| preventing a cat from inhaling his food? |
[May. 15th, 2012|01:13 pm] |
Or at least getting him to chew it a bit?
I feed my cat Bally both Before Grain kibble (free eating, usually about half a cup a day, but there's always some in his bowl) and Before Grain wet food (half a can to a can per day). I would love to go 100% wet food, but he doesn't eat enough of it to keep his weight up. (And if you look at my past posts you might recall I spent most of the early part of this year force-feeding him and then putting a feeding tube in when he refused to eat entirely, so I'm loathe to mess with what's working pretty well. He's a big-bodied cat, with an ideal weight of around 14-15 pounds per my vet, so keeping food in him is important.)
However, the problem is that he doesn't really chew his kibble. About half the time, when he's eating, the only noise is the kibble clicking in the bowl - no crunch crunch crunch. And when he throws up (once or twice a week) often the kibble is pretty "whole", as it's usually right after he's inhaled a bunch of food. Other times, I can clearly hear him chewing, and when I give him treats (Feline Greenies, which are particularly crunchy teeth-cleaning treats) he definitely chews them.
Is there anything I can do to encourage my Damn Cat to chew his food? I've seen dog bowls designed with "bumps" in the bottom to make the dog slow down while eating - I wonder if something like that would work for a cat, or if he would just turn up his nose at the bowl... |
|
|
| Cats and medication |
[May. 14th, 2012|12:50 am] |
Do cats who are on long-term oral medication ever get used to it and stop fighting the process? My boy kitty has been hospitalized for constipation twice in the last month, and it looks as if he's going to be on Lactulose for the rest of his life - which will hopefully be a long time, because he's only six - but getting it into him twice a day is a terrible struggle. I'm kind of hoping that eventually he'll just accept that he has to take it, and I can give it to him quickly and efficiently (last night it took half an hour, with my teenage daughter helping, to chase him down, catch him, and get his mouth open), but I don't know how realistic that is. Obviously I've got to give it to him whether he likes it or not, but I hate feeling like I'm torturing him! |
|
|
| Home made cat food |
[May. 13th, 2012|10:29 pm] |
Hi, I was wanting to make some home made food for my cats. Anything gourmet/fancy is a bit out of my price range though. I've tried to do a bit of research but got a lot of crazy, sometimes contradictory info. I'm just looking for some basics if anyone here has done so and maybe some sites to trust/avoid? Any help is greatly appreciated by me and the furballs. Sorry if this is asked a lot, I'm just frustrated over trying to get good info. Many thanks in advice. |
|
|
| . . . . . . |
[May. 13th, 2012|12:50 am] |
I lost one of the fosters today. I can't be sure what happened, I went to bed with 6 perfectly healthy babies, with plenty of gushy food and water laid out, and warm nooks to curl up in. I woke up six hours later to five perfectly healthy babies and one on death's doorstep.
He was utterly ice cold, laying away from the others, he lacked motor control and couldn't stand and could only crawl away from me as if he were a week old. I got a hot water bottle prepped, with him wrapped in a blanket and tucked in my shirt. I had just gotten the bottle on him, and was calling out to my mother ( there's no vets in the area that's open on Saturday at 3pm. ( Yes, I'm a night owl, and I've been suffering from insomnia since the loss of my Mimi cat extra hard. ) and she was trying to figure out something out as well, and I knew pretty much as soon as I picked him up when I woke up he wasn't going to make it. I hadn't even talked to her five minutes and he closed his eyes once, gave a little cry, then opened his eyes again and went still. That was it. He was gone.
He wasn't the runt, and I must admit, I've been doting extra hard on the three smallest kittens, Wendy, Dorothy and Logan. Espeically Dorothy, who is especially tiny but thankfully has a voracious appetite. Daniel ( the kitten I lost ) was the third largest, and really more tied with Rhett in size, but Daniel had a lighter bone frame if that makes sense. All I can surmise is that I lost him to a very quick acting Fading Kitten Syndrome or some neurological issue. I lost one kitten to the former about the time I got Mimi, and he went down hill similarly, only over the course of several days and not in less than six hours, but he was an estimated 8w/o kitten. So, I don't know. Daniel didn't hold on long enough for me to know, all I know was he lacked fine motor control, he could not lift himself, he was ice cold, etc, etc. They just had that vet visit on Wednesday.
