Elderly Cat

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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby *Giddy Up* » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:52 pm

That's so weird about Sally. Yes, Bobbie is also a tortie. The vet said give her 6 months to lose some weight, if she isn't losing, bring her back in for blood tests to see if there is an underlying issue. Well fortunately she has been losing weight, it's just slooooowly.

Tiger is such a pain to feed. He's most resistant to the scheduled feedings. He won't just eat everything in front of him all at once. He prefers to eat little bits all day long, which I'm trying to break his habit of- cause he takes advantage and begs for little handfuls 10 times a day. So I would try to take it away, but as soon as I go into his room to remove it, he comes running back wanting to eat it. It's like he wants you to sit there with him and pet him while he eats (which is not happening. Sure, I give him a little pat after I put it in his dish but I'm not babysitting him- he's a big boy! As I try to tell him with no success...). So I've started shutting him in the laundry room for about 15mins to try and make him eat. But even then, I check on him and he's sitting by the door with his food half left and when I walk over to the dish to remove it, he comes back and eats again. A few times I have just plain removed his food when he's eaten barely half of it- but I don't like doing that- I worry about him losing weight in his old age, and lets face it, I'm a push over. And then he just whines and whines the rest of the day cause he's hungry. So I just keep trying. Leave him there for 15mins, when I check on him I send him back to his dish and make him eat again. He's getting a tad better- little less is left behind now so atleast I only have to put him back once (I literally plop him infront of his dish :P). Ah....animals. Just like children. But I guess it is harder for him as he's always been fed free choice until this past June- so 13 years of his life.
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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby *rickie* » Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:26 pm

GU -- no idea how much weigh/shape there is between your 2 kitties, but since you said you were struggling to get the little one to meal feed, I thought I'd throw this out there.

What if you took a rubber maid bin and cut a hole just small enough for the little/older guy to get thru?? Then put a heavy book onto and teach kitty to go in there when he's hungry. That way he could have food out all day and the other kitty won't have access to it??

It doesn't work for everyone & every kitty, but perhaps experimenting with a cardboard box 1st to see if kitty will go into it & if he goes, to get the right size hole done so you don't waste a few rubber maids.......

When we had 2 kitties they were meal fed. Now the little one (youngest & only one left) looses weight with meal feeding as he does what your kitty does & he has a few medical conditions going on. Luckily I can leave his food out all the time as our little dog can't jump up onto the sewing desk :D

As to your question LAR: Yes been managing for over 3yrs now & thank you :)
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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby *Giddy Up* » Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:59 pm

Mmmm...that's not a bad idea. I shall keep that one in mind.
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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby lifeafterracing » Sat Feb 13, 2010 7:44 pm

Well, you know the saying, pmc. "The more things change, the more they stay the same." :lol:

What kind of training or courses did you need under your belt, to become clinic manager, Rickie?
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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby babytigger » Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:59 pm

GU, I would try to stay away from free-feeding. It isn't recommended for cats or dogs.

My old Mog actually does better on smaller multiple feedings a day. When she was only fed twice a day, it was too long between feedings, and the stomach acid would build up, so she would throw up a lot. Especially after eating.

On smaller meals fed more frequently, the stomach acid has little chance of building up, so it's greatly reduced her throwing up. And she's not as hungry at meal times so she's not scarfing down her food (which didn't help the throwing up).

That may work for Tiger.
Horses do think. Not very deeply, perhaps, but enough to get you into a lot of trouble." - Unknown
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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby pmc » Wed Feb 17, 2010 7:18 am

I agree with smaller, multiple feedings, bt. My older cat had to lose weight, so on the advice of the vet, I measured out his (gradually reduced) daily ration of kibble and started feeding him multiple times during the day instead. Problem was, the poor guy was so hungry he'd scarf it down too quickly and then sometimes threw it back up. Which, of course, meant that he was starving again 10 minutes later. :?

The solution was buying him a new dish called a Brake-Fast bowl. The thing is genius! It has large 'bumps' inside the bowl so he is not able to just stick his face in the food and inhale it. Instead he has to scoop out the kibble, one piece at a time, onto the floor and then eat it.

Here's a link:

http://www.brake-fast.net/

The bowl was developed for dogs that bolt their food, but the small size bowl (the red one) is perfect for cats.
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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby *Giddy Up* » Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:38 pm

They aren't going back to being free-fed, no worry there.

Right now Tiger and Socks get 3 meals per day. You think they should get fed more? It's just hard during the day to find a feed time to stick to (morning and night have been fairly easy to stick to the same time) since my schedule varies day to day with school and work. So as of right now, the mid-day meal is anywhere from 1-5pm. Though with Tiger, as long as he's eating the food I give him, I will give him more (Socks isn't interested in eating as much- but she is smaller than him), but I do find if I give him a snack too late he won't eat all his night time meal, so I won't give him anymore "snacks" after 6pm. That limits the snack time further.

That is a neat bowl PMC, though none of them have issues with scarfing their food down. Tiger is the opposite....trying to get him to eat all his food up.
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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby pmc » Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:36 am

Sunny Side Up wrote:I don't get it. One of my cats just about drools when he smells McDonald's fries, but turns his nose up at steak, shrimp and chicken cut into bite-sized morsels. No accounting for taste. Or metabolism. All three are fed the same diet - the 11-yr-old is a perfect weight, the 5-yr-old is obese, and the 2-yr-old is flabby.


:lol:

My young female cat has a really varied range of food cravings, too, SSU! She will turn herself inside-out for a french fry, a potato chip, or a cheese Goldfish cracker. She was originally a stray found with her first litter of mature kittens still with her, and was already pregnant with her second litter. Poor thing must have done some serious dumpster-diving, and simply couldn't afford to be picky about what she ate.

Now her mostest-favouritist thing in the whole world to eat is tuna sashimi! She's come a long way. :)

My older male, however, will only eat his regular cat food. Turns his nose up at absolutely everything else. And he's the one that I had to put on a diet. Go figure!
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Re: Elderly Cat

Postby babytigger » Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:49 pm

It's alright pmc. 3 of mine will only eat their cat food, and turn their nose up at a small tidbit of chicken, turkey or beef. They do love their cat treats though.

Mog, however, will eat chicken, turkey, beef, cheese, luke warm tea, milk from anything (cereal, a glass). She's been known to eat my toast, right off my plate. Along with chips or small bits of cookie. And she's nuts about her treats too.

And while none of that is good for her....I figure she's lived almost 20 years and eaten this stuff, so I'm not about to deny her the odd bad thing now.
Horses do think. Not very deeply, perhaps, but enough to get you into a lot of trouble." - Unknown
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