To the cat people... HELP!!!

[Dr_Girlfriend]

Alright... So Gezebel, my husband's cat, is geriatric. I'm estimating her age at somewhere between 15 and 18 years old. She's now refusing solid food, which I kind of expected at some point. I've switched her over to mostly wet food and milk (which she LOVES... well, the milk anyway.) I tried chunkier cut moist food but she'll only eat the sauce and leave the rest. Because of that, I switched to moist pate. She was good for a few days but now won't eat that. Since she really likes milk, I mixed "senior" cat food with it which she was okay with for a little bit... but now nothing. She's VERY vocal so I know she's angry with me.

I thought something was wrong so I took her to the vet. She's losing weight. I was scared she may be refusing food because she's sick. They said she's fine, just picky. They also weren't too helpful on the what-to-feed-her part of why I brought her in. I know she's hungry... I just don't know what else to give her...

Any ideas???

 

[NotteRequiem]

Provided there's nothing wrong with her internally, if she's hungry enough, she'll eat the food you give her.

But I'd take her to another vet. Insist on an x-ray. She could have something preventing her from eating/digesting solids.

 

[LMD84]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotteRequiem Provided there's nothing wrong with her internally, if she's hungry enough, she'll eat the food you give her. But I'd take her to another vet. Insist on an x-ray. She could have something preventing her from eating/digesting solids.

totally agree with this, just find another vet. at the end of the day it is very odd that the kitty won't eat but will eat 'wet' things. please get an x ray done just in case anything is wrong inside.

 

[Teggy]

Agreed! Trust your gut and get a second opinion. You live with the cat, so you know when it's not acting normally. I can always tell when my boy is being finicky about food versus being sick.

 

[TwiggyPop]

I agree with the two posts above me, this is what happened to my roommates cat when she got a tumor. She also switched to the cheapest and crappiest tuna you can find and surpisingly that worked for a while, but there's only so much you can do for an old cat.
I hate seeing this happen to animals, they're like our babies.

 

[Simply Elegant]

Same happened to mine, but she had digestive problems. We gave her pills for it and she went back to her regular food but eventually the problems got worse so we had to put her down.

Milk isn't good for cats though. Try switching to a different brand of canned cat food or mix in some canned tuna or salmon.

 

[Makeup Emporium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simply Elegant Milk isn't good for cats though. Try switching to a different brand of canned cat food or mix in some canned tuna or salmon.

Agreed...milk can actually be quite harmful to cats and can cause digestive problems. Most cats develop lactose intolerance after they are weened and they cannot digest the sugars in milk. This leads to diarrhea and can then lead to the digestive problems if you continue to feed the cat milk.

Def get a 2nd opinion. Unfortunately a lot of vet work is guesswork because there is no one to tell them what hurts (came out of the mouth of my pet's vet). Good luck!

 

[Dr_Girlfriend]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simply Elegant Same happened to mine, but she had digestive problems. We gave her pills for it and she went back to her regular food but eventually the problems got worse so we had to put her down. Milk isn't good for cats though. Try switching to a different brand of canned cat food or mix in some canned tuna or salmon.

I understand that milk isn't good for the kitties. However, as old as she is and as long as she's been drinking it (a good 10 years that I'm aware), she hasn't had any problems. I tried her back on Eukanuba mixed with the chicken pate and she's seeming to like it. She would.. expensive taste! So that's comforting.

Yes, I'm getting a second opinion. It disappoints me to have to do that because the office is an all cats clinic and there are no more around here. But, I've also noticed over the past year or so they just run you in and out barely talking to you and charge a fortune... For example, I had her groomed last year and they charged me well over $300. They sedated her for a bath which royally pissed me off considering her age AND the fact it wasn't necessary since she's not combative. Also, "bedside" manner has changed and the tech is kind of bitchy. When I took Charles when he got in a bad fight and was hurt, the tech looked in the room, shouted across the place "Ugh, she's crying AGAIN!" Of course I was crying! I felt like a bad mama and he was in pain!

Thank you for the opinions and advice! Keeps me thinkin'...

 

[MACATTAK]

I have a "geriatric"

cat too...she's 16. I know it's her lack of teeth that makes eating hard food impossible. Many times when she eats hard food, she is really only swallowing it, and it comes back up. She only eats the moist foods these days, and does well with them. The only time she stops eating is when she is about to throw up a hairball. Do you think it's possible Gezebel has a hairball? I don't have any advice on what to feed her, but when we can find it, we like to supplement my cat's diet with "Cat Sip". I used to be able to find this at a lot of grocery stores, but it is getting harder and harder to find. It's basically a version of milk that is safe for cats, and my cat really likes it. You may be able to find it at a Petco or Petsmart.

 

[panther27]

Did you get a blood test done?If not,you probably should.Also,did they check her teeth?If she's having a toothache,that would affect her eating habits.Please keep us updated.

