# Need some help! Cat on prescription diet temporarily



## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

Without going into detail because I am just so exhausted right now and don't feel like typing out a novel....I've had a horrible week that just got worse.

Rocky (cat) has fatty liver disease and I'm having to force feed him Hill's A/D with L-Carnitine, Taurine and Vitamin E added every 3 hours through syringe until he's eating well on his own as well as amoxicillin twice a day for 14 days. Then we have a check up and more testing to figure out the underlying cause, which is making me nervous because I heard cancer mentioned.

Anyways, I hate having to feed him Hill's but it's supposed to be used because it's "highly digestible ingredients and extra calories to help during recovery, highly digestible proteins to help wound and tissue healing, preserving lean body mass and promoting a healthy immune system, increased level of potassium to help avoid depletion, highly palatability with a soft consistency aids acceptance by inappetant pets and gives flexibility in feeding."

Anything I could replicate at home with better ingredients? Or should I stick with this? I am not taking risks with this, if I need to stick with this I will.


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

I was under the impression that the main thing is that the cat is getting calories. So any high calorie wet food would work. Of course you'd want it to be a consistent pate style so it can be easily force fed. But I'm no expert. I'm very sorry you are going through this, I hope Rocky heals completely and is back to normal in no time! Is he an overweight cat? Usually when I hear about fatty liver it's an overweight cat who stopped eating or started eating significantly less. I hope it's nothing serious.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

Maxy24 said:


> I was under the impression that the main thing is that the cat is getting calories. So any high calorie wet food would work. Of course you'd want it to be a consistent pate style so it can be easily force fed. But I'm no expert. I'm very sorry you are going through this, I hope Rocky heals completely and is back to normal in no time! Is he an overweight cat? Usually when I hear about fatty liver it's an overweight cat who stopped eating or started eating significantly less. I hope it's nothing serious.


He was overweight (15 pounds), but now he's almost underweight(9lbs 6oz). He was slowly dropping weight once he was on raw and I had him on raw for a while, but he slowly lost interest and I had to start feeding him kibble again. He gained the weight back and would vomit occasionally (about once a month). Then he started vomiting 20 minutes after eating kibble and lost a little bit of weight. So I bought some canned food and made some homemade food. He ate it with his normal gusto and continued healthily losing weight. Then, ever so slowly, he started flat out refusing it and wanting kibble but even when I would offer him kibble to see what kind of appetite he had he wouldn't eat like he usually did. I had to coax him to eat and he wasn't eating as much as he should, but he was eating. Then he started vomiting even the canned and homemade food yesterday and I noticed he was acting strangely. I weighed him and saw he had lost even more weight (unhealthy at this point). This morning I took him to the vet as soon as it was sick walk-in time.

This happened over a 4 week time period. Vet's going to do some x-rays and other further testing once he's bounced back from this. He has FIV, thus the concern for cancer or something else causing the vomiting/lack of interest in food.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Aww, poor kitten. I hope he feels better and wants to eat very soon. 
I have absolutely no idea how you are able to force feed him though,, you need a medal, thats all I can say. Although if Windy was in the same boat, I'd also move heaven and earth to make her better again.
Sending you and Rocky all the best wishes I can, I hope he gets an appetite back soon and starts putting on a bit of weight.
Thinking of Rocky. Please let us know how he's getting on.


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

Here is the recipe my vet gives to people:
1 5.5oz can of high quality cat food
1/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup Corn Oil
Any supplements as needed
Blend ingredients until liquidy and able to syringe feed. This is what I gave my own cat Tabitha for several weeks. She has hyperthyroidism and was down to 4#, so I had to syringe feed her for several weeks. I used Blue Buffalo and Innova canned food for the canned food. The oil adds the calories/fat to help in recovery.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

MollyWoppy said:


> Aww, poor kitten. I hope he feels better and wants to eat very soon.
> I have absolutely no idea how you are able to force feed him though,, you need a medal, thats all I can say. Although if Windy was in the same boat, I'd also move heaven and earth to make her better again.
> Sending you and Rocky all the best wishes I can, I hope he gets an appetite back soon and starts putting on a bit of weight.
> Thinking of Rocky. Please let us know how he's getting on.


It's not easy, I'll tell you that!  Fortunately Rocky is a pretty easy-going cat. It definitely requires two people. Either my mom or I wrap/swaddle him in a towel so he can't scratch and flail and hold his head still while the other syringes the food into his mouth slowly. It takes 2-5 minutes and he lets out yowls the entire time. My vet actually mentioned if he's too hard to force feed we could put in a feeding tube.

I'm just glad it's not Penny! She is SO hard to medicate. I would hate to have to force feed her. I'd look like I was in a cat fight for sure!

He seems a little perkier today and his eyes don't look so yellow. Yesterday he actually ate his entire first meal by himself but we've had to force feed him every single time since. He didn't vomit anything yesterday but he did vomit his first meal today.




cprcheetah said:


> Here is the recipe my vet gives to people:
> 1 5.5oz can of high quality cat food
> 1/3 cup warm water
> 1/4 cup Corn Oil
> ...


