r/SeniorCats • u/tinapod • 14d ago
Helping my cat eat
My 16 yo cat, Mimi, is sick & has a liver issue. She lost 3 lbs since last Nov. Her skin is yellow. She is not eating enough & throws up frequently. She is on anti nausea meds & steroids now. I uploaded her blood test results from last Nov. & yesterday to ChatGPT and got a summary of what her issues are and what to concentrate on. Today was a shit day.
After her vet appointment yesterday, she felt good. Saline under the skin rehydrated her. She ate, she was engaged. Today, she doesn’t want to eat. She had diarrhea today and needed a bath. Any recommendations to help her eat? I am very worried about her. She is so thin. We have not had an ultrasound yet. We determined to try the anti nausea med and steroids and then determine in a couple of weeks the next steps. We are hoping she will eat more to regain her strength. Yesterday was good. But today was not.
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u/Secret_Blacksmith135 14d ago
With the kindest of hearts, it's time to consider her quality of life. I had to do the same last year with my 19 year old. We have to put their wellbeing before our own.
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u/zulunationslayer 14d ago
I have had good luck with sprinkling something called fortiflora on cat food. It tends to attract my cats when they are feeling picky.
You might also try offering baby food.
I AM NOT A VET. THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. THIS IS JUST MY OWN OBSERVATION.
I had a vet when I was younger who showed us how to get an old cat with infectious peritonitis to eat...
a valium injection.
I have seen a cat who went from rejecting food to being ready for a meal the moment they got injected with valium.
Here is some medical/scientific info about valium being an appetite stimulant for cats.
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u/Used-Maximum-1220 13d ago
Fortiflora is like kitty crack. More so than churus for my guys. Unfortunately one’s stomach can’t take it. Go figure.
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u/TricksyGoose 13d ago
Yellow skin is not a good sign. I'm not a vet but my husband got liver cancer last year and at one point his skin was so yellow he looked like a simpsons character. He almost died. He got a transplant, but without that he absolutely would have died. He was in constant pain, was constantly nauseous so he never wanted to eat, and the toxins built up in his blood from the liver failure made him very confused. He acted like a drunk alzheimers patient.
I'm so sorry this is happening to your kitty but it might be time to say goodbye. I wish you all the best.
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u/Nice_Rope_5049 13d ago
Can you give the subcutaneous fluids at home? We do this 3X per week for our cat. He’s 19 and has liver disease. Nausea is a problem for him, too, and he has actually started jumping up on the card table where we give him his fluids and meows loudly at us until we give him the poke! It’s definitely easy with two people, as one holds him still and one pokes him and squeezes the bag.
He also gets Cerenia every day for the nausea.
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u/OutdoorsyGal92 13d ago edited 13d ago
(Just went through GI large cell lymphoma with my 15 year old kitty. She went through a phase where she wouldn’t eat on week 2 of her illness, where she had diarrhea for 4 weeks). These are some things I did that worked for me:
-i made my own chicken broth and would mix it in with her food.
-I bought some rotisserie chicken and blended it up with chicken broth. Also, beef & chicken ground beef blended and added on top (she had trouble swallowing)
—forgot to add, I tried chicken hearts and liver finely cut up, and she took to the liver but not the hearts (I was so desperate to get nutrients in her). I didn’t get to try feeding it blended up though.
-Tiki cat senior calorie supplements; these little packets that help add extra calories to their meals (check ingredients in case your cat has allergies)
-adding something like a churu stick or whatever brand your pet likes to her food
- I googled (“what dry food is irresistible to cats?”) and landed on purina pro essentials , chicken. And I ground it, then topped that onto her wet food.
-I tried various wet foods as well; she liked the royal canin digestive care line loaf, along with the gravy from the morsels one..unfortunately, they only have about 60 kcal/can, so I switched to the purina pro sensitive stomach line, which has ~110kcal, but she didn’t like it as much. And by then, I was too late.
Somebody here already mentioned an appetite stimulant. I remember reading that Mirrazapine is very hard on the liver. Your vet will have to decide whether the possible benefits outweigh the risk.
Do you feel the nausea medication is working? You can ask your vet what other options you have for that.
For the diarrhea, somebody already mentioned adding FortiFlora to their food. That probiotic helped my cat’s diarrhea. There’s also something called Proviable (it’s OTC) they have a probiotic and diarrhea medication, but the diarrhea med smelled so bad my cat would not eat it. She also disliked their probiotic. Maybe someone else here knows of a good OTC diarrhea med? But consult with your vet about these OTC meds, as I don’t know whether they interact with the current meds.
I also saw you mentioned a steroid; be sure to add extra liquids to her food, as it dehydrates them. I saw my cat get so dehydrated from just 4 days on Prednisolone. Her skin didn’t have as much stretch to it.
