Update on my old Pretzel kitteh.

[GreenPartyVoter]

We made it to the vet, but things are a bit of a mystery. No obvious tooth issues to cause him to run away from his food like he does. Blood work shows good glucose and kidney function, so no diabetes or renal failure. Liver levels are down, tho.

We're continuing his hyperthyroid meds, and she gave me some antibiotics for him in case there is an infection we missed (we didn't screen for it) but we're holding off on the flea meds because they might be too toxic for right now. The fleas, in fact may be part of his problem, not being used to them and all.

He weighed just under 8lbs, down from 11+ at his prime. She gave him a bolus of fluids, and some critical care food which he licked at a bit. We're going to try the syringe and watery food trick with the special canned food and baby food also. (She warned me to be careful of any that contains onions. Apparently it's quite toxic to kitties.)

So the upshot is to watch him over the next week and see if he's eating and acting more normally at all. If not, we may want to consider that his quality of life will remain poor and that we should put him down. :(

Thanks for the good wishes and vibes. Please send some more along if you have any left. :hi:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Get well, Pretzel!

:hug:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

2. Glad to hear the panels came back good --

You may have to be really creative on getting him to eat. When my old guy went through his not-eating issues it took me some serious try and error to find out what was tickling his fancy. Dry/wet, people food/cat food, hot/cold, mashed/gloopy, on a saucer/from my hand -- and sometimes his choice changed from from week to week, even day to day. One thing the doc did once was put him on prednisone -- increased appetite is a side effect. And it worked.

Just don't give up on the old guy yet.

[Demoiselle]

3. Love and kisses and excellent vibes to Pretzel. ......

[kimi]

4. Ah, best wishes to Pretzel!

Love that name, by the way. Yes, getting creative in feeding can be a key thing in any treatment. When my old Heidi cat was in the later stages of renal failure, I'd feed her the gravy from cat food mixed with a little bit of catnip - that seemed to perk her up a little. With my old Tabitha cat, who passed last spring, I mixed wet food with some cat-milk stuff from Petsmart called "Cat-Sip" - it's milk but with the lactose removed. She liked that. And also warmed up baby food meat, warmed slightly in the microwave, but yeah, you have to check the ingredient list to make sure there is no onion or onion powder in there.

Good luck, Pretzel, and take care, GreenPartyVoter -- Vibes!:hi:

[muffin1]

5. Good wishes coming your way!

:bounce: