You might try giving him some Nutri-Cal. It’s a calorie and vitamin supplement for dogs and cats that either need an extra boost or that aren’t eating properly. We have a geriatric kitty (she’s 19 ½) that has CRF and we give her 5ml of Nutri-Cal every day by syringe. She hates it, but I firmly believe she’s still around in part because she’s getting the nutrition she needs, even if she doesn’t always eat as well as she should. Here’s the label information with the details of what’s in it, etc.
And if you’re really opposed to forcing it in him with a syringe, it’s certainly sticky enough to put on a paw and not get flung off. If he’ll actually eat it that way, it’d be much easier than syringing, too, as we’ve found that to be a 2-person job.
Best of luck! And keep us posted on how he’s doing. I hope he gets well soon!
Thank you, Shayna, I’ll definitely hog the thread enough to keep you posted Have y’all noticed I got a big mouth? Well, it’s true.
It’s not that I’m opposed to the syringe so much as that Sebastian is opposed! Wouldn’t you be? and he’s feisty.
And my husband is very very up for being Person #2 for this 2-person job. He’s the cat expert around here. He and his mom usually had 6+ around when he was growing up, while my family had only one, fully outdoor kitty. Sebastian is/will be Indoor Indoor Indoor as far as I’m concerned.
And I’ll go look for some Nutri-Cal. I’ve seen that before and thought of it lately. Good to get a testimonial.
i don’t know what it is about fancy feast. i tried it with a cat that had heart troubles, she wouldn’t eat anything, she was very depressed and just wanted to sit in a loaf position under the table, her heart beat was very slow so she had no energy at all. when i popped the top on the ff can, she was in the kitchen before i had it peeled off. it does have a stronger smell than other commercial brands.
Well, y’all, he still won’t eat anything voluntarily. Not kitten kibble, not regular cat kibble, not diet cat kibble, not tuna, not salmon, not Fancy Feast, not any other of the five brands of canned kitten food I brought home from PetCo, not even dog kibble with special-nutrients-dog-supplement-oil and garlic powder sprinkles.
No, we don’t spoil our pets, why do you ask?
No sardines in cupboard; will try soon; thanks ccwaterback!
Me and the hub dosed him good with Syringe Slurry well before our dinnertime (so as to give us time to hose off and get brave before eating our own stuff) and will do so again any few minutes now. Hub is trying desparately to get his co-author to sign off on a tough academic journal article before the midnight submission deadline – there are MS Word formatting issues; nuff said – so it’ll probably be at least 12:30 before the next syringing, but I’ll post again tomorrow AM if I can.
In the meantime, Sebastian is breathing more easily and has been purring away. He still isn’t breathing well through his nose, but he’s at least more reconciled to the partial-mouth-breathing thing now. My GOD he’s such an adorable littletinyittybitty critter. I’ll post a new photo or two this weekend.
Thank you all so much!
Just curious: anyone out there who has done syringe-feeding have any tips? We’ve learned so far that complete immobilization of the critter is required and have graduated to using doubled-over bath towels and a firm grip; my husband also noticed that tiny squirts get more into the cat than big squirts (which get more outside of the cat).
Cats are definitely hard. I could help you with syringe feeding a guinea pig or a dog, but cats are really difficult. What size syringe are you using? I find it easiest to use the smallest syringe possible to get in a decent mouthful–like use a 3 cc. And be sure to put the syringe in the side of the mouth and not straight down the throat so you don’t risk aspiration.
I have no idea if this would work with a struggling kitty with sharp fangs, but with my dog, I was able to force feed her A/D by just taking a ball of it and sticking it on the back of her tongue and holding her mouth closed until she swallowed. It was much easier than syringing, and the A/D is the perfect consistency for this.
If all your measures fail, you really should tak to the vet about a PEG tube.
I’ve never tried to syringe feed a kitty real cat food (even liquidized) – just the Nutri-Cal (did you pick some of that up?). Every cat is different, of course, but in case it’ll be helpful to you, here’s our method… [ul][li]Place a folded towel on the kitchen counter for cushioning and comfort.[/li][li]Have the syringe prepared ahead of time.[/li][li]Place the cat on the towel and sit them on their butt with their front legs standing (like this).[/li][li]Place one hand over their face so that your fingers are on one side of the jaw and your thumb is on the other (like this) and tilt their head backward.[/li][li]With the forefinger of the other hand, gently pull the lower jaw downward to open the mouth.[/li][li]Person #2 squeezes the contents of the syringe into the back of the kitty’s mouth as quickly as possible. [/li][li]Cuddle the kitty and tell them what a good girl/boy they are.[/li][li]Put them down and let them run off to sneer about what meanies you are. [/li][*]Revel in the fact that you’ve just done something really good for your kitty and they’ll thank you for it later. [/ul] Again, what works for our cat might not work as well for yours. We’ve been doing this to Miss Mew for over a year now, so we’ve got it down to a science. It’ll probably take you a few tries and several variations to find the right position and sequence to get your kitty to cooperate. Remember, too, that we’re syringing a substance that’s really thick and gooey so there’s pretty much no chance that it’ll run down the wrong way and she’ll aspirate it (as Calliope wisely mentions). I sure hope you find a way to get Mr. Sebastian to eat!