I'm upset. Man, I've lost three animals in less than a month's time. My shelter dog lost her marbles and killed my special needs cat, I had to put down shelter dog because of aggression she had never really shown before ( she had some( two small incidents in four months ) snotty issues as some dogs are certain to do, just never thought anything about it. . . ) and now this poor kitten.
I'm also fearful it could be FELV, though I certainly hope not, because that would mean ALL five remaining kittens have it. As I said, the vet refused to do the test, and she could've possibly really screwed me over with it.
I don't know, looking back, Daniel wasn't the most playful of the kittens, but he was a cuddler. He was the first to purr, and I could turn him over on his back in my hand and scritch his little cheeks and he would just PURR. He wasn't a BIG eater, but I wouldn't say he skimped either, as I said, he was one of the larger kittens.
They had the loose stool before the vet issue, but they've completely solid'ed up, and they've been very healthy since I've had them if but very troublesome with their bathroom issues and then getting them off the bottle so soon, so I've got them on ground kibble mixed with avoderm soft foods because it's not TOO high in protein but still grain free, and it's always nice and oily and leaves my kitties with really nice coats, and they've been pigging out. The first couple days they got puree'd food ( invest in a ninja blender, seriously, they're great ) that I would have to syringe to a couple of the kittens who were either outright refusing or not eating that much. It was mainly Logan and Wendy who fought me, but both of them are now scrambling to hog the plate with the rest. I was still using pedialyte to thin the slurry and mix, but ran out early this morning, but I've noticed no issues, if anyone starts to thin again, well, I guess I'll be going to Walmart, but I think we're out of the woods with that. I'm just scared as hell to go to sleep, too afraid I'm going to wake up and another kitten has succumbed. It is a much bigger litter ( originally six ) than what I'm used to, and I've been told that larger litters usually do not make it wholly intact. I just hope this is it and that everyone is alright from here on out. I'm starting to get attached to the little buggers, and want them to get over their hurdles and make it to good homes! |
|
|
| Food Brands We Trust? |
[May. 11th, 2012|12:02 pm] |
I hope this isn't redundant. I'm currently more than a bit annoyed by the Diamond recall, since my little girl's favorite dry food is Taste of the Wild, and even figuring that out took some work. I know Evo's now owned by P&G (it was our old grain-free choice), and I've read some nasty things about Evanger's foods not containing what the labels say they do. We currently have a cupboard full of Merrick, Before Grain, which I think is also Merrick, and Wellness cans, and a little sample bag of NutriSource, which I know nothing about.
What brands are generally considered reputable? Which ones have nasty gossip I should know about? I'm willing to dig around to find details, but starting points would be good. I'd like to find a safe dry food, because we're out of the house during the day, and I'd like my girl to have something to eat, but feel like I'm running out of options. I have a few decent pet stores I could go to tomorrow, so suggestions are very much appreciated. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[May. 10th, 2012|05:43 pm] |
Hey guys! Thanks so much for your advice a few weeks ago re: my kitten and his obsession with water. Unfortuantely, now I'm back with another - far more dangerous - problem.
Pixel is 6 months old, and his new favorite thing is bolting out the door the instant it's opened. It's slightly easier when I'm leaving, as I can sort of move him away and then run for the door. But when I get home, he's sitting in the window waiting, and the instant the door is opened he is out. He's so small and wiry that I can't really block him from getting out. He's very much an inside cat, and I want to discourage him from going outside any way that I can, especially as he refuses to keep a collar on him (he chews it off or removes it moments later).
Any advice? I know it's probably something un-help-able, but hopefully someone here has had a similar experience! |
|
|
| I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. Help, stat. |
[May. 9th, 2012|06:14 pm] |
I just got back from the vet with my fosters, and I feel like I've just visited the twilight zone.
I could not go to my normal vet, since I foster kittens from the next town over, so they have to be through their vets. They were ordered to be tested for the usual bacterial/viral issues as well as a FELV test since there's been an outbreak here. The kittens today just turned four weeks old. This is very key.
