Friday, 9 Feb 2007
Thank you all for your extremely kind words regarding my poor kitten Zoot. It’s meant a lot to me, as the last few days have felt rocky and dark for us, struggling with the specter of losing a cat that we love like he was a boy. His condition hasn’t improved radically since his visit to the vet last Monday, but at least for now, he’s fighting it out. The big issue we’ve got right now is that Zoot - my champion eater, my Big Booty Zooty, my 25-pounder of yore - has little if any appetite. We’ve got him on appetite stimulants and steroids, but they’re not working all that well, and he only takes a bite or two of anything we give him. And we can’t just let him eat what he wants now, either - we’ve been told that even a few more days of low appetite in his condition could lead to very dire consequences for his already compromised liver. This has led to our concocting sort of a Devil’s Brew of all his favorite foods mixed together. Tonight the menu included a slurry of A/D (a sort of Kitty Ensure) and cat treats whipped up with tuna water and cantaloupe. Tomorrow, the delicacies will include Tender Vittles, baby food, potted meat product, roast chicken, those tiny cat food tins of jellied shrimp, and clam juice. In our desperation to feed him we will leave no vile meat product untried.
…Have you got a suggestion on how to get a gravely ill cat to eat? If so, please, by all means do share it. I’d give him caviar night and day, if I only thought he would eat it. (He tried it once, mind you, but he didn’t like it.)
I know that the world is full of pain and suffering, and that it’s my privilege as a rich spoiled American to weep over a pet the way people have to weep over their real children every day all over the world. But it’s heartbreaking, to love a little creature so, and to know that he can’t respond to reason when you want to say “shut up and eat that, dammit, or you really will die.” Y’all’s kindness means a lot to us here at the Kitchener Bitch household. Again, thanks.
I haven’t stopped knitting completely. I don’t have a complete picture of them yet, but in a fit of pique with the weather I started and finished these gloves:
[photopress:emergency_glove.jpg,full,pp_image]
It’s Artyarns Merino Handpaint Stripes, and it’s almost lovely enough to command its formidable price tag. (I did get a whole pair out of one skein so I won’t grumble too much.) They sure will be toasty, though, and at 15 below zero today I must say I can’t wait! (Heh - that’s Bush as Nero in the background - I could write a whole ‘nother rant on that one, but I’ll spare you for now and stick to my needles, as it were. Let’s just say that in this household, we spell “relief” this way: O-B-A-M-A.)
For now I must bid you adieu - there’s some horrible chum I’ve got to mix up for Prince Sickie, and then I’m off to what hopefully will be a long and dreamless sleep. Tomorrow I’ll share more knitting adventures, and we can talk Tofutsies. Until then take care, and hug your little furry ones at home for me.
February 9th, 2007 at 4:28 am
Delurking here. Sorry to read about your kitty. Have you try baby food yet? If not, try them. It requires no chewing and easy to eat. Just make sure to get the baby food without onion. When, one of my kitty had a serious infection and refuse to eat for a week, the vet suggested it and it kick start his appetite. He loves turkey and chicken ones, not liking beef and veal.
February 9th, 2007 at 6:53 am
I’m so sorry to hear about your kitty! My only experience with lost feline appetites was with my big eater, Boris - we gave him boiled chicken breast and canned cat food. But his condition was much less serious than your cat’s, I think.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I hug Zooty. He might like a cruquembouche, and I’m not just saying that. A puff pastry with spun sugar and lump crab meat? I’d almost eat that. Oh Zoot.
Tofutsies! I love that stuff!
February 9th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Beef jerky. Morris never ate any “human” food other than maybe some tuna juice once in a while, but when I got beef jerky, the little guy went nuts for it. It’s worth a shot right?
Alas, the tuna juice didn’t work for poor MoMo that last day, but that was also how I knew he needed to go back to the vet.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Those are so great looking might I ask what pattern you are using? that’s the coolest looking glove.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
hi Amy! Thanks about the gloves! The pattern is just the straight-up glove pattern from Ann Budd’s Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns - the yarn does all the work! Despite my silly grumbliness the ArtYarns Handpaint Stripe really is nice.
February 9th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Been there, done that, and cried the whole time. My heart goes out to you, and yours. When my Mouser wouldn’t eat, I would poach a boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut it into tiny little dice, and hold him in my lap. He’d eat out of my hand (maybe a tablespoon of meat, total, but it was food) and lap a little of the chicken broth. Other times, I’d cook a little ground sirloin in the microwave, just until it was warm through, and he’d nibble on that.
February 9th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Try giving him some catnip. Either steep it as a tea and give it to him with food, or just give him some in his food. Catnip is very soothing for the digestion in humans and animals. When Tiffany was getting toward the end, catnip always seemed to perk up her appetite.
Good luck.
February 9th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
So sorry to hear about your cat.
