cat update

[firecat]

angus had four enemas and probably the same number of x-rays. he is coming home tonight because he won't eat at the vet hospital and they need him to eat in order to get the rest of the poop out.

once he has started eating again, they want him to be on prescription weight loss / high fiber food and they want me to implement portion control, which means i will no longer be able to free-feed the cats. this stresses me out for two reasons.

1. chasing the cats to different parts of the house a couple of times a day isn't particularly compatible with my own disabilities.

2. i don't want to do things to angus that make him unhappy in his day to day life. he gained a lot of weight on a pretty normal amount of food for a cat (based on my previous experience with cats). when i free feed him, he seems to eat moderately. but if his food bowl becomes empty then once he gets some food he gobbles it so fast he regurgitates. that suggests to me that he has a history of being starved (either because he was feral/stray or because previous owners had him on a diet). since being constipated also makes him unhappy and constipation might be related to his weight, i am willing to give a weight loss treatment a try. but if it comes down to a tradeoff between his living longer vs. living happier, i'd rather that he lived happier.

other things possibly contributing to his condition: he has some arthritis of the spine which may be causing him to not want to "position." he isn't active enough. of course when a creature is constipated it is disinclined to be active, so that's a vicious circle.

advice/comments/anecdata welcomed.

Comments

[mithriltabby]

I forget if I’ve mentioned this around you before, but just in case I haven’t: Yeti has problems with constipation. One of the recommendations for this is pureed pumpkin, which cats can eat safely and it gives them fiber to help get everything through their system. What we’ve been doing is mixing 1 tbsp of pureed pumpkin with a forkful of tuna flakes at bedtime and serving it to each cat. Yeti eats some of it and is doing OK; Cleo loves it and is visibly slimmer as a result of having so much filler in her diet.

[firecat]

I've been using metamucil instead. The vet said that once Angus is on the w/d food he should not get additional fiber. But I will keep that option in mind. Thanks!

[mithriltabby]

When the fluffs were small, we gave them baby food mixed with the non-orange metamucil when they were sick, and they loved it. But that would get expensive...

[firecat]

I just put it in their wet food and add water to make a thick gravy out of the whole thing.

[foxfirefey]

I'd consider getting a Slimcat food ball or two, if you can feed him dry food. It could help the problem on both fronts:

* Reducing portion size WITHOUT letting your cat gorge or eat so fast he throws up. It's free feeding with portion size control.
* Helping to increase activity a little.

[firecat]

The vet mentioned that and I'll probably try it. Thanks!

[foxfirefey]

I use one for my cat to make him marginally less whiny and annoying, myself!

[meloukhia]

I wish I was filled with wisdom. I will note that my vet put Mr. Bell and Mr. S on Dasuquin, which is a high concentrate glucosamine supplement, for their arthritis, and I have noticed a significant improvement.

Trying to transition from free feeding to not is hard (I failed, and fortunately all the cats can safely eat the food Mr. Shadow's on now). One thing lilacsigil suggested when Mr S wasn't eating was isolating the cats at feeding time so that they wouldn't be stressed (mainly, Loki is an asshole and he gets all up in everyone's grille). It did help a bit, once they got used to the idea that food+alone time=eat your damn food, cat. I don't know if that's an option for you?

[firecat]

Thanks for the glucosamine suggestion. I would absolutely separate them at feeding time, yeah.

[lilacsigil]

I have never had to put a cat on a diet (there goes the myth of fat owners and fat cats!) but one of my cats has renal insufficiency and it's very important for her to eat frequently to keep her weight up, especially as renal problems lead to sore gums and tooth issues.

I'm also not up to chasing cats around when I'm having a bad day, but I've had no trouble separating them at feeding time, either by picking up Aeon and closing the door on the other two; or, if she's being sulky and avoiding me, shooing her away from the other cats then closing the door. Having some peace and quiet to eat made her a lot less fussy - maybe it will help Angus be less afraid that someone's going to take his food from him?

[firecat]

Thanks for the suggestions! How long do you keep the cats separated? I've always free-fed my cats so I don't know how long they take to eat if they have a specific meal time.

