jofishandjim (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jofishandjim) wrote,@ 2006-03-24 05:25:00 |
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Cooking for your sick cat
My cat is sick, but will stay comfortable and may get a bit better if she'll eat. I can't force her, but I do know there are better and worse ways to try to get her to take in some food, unfortunately learned from present and past experience.
(note: Gizmo died in November, 2006. She was an awesome friend of mine for a very long time. Her life was good, even at the end, and it was longer than it might have been because of the knowledge I developed and recorded below. I hope this will be useful to others with sick cats).
First, PAY ATTENTION! This is advice for feeding ill cats in crisis, not for everyday diets. These aren't especially complete notes, and aren't suitable for every cat in every household. The author of this post is NOT A VETERINARIAN. If your pet is sick, you MUST CALL A VET IMMEDIATELY AND GET PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE. If you are sent home with instructions like "try to get her to eat something" then this post IS for you. But your pet needs and deserves professional care. You can only get that from a vet, not from a web page.
The standard advice found online and from vets - that seems to be repeated from one source to the next - is too vague for action. My favorite is "be creative." When my pet is sick, I don't want to be creative. Just tell me what to do!
(photo of Gizmo by my friend (and hers) Jon).
Even the piggiest cat may stop eating if feeling discomfort, even if they're hungry and can hold down food. The vets tell me that if a cat doesn't eat regularly (daily), liver damage can occur, leading to an irreversible downward spiral even if everything else is OK. Eating regularly matters a lot for cats.
Cat food
Stinky food is best, anything to stimulate the appetite. Too bad for your stinky house after.
Don't forget that "food" includes the cat's favorite treats. My cat loves Pounce treats, and even when she's been sick lately, she can eat half a dozen of these at once. I believe that eating stimulates more eating, so think of them as an appetizer or after-dinner snack or reward for eating. Don't over-do it; they aren't a substitute for dinner. Spread them out over time, to keep the cat in the habit of eating anything and so the special-ness doesn't wane.
The first step is to buy half a dozen or so cans of different kinds of food at a grocery. Also be sure to have some of the cat's "regular" food favorites around, but keep in mind that the cat's tastes may change and she may reject old favorites. This doesn't necessarily mean the cat won't eat anything, just that you've got to find out what she'll go for. You will be throwing some of these away when they're rejected... and you need to keep a list if you can't remember what worked and to know what haven't been tried yet when you go back for another half-dozen. Fancy Feast in the little cans is a good choice because you can do a lot of sampling for not a lot of money. If your cat doesn't like old school ground food, save Science Diet and other "Senior" stuff for last, cuz that's what it is. It's nutritious but ugly and, at least with my cats, not considered "food".
Human food
Some human food is also worth trying. If your cat is not eating, then getting any food at all into her is what matters. Forget most of what you have heard about human food lacking the right ingredients for cats. Put food in stomach first, and deal with a well balanced diet after the emergency.
Don't be an idiot and feed the cat something that will kill her. Chocolate is right out, and for the rest of things to not feed cats, search the web. Cats are true carnivores and need meat to survive. Feed them animals.
My sick cat likes fish, so my list is biased toward human-packaged fish:
- The inexpensive, big can of salmon from Trader Joe's
- Cheap flake tuna in water from any grocery (some cats may prefer tuna in oil, though it's getting harder to find)
- Chicken of the Sea canned salmon
- Milk ... try everything from skim up to heavy cream, full fat vanilla ice cream and skim to whole milk yogurt, if you aren't sure what your cat will drink. Mine won't drink cream, only likes skim milk. I guess I taught her to eat well. I wish she'd drink a little cream though, for the calories.
Baby food
Every vet and web site I've seen suggests baby food for the sick cat. This is what I know about baby food:
- it tastes awful, to humans (me) and apparently to some cats too
- it's expensive
- there are maybe three meat-only (no onion powder/spices) baby food items in the whole section of maybe 100+ kinds of baby food. These little jars cost a dollar apiece.
That said, if you want to try baby food, here are some things I learned recently (no baby to practice with):
- baby food is not stocked with other food, but in the baby aisle, which is the bright, powdery smelling aisle in the middle of the store. Look for the 10-foot high wall of diapers. When in doubt, follow that woman with the kid in the baby seat atop the cart, or the guy in a big hurry who looks like he hasn't slept in a week.
