Anika's Last Update, Anika will be PTS Today. #114 Posted on Cat Memorial Section

[Medusa]

Oh how worrisome. I'm so sorry, Melissa. I know how difficult it is for you to see this and feel so helpless. I wish I had an answer for you. Puddy even tried to eat right up until the end so I've not had to deal w/the not eating issue. Sweet little Anika, we're praying for you.

[Anikaca77]

Thank you so much.

Oh how worrisome. I'm so sorry, Melissa. I know how difficult it is for you to see this and feel so helpless. I wish I had an answer for you. Puddy even tried to eat right up until the end so I've not had to deal w/the not eating issue. Sweet little Anika, we're praying for you.

[Catty1]

Melissa, when my mom was force-feeding her sick kitty, she did mix the A/D with warm water and make a goop out of it...she also gave it a bit at a time.

I am sure you are doing that, but wanted to make sure Anika is getting enough time between "doses" to swallow completely. If too much hits her tummy too fast, up it comes! And with the water in there, less concern about her drinking.

Also, A/D is a surgical recovery food - it is WAY too rich for regular healthy cats to have. So anything she DOES keep down is packed with nutrition a few times over.

{{{{hugs}}}}

[Catlady711]

So sorry to here she's not doing well.

I can't guarantee anything for another cat, but my own Dusty went for 2 weeks 2 days in 1997 without eating. She had aspiration pnemonia from vomiting and apparently blamed the food for it. Even when they got her better from everything she didn't eat until 1 hour before the appt to have her PTS which we GLADLY cancelled as soon as she started eating on her own. She was with us an additional 10 years after that. I do realize she was an extreme case and was fortunate to have been overweight when the whole thing started or she probably wouldn't have survived.

As for the drooling from the injections. That could very likely be stress. When cats get stressed out big time they tend to drool like crazy. It should subside when they calm back down again.

I hope your vet can see her soon and get her feeling better. Give her a head rubbing for me.

[Emeraldgreen]

Poor Anika! Candace's idea of A/D is good. There is another brand of the same idea that has come out called 'Recovery' and you can get that at the vet clinic too. I picked up a few cans of both A/D and Recovery to keep my cat interested when I was trying to get him to eat.

I wonder if she would be interested in just the gravy of some wet food. There are some Fancy Feast cans that have gravy mixed in like the Grilled flavours. And Friskies shredded turkey and cheese has quite a bit of gravy and is well liked by my crew. I know it's like Twinkies for cats but at this point, getting something in her is key.

The foaming at the mouth after syringing milk and water might indicate that it's going down to fast. My vet suggested to me that it is safest to slowly squirt some water into the pouch of the cheek and then they can swallow it. She said that if you syringe it straight in too quickly, it can cause a cat to aspirate and that could cause alot of problems. You may already be doing the cheek thing but I thought I'd pass it along just in case.

This may have already been mentioned in this thread but smearing some wet food (a thin layer) on her paw will probably get her to clean it off. Hopefully a few times throughout the day will help her get some nutrients in her.
Prayers going out for Anika that she will soon find her appetite.

[Catty1]

Lara - Anika is getting A/D. I know Melissa and her husband are anxious to get Anika to eat, so MAYBE Anika is being syringed too much to fast.
MAYBE, I said.

PT Prayers for Anika.

I found some really cute pics of her and posted them a few posts back!

[Emeraldgreen]

Lara - Anika is getting A/D. I know Melissa and her husband are anxious to get Anika to eat, so MAYBE Anika is being syringed too much to fast.
MAYBE, I said.

PT Prayers for Anika.

I found some really cute pics of her and posted them a few posts back!

That's great that she has some A/D on hand. The Recovery might offer a new flavour if she tires of the A/D.

I was thinking more of the milk and water with regard to aspiration and the syringing too fast.

Saw the pics, she is such a cutie!

[Anikaca77]

As for the drooling from the injections. That could very likely be stress. When cats get stressed out big time they tend to drool like crazy. It should subside when they calm back down again.

Just now I got up and tried to mix some A/D formula with warm water and give it to her with using a syringe only because I wanted to see if she would be willing to eat on her own or at least drink and she started to foam and got so worked up that she tried to throw up twice.

