<p>I suggest tuna juice in a dish. The stinkiest kind, chunk light or whatever in water, not the fancy stuff that doesn’t smell. Brought back one of ours from the grave. It was so bad with him, we set him out in the sunshine in a basket and people came by to say goodbye. He pulled a Lazarus. He eventually used up about 37 lives. Killed a mouse one Saturday night, faded out on Sunday night and gave up the ghost on Monday morning. I found the mouse in the yard and buried him with it.</p>
<p>You just don’t know with cats. They are eternally mysterious.</p>
<p>^^^ We tried tuna last week- chunk light - other than a few cursory licks, no interest. The vets tried various cat foods, including a particularly stinky one meant to induce critical care cats to eat - no go. He’s had an appetite stimulant given to him as well as an antacid. </p>
<p>So sorry about iggy! It’s tough when a cat just starts…meandering. Sick but not in pain, gradually failing and not eating - that’s how our last tabby died. It’s hard. Hugs to you and your husband. </p>
<p>I’m so so sorry to hear about Iggy. I will hope against hope that there’s a change for the better. There’s one thing you can consider now even if you end up not needing it: When our gray girl became ill last fall and it became clear that she was failing, we found a vet who performed euthanasia in the pet’s home. I don’t know if that’s an option for you but it was a great comfort to us, and I think to her, that she was able to end her life in a familiar place in a favorite spot. </p>
<p>My poor kitty almost had her kidneys destroyed because of the melamine in the cat food (recall disaster). She would not eat anything–period. I literally fed her pet food treats for a month–I put them under her nose and she’d eat one or two and move away–then I’d do it again. There was no food other than treats that she would even get near–including tuna. Tried force feeding one time which she hated but did decide she’d eat after that. So then she ate tuna for a while. Eventually she got better but it wasn’t easy.</p>
Exactly. Iggy still eats a few treats each time we stick them under his nose. I tried tuna again yesterday - no go. He briefly visits the vet again this afternoon for fluid and medications (antibiotic and anti-nausea). He seems an infinitesimal bit better this morning but my son came home and Iggy adores him (and my husband). So … he’s having a good cat day.</p>
<p>A vet I really like has taken over his care. She was off when Iggy first got sick. I didn’t particularly warm up to the first vet (new) but liked the second (also new). Still, I’m relieved that Dr. S. has been working the last couple days and will through the weekend. She takes the time to call (twice on Wednesday) and looked over him herself during his technician visit yesterday, carried him out and talked to us. Little things like that matter.</p>
<p>Isn’t it amazing that vets call far more often, far more reliably than doctors for humans do? My vet always calls. The pediatrician was less reliable about that.</p>
<p>Yup. Our vet called us many time during the crisis with our dog. My sister even used to make emergency house calls for her four legged patients! She says that misses these times. :)</p>
<p>Things like that do matter, Ignatius. We’ve just started taking one of our cats to a new vet. Quite a bit more expensive, but the confidence I have in them is worth it. BTW, the cat is having a dental procedure next week. They’ve asked us to bring her by the evening before, to have a dose of subcutaneous fluids, since they noticed she was slightly dehydrated. No charge for that (or it’s probably rolled into the dental charge). Just that kind of thing makes me feel like they’re paying attention.</p>
<p>BTW this new place specializes in cats only, which I also like. And they have 3 vets on staff. </p>
<p>Brief Iggy update: Yes, he’s still hanging in. The official diagnosis is acute kidney disease, which evidently is better than chronic kidney disease - though acute can turn into chronic. Blood tests (for kidney values) showed good good improvement, so we continued fluids at the vet till last Tuesday and he’s still takes an antibiotic daily. He eats treats eagerly now and has reestablished his daily routine - though spends more time sleeping. He’s hungry but won’t eat good for him stuff and that probably has to change … just not today. He’ll be retested the end of this week and we’ll go from there. My husband says the poor cat has now used his college fund on vet bills. Truthfully, I’m not sure he would have gotten in anywhere. </p>
<p>Thanks for posting @ignatius. I’m really happy to learn that Iggy’s hanging in and that he seems to be improving. I know what you mean about the vet bills though. b-( </p>
<p>Our official best cat ever rose from the dead the first time from bladder issues. The bill went from big screen TV to small car. But he lived 5 more years, so amortized … it would still be a ton of money. That dude came back from the grave so often I’d call him Lazarus.</p>