- most baby food is made of veggies and fruit. Don't waste your cat's time. However the applesauce and peach puree are pretty yummy. Consider buying some for yourself, for a tasty and easy to digest treat.
- The plain-meat stuff is now marketed as "Second foods" and has a big "2" on the label.
Bonus insider tip for blog readers: if you come by my house this week and I offer the "lamb or beef pate" on a cracker, don't take it.
Cat milk
Not derived from milking female cats, this is merely lactose-free cow's milk with a few things added, then marked up dramatically to $2.99. My cats hate it. I hate it. Read the box in the pet store and you will see that you can make your own cat milk from... lactose free cow's milk and some other stuff that may or may not matter to an ill cat, like yeast and other icky garbage.
Preparation and presentation
Watch how the cat is eating... if she is licking up the gravy around the food but not loading up on the substance of it, this shows she does like the flavor and that's a good sign. But you need to work on the size of the chunks.
Put some of the food in a shallow dish - a saucer or side plate - add some warm water to make it soupy (maybe 1 T water for every 2T food) then mash it with a fork if it's amenable to that (most cat food is, as is the aforementioned human food). Now you have a nice soupy broth with flaked meat in the dish, and some on your shirt. Don't worry, it'll wash out.
Adding the water is important because you're sneaking some more hydration into her.
You can also throw some fish (e.g. the trader joe's salmon) in a blender with a little water and crank on it until it's a nice mousse consistency. Mix in some water and nuke when serving. This is great for cats that have trouble even with flakes of meat.
If you're going to feed the cat on the spot, nuke any food for about 10 to 15 seconds, then stir with your finger to make sure it's not too hot, and that there are no hot or cold spots. Also make sure the plate hasn't gotten extremely hot in any spot... if the plate's hot, re-plate so the cat doesn't burn her tongue and think the food hurts.
Plating & Presentation
As with people, the appearance, aroma and texture of food matter. One important difference is that cats are not as hung up on pretty things as people are, but are critical of flavor and substance. The cat will not be as easily misled as a person.
Serve in a shallow dish or saucer with sides high enough to keep the slurry on the dish but lower than the ordinary "food dish" that rises several inches. Even a mostly-flat saucer will work ok for this if you don't slosh it around too much.
Heating the food improves the flavor and gets some smells going, which will stimulate the cat's appetite.
There is no feeding schedule with a sick cat. If the cat's up and about and could be enticed to eat, try to feed her. Leave some time between feedings so she doesn't get annoyed with you constantly shoving food at her.
And if you can't get the cat to the food, take the food to the cat. I've met Gizmo with a saucer of food on the floor/couch/chair where she's sitting... then gradually raised it toward her face as long as she showed interest, and held it there while she ate. Sometimes a cat that won't take itself to food will eat when presented with some. Obviously this can't go on forever, and the hope is that the rejuvenated and less-starved pet will begin to resume regular habits and seeking food. When she stops eating, don't force it. Do try to rotate the plate or change the angle... sometimes a cat will take some more bites from a differently-oriented plate. Cat logic. Can't explain it, but can work with it.
I sometimes place these cat-tapas plates in two or three places where she hangs out, so that she might find a snack on her own.... including (very important) the usual place where she's fed and watered.
Don't offer too many flavors at once. If she hits one she doesn't like, she may walk away from the whole smorgasbord... one or two at a time, and focus on the winners.
Where practical, put a blanket, towel or throw rug under the various feeding areas. There will definitely be some fish-slurry spilled while feeding the sick cat. It's easier to launder a towel than a carpet. I believe the change of texture/surface also helps signal a special area ("food!"), to the cat. User experience, baby!
Other
Quantity: 1 can of fancy feast (that cute little expensive can) per 3 lbs of body weight, is a guideline.
Keep the litter box clean, and the water bowl topped up with fresh water at the temperature your cat prefers. I found out after having them for a couple of years, that my cats liked their water at room temperature. They would stay away from a fresh bowl of water until it had been out a couple of hours. Drinking goes hand in hand with eating, and hydration is vital to the cat's health and comfort.
Finally, there is only so much you can do and none of this may help. Sick cats sometimes just don't want to eat. It's not your fault if that happens.
Other sources
Here's a great compilation, Feeding Your Cat written by a vet who actually knows what he's talking about. I found this after writing the above. Good info about the nutritional value (or absence) of commercial pet foods.