My kittens have had diarrhea for a couple days now. They first got it when I started them on softened and wetted dry food, and had gotten better for a day before getting runny again. I had then had them on pedialyte yesterday to help with them from getting dehydrated while I waited to get a slot in at the vet.
There's a bad service post in here somewhere. I arrived at 3:40 for my 4:00 appt. I'm a person that's always early. They did not see me until 4:45. They were not busy. There was nothing going on and when I asked what the problem was at 4:35, they basically shrugged their shoulders at me like I was asking them some question regarding quantum physics.
At 4:45 whereabouts, we got in, the vet scarcely says hello and starts grabbing one kitten from the carrier after another to get fecal samples. An assistant comes back to tell me they need to bathe them real quick, which seemed a bit of an insult to me. I bathe them every other day because they're definitely a messy batch. At that point, they had been in the carrier for two hours, which I pointed that out. They should've been seen almost an hour previous that, and we should've been on our way home. ( it is almost an hour drive from my place to this vet. )
Somewhere around 5:00 the vet comes back, tells me they're negative for all tests, but for the FELV. They didn't run the FELV. They told me they were too young, nevermind the head of the shelter had very specifically ordered that test be carrier out. Furthermore, while they were too young for a FELV test, the vet didn't feel at all they were too young to be wormed. They wormed them.
They then told me they needed to be cut off their formula. They are four weeks old. In my experience kittens wean at whereabouts six weeks old, not four. They told me, almost in exact words, that the 'formula was too hard on their stomachs.' I have never heard a thing like that in my life. As a foster, I am primarily a bottle feeder, I've never heard this. Ever. They then tell me they need to go on canned food. Science Diet, in fact, for a few days. Now, I was always told that canned gives kittens diarrhea! Worse yet, they give me *WEIGHT LOSS and LOW CAL* science diet. Does any of this sound right?! Am I just off my rocker?!
I was also given another wormer to give them every day for five days, and amoxicillan to be administered twice a day until it was gone. If everything was negative, why are they on antibiotics? I'm just dreadfully confused and I could use some additional opinions about this, because it all seems very wrong to me, and the head of our shelter is not picking up her phone at the moment, and I do not want to do anything that would hurt these poor babies. |
|
|
| Cat food/diarrhea problem. |
[May. 9th, 2012|08:49 am] |
So I have two kitties. One of them, Oreo, has had to be on a magnesium-rich prescription food her whole life because she's sensitive to UTIs and crystals in the bladder.
My other cat, Sylvie, has no problems, and eats the regular dry food (I believe it's Science Diet?), and she has for her whole life - 5 years. However, about a week ago, Sylvie seems less interested in her food, and more into trying to eat Oreo's, and then she does, and has terrible diarrhea. Which she has been doing outside the cat box, around the house.
Before this we would just put both of their bowls down in the bathroom, shut the door (to keep the dog out) and let them eat. Now we're obviously going to feed them separately, but I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas for what's going on with Sylvie? Could it just be that her appetite has changed and we should try a different food (obviously a non-prescription one, since I'm sure that's what's causing the diarrhea.)
She's perfectly fine other than the pooping - no lethargy, she's drinking water, (I was concerned about dehydration,) and as active as ever. I'm going to call the vet for their opinion later when they open, but any advice/knowledge would be appreciated, especially because if this is something that can be resolved with a costly vet visit, that would be amazing. I don't know how I would swing a hefty bill like that right now.
Thanks so much! <3 |
|
|
| Recall Expanded to Include Cat Food! |
[May. 8th, 2012|10:30 pm] |
http://shine.yahoo.com/pets/pet-food-recalled-after-salmonella-outbreak.html
http://diamondpetrecall.com/
Brands Affected By Recall- Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
- Country Value
- Diamond
- Diamond Naturals
- Premium Edge
- Professional
- 4Health
- Taste of the Wild
If your production code has a "2" or "3" in the 9th position AND an “X” in the 10th or 11th position and your best-before date is between December 9, 2012 and April 7, 2013, your product is affected by the recall.If the product you have does not include a "2" or "3" in the 9th position AND an “X” in the 10th or 11th position and your best-before date is not between December 9, 2012 and April 7, 2013, your product is not affected by the recall, and you can continue to feed it as usual. |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?v=91.7){kind=small}
cathealth