Right now she is next to me resting so I won't think I will be attempting to feed her for a few more hours. I feel so bad that I'm stressing her out with this food thing but I want her to eat so then she will stay with us and I know that is selfish but I love her so much and I'm so afraid they are going to find throat cancer or cancer of the liver and then we have to make some decisions. Thank you everyone who has given us their thoughts, prayers, and suggestions throughout this whole thing.

We have been trying to give her the food slowly and wait in between but we will pay special attention to make sure we are going to be doing that for sure now to avoid anything. I wish my vet was in town this weekend because I'd be calling her now about this whole thing and her being stressed now about us trying to feed her.

Anika and all of us here thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Thanks,
Melissa

[Catty1]

Again...the A/D is good food, a little goes a long way.

Maybe the other vet has a can of Recovery that Lara mentioned. You can try that while waiting for your regular vet to come back.

Who knows - maybe it's the flavour! Just because Anika is sick doesn't mean she can't be picky...she's a CAT!

[orangemm]

Praying hard for sweet Anika and you....this is a terribly stressful time for all of you. If there is anything else we can do, please let us know.

Come on Anika...eat a little for your meowmie!

[Medusa]

When I'm feeling sick, even if I'm hungry, I don't want to eat. So perhaps it's the same way w/cats, Anika in particular. I'd let the force feeding go for a while, give her some time to calm down and get a little hungry because, as Candace said, a little of the A/D goes a long way. Also, my vet told me that even if food is vomited, that still means that some of it got into the stomach. If she had constant diarrhea, that would be a different story. So maybe just let things calm down a little and see if she'll come around after a good wait. We're keeping the prayers going, too, so be comforted in knowing how powerful PT prayers are, Melissa. Anika and you have a huge army pulling for you.

[Anikaca77]

The only thing I thing I think I forgot to mention on her is the fact that she's been just siting there not licking herself or anything and she's doing these hard swallows it seems.

So I'm just wondering if she had throat cancer that spread or something.

I am going to call the vets first thing Monday morning to see if we can get her in for an ultrasound a lot sooner than Wednesday.

I love Anika so much and I will just try to offer the food today try not to force feed and we are now mixing her A/D with some water because as far as I know she is now not drinking water, last night she went over to her dish and just sat there but didn't drink.

I'm still having faith that she will turn around until I know what the ultrasound results are. I've attached picture of my Annie (we call her that sometimes instead of Anika from 2007).

Thank you all again for your prays and continued support throughout this hard time.

Melissa

When I'm feeling sick, even if I'm hungry, I don't want to eat. So perhaps it's the same way w/cats, Anika in particular. I'd let the force feeding go for a while, give her some time to calm down and get a little hungry because, as Candace said, a little of the A/D goes a long way. Also, my vet told me that even if food is vomited, that still means that some of it got into the stomach. If she had constant diarrhea, that would be a different story. So maybe just let things calm down a little and see if she'll come around after a good wait. We're keeping the prayers going, too, so be comforted in knowing how powerful PT prayers are, Melissa. Anika and you have a huge army pulling for you.

[Medusa]

The only thing I thing I think I forgot to mention on her is the fact that she's been just siting there not licking herself or anything and she's doing these hard swallows it seems.

So I'm just wondering if she had throat cancer that spread or something.

I am going to call the vets first thing Monday morning to see if we can get her in for an ultrasound a lot sooner than Wednesday.

I love Anika so much and I will just try to offer the food today try not to force feed and we are now mixing her A/D with some water because as far as I know she is now not drinking water, last night she went over to her dish and just sat there but didn't drink.

I'm still having faith that she will turn around until I know what the ultrasound results are. I've attached picture of my Annie (we call her that sometimes instead of Anika from 2007).

Thank you all again for your prays and continued support throughout this hard time.

Melissa

Puddy did the hard swallowing for a couple of years. Dr. Lee carefully examined her tongue, the inside of her mouth and her throat when she was under anesthesia and he could find no reason for it. She didn't appear to be in pain and it didn't choke her while she ate, so he said to just watch and see if any other symptoms manifest in that regard but none ever did. We never did figure out the reason for it.

[Catty1]

Burning Mouth Syndrome??? Lara found the B vitamins helped that. I wonder...

[Medusa]

Burning Mouth Syndrome??? Lara found the B vitamins helped that. I wonder...

W/out scanning back in this thread, I think B vitamins may have been mentioned. If not, it sure couldn't hurt and it isn't expensive at all.