Biscuit health update

[firecat]

My cat Biscuit had surgery in March and they found cancer. She did well for a while, but the cancer was likely to recur.

Lately she hasn't been eating enough and is losing weight (she gained weight after the surgery but now she's back to the same weight she was just before the surgery), so I took her to the vet today.

The vet thinks cancer is recurring in the lymph nodes. Her bloodwork was normal. He prescribed an appetite stimulant (Mirtazapine, a human antidepressant) and B12 injections.

I'm glad he didn't suggest any more extreme interventions. I just want her to have a reasonable quality of life for as long as she can.

I hear Fancy Feast is the food of choice for tempting low-appetite cats to eat.

Good thoughts/candle-lightings/opinions welcome.

Comments

[pameladean]

Oh, that's a new one on me! Maybe it's bad for kidney cats.

My vet suggested low-sodium chicken broth. It shouldn't have any onions or garlic in it. This combination is hard to find; I've found it at the co-op. Or one could cook it if one were really dedicated, but I don't cook meat for us and haven't quite got to the point of doing so for the cat. He also suggested tuna water -- not tuna itself, but the water from tuna canned in it. These both get poured over the cat food, just a tablespoon or so.

Another trick is elevating the food. Some cats get acid reflux and eat better if they don't have to lower their heads all the way to the ground. We use an old Morton's Kosher Salt box to elevate Ari's food. I don't think he actually has reflux, but he seems to like a variety of positioning. Yet another trick is "sleepy eating," where you put a bowl of food down in front of a sleeping cat. Mine tends to jerk awake, sniff eagerly, and eat much better than when he actually asks for food.

Warming the food slightly either by heating it in the microwave or by putting a spoonful or so of hot water in it and mixing it around can also help because it increases the strength of the food's smell. You have to be careful with the microwaving, of course, and stir well and make sure there aren't any hot spots remaining.

Offering small amounts frequently, if you can, is sometimes helpful, and means you toss less food. I had to get used to throwing food away, though, because sometimes whatever I was trying was Just Not Right, whereas a different flavor would work.

P.

[firecat]

Those are great ideas, thanks! (My cat is completely weird -- she won't touch human tuna water. But I'll try the chicken broth and the heating.

Her food is on the table where she sleeps, and she tends to eat it lying down.

I'm trying a lot of different kinds of food. Around here, Freecyclers will happily take anything left over, I find.

[pameladean]

Hee, I almost put in a disclaimer about how cats are very idiosyncratic and any of these methods may not meet with approval. If she eats lying down, she has clearly chosen her position and that's the end of it.

P.