THANK YOU!!! I'll be making this in time for his next feeding.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Good luck, I hope he continues to improve.
I'm printing out your post cprcheetah, just incase I ever have the misfortune to have Windy in the same situation. Thank you.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm so sorry. Is that the stuff in a can that's got the texture of glue? It sounds like the canned food plus oils would be more tasty plus give her the fat she needs.

Good luck - hopefully it's not anything so awful as cancer.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

I made the stuff last night for his last feeding. I mixed a can (5.5oz.) of Nature's Variety Instinct Lamb canned food with 1/3 cup warm homemade chicken broth and 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil. He actually took a couple of licks of it by himself last night!

I've actually found a better way to force feed. It's not as stressful and I can do it by myself. After I fill up the syringes I put a blanket down on the floor with a towel on top of it. I set Rocky down on the towel, wrap it around him, and restrain him by holding the towel closed right near his neck while holding his head still with the same hand. My body is right next to him, so it steadies his head without needing both hands. Then I can take the syringe in my other hand and squirt 1cc at a time into the side of his mouth. He actually seems to like it better this way. Then I have to wipe off his face after we're done. Gets done much easier this way.

No vomiting since yesterday morning. He did go through the motions of vomiting last night but nothing ever happened.



xellil said:


> I'm so sorry. Is that the stuff in a can that's got the texture of glue? It sounds like the canned food plus oils would be more tasty plus give her the fat she needs.
> 
> Good luck - hopefully it's not anything so awful as cancer.


It's the mush-type canned food. You have to mix it with enough water to make it the texture of a thick milkshake so you can draw it up in the syringe.

Thanks! Through all my research thus far the best case scenario would be IBD or even idiopathic liver disease, but secondary hepatic lipidosis (the fat accumulation occurs secondary to some other problem) is much more common.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

I've been recording down how much we've been feeding him at what time of the day, when he vomits etc.

He vomits pretty much once a day. The time is seemingly random. A couple of times it was around 4:00 PM, once it was in the morning, and once it was at 8:00 PM. He's had two days where he did not vomit, he simply started the vomiting sound/motion but did not actually vomit. Yesterday was a vomit free day as was the first day after he came back from the vet. As I was refilling the syringe today at his 4:00PM feeding he started vomiting. Checkmark for Wednesday. BUT he did eat a little on his own today!

These last two days he's definitely been perkier, actually sitting at the door mewing to be let outside and racing to follow you if he thinks the door is going to be opened. His eyes and ears have practically no yellow tint left.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Thanks for the update, I was wondering how he was getting on. The best news is that he obviously feels a bit better, that says a lot in itself. Hope he continues improving!


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

I have good news and bad news.

Good news is Rocky has not vomited or even started heaving like he was going to vomit for the past two days! He's kept everything down beautifully and we've increased the amount he's eating and spaced them to every four hours now. 

Bad news is he now has a URI.  The only thing I can figure is he got it at the vets office. 

Yesterday morning he started having sneezing fits. Starting late last night I noticed nasal discharge and watery eyes as well as him acting tired. I'm not taking him into the vet unless he takes even the slightest turn for the worse. He has a checkup on Thursday anyways. And he's already on antibiotics and being force fed. We've been going around disinfecting everything, we've aired out the house, I've put on a humidifier and been gently wiping his nose and eyes with a warm washcloth. He's been mostly keeping to upstairs where it's quiet.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

Poor kitty, I hope he gets on the mend soon.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Paws&Tails said:


> I have good news and bad news.
> 
> Good news is Rocky has not vomited or even started heaving like he was going to vomit for the past two days! He's kept everything down beautifully and we've increased the amount he's eating and spaced them to every four hours now.
> 
> ...


Well, that stinks. Glad he is keeping down food, though. Maybe he'll get over the infection on his own, or it won't get too bad.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

So the sneezing has stopped. It seemed like every time he moved his head, got moved or touched etc. he went into a sneezing fit. Yesterday the sneezing stopped and today he's been acting much perkier, coming downstairs and begging to go outside. He's still obviously congested, but he seems to be getting over it beautifully.

The syringes my vet gave us wore out and were becoming a pain to use in the middle of a feeding today, but the Walgreen's pharmacy 5 minutes away gave us a couple for free. No-ring ones at that!! Sooo much easier to use! 

Rocky has continued to keep down all his food.  He's getting harder to feed, though. Increasingly struggling with me (got a nice scratch on my neck) and yowling the entire time. Penny was in the room earlier while I was feeding him and started growling at me. That feeding tube option is tempting, but he's already sick and although it would be minor surgery, it's surgery nevertheless. Still stressful and taxing on the cat. He's at 30cc's per feeding (with 6 feedings per day). He's only eaten a tiny little bit on his own 2-3 times over the course of 11 days (besides eating his entire first meal himself). 

I also made the connection that around the same time I stopped feeding Hill's A/D and feeding the Nature's Variety/Wellness canned food mixed with homemade chicken broth and virgin coconut oil (with added vitamin e, taurine and l-carnitine) he stopped vomiting. Possible connection there? Or pure coincidence?