-- Jim
My cat is sick, but will stay comfortable and may get a bit better if she'll eat. I can't force her, but I do know there are better and worse ways to try to get her to take in some food, unfortunately learned from present and past experience.
(note: Gizmo died in November, 2006. She was an awesome friend of mine for a very long time. Her life was good, even at the end, and it was longer than it might have been because of the knowledge I developed and recorded below. I hope this will be useful to others with sick cats).
First, PAY ATTENTION! This is advice for feeding ill cats in crisis, not for everyday diets. These aren't especially complete notes, and aren't suitable for every cat in every household. The author of this post is NOT A VETERINARIAN. If your pet is sick, you MUST CALL A VET IMMEDIATELY AND GET PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE. If you are sent home with instructions like "try to get her to eat something" then this post IS for you. But your pet needs and deserves professional care. You can only get that from a vet, not from a web page.
The standard advice found online and from vets - that seems to be repeated from one source to the next - is too vague for action. My favorite is "be creative." When my pet is sick, I don't want to be creative. Just tell me what to do!(photo of Gizmo by my friend (and hers) Jon).
Even the piggiest cat may stop eating if feeling discomfort, even if they're hungry and can hold down food. The vets tell me that if a cat doesn't eat regularly (daily), liver damage can occur, leading to an irreversible downward spiral even if everything else is OK. Eating regularly matters a lot for cats.
Cat food
Stinky food is best, anything to stimulate the appetite. Too bad for your stinky house after.
Don't forget that "food" includes the cat's favorite treats. My cat loves Pounce treats, and even when she's been sick lately, she can eat half a dozen of these at once. I believe that eating stimulates more eating, so think of them as an appetizer or after-dinner snack or reward for eating. Don't over-do it; they aren't a substitute for dinner. Spread them out over time, to keep the cat in the habit of eating anything and so the special-ness doesn't wane.
The first step is to buy half a dozen or so cans of different kinds of food at a grocery. Also be sure to have some of the cat's "regular" food favorites around, but keep in mind that the cat's tastes may change and she may reject old favorites. This doesn't necessarily mean the cat won't eat anything, just that you've got to find out what she'll go for. You will be throwing some of these away when they're rejected... and you need to keep a list if you can't remember what worked and to know what haven't been tried yet when you go back for another half-dozen. Fancy Feast in the little cans is a good choice because you can do a lot of sampling for not a lot of money. If your cat doesn't like old school ground food, save Science Diet and other "Senior" stuff for last, cuz that's what it is. It's nutritious but ugly and, at least with my cats, not considered "food".
Human food
Some human food is also worth trying. If your cat is not eating, then getting any food at all into her is what matters. Forget most of what you have heard about human food lacking the right ingredients for cats. Put food in stomach first, and deal with a well balanced diet after the emergency.
Don't be an idiot and feed the cat something that will kill her. Chocolate is right out, and for the rest of things to not feed cats, search the web. Cats are true carnivores and need meat to survive. Feed them animals.
My sick cat likes fish, so my list is biased toward human-packaged fish:
- The inexpensive, big can of salmon from Trader Joe's
- Cheap flake tuna in water from any grocery (some cats may prefer tuna in oil, though it's getting harder to find)
- Chicken of the Sea canned salmon
- Milk ... try everything from skim up to heavy cream, full fat vanilla ice cream and skim to whole milk yogurt, if you aren't sure what your cat will drink. Mine won't drink cream, only likes skim milk. I guess I taught her to eat well. I wish she'd drink a little cream though, for the calories.
Baby food
Every vet and web site I've seen suggests baby food for the sick cat. This is what I know about baby food:
- it tastes awful, to humans (me) and apparently to some cats too
- it's expensive
- there are maybe three meat-only (no onion powder/spices) baby food items in the whole section of maybe 100+ kinds of baby food. These little jars cost a dollar apiece.
That said, if you want to try baby food, here are some things I learned recently (no baby to practice with):
- baby food is not stocked with other food, but in the baby aisle, which is the bright, powdery smelling aisle in the middle of the store. Look for the 10-foot high wall of diapers. When in doubt, follow that woman with the kid in the baby seat atop the cart, or the guy in a big hurry who looks like he hasn't slept in a week.