 

[Mabelle]

im glad your bringing her to another vet

a lot of people would just let the poor old bird suffer and chalk it up to age. It shows your a good mama to her.

While i cant really suggest what teh problem might be (but my gut does tell me its not sudden pickiness) i can suggest a food. After my baby, Mojo, had a leg surgery, she kept trying to do too much, hurting/tweeking her leg, and then she wouldnt walk on it at all, so it wouldnt get better. As a result she got very depressed, and stopped eating much. Mojo likes salt, the saltier the better! so, i went out to Mc Donalds and bought a large french fry. She perked right up when she smelled it, and salt next to me while i ate it. I knew she wanted to lick the salt off my fingers, so i let her, put i placed them next to some wet food (A/D wet food from science diet, its for "annorexic cats" or cats that dont much. high fat content i guess) eventually i scopped up some gross wet food on my w=finger and she kept licking it, cause there was still salt on my fingers. I fed her half a can this way. I think i had to do it twice, but she went back to eating once she realized what she was missing.

While the whole salty fingers (that sounds weird) trick might not work, i would suggest trying the AD food (from science diet) especially if shes loosing weigh.

please keep us updated!

oh, ps, that vet office sonds awful. Seriously if a vet tech was so rude to me because i care for my cat!!! i think i would beat her with a shovel. thats SO awful. Considering how many ppl bring their animals in to be put down because they bark too much, pee too much, smell too much or just dont match the furniture anymore, i think she would happy to see a woman taht cares so much for her cat. What a fing moron.

 

[MxAxC-_ATTACK]

There is special cat milk out there. Also there is something called Vita gravy, my cat likes it.

 

[LMD84]

my cats drink 'cat milk' by the brand felix which make cat food in the uk

 

[MzzRach]

Whiskas makes a "cat milk" which is available in pet stores, at least in the US.

I agree that she should have blood work done - having that information can often turn up results that otherwise would have been missed, even in an x-ray.

She needs a full work up to find out what is really going on.

Best of luck

 

[Kragey]

Are her teeth okay? Cats tend to have a lot of problems with their teeth as they age.

 

[katred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr_Girlfriend I understand that milk isn't good for the kitties. However, as old as she is and as long as she's been drinking it (a good 10 years that I'm aware), she hasn't had any problems. I tried her back on Eukanuba mixed with the chicken pate and she's seeming to like it. She would.. expensive taste! So that's comforting.

There are cat's milk substitutes that you can get that might be easier on the intestines. Although it's more common for males to have problems with milk than females.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr_Girlfriend Yes, I'm getting a second opinion.

Good. It doesn't sound like the original vet did a very thorough job. She could be seriously ill, but she could also have something easily treatable that shouldn't get ignored. Right decision!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr_Girlfriend It disappoints me to have to do that because the office is an all cats clinic and there are no more around here. But, I've also noticed over the past year or so they just run you in and out barely talking to you and charge a fortune... For example, I had her groomed last year and they charged me well over $300. They sedated her for a bath which royally pissed me off considering her age AND the fact it wasn't necessary since she's not combative. Also, "bedside" manner has changed and the tech is kind of bitchy. When I took Charles when he got in a bad fight and was hurt, the tech looked in the room, shouted across the place "Ugh, she's crying AGAIN!" Of course I was crying! I felt like a bad mama and he was in pain!

I had the EXACT same experience with an all-cat hospital, so here are my thoughts on that. Veterinarians who choose to specialise do so because they're going to attract a clientele who want "advanced" care- someone who concentrates just on their kind of animal. That also means people who are more into their pets and who are going to fork over more money to keep them healthy. So the decision to be a "cat" doctor as opposed to a regular vet is based on the ability to earn more money. That's a pretty lousy reason if you ask me.

The place here ripped me off and put me in a situation where I could have seriously endangered my cat by listing fees essential to her care (hydration during neutering surgery) as "extras"- as if they were doing something more than a regular hospital would do. When I questioned their pricing, their response was- and I'm not paraphrasing- "Well, we offer the best care for cats, if you don't want that, it's your choice."

The "best care" involved them forgetting to order the pain medication she was supposed to get afterwards, then substituting Fentanyl, a substance that's normally only given to cancer patients in severe pain because it's about a hundred times as powerful as morphine, and then telling me I was lucky that they weren't charging me more for it, since it was more expensive than the regular drugs. Oh, and they broke the door of my cat carrier (I was wondering why they didn't want me to put her in the carrier myself), so she almost fell out on the street as I was leaving.

I took her brother to another vet, a generalist. They were awesome. They wanted to be sick when I showed them the file from the cat people...

 

[bellaboomboom]

Poor kitty! I hope she is feeling better very soon. One of my cats is 16 and we have some issues with her as well so I feel for you. I would definately get another opinion and xrays/scans can't hurt either - just to be safe. Keep us all posted.