What would you include in a care kit?

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Gerber or Beechnut Stage 2 are the foods you want to consider. There may be other brands depending on where you shop. What you want is food that is protein and broth -- no veggies and especially no onion or garlic. (Anything from the onion/garlic family can cause anemia in cats.)
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
I'm going to tag Bhooma to set up a spreadsheet for you
We all use it to record of cats BG to see how the insulin is working and how low it's taking them. When to increase or decrease when needed.
There are 2 dosing methods for Prozinc to choose from, which ever one works best for you
Look for n your inbox above , Bhooma will inbox you
@Bandit's Mom
Thanks Bhooma :cat:
Don't know if you got the previous tag
@Bandit's Mom
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Thank you, I really appreciate the help. Everyone here has been so kind.
 
@Diane Tyler's Mom
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

Thank you both for the extra details! I'll be going to a different store to look for them soon, and going to keep some on hand for the future too just in case. I have good news too. The cerenia antinausea is working! She just ate some pate that I loosened up with a little added water. Properly ate it, not just picked. Once I saw she was genuinely eating i added her supplements to it too. I know she may still struggle, but its so nice to have a win.
 
I'm glad Melissa (@FrostD) mentioned something for nausea. I suspect that unless a cat is vomiting, a vet may not immediately consider nausea as part of the problem. I'm glad to hear Sophie is eating better. It's helpful to remember to give an anti-nausea medication at least 30 min before you want to feed your cat or before giving an appetite stimulant. I'm hoping that Sophie gets over this hurdle and is back to feeling better quickly.
 
Oh I'm so glad! I know it gets stressful the longer they go without an appetite. When inappetent, nausea and pain are first thing I check after mouth and stool.
 
FrostD said:
Oh I'm so glad! I know it gets stressful the longer they go without an appetite. When inappetent, nausea and pain are first thing I check after mouth and stool.
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Your suggestion really did make a huge difference. Sophie can't afford to lose anymore bodyweight because she's already so small. I worked really hard to help her gain weight, so her losing it again was very scary. If she continued to not eat, things would have gotten real bad. But it seems like we are making a turn around now. She actually came out seeking food, which she hasn't done in a week and a half. I am so so so thankful for your suggestion. And apparently this nausea medication also has a small pain relieving effect too. I'm sad I have to basically start her healing journey over again because of the past couple weeks, but your tip probably saved me and her from much worse.
 
shivermewhiskers said:
Your suggestion really did make a huge difference. Sophie can't afford to lose anymore bodyweight because she's already so small. I worked really hard to help her gain weight, so her losing it again was very scary. If she continued to not eat, things would have gotten real bad. But it seems like we are making a turn around now. She actually came out seeking food, which she hasn't done in a week and a half. I am so so so thankful for your suggestion. And apparently this nausea medication also has a small pain relieving effect too. I'm sad I have to basically start her healing journey over again because of the past couple weeks, but your tip probably saved me and her from much worse.
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:bighug: yes the Cerenia has mild anti-inflammatory properties as well.

So a thought - what's her ideal weight? Was it the A/D recovery food the vet gave you? I am wondering if it is better for you to feed her high calorie (and probably therefore higher carb) food to get her weight back up and adjust insulin to offset it, once you start administering it. Worry about low carb later once she's got some weight back. @Sienne and Gabby (GA) thoughts?
 
FrostD said:
:bighug: yes the Cerenia has mild anti-inflammatory properties as well.

So a thought - what's her ideal weight? Was it the A/D recovery food the vet gave you? I am wondering if it is better for you to feed her high calorie (and probably therefore higher carb) food to get her weight back up and adjust insulin to offset it, once you start administering it. Worry about low carb later once she's got some weight back. @Sienne and Gabby (GA) thoughts?
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My vet hasn't talked about an ideal weight, but I think personally I'd like to see her get back the pound she lost and maybe an additional pound to start. She has pretty much no body fat at all, and her muscle mass is too low. I was starting to get her exercising and trying to strengthen her muscles with short rounds of play and helping her stretch and giving her little massages. We were doing pretty okay, but she still had a bit to go. She was just starting to have confidence in reaching up against a surface and making smaller step ups and little jumps. I'll try to get some photos of her body condition when she was at just over seven pounds. I have a low ledged bay window that she has recently gotten the strength and confidence to get up onto and into the blankets we have there. She started sitting there every morning. Our next goal was a very low sofa that she started putting her front feet against. So I didn't have an exact number in mind, just was observing her body condition and feeding her a bit more than the recommended calorie amounts since we were trying to build muscle and get to a healthy amount of body fat.
The vet gave me critical care foods, I think one of those said A/D. I think one was purina and the other hills science. I started with the purina, the hills has pork liver and fat and I'm not sure that isn't what set her wrong in the first place. We have had two meals so far, the second smaller than the first. But it was progress either way, its more than she's eaten in a few days.