I agree with the previous poster relative to baby food - I had a cat that went through hepatic lipidosis (the liver problem you refer to) and I had to do all sorts of research on how to deal with the appetite problem.
Get meat baby food, scoop it onto your finger, open his mouth and scrape it along the upper palate. He’ll be inclined to lick it off the roof of his mouth. Repeat as necessary. . .
You could also use some of the combinations that you mentioned as well - but you may also want to look into making your own cat food. This book is an excellent primer:
Dr. Pitcairn’s complete guide to natural health for dogs & cats
I eventually lost this cat to cancer - and he was only thirteen. I know how hard this is to cope with.
Good Luck.
February 9th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Like Ellen, I’ve fed an ill kitty by putting the food on my finger and then into her mouth. And syringing in liquids. Amazing how happy a cat urinating can make you! My heart goes out to you and I’m sending many warm thoughts to you and your boy!
February 9th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
I never comment just lurk; but I had to respond to this one. Last week my kitty stopped eating and was hiding under the coach. Since he is about 16 I thought he was going off to die. Well I took him to the vet and they couldn’t find anything wrong. The vet prescribed appetite stimulants and it seemed to help. I also gave him chicken and gravy baby food and he ate that right up. I cannot stand to think about the time he won’t be around! I hope your kitty starts eating.
February 10th, 2007 at 12:06 am
My fatass stops eating when she’s sick, and of course they tell me the same thing about her liver. I have to smear vitamin paste on her upper lip or her paw (so she’ll lick it off). I have not found a food that she would eat while she was sick. Good luck.
I love the gloves. I’ve been giving serious thought to making my first pair.
February 10th, 2007 at 1:43 am
It is hard to see anyone you love suffer, including (and for some of us, especially) a pet. I gave my cat chicken broth by food syringe when he was in the same condition from diabetes and kidney failure. It gave him some nourishment and didn’t take any effort on his part.
February 10th, 2007 at 5:13 am
long time lurker, first time poster. we’ve had good luck with meat baby food watered down with appropriately flavored broth (so, chicken baby food, chicken broth, beef baby food, beef broth.) we usually smear it on the paw or the mouth, so they lick it, and then point them towards the bowl, and that works. if it doesn’t, then we syringe feed. but with two 20 pound cats, that’s hard.
and, we spell releif O B A M A in this house too. my 23 month old daughter has recently learned to yell Obama for President! it’s cute. even at 3 in the morning.
February 12th, 2007 at 4:33 am
Just checking in on you both.
When our beloved Spiderman had a (terminal) sarcoma by her tongue, my vet offered me high-calorie, easily digestible canned cat food because she was not swallowing well. I, of course, bought a gross, not being able to register that she was not actually going to live to be 100.
Love is indivisible and incomparable.
Hope you’re both having an OK day. I’m thinking of you.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
My two - Bruno and Oscar - send their love to Zoot.
Not a great comfort at this time maybe but Zoot has obviously had a long and happy life with you - that’s worth a lot!
Honor
February 16th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Apparently you’re not having as much trouble feeding him, but my cat (17 1/2 and also having weight/appetite issues after years of being the big cat of the house) loves this absolutely disgusting liver food we get him at the vet. If I’m not mistaken its Hills Perscription Diet A/D, and basically it’s liver liver liver and liver. Smells horrible, but the vet says it’s what they give to animals who won’t eat anything else.
he got sick of it after a while, but it helped him put weight on and gothim eating his favorite gravy food again.
February 17th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
with our really sick kitty, he would eat as long as I was petting him. So I sat there, petting him and encouraging him to eat. It was hard to keep my voice cheery, but it got him through some really tough days.
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:17 am
I am so sorry to hear about your cat, and we will be keeping you in our thoughts. I have a cat that has been sick all her life, mainlynflammatory bowel (but also hyperthyroid, which we treated). She stopped eating and lost a significant amount of weight, to the point the vet thought she would die. She was already on steriods (enough to control the IBD but not enough so she was diabetic). Most appetite stims did not work, but 2 mg cyproheptidine once a day did. She was constantly eating, but did vocalize a lot at night on it. She now eats fine without it, but I like to give her a treat of canned food (so her pills go down easier) She licks the gravy (or the water if I mix it) but does not eat the cannedd part. I am trying to find a gravy supplement to give her, but the vita-gravy stuff I found smelled and tasted bad. Baby food is great, but it tends to give her loose stools, so I am still looking for something better. Would like to find a recipe for cat gravy I can make that is healthy for her (low fat) but I am having trouble. I thank god she eats now but hope someone puts out a better cat gravy because I think a lot of cats have the same problem.
I love my cats like children, as I think you do to, so I hope things get better. I will keep you up-to-date if I find anything else. Please do the same.
Take care, your a good mommy to your kitty. Dawn