<p>On a more uplifting note, we’re having an interesting time with our stray, the one that sent me to the hospital for a course of rabies vaccine & multiple, probably unnecessary IVs. (BTW, I can’t donate blood for 2 years because of the antibodies.) We’ve determined it’s a girl. She comes inside, plays with the cat toys - ripped one of the oldest to pieces - but runs out if you move, if someone else enters the room. I have to rub her down before she’ll eat, which is weird. For weeks, she’d lie straight down on her belly but last week she started sliding onto her side. I pet her harder each day and sometimes get a hiss and then the next day I can do that and it’s fine. A few days ago, her back leg started to twitch when I’d hit a good spot. And last night, she rolled onto her back, belly up, which surprised her because she hissed and stood up. But she lets me pet her again and then she eats. People could learn from cats: they just “let it go” but we need songs to tell us that. She lets me clean out the bits of crud that get stuck in her fur, but the brush over-stimulates her. </p>
<p>I let the beasts out at dawn - because they yell at us and I want to let my wife sleep - and she’s apparently been spending the early hours exploring the house. My wife found her down the basement steps this morning being shadowed by one of our other cats. There is a good measure of co-existence, probably because she gets food the others think is a treat - want the younger to come running, open a can of her food and he flies into the house at 50MPH - and because, as I’ve mentioned, with the natural born killer being gone there is a lack of leadership. There’s actually a lack of brains, since our elder cat is not exactly quick-witted (except in comparison to inanimate objects and dead things) and the younger is oddly dog-like. </p>
<p>I may have mentioned one side effect is our neighbors’ dogs, who have the run of our yard, spend a lot of their time looking for stray bits of cat food on the deck - or sneaking up to snag the bowl. So now we hear a click, click of nails and there’s a 120 lb dog standing behind the couch, inching her way over toward the food smell like she’s invisible. She’s sweet and the biggest danger is she’ll jump and lick your face. </p>
<p>Good for Iggy! Hopefully the fluids have helped flush out his kidneys and he’s on his way to recovery. My cat pulled through the kidney crisis but it took a real toll on her I think in the long run. I can attest to vet bills–fortunately a class action settlement paid a majority of the bills but it was still expensive.</p>
<p>I found at least 10 stray cats living on my campus. They’re not fertile but also aren’t trusting. One if the professor feeds them and as an avid cat lady I really want to do something… Ideas? </p>
<p>Ps this is the longest period within my entire life that I have not touched a cat…</p>
<p>Is there a cat shelter near your campus? Maybe you can volunteer there as your schedule permits. Voluteers do more than just change water bowls and scoop the boxes. The shelters also need volunteers to socialize with cats.</p>
<p>So long as we’re on feline kidney ailments, maybe someone has a brilliant suggestion for getting an antibiotic pill into my cat to cure his kidney infection. </p>
<p>For the first few days, I put half a pill in each of two pill pockets–chicken flavored, the guy’s favorite taste–and he gobbled them up. Then suddenly he wised up and starting spitting out the piece of pill while swallowing the rest of the pocket. (Who knew he could even do that?) I’ve tried everything else I can think of. I tried crushing the pill and mixing it a small portion of tuna or another favored food, but the medication must taste vile, because he’ll have none of it. I tried the online advice to pry open his jaws, pop in the pill, hold the jaws shut and stroke his throat to induce swallowing. Well, he is able to clench his jaws so tightly that I can’t get them open without hurting him, and he’s smart enough to know that know that my sudden need to hold him by the face means it’s time to clench. (It was soooo easy to pill our Lab, who’d eagerly eat any disgusting thing, from toadstools to roadkill to Barbie limbs. Any attempt to put something in her mouth was greeted with wild enthusiasm.) I’ve watched a bunch of instructional Youtube videos, but the cats in them are way more cooperative than mine and the vets doing the demonstrations are old hands at this stuff. I did find this video, which had me cracking up and at least made me feel that I’m not the only one who struggles: <a href=“Giving a Cat a Pill!!!! An ORDEAL documented!! - YouTube”>Giving a Cat a Pill!!!! An ORDEAL documented!! - YouTube;
<p>So, any magic tricks to try tomorrow? He has three more weeks on this med, and it’s not available in liquid form, btw, though why a med for cats would only come in pill form is beyond me. They’re notoriously hard to pill ( as famously related here: <a href=“How to Give A Cat A Pill, Humor”>http://www.nanceestar.com/CatPill.html</a> ).I think I’d be happier to give him a daily injection than force a pill.</p>
<p>We’ve had to give a pill everyday also. We have a pill gun similar to the one in the video you posted. Some nights we look like the man in the video - try try again with the medication - and other nights we get it in on our first try. Our vet showed us how to do it and the only difference in her instruction from what I see in the video is that she angles the pill gun along the side of the mouth rather than straight on. The mouth does not have to be pried open as far, so it makes it a little easier. We are no experts by any means. It often seems more hit-and-miss than anything else. Two nights ago it took between 5-8 tries (I lost count). Last night we managed to get the pill in him on the first try.</p>
<p>Iggy will go back to the vet today or tomorrow to let her assess how he’s doing. We’ll have her give his medication for that day during his visit. </p>
She says that misses these times. :)</p>
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