Eat a live frog every morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day

[rolanni]

...Thank you, Mister Twain.

Hexapuma went to the vet yesterday because Steve found blood where there shouldn't be and a PumaCat in the immediate vicinity. The vet said he couldn't find any overt signs of illness and would need more evidence -- we do, after all, have two other cats in the house.

This morning, Hex was (early) Caught In The Act. We rose, had coffee, had more coffee, had breakfast, called the vet and was told to Bring the Cat in NOW.

So I did that.

The trip in was uneventful; the doctor's visit slightly fraught. A shot was administered, pills were dispensed. We need to figure out a way to get Hex to drink more water. He likes to play in the cat fountain and to suck the water off his toes, but I'm really not sure you can get enough water that way. A suggested ploy was wet food with a dash of salt added -- anyone tried this?

Anyhow, on the way home, Hex got messily and spectacularly sick all over the cat carrier. I pulled over into the parking lot of a deserted business, bent down to open the door of the carrier -- and my silver crescent became entangled in the gridwork of the door. The chain fastens (I should say fastened) with a magnet, which I thought would let go, but -- it was a good magnet. The chain broke, instead.

I fished Hex out of the cat box, put him in the front seat, the box in the back, found the moon, at least, among the gravel and grass, got back in the car and started up. Hex climbed into my lap and so to home, where we both now lie exhausted. I need to get up in a sec and clean out the cat carrier, and do some other chores. Then, I guess I'll go back into town and see if I can buy a silver chain.

Comments

[jimsmyth.livejournal.com]

I suppose increasing Hexapuma's liquid intake by tying sponges to all those toes is Right Out?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

You didn't need that . . .

Good vibes for all of you.

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

When we needed to get more fluids into our beasts (can we say hard poop & owie?) our vet suggested canned pumpkin. I was soooo skeptical. We had been giving a large tablespoon of yogurt/day to one miss because she is a very gassy lassie, and not too surprising they do like plain, nonfat yogurt (and it totally helps the gas). While the plain punkin was indeed a nose-turner-upper, mixed with just a touch of yogurt, that punkin becomes a tasty TREAT. One they *insist* on getting every morning, thank you very much, just bring it.

So while you can't make a kitty drink more water, you can get more moisture into them, and heaping tablespoon of pumgert a day keeps the hard poops away. (Any needed pills get crushed up in the side serving of 1/2 teasp. of tuna, because we HATE pills too, but tuna is a TREAT and would never have anything bad hidden in it.)

[(Anonymous)]

One of my cats also has had occasion urinary issues. Since he isn't really fond of wet foods I have had to work on some of the alternate methods.

I now have 2 different types of cat fountains in 2 different locations. I also use filtered water in the fountains. This provides an additional place for him to play in the fountain and drink water.

I also occasionally provide broth. Tried the pumpkin thing, but it didn't work. May try the pumpkin again with yogurt as suggested above.

The final thing that may or may not work is to purchase some of the frozen feeder mice at your local pet store. I purchase the ones with hair (not pinkies) and occasionally give them to the cats. Find an area that you can search or clean, because they may leave you bits and pieces. If they actually eat them, it will provide extra moisture and playtime.

Susan

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

I laugh in the face of the vet when she asks me to measure how much water he drinks. Water is not water if it is stationary and measurable. I fill the drinking fountain with filtered water, and provide a (supervised) dripping tap for occasions when nothing else will do. This last is not to be countenanced just after he has eaten, or dire consequences (and carpet cleaning) will result.

Wet food is notfood^TM; it is to be licked into submission and sprayed across the room as a myriad of dried grains that stick to the floor. The only true food is brown cardboard pellets, the type he has eaten since he was a kit. (Yoghurt is the only exception to this rule).

Pills are the devil's work. Lucky his daily medication is a yummy liquid....

[zola.livejournal.com]

A couple of things to try.