That’s great, well written advice Shayna. Succinct and even illustrated.
Unfotunately cats here on earth have less concern for human life than your cat from Mars seems to and will gladly flay their humans alive in a split second when this is tried.
Seriously…we had to give our cat a pill for awhile and it was a nightly battle. Her ability to twist, turn, slip out of our grasp, do seemingly impossible contortions to bring her claws to bear and freakish strength for something so small was more than two adult humans with far bigger brains and outweighing her 30:1 could manage. All this to use a little plunger to pop in her mouth for a second and shoot the pill (which she of course almost always stopped on the way in and promptly spat out). Of course this particular cat has an especially wicked mean streak but still…
Well, Whack-a-Mole, while I will admit that we are fortunate enough to have a fairly cooperative kitty, the one part that I left out was that from Zero to “you’d-better-be-done-or-it-ain’t-getting-done” must take place in less than 7 seconds. Anything more than that and the goo is all over the cat, all over us, all over the towel and sometimes even spat out on the floor. When I said, “Person #2 squeezes the contents of the syringe into the back of the kitty’s mouth as quickly as possible,” what I should have said was, “Person #2 squeezes the contents of the syringe into the back of the kitty’s mouth at the speed of light or forget it.”
Our Mars kitty is better behaved when getting poked with an 18-guage needle every 36 hours than she is at getting gooed (as we call it). But again, it’s been a daily routine for us for well over a year. We’ve pretty much perfected it – if we’re fast enough!
You might try human baby food too - but make sure there is NO ONION in it - no onions, no onion powder, no onion flakes - nothing. It think Beech-Nut and Gerber chicken are both safe but read the label. Onion is poisonous to cats.
You can mix it with KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement) into a oatmeal-ish consistency. He might lap it up or you might have to syringe it. I have actually found that a larger syringe works best - the one about 3/4 inch around - you’re only putting the tip in his mouth anyway. Heavens, sometimes I’ve had a dozen kittens to syringe-feed and the 3cc would have taken me all day. Or get a kitten kit at PetSmart - it’s a bottle with nipples. That actually works much better than a syringe. They can get ahold of the nipple more easily and suck.
I would also get some Nutrical, which is a high-calorie supplement, and give it to him according to the directions. I think maybe 1/2" or 1" for a kitten that size? Not sure - definitely read the label. You just smear it in his mouth. It kind of looks like Marmite. Smells like it too. Some cats love it and some hate it - you’ll find out quickly which way yours goes.
You might also check his mouth and tongue and make sure he doesn’t have sores - usually caused by calici virus; it makes it very painful for the kitten to eat; hence, they don’t. Imagine yourself with a tongue full of canker sores. Even vets can miss calici - it’s not easy to spot sometimes. Take a peek and if you see anything, let your vet know.
Have you tried canned pumpkin? My vet recommended that for my sick kitty. You mix it with some warm water and feed through the syringe. Many kitties find it quite tasty. You can mix some of it in with the a/d to make the a/d more palatable. Check with the vet first of course.
Note: get the PLAIN canned pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling. Transfer the contents to a plastic storage container to store in the refrigerator, so it doesn’t pick up the can taste. Same with any canned food you don’t use up right away.
Make sure kitty gets enough water. You can syringe that too. If he’s dehydrated, he might be constipated, and that will affect his appetite too. If he doesn’t eat or drink for 12 hours, please call the vet. Sub-cutaneous fluids are very easy to administer and often do the trick.
The gentle approach to syringe feeding worked better for us. I held the cat like a baby, wrapped in a soft fleecy blanket. Place the tip of the syringe in the corner of his mouth, squeeze a little bit into his mouth, give him a chance to lick and swallow, repeat. It might help to give him a little water first, then the food. Everything should be warm.
Hmmn. We might try the pumpkin. I should say though that the main problem is that he can’t smell anything. He has a very stuffed-up snotty nose. The vet says cats don’t want to eat what they can’t smell, and Sebastian can’t smell anything at all. Before his nose got so bad and he could smell, he ate – no, scratch that, demanded – plenty of kitten kibbles.
He is drinking water on his own, though I’m not entirely sure he’s getting enough; it seems like when he bends over to drink, the snot flows more, so I’ve seen hi start to drink and then stop a lot. But he is getting some. I set down a little glass of water that’s the right height for him to drink out of without leaning over, and I think he’s been drinking from it.