[lilacsigil]

I keep them apart for about 30 minutes usually, but when Aeon is not feeling much like eating I sit with her and pat her while she nibbles, so sometimes it takes about 45 minutes of letting her go back and forth at her own pace.

[submarine_bells]

FWIW, I've had cats that gobbled their food so fast that they sometimes regurgitated it, and I know those cats haven't been starved since I owned them since they were kittens. For some cats, it's just a temperament thing - some are very, um, food-motivated, and some aren't. Which isn't to say that your conclusion is necessarily wrong; but it's not definitely correct either. Perhaps he's just a gobbler? Some cats are. It can be a personality quirk. And one of my gobbliest cats in the past had to spend six months or so on a him-only diet, so he got the separate-food thing. He complained initially but it worked (it was for kidney problems in his case), and he got used to it fairly quickly as I recall. It was a PITA initially, but many cats will adjust just fine to a new routine after a little while, in my experience.

[firecat]

It's good to know that the gobbling doesn't always mean a history of starvation.

It's also good to know that eventually all the creatures in the household get used to new food routines. How did you manage the separate feeding?

[submarine_bells]

Separate foodbowls, in separate rooms. Flame got shut in the bathroom (or was it the laundry? I dunno, it was fifteen years ago) with his food, and stayed there until he'd eaten it (or obviously gotten bored with it); the other cats got fed in their usual places. It's quite do-able, and possibly easier if the separate-food cat's a gobbler, since they'll eat their food quickly. I have one very un-food-motivated cat among the pack at present who generally dawdles and pecks at a bowl of food over several hours. That's just how he prefers to eat. Having to feed him in a separate room would be a rather protracted exercise! Whereas a gobbly-cat will just down whatever's there in a short while, and can be let out again to mingle thereafter, assuming the other kitties have had their share.

Our current indoor-cat-quotient includes one cat (Miles) who hates another cat (Shansu) with a passion and will go after her whenever he gets the chance. They not only have separate food, but they have separate everything. Miles sleeps in Mark's bedroom and Shansu in mine, and each room has necessary comforts for the cat in question. They take shifts in the rest of the house - for half the day, Miles is shut away in Mark's room while Shansu has the run of the house, and for the other half of the day we switch it around. If we had to keep slow-feeding cats away from each others' food for longer periods, something like that arrangement would likely be feasible.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I have no helpful comments, but LOTS of sympathy!

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

What you say about his food intake sounds very sensible. I would think that there could be something that would alleviate the constipation without decreasing his food.

[pachamama.livejournal.com]

My cat also has arthritis in her hips. She's now on a regular anti-inflammatory (just a squirt of oral liquid once a day -- seems to taste ok to her, so she doesn't object) and the difference it makes in her mobility and comfort is amazing! Might that help your little lad be happier about "assuming the position" ?

[firecat]

That's a good idea. Do you remember what the anti-inflammatory is called?

[pachamama.livejournal.com]

trade name Metacam. Generic Meloxicam 0.5mg/ml

[firecat]

Thanks!

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

Is he on kibble? Switching him to wet food (or at least occasional wet) might help with the constipation, keep him hydrated and may help slim him down.

[firecat]

They have both wet and dry food. Angus much prefers the dry.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

When Junie made Spirit stay under the end table, my vet asked if I had a room to keep her in. I don't, so we're still dealing with her under the end table. Do you have a different room for Angus to stay in?

I hope things get better soon!

[firecat]

We could put them in different rooms, for feeding. But they actually enjoy being together so we'd rather not have them in different rooms all day.

[tanteterri.livejournal.com]

I agree about not trying to limit the cat's food. Especially since you have already had bad experience with him overeating when food is withheld. Plus - he's a cat. He's not a dog. Dog's will eat till they fall over; cats pretty much don't.

However something high fiber or some kind of stool softener might be a good idea. Something to keep the "mail moving" so's to speak.

I'm surprised it is taking all these enemas. I was at an animal er where they brought in a cat with blockage and they were showing the owner how to manually move the blockage along so it would come out.

Ask the vet for some other ideas besides a cat "diet" for weight loss; laxatives, stool softener, more fluids in the diet, whatever.