- most baby food is made of veggies and fruit. Don't waste your cat's time. However the applesauce and peach puree are pretty yummy. Consider buying some for yourself, for a tasty and easy to digest treat.
- The plain-meat stuff is now marketed as "Second foods" and has a big "2" on the label.
Bonus insider tip for blog readers: if you come by my house this week and I offer the "lamb or beef pate" on a cracker, don't take it.
Cat milk
Not derived from milking female cats, this is merely lactose-free cow's milk with a few things added, then marked up dramatically to $2.99. My cats hate it. I hate it. Read the box in the pet store and you will see that you can make your own cat milk from... lactose free cow's milk and some other stuff that may or may not matter to an ill cat, like yeast and other icky garbage.
Preparation and presentation
Watch how the cat is eating... if she is licking up the gravy around the food but not loading up on the substance of it, this shows she does like the flavor and that's a good sign. But you need to work on the size of the chunks.
Put some of the food in a shallow dish - a saucer or side plate - add some warm water to make it soupy (maybe 1 T water for every 2T food) then mash it with a fork if it's amenable to that (most cat food is, as is the aforementioned human food). Now you have a nice soupy broth with flaked meat in the dish, and some on your shirt. Don't worry, it'll wash out.
Adding the water is important because you're sneaking some more hydration into her.
You can also throw some fish (e.g. the trader joe's salmon) in a blender with a little water and crank on it until it's a nice mousse consistency. Mix in some water and nuke when serving. This is great for cats that have trouble even with flakes of meat.
If you're going to feed the cat on the spot, nuke any food for about 10 to 15 seconds, then stir with your finger to make sure it's not too hot, and that there are no hot or cold spots. Also make sure the plate hasn't gotten extremely hot in any spot... if the plate's hot, re-plate so the cat doesn't burn her tongue and think the food hurts.
Plating & Presentation
As with people, the appearance, aroma and texture of food matter. One important difference is that cats are not as hung up on pretty things as people are, but are critical of flavor and substance. The cat will not be as easily misled as a person.
Serve in a shallow dish or saucer with sides high enough to keep the slurry on the dish but lower than the ordinary "food dish" that rises several inches. Even a mostly-flat saucer will work ok for this if you don't slosh it around too much.
Heating the food improves the flavor and gets some smells going, which will stimulate the cat's appetite.
There is no feeding schedule with a sick cat. If the cat's up and about and could be enticed to eat, try to feed her. Leave some time between feedings so she doesn't get annoyed with you constantly shoving food at her.
And if you can't get the cat to the food, take the food to the cat. I've met Gizmo with a saucer of food on the floor/couch/chair where she's sitting... then gradually raised it toward her face as long as she showed interest, and held it there while she ate. Sometimes a cat that won't take itself to food will eat when presented with some. Obviously this can't go on forever, and the hope is that the rejuvenated and less-starved pet will begin to resume regular habits and seeking food. When she stops eating, don't force it. Do try to rotate the plate or change the angle... sometimes a cat will take some more bites from a differently-oriented plate. Cat logic. Can't explain it, but can work with it.
I sometimes place these cat-tapas plates in two or three places where she hangs out, so that she might find a snack on her own.... including (very important) the usual place where she's fed and watered.
Don't offer too many flavors at once. If she hits one she doesn't like, she may walk away from the whole smorgasbord... one or two at a time, and focus on the winners.
Where practical, put a blanket, towel or throw rug under the various feeding areas. There will definitely be some fish-slurry spilled while feeding the sick cat. It's easier to launder a towel than a carpet. I believe the change of texture/surface also helps signal a special area ("food!"), to the cat. User experience, baby!
Other
Quantity: 1 can of fancy feast (that cute little expensive can) per 3 lbs of body weight, is a guideline.
Keep the litter box clean, and the water bowl topped up with fresh water at the temperature your cat prefers. I found out after having them for a couple of years, that my cats liked their water at room temperature. They would stay away from a fresh bowl of water until it had been out a couple of hours. Drinking goes hand in hand with eating, and hydration is vital to the cat's health and comfort.
Finally, there is only so much you can do and none of this may help. Sick cats sometimes just don't want to eat. It's not your fault if that happens.
Other sources
Here's a great compilation, Feeding Your Cat written by a vet who actually knows what he's talking about. I found this after writing the above. Good info about the nutritional value (or absence) of commercial pet foods.
-- Jim