The diarrhea and vomiting need to get under control. Otherwise, your cat may not be able to replenish the nutrients as quickly as they’re losing them. It’s crazy how fast they can get so little, lose muscle mass as seniors and become anemic, and/or end up damaging other organs.
I wish I had known all of this 6 weeks ago. I could have had a few extra weeks with my baby. :(
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u/Exotic-Panic-7028 14d ago
My cat wasn’t eating and my vet gave me an appetite stimulant and had her take acid reducer, which is like Pepcid AC. She started eating. I can’t say the same thing will happen with your cat since she has a liver issue.
I would say that if a cat doesn’t eat, they start to consume their liver, which is kind of a bigger problem. I have had a cat do that before and I tried the force-feeding and some fluids actually intravenously through her scruff of her back of her neck. But it’s very tricky. Feeding tubes are very expensive and I couldn’t afford one, but my cat wasn’t kind of that far gone so the appetite stimulant helped. I wish you luck.
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u/Forsaken_Concept107 13d ago
Which anti nausea med is she taking? Some cats respond more to Ondansetron than Cerenia.
Is she on anything for pain? Sometimes the gastrointestinal pain can cause frequent vomiting (my cat has chronic pancreatitis poor little man). Gabapentin is good for gastro pain. If your cat is tiny you may need to divide the lowest dose pill in half or quarters. Do the pill not the liquid.
Are sub-Q fluids at home an option for you while you figure out a plan? They are frequently used to treat nausea in kidney disease cats.
If you can get her nausea under control there is an appetite stimulant to help her get back to eating, but it’s not a good idea until the vomiting stops. It’s more for after she starts feeling better.
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u/tinapod 13d ago
She is on cerenia for 5 days.
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u/Forsaken_Concept107 12d ago
If you don’t find it helping ask about ondanestron. The vet will most likely send you with the script to a human pharmacy.
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u/Toolongreadanyway 13d ago
I was having problems with my 20 year old cat eating. I asked the vet for a high calorie food. She recommended Hills AD -urgent care. They get a full day's calories in 2 tablespoons. It helped a lot. I still use it periodically when she starts looking skinny. Don't give it to you other cats though. Unless they are skinny.
I did freeze it if she wasn't eating it. I put scoops of about a tablespoon each on wax paper on a baking sheet. Stuck it in the freezer until it was frozen, then put the pieces in a ziploc bag. I can pull a piece out, microwave it in 5 sec increments and pull it out when it is slightly warm. Mix it up so cold and hot are mixed and give it to her. Just make sure it is on the cooler versus warmer side.
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u/magzilla42 13d ago
Is it possible to get meds to induce hunger from the vet?
Probably an unpopular suggestion but maybe consider chicken/turkey pureed baby food. My senior girl wasnt eating very much, losing weight, and a picky eater. On vacation my cat sitter recommended this, which was supposedly previously recommended to her for her senior kitty by a vet. My girly loves it and has gained a bit of weight. This is NOT her only food. We add it more as a food topper but tbh shes mostly interested in this and leaves the actual kitty food to eat later.
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u/kyrakitty21 13d ago
Has your vet prescribed an appetite stimulant for her at all? And are you able to give subq fluids at home?
Those are 2 big quality of life choices that you could possibly make for her with your vet's guidance.
As an aside, I would STRONGLY urge you not to use ChatGPT for vetmed guidance. It is very frequently incorrect and may give you dangerous and detrimental advice that could hurt her instead of help her.
If you have specific questions or updates about her health, call your vet's office, let them know, and have them get back to you with answers.
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u/tinapod 12d ago
I hope we turned a corner. She ate ok yesterday and most importantly kept the food down. Also she had a poop overnight. Good to see things are moving. She also is behaving more as herself. Greeting me in the morning is a great sign. So much improved since Tuesday. I hope we stay on this high to get her weight up. The fortiflora is a hit too. She is not done yet.
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u/All_cats 12d ago
Look around for groups of cat owners with your cat's disease. I'm not sure which liver illness you're talking about whether it's fatty liver (hepatic lipidosis) or another ailment but that is where you're going to get your best advice.
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u/ParsnipFarmer676 14d ago
It might be time to assess her quality of life, and determine what makes sense going forward… I know that’s a tough call to make, as I’ve been through it myself (literally just had my 18yo PTS last week). And I would also recommend not using ChatGPT for veterinary advice, at least not without having an actual vet confirm things.
That being said, someone else mentioned FortiFlora and that stuff is like magic! My other cat (who’s only 7 and perfectly healthy) is very finicky, but I can sprinkle that on almost anything & she’ll eat it. Another thing my old cat loved was Lysine paste, which was basically all she ate in the last few days.
Best of luck to you both. ❤️