We have been warming the goo. It does not seem to make him accept it. Nothing does. Whenever we “give him a chance to lick and swallow” he takes that instead as a chance to spit, cry piteously through gargles of goo, shake his head, and squirm. He’s reaaally good at that! He’s getting good at aiming it right back in our faces, too. Ptui! OMG that stuff is vile.
“With the forefinger of the other hand, gently pull the lower jaw downward to open the mouth…” Ha! Ha! Ha! Good one! There are cats this actually works with? Wow.
First, having everything prepared and waiting is the first step. Having to stop and fumble to fill the syringe while your cat is trying to escape is not fun. I’ve adapted my syringe by putting a 2 in length of aquarium tubing on the end of the syringe. That sticks it far enough into her mouth without getting my hand too close. I wrap the cat in a towel and sit in an armchair. sort of sideways, so she’s between me and the back of the chair. I hold her in the crook of my arm, making sure the towel covers everything but her head. I hold the towel closed and her head (relatively) still with the hand holdning the cat. With the syringe hand I Bring the tube into the corner of her mouth and squirt. Although she spits out some of it (it’s nasty peppermint-flavoured antacid), she gets most of it. She also gets 1/2 a pill, which I crush up and mix with the liquid in the syringe.
As far as blowing his nose - have you thought about the bulb-type nasal aspirators that are used on stuffy human infants? It does a good job sucking the snot out. I’d reccomend doing that while the cat is still wrapped in the towel.
Poor little guy! I would at least make sure that you have thoroughly wiped his nose before you start trying to give him anything, just to give him as much chance as possible to be able to smell.
I’ve heard that tinned sardines can convince a cat to eat when nothing else will, but I’ve never tried it. Meat baby food is also good, as long as there are no onions. You can make stinky wet food smell even more vile by warming it in the microwave, too. If you’re worried about him getting dehydrated, you can also mix wet food with warm water to make mush - if he eats it, he’ll get more water, too. You could also try a bunny water bottle, since he could drink from that looking up, and maybe not have his nose drain all over his face.
Sebastian looks a lot like my Cobalt when he was a baby. He had a pretty bad URI, too, but it mostly made his eyes ooze, instead of his nose, so he never lost his appetite.
We’ve never had a UTI with our kitty, but we have had a couple of episodes of GI problems {horrors}.
When our kitty is sick, the thing the vet recommended was turkey baby food. To the kitty, this is something like crack cocaine, and he will do anything for it when he’s healthy. When he rejected the special, expensive ‘enteric diet’ cat food that the vet sent us home with last time Tybalt was sick, they recommended mixing some baby food rice cereal with the turkey, to get some bulk into him. I cannot describe how vile this mixture was, but the cat ate it, so we were happy.
Thanks, emily! I love orange boys, but you should know - they’re all nuts. Cobalt is an utter goofball, a dog in a cat’s body. He’s the most good-natured cat I’ve ever known - he loves it when I pick him up on his back and blow raspberries on his furry belly. He’ll trot right up to stranger cats and try to sniff their butts, and look all confused when he gets hissed at. I’ve mostly managed to break him of it, but he used to pull my hair to get me to wake up in the mornings. If I wrapped the sheet around my head to cover my hair, he would try to pry my eyelids open with his paw! After all, if my eyes are open, I must be awake and ready to play, right? When he’s in the mood, he will happily play fetch. His current obsession is the bathtub - he must be present whenever the water is turned on, so he can stare into the tub. When I get in the shower, he sits on the toilet and cries the whole time.
There are some slightly older pictures of the two of them here.
Is Sebastian a classic tabby (the bull’s-eye pattern on the sides like Cobalt has), or striped? It’s hard to tell in the picture you posted. How old is he?
Poor little guy. Kittens do make really quick turnarounds, though - they’re like little kids in that. One day they’re suffering, the next they’re bouncing all over the house. I’m sure that Sebastian will come through with flying colors.
Supergoodfantastic news! Sebastian just ate a bunch of kitten kibble all on his own!
{{{silly happy healthy kitten dance}}} Yaay!
ENugent, we don’t know how old he is, 'cause he’s so tiny and skinny. Our best guess is around 12 weeks old now.
I don’t see what I’d call a bull’s-eye pattern on him, though his striping is very variable, like woodgrain, and a lot wider, and vertical, on the sides. His forehead “M” is really more like a |^||^|, too.
FWIW, if anyone out there is interested, the feeding my husband did today by himself went well: instead of mummifying the kitty in a towel, he “scruffed” him. He held him by the scruff of the neck so his front paws were off the ground and his hind paws were taking weight, but stook him on top of the slick stove so he couldn’t dig in with his nid claws. Then he was fighting only the syringe, not the syringe and the entrapment. It sounds like all by himself mr. emilyforce had nearly as much success as the two of us were having together.
Have y’all noticed I got a big mouth? Well, it’s true.