1)When you make whole chicken, save the backs. Once you have a couple, boil the to make stock. Pull the bits of meat off the bone, strain the stock, and offer Hex some of the meat in the broth when it is cool. If he does like it, he will probably accept other foods moistened with the broth. If you make a large batch of broth, you can freeze it in small containers. The broth keeps for 2 or 3 days in the fridge and was a tried and true for one of our cats with crf.

2) I have a cat who is at least half Maine Coon. He has a problem drinking. He wants a drink (and patiently gets one), but when he tries to crouch down, the fur between his toes makes him slip and slide, and generally we always know when he's drinking because we hear the scritching sounds as he tries to brace himself in a good position to get a drink.

A placemat helped, but he shredded it in short order. We are looking at that tape you put on stairs to try to offer him more secure footing, especially now that we have another long-haired cat experiencing the same issue.

Is Hex having this problem, with his not feeling good making it not worth the effort to get a drink? You might try one of those stands that hold a bowl, I think they are for small dogs, but if he didn't have to bend and brace to drink, he might be more inclined. You can also try tossing a few ice cubes into the bowl--our cats adore this, especially in hot weather.

3) Does he like milk? There's a cat milk product out there that purports to be low in calories that's in a box like a juice box and is supposed to not have the same problems as regular milk. If he did like it, it's not that expensive and you'd know he was getting liquid. If either worked, you could also dilute it with a bit of water without making him turn his nose up at it.

4) You can mix a little extra water with canned cat food. The trick to this is to let it sit for a minute or two and give one final mix so that it's more like a gravy.

5) While he's on the meds, you can force water on him if you must. You just want a needle-less syringe, a small one is better. Just be sure to push the plunger down slowly, if you've squirted a bit of water into his mouth, make sure he's swallowed it before you give a little more. This method is a pain but may get you over the hump.

6) If all else fails, talk to your vet about sub-Q fluids. They are very easy to give once you learn how, even if it's kind of squick-inducing.

[spiritdancer]

The yogurt and pumpkin ideas sound like pretty good ideas.

For adding extra salt to the diet: try soy sauce :-) It's very high in salt, and many cats like the flavor.

[ligeia-bm.livejournal.com]

Yogurt works great, better than milk (adult cats are milk intolerant, so while you can give them milk once in a while without (many) consequences, it's likely milk will make the stool very loose, even to the point of diarrhea). The salt method has been suggested to me, but I haven't tried it.

One of my cats is an absolute maniac about water. It has to be just out the tap, and he has to see you changing the bowl, or he won't drink. For hours if you don't comply. Will call you, scratch, make all kind of pitiful noises until you give up.

He had FUS a few years ago, and we tried first with the special food.

Answer, part II

[ligeia-bm.livejournal.com]

argh, it posted before it was ready and spellcheked! arghhh...
Anyway, as I was saying, we tried with the special food for FUS (Feline Urinary Syndrome), and it didn't work. It was very expensive even with the discount (hubby is a veterinarian).
It did work for a while, but finally he started having problems again.

So, we tried other alternatives: grounded meat (didn't work either), chicken, the food cans, etc. Finally what worked best was cow's lungs (here is called bofe).
It's been staple food for cats before the dried food became popular here. Anyway, we discovered it worked because it has a low protein count, which was what ultimately affected Miki (my cat). Dried food has high protein count, among other things, and grounded meat does too, as most kinds of meats. If your cat has protein intake problems as the basis for his problems you might want to be aware of this.

Then you have anchovies and sardines. Both have high salt concentration and since they are fish, I doubt your cat would reject them. Though with cats you never now, because changing eating habits of a cat is Very. Hard. Work.

My cat likes olives, they have high salt concentrations if they have been kept in brine. I find his tastes weird, but if you try it and your cat doesn't like olives like mine does, well, you can always have them yourself.

[elbales]

Oh, no, poor kitty. I hope he feels better soon! (Mine just threw up repeatedly. We're keeping an eye on him.)

Hope you can find a chain soon.

Keep us updated, yeah? Your fans/friends worry, too. :)