Luna is NOT eating her diet food! (Just had a "talk" with Luna, and she ate a bit)

[Kirsten]

After Luna has been diagnosed with struvite crystals in her bladder again, she got Hill's s/d to resolve them. She's usually not picky, but she doesn't like this one (and judging from the look of this food, I can clearly see her point ).

The first two days, she ate it, but it was easy to see it was no fun for her. But now for the last two days, she ate only a tiny bit and refused to eat the rest. Hope it's just the heat that we have at the moment (during the last heatwave, Luna and Lily didn't eat much either, and their appetite came back when it cooled off). But I will check her mouth later, to be on the safe side. When she got some tartar removed last week, her gums started bleeding, so maybe she got an infection. But my guess is that she doesn't like the new food!

Kirsten

[Randi]

Kirsten, it is dry or wet food? When Fister first started on Hills S/D, we tried both - he didn't want the wet at all, but the dry he liked. I hope it's just the heat. Check her gums in any case.

Oh, and about her blood count - I don't think you have to worry, Fister's was also a bit off due to the anesthesia.

[Medusa]

The little stinker. Her gums may still be bothering her a bit. Try not to worry too much. She'll eat soon enough. Just keep an eye on her. (As if I have to tell you that.)

[krazyaboutkatz]

I hope she'll start eating soon. If not then maybe you could try another brand like Royal Canin. Storm won't eat his wet food unless it's been refrigerated first. I know he's a strange cat. I've also been having to mix his presription food with some Felidae wet food to get him to eat most of it. Good luck.

[Kirsten]

Ugh, just saw she had thrown up earlier today (guess it was her, not Lily). No food, but a yellowish liquid. Maybe she had upset her stomach?

Randi, I got s/d wet food for her, that way I hoped to make sure that Lily won't eat it. Well, I will watch this for a couple of days. They say it's gonna cool off from tomorrow on, so if it's just the heat, things should get better.

BTW, I checked her gums; they don't look bad, but I saw something like a tiny "bloody lump" on the outer side of one of her molars. Maybe it's bothering her.


Took some photos of it, so you can see it:




The photos didn't turn out well, even though Luna gave me about half a dozen tries. Isn't it amazing what a good girl she is? So sweet of her that she allows me to do such things, especially after her recent vet experience!




Kirsten

[Emeraldgreen]

Kirsten, I think the photos you took are very good. The wet food is a good idea for extra hydration and flushing and will help if that bump in her mouth is bugging her rather than tough crunchies. However, S/D does come in crunchies (as I'm sure you know) and I used to feed it to Tiger when he had been blocked and had surgical treatment. He was on it for 5 or 6 weeks or so to help dissolve any remaining crystals and then we switched over to dry medical Preventive which is equivalent to dry C/D. He has been on Preventive for about 6 years now and loves it. But if you want to try another wet food for dissolving crystals, Medi-Cal makes a tinned food called Dissolution. It has little chunks of food with gravy. Tiger didn't go for it which is why I had to give him the dry S/D. Thankfully the dry worked. I know it's hard to keep other cats from eating it but if you can put Luna in a room for an hour or so and throughout the day to let her munch away and not let the other cat into that room it might work. If you can get the crystals dissolved and get her onto a diet like Medi-Cal Preventive, it's a great diet for all cats and your other cat could be on it too. My cats really like the taste of it and as the name suggests, it is preventive with regard to crystals.

[Kirsten]

Well, like Tiger, Luna is also supposed to eat the s/d for 6 weeks, and after that, she can either eat Hill's c/d, or a urinary diet that's avaible here, called Kattovit Urinary. She already ate it in the past, and so did Lily. It's probably equal to Medi-Cal Preventive, which I haven't seen here so far.

With the canned Hill's s/d, I will give it a chance for a couple of days, but when she's still not eating it, I have to get the dry version of it. If that's the case, I need to reorganize our daily routine, because usually they eat their breakfast when I have mine, and after that, I leave for work. To seperate them from each other while eating would take more time, so I'd have to change our schedule. But I hope she will still get used to her canned s/d...

Kirsten