Now that I have a glucometer and everything, I can monitor her glucose myself so should I try to just focus on calories and use insulin as needed? The vet and I agreed to not use the insulin til she was eating more regularly so I was going to base it on how the next couple days go. I still have chicken thighs and livers to add in if needed to motivate her to eat.
 
shivermewhiskers said:
Would I be allowed to post links here? I could make an imgur album of her progress and her current state if that helps.
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Hi, of course you may!

@Diane Tyler's Mom Didn't get the tags!

@shivermewhiskers Welcome to FDMB! :-)
I can set up your spreadsheet and signature. Will send you a PM with the details I need. Look for it in the Inbox at the top right corner of this page.
 
Bandit's Mom said:
Hi, of course you may!

@Diane Tyler's Mom Didn't get the tags!

@shivermewhiskers Welcome to FDMB! :)
I can set up your spreadsheet and signature. Will send you a PM with the details I need. Look for it in the Inbox at the top right corner of this page.
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Thank you, truly. I'm at work but I will do both as soon as I get home! I am so grateful these forums exist.
 
@FrostD -
There are higher calorie foods that are low carb. Wellness is a good example. The challenge is they are typically higher in fat and it sounds like that may not be ideal for Sophie.

Emily -- will she eat throughout the day if you're not around? If so, a timed feeder may be helpful. You can leave food in there so Sophie had food available throughout the day and night. You just want to not give her any food 2 hours prior to shot time. There are timed feeders where you can put an ice pack in the bottom to prevent any spoilage.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
Why hasn't she had the supplements in 2 weeks?
For the neuropathy most of us give
If it's neuropathy
https://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-vitamin-b-12-methylcobalamin-5000-mcg-100-capsules-6
14.49 for 100 capsules, empty it into the wet food it's tasteless
I saw a big improvement in about 2 months , but each week it got better
Tyler is 100% back to walking normal
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I'm at work but taking a break to place an amazon order since I did a lot more reading about diabetic neuropathy (my vet didn't tell me about if, just was talking with me about the back legs and the dropping of her ankles) so based on what I know I'm super sure she has that. Is there a key word I need to look for to order b12 or does it just need to be powder capsules? Had to scroll back up to find this since I needed to double check to make sure it lined up with her.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
@FrostD -
There are higher calorie foods that are low carb. Wellness is a good example. The challenge is they are typically higher in fat and it sounds like that may not be ideal for Sophie.

Emily -- will she eat throughout the day if you're not around? If so, a timed feeder may be helpful. You can leave food in there so Sophie had food available throughout the day and night. You just want to not give her any food 2 hours prior to shot time. There are timed feeders where you can put an ice pack in the bottom to prevent any spoilage.
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I may have to look into a timed feeder. My partner has been helping since she's temporarily unemployed. Usually we have set feedings and up until she took that down turn she was better at watching the time than I was. The vet wanted me to do just two feedings a day but with her current state if she asks for food Is started giving it to her. She's improving a lot, finally had the strength to walk to the area we feed the others. I will have to do some searching for the feeder. We have three other cats and two dogs so I have to make sure they can't get into it. I like that idea, it could definitely help.

I don't know about the fats, up until the hills science prescription food I hadn't seen her have a reaction like this. I'm willing to try any high cal suggestions. I found a couple high cal gels and stuff, but they seem sugar laden so I don't know of thats safe.
 
shivermewhiskers said:
Is there a key word I need to look for to order b12 or does it just need to be powder capsules?
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A lot of people use this Methyl B-12 from Amazon. It's a 4 month supply for $25 and each tablet is 5000mcgs. You just crush the tablet and mix with food (it's tasteless)

A lot of the Methyl B-12 capsules contain rice flour in them.

Any Methyl B-12 that doesn't contain any sugars, xylitol or carby ingredients is fine. You want to be giving at least 3000mcg per day. B-12 is a water soluble vitamin so any the body doesn't use is just peed out.
 
Would anyone happen to have a recommendation for litterboxes? With this recent turn on of events she hasnt been able to get in and out. My sweet girl has been using the pee pads we put in front of it for when she misses
Chris & China (GA) said:
A lot of people use this Methyl B-12 from Amazon. It's a 4 month supply for $25 and each tablet is 5000mcgs. You just crush the tablet and mix with food (it's tasteless)

A lot of the Methyl B-12 capsules contain rice flour in them.

Any Methyl B-12 that doesn't contain any sugars, xylitol or carby ingredients is fine. You want to be giving at least 3000mcg per day. B-12 is a water soluble vitamin so any the body doesn't use is just peed out.
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That is awesome, thank you for the informative reply!
 
Feeders - there are microchip activated feeders. If your cat is chipped, the feeder will open only in response to your cat's chip. If your cat isn't chipped, they have a tag you can put on a collar. The downside is that these feeders are pricey. I would wonder if there's a Black Friday or holiday sale where you can find a discount. The other downside is that it doesn't have multiple slots the way a timed feeder does. You'll have to decide which option works best for you and Sophie. The timed feeders come in a 2 compartment and 5 compartment version.
 
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