Thursday, November 24, 2011

A Few Words from Mummy

Greetings, Fellow Felines (and our C-A-N-I-N-E and Human friends also)!

It's Possum the MagnifiCat here again. Pixie, who is having another one of her Bad Days (well, Bad Week, actually) is curled up, asleep, on the bed. She's still barely eating enough to keep a mousie alive and our Human is having to think up all kinds of subterfuges to persuade her to swallow a few mouthfuls. Mummy is in such despair, she asked if she could write a few words here, in the hope that someone out there could advise her. So over to you, Mummy!

Mummy here!
I am at my wits end. When I first offered Pixie the moist veterinary food, she seemed to love it, and ate more than she had for weeks - though even then, it wasn't much and certainly not the amount she used to eat before she got sick. But after the novelty wore off (which didn't take more than a day), it was back to a  bite or two in the morning and then, in the evening, when I'm home from work and have time to sit with her, I have to coax her with endless patience to eat a few bites more. Since she has a weekly ration of half a can of Fancy Feast, I decided to add half a teaspoon of FF to her moist diatetic food, because the stronger smell helps to increase her appetite. But I still have to sit beside her for an hour and slowly coax her to eat. She still comes eagerly when she sees me taking out the food, but then she sniffs at it, eats maybe three or four pieces and then turns away. When she does eat, she makes a great business of it, pushing the food around in her bowl, taking a very long time to chew a single piece and then, when she seems to have been at her bowl long enough to have licked it clean, I discover that she has, in fact, scarcely swallowed more than a few morsels. Does it hurt her to swallow? I don't know. I've seen her go to one of the three water bowls I have placed around the house and drink. Yesterday, she even went to Possum's bowl and ate a few pieces of his dry food. I read somewhere that cats with kidney disease often develop ulcers on the tongue making it painful for them to eat, but I've not seen any sign of that. Most of the time, she doesn't seem to be showing any signs of distress, other than for the fact that she's painfully thin - so I would feel like a murderer if, at this stage, I were to give up the fight and help her to the Bridge. The vet says there are pills I could give her to increase her appetite, but I would have to administer them twice a day(!) and I know what a struggle it is likely to be to force her to swallow them. Wouldn't that just be torturing her and making her last weeks miserable? I don't know what to do. Please, someone, anyone, advise me.

9 comments:

Fuzzy Tales said...

Truly, only you can decide what's best for her, as you know her best. But I would have her mouth checked by the vet, if you haven't already. Does she have an infection below the gum line? You wouldn't know that to look into her mouth, really. Nicki had 8 teeth extracted in November 2009, at age 3. He had deep pockets of infection around two of his teeth and I'm sure it was painful for him to chew.

Sending universal Light, wishing you luck, and the boys are sending purrs to Pixie.

GreatGranny said...

Fuzzy Tails has good advice. I am sorry to read this distressing news of your precious Pixie. She, as well as you and Possum are in my prayers.

Whisppy said...

The way she eagerly approaches her food only to eat a few mouthfuls before leaving, make me think she might have some trouble with her teeth like Fuzzy Tales suggested? Are her gums red and inflammed? Have her teeth been scaled before?

CATachresis said...

It's very distressful for you and Pixie! Austin is a very picky eater indeed. It's taken 4 years for him to get to the point where he actually asks for food. The reason, we think, is that he has gingivitis and his gums are inflamed. It's not anything that can really be helped in the long term, but I do give him dry hard food which he loves. Vet also said to give him raw chicken wings. However, he wouldn't go near them!!

As Pixie has other serious health issues, it could be she's just indicating her desire to leave. However, as you say she seems eager to eat to start with, it could indicate gum or teeth problems! So a vet check should rule that in or out. xox

Terri said...

http://www.felinecrf.org/persuading_cat_to_eat.htm

I agree with having the vet look at her mouth. I've added a path above that may provide some ideas for you.

One of our favorite tricks at the no kill shelter is add a bit of hot water to food. It warms the food, increases the aroma and enough of it can make a slurry they can lick up.

meowmeowmans said...

Yes, please do have a vet check sweet Pixie's mouth. We are sending our most earnest purrs and prayers...

The J-Cats said...

@Terri - Thanks, that website you provided looks very useful.
But, alas, the hot water trick didn't work :-(

Terri said...

They had other suggestions on the website. Maybe another option will work.

Anonymous said...

The vet may have some tubes of concentrated food which can be mixed with Pixie's regular food for extr nourisment.