complete - you have to add supplements. This page gives tips and recipes: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatf ... f_Dry_Food. You could grind it up fine for him if the texture is hard for him to eat.

If you are concerned that he is not eating anything, baby food can sometimes be a good start to eating again. No spices, just plain. It would be a good texture for him?
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

I am not sure what to tell you about your cat's specific needs. When my UTI kitty had PU surgery and was kept away from this brother and sisters, he got depressed and quit eating. His vet said to get some "stinky" cat food to see if he would eat it. I got several things that I do not usually buy just to get him to try it. Another vet said that Hill's prescription A/D was supposed to be appetizing to them. Someone on this forum said to try FortiFlora added to the food. He did not like the stinky food and I never got the A/D or the FortiFlora since I let him get back with the rest of the cats. My cat started eating again when he was allowed to be back with the group. Good luck.
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

thanks for the replies!

interesting underdawg, you mention you kitty being depressed: I was wondering if Jim was either a bit bored at home or depressed. He has been thru a lot. He is an apartment cat. Now when I bring him to my studio he is a different cat - completly in my face, purring, jumping on stuff, happy as. I used to bring him here all the time but stopped as my studio is part of a sound system workshop that has gotten busier, and there is an employee who kept leaving the front door open. Got worried he would get squashed between road cases or get out the building into the city when i wasn't there. Now I have a big pen on loan that I can put him into if I go out.

Just before he was hustling me when I was trying to play a keyboard - walking all over it purring and smooching.Triggering beats and changing patches! Impossible to work! He used to do this if he wanted treats and I would give in and give them to him to just get him out of my face! I'm thinking I will try offering food when he does this ... its a behavior he used to get a food reward for. Perhaps i can use this to my advantage....

Birdi
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

Birdi,

I had a cat with food allergies,now he was a civie (nondiabetic) as well as a diabetic cat, along with 9 other cats so everyone needed to eat what my diabetic eats.

What worked for us was to just competely remove dry food. As it happened in our case, Onyx (the one with allergies) was allergic to the grains in the dry. So if Jim likes Fancy Feast there are several on Binky's list that are low carb and grain-free might give that a whirl and see if it handles both problems. Onyx had gotten so bad prior to the complete removal of th dry food that the only way to keep him from tearing his face apart was to have him on a low dose of pred. Within a couple of weeks of getting him off anything that contained grain his allergies completely diappeared, however sadly we lost him to a brain tumor a few months later.

Mel,Max and the Fur Gang
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

The good thing with wet food, you can add as much water to it as you like. Maui had terrible food allergies and when the dry food was finally removed her issues cleared up.

I started by giving her fancy feast turkey and giblets only. And for the most part I keep her on a mainly poultry diet.

If you want to try raw food and don't want to make it purchase feline's pride its mail order only, a bit pricey, but high quality, complete food that when served looks like ground meat. So its soft and easy to eat, of course you can add water to make it more soupy.

If Jim likes this then you may want to consider making your own.

Another canned product that my grls like is natures logic. They have decided they only like duck and salmon these days. :). Its a very dense food that I add water to in order to loosen it up.

So you have lots of quality options to try and don't need to be stuck with a food he doesn't like. And all you need to tell the vet is sorry he doesn't like it so please refund my money.

I think its cool that he likes to go to work with you. It sounds like the environment is more stimulating than being at home and that he needs the stimulation and being closer to you all day.

Now if only you could put him to work and earn a paycheck :).
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

Thanks!

Jim is starting to show a desire to eat - he got very close to picking up some stray cat nuts found in the cat food cubboard. So even tho eating nuts long term is completly not an option, I left 5 pieces out, in the hope he will pick one up, work out picking up food with his teeth. He has also shown interest in a stinky fancy feast fish classic. The z/d he recoils from. The vet I saw today for his dressing change did agree eating first, then work on allergies. So I'm today going to buy the wet foods he used to have.

Yesterday, he did eat a piece of cat grass: I was so excited ... he ate something! then remembered what usually folllows the eating of grass... he didn't vomit, just retched a bit .

I finally worked out the retching was due to having air go down while tube feeding as when the tube was replaced the slide that keeps air out wasn't replaced, so was having air pushed down - as it was impossible to pinch of the tube completly while changing syringes. Also reduced amount at each feed and doing more feeds to further make it more comfortable for him. So is getting 6x feedings a day. luckily Iv'e just finished up a pile of work so can do this.

I've been looking at cat food ingrdients - the z/d the vet seems so into lists soya bean oil and corn starch in the wet, and brewers rice and soya oil in the dry. I'm sure I saw soya and corn listed as things to avoid for allergic cats?? I'll see if any of those foods you listed Hillary are in NZ. Can get fancy feast classic and ziwipeak here. And I think its interesting that both your and Mels kitties with allergies cleared up when dry was removed.

Jim has got a couple of album credits... as associate engineer! He is a really good client liason officer.

Birdi
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

Birdi. I didn't realize you are in NZ. If you can't find foods locally go to petfooddirect.com. They are a US company and I think they may ship internationally. Yes it will cost but they do offer online coupon codes with on average 15 percent discount. That would help alleviate some shippng cost.

Glad to hear Jim is shoing interest in eating and your right anything right now is a good thing. If you can please share pics of Jim working. We would all love to see a cat who earns his keep!
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

best not to let him eat fish more than twice a week, for general health reasons (same rule applies to humans). fancy feast classic is perfect. only concern is that FF can put msg and other 'flavor enhancers' in their food so it may cause some allergic reactions. 3 of my 4 cats did great on it. i mixed it with water into my diabetic's bowl so she'd have more water in her diet.

my cat harry was the fussiest cat alive but he was enticed into eating food if i sprinkled grated parmesan cheese onto it. i couldn't mix things into food but sprinkling on top helped. that or fortiflora.

for people outside the US or canada, easiest thing to do is look at the label to determine whether any grain or starch goes into the food. pet food companies change recipes pretty often and it's hard to keep up with changes in other countries.

so glad to read jim is doing better. he's won our hearts, you know. (((hugs)))
 
Re: update on Jim the Kitty w amputated tongue & advice need

thanks,

would have to check about importing catfoods into Nz - very tight border controls here, being an island nation. I have been reading pet food labels - what utter rubbish in some foods!! Have found some good options here though, including fancy feast classic. I'm glad I have this knowledge now for Jim and for future cat friends I will have.

Jim showing small improvements - 2 days ago he casually clasped some music manuscript paper I had been working on between his paws and chewed the corner of it! then spat out a little wad of paper. The music critic. He is also attempting to groom more. This morning picked up some meat in his mouth but didn't eat it..closest yet to eating. I am holding off his first meal of the day to see if hunger helps. And he had a nuzzle at a plastic bag - he likes to chew them.

And nearly pushed over a vase of flowers in an attempt to get at them.

So he is slowly improving. Still normal blood sugar. I do have pictures of him at work! - just need to figure out how to up load them..

Birdi
 
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