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Awesome news, sounds like he's doing really well all round except for the eating on his own. I wonder how long it takes before they get the urge to eat again.
Oh God, I don't envy you having to force feed, thats one of my worst nightmares. He's obviously feeling so much better, hope he starts getting hungry soon!
You are an awesome owner, you really are - he is a lucky kitten.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

Aww, thanks! 

To make a long story short, nothing else is wrong with Rocky.  Though I suspect he may have IBD which would explain the progressive vomiting of kibble and then by that point he had already started with the hepatic lipidosis from not eating enough (overweight to begin with) and then just started vomiting everything.

On the fourth Rocky began acting more like himself again (very vocal and cuddly, wanting to be held, socializing and wanting outside something terrible, sleeping on my pillow and on my chest at night). He ate a tad bit of one of his meals on his own, but that was it. On the fifth he began trying to eat kibble. Obviously I didn't let him, he actually ate 1/4 to 1/2 of each of his meals on his own (force feeding the rest), but he wanted the kibble so badly, he wouldn't finish it in hopes of getting kibble. Today he woke me up at 5:00AM like he usually does by smacking my face with his paw and getting way in my circle of space so I could feed him. Definitely 100% again.  He still only at about 1/4 of it and then wanted kibble (thus force feeding him the rest of it) so my mom suggested we get some chicken and herring and turkey and salmon (Wellness brand) canned food to see if he'd eat that. See, the cats were stuck on salmon kibble. They wouldn't (won't) eat any other flavor kibble except occasionally duck. Well it worked! He ate ALL the food I put down for his lunch!!!!

Bad news is Princess now has the URI. Poor baby.  I feel so bad for her! So now we're having to force feed (and syringe water into her since she won't drink much either) her since she doesn't want to eat. She's actually incredibly easy to force feed. She stays completely still and doesn't fight at all. I've been steaming up the bathroom and taking her in there for 10 minutes at a time a couple times a day and keeping her isolated from Penny. Hopefully Penny won't get it. Rocky only has a tiny bit of lingering congestion left.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Poor you, both of them in a row. Well, I am so happy to hear that Rocky is so much better, you did a great job keeping him alive there. Hopefully Penny (love, love that name!) will be feeling heaps better really soon too.
All I can say is that if Windy ever gets sick enough that I have to force feed her, I might just send you up the airfare and you can come visit for a couple of weeks!


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

It's not too hard once you get the hang of it, but it can be a little more difficult if they struggle. If (hopefully never happens!) you ever would need to I'd gladly make a video of how I do it for you!

Princess is completely over it now and Penny doesn't seem to be getting it, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll give it another week or so until I'll say she won't be getting it.

Rock is eating canned food only right now very well as long as it's got fish in it. I'm working on coming up with a ground cat food recipe using fish that I can slowly transition him to, gradually make it raw and then gradually work him to eating chunks of raw meat. *fingers crossed* I'm also working on transitioning Princess and Penny to canned so they aren't eating different diets.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Thanks for the update. Thats so awesome, they are all back to normal health-wise now, you can relax for a bit now. Good job on your part too, if you hadn't been so dedicated I'm sure it would have been quite a different story. 
And, I will keep you in mind if Windy ever decides to stop eating, it might be next month, it might be five years, but one day you just might get a call!
Now all you have to deal with is what all of us with blimin fussy cats have to deal with everyday, trying to get them to eat what you want them to eat!


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

Glad to hear there doing better. You've had a tough go of it. Not an easy task.


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## Jynical (Jun 22, 2011)

Hi there!

I'm curious as to how Rocky is now? I'm currently treating my 7 year old cat for Fatty Liver... we're force-feeding too. It's... trying.

Anyway, I'm hoping that there's light at the end of this tunnel.
Hope everyone is well.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

Jynical said:


> Hi there!
> 
> I'm curious as to how Rocky is now? I'm currently treating my 7 year old cat for Fatty Liver... we're force-feeding too. It's... trying.
> 
> ...



Everything checks out okay with Rocky. He cannot have kibble because of IBS type problems when he eats it (pretty much only vomiting). He has a sensitive tummy that just can't handle it anymore.

He's been completely back to normal for several weeks now. Especially since he harasses me by following me everywhere and biting my fingers to remind me it's meal time. *rolls eyes* He's been having some hairball issues as of lately, but adding digestive enzymes to his diet did the trick. 

I'm still slowly working on switching him (and the other two) to raw foods and _completely_ off of fish since they became so addicted to it and (still) refuse anything but fish. It's going to be a slow, long road. Rocky is nicely maintaining his weight, though it couldn't hurt if he would gain half a pound.

He still does want kibble and will occasionally hold out for a few hours before eating canned. So long as he doesn't go longer than 12 hours without eating I will not give in. I'll force feed him over giving him kibble again.

I am so sorry!  I know it's hard and frustrating, but you'll get there! Any idea if there was/is an underlying issue?


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## Jynical (Jun 22, 2011)

Not sure about an underlying issue yet. There was a definitive reason that she started losing weight though... and it just came off quickly. I've been reading that that can be enough to trigger going off food, but... I don't know. 

I'm so glad he's doing better now. It's good to know that there are instances where the cat bounces back. <3


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