I've got Fister's results

[emily_the_spoiled]

This is going to sound stupid, but have you tried putting an ice cube in. I notice that my guys seem to prefer cold water rather than water at room temp. (Needless to say I give it to them )

[Emeraldgreen]

Our cat Sneakers very rarely drinks water. It is a mystery that we have been unable to solve for years now. We've tried everything from bottled water to running water. We only realized that she wasn't drinking enough water when she became quite ill and was rushed to the vet with a big hairball that wouldn't pass. It was so big the vet thought it was a tumor when looking at the xray. She was extremely dehydrated. They put her on fluids and the 'mass' moved through her system the next day and she came home. From then on we monitored her closely to learn that she barely drinks! So what we started doing to ensure she wouldn't become dehydrated was to syringe water into her every day. Have been doing it for 2 years. The odd thing is, she is very thirsty and when we syringe her with a 10ml syringe, I put it in the side of her mouth and slowly push 1ml at a time with a 1-2 second pause between each ml to allow her time to swallow, she readily sluprs it up as if she wants me to syringe her! Ridiculous but it's keeping her healthy and me busy and her out of the vet clinic. I try to syringe about 40mls per day into her. and have to use room temp water because the cold water really bothers her and she'll hold her mouth open full of water and won't swallow it. But room temp water, no problem.

Another thing we do everyday is make a small bowl or saucer morning and night of a teaspoon of wet cat food, usually friskies and I add about 20 mls of water to it and mix it. She laps up all the liquid but usually doesn't eat the cat food which I then give to one of our other cats when she's finished. My goal is usually to try and get 100mls of liquid every day into her via various methods. I had no idea that cats should get that much fluid but my vet told me that a cat can and very often drinks over 100mls each day.

Sneakers will 'tell me' when she's thirsty by standing next to the toilet bowl meowing her head off. She does like to drink from there for some reason but we don't want her to because the well water here isn't that great and it's kind of gross to let her do that I think. Or she will try and tip over one of our own drinking glasses and then lap up what she's spilled. But she won't drink from the many dishes of fresh, bottled water we have all over the house that we clean and refresh each day. Cats! I should try and find a water bowl for pets that's shaped like a toilet. :0) I think I saw one for dogs once.

But if she is going to drink out of a container herself, I have found that like Fister, she prefers a teacup! A nice, low one that is wide and full to the top. I have to watch her though to make sure she doesn't tip it which she likes to do. She will also put her paw in it and lick her paw as if she's testing it and then she'll finally settle in and drink, sometimes for a few minutes straight!

Anyway, just wanted to suggest syringing and making the friskies even more liquidy by adding water and mixing it. Hope Fister starts drinking soon.

[Emeraldgreen]

Our cat Sneakers very rarely drinks water. It is a mystery that we have been unable to solve for years now. We've tried everything from bottled water to running water. We only realized that she wasn't drinking enough water when she became quite ill and was rushed to the vet with a big hairball that wouldn't pass. It was so big the vet thought it was a tumor when looking at the xray. She was extremely dehydrated. They put her on fluids and the 'mass' moved through her system the next day and she came home. From then on we monitored her closely to learn that she barely drinks! So what we started doing to ensure she wouldn't become dehydrated was to syringe water into her every day. Have been doing it for 2 years. The odd thing is, she is very thirsty when we syringe her with a 10ml syringe. I put it in the side of her mouth and slowly push 1ml at a time with a 1-2 second pause between each ml to allow her time to swallow, she readily sluprs it up as if she wants me to syringe her! Ridiculous but it's keeping her healthy and me busy and her out of the vet clinic. I try to syringe about 40mls per day into her. and have to use room temp water because the cold water really bothers her and she'll hold her mouth open full of water and won't swallow it. But room temp water, no problem.

Another thing we do everyday is make a small bowl or saucer morning and night of a teaspoon of wet cat food, usually friskies and I add about 20 mls of water to it and mix it. She laps up all the liquid but usually doesn't eat the cat food which I then give to one of our other cats when she's finished. My goal is usually to try and get 100mls of liquid every day into her via various methods. I had no idea that cats should get that much fluid but my vet told me that a cat can and very often drinks over 100mls each day.

Sneakers will 'tell me' when she's thirsty by standing next to the toilet bowl meowing her head off. She does like to drink from there for some reason but we don't want her to because the well water here isn't that great and it's kind of gross to let her do that I think. Or she will try and tip over one of our own drinking glasses and then lap up what she's spilled. But she won't drink from the many dishes of fresh, bottled water we have all over the house that we clean and refresh each day. Cats! I should try and find a water bowl for pets that's shaped like a toilet. :0) I think I saw one for dogs once.

But if she is going to drink out of a container herself, I have found that like Fister, she prefers a teacup! A nice, low one that is wide and full to the top. I have to watch her though to make sure she doesn't tip it which she likes to do. She will also put her paw in it and lick her paw as if she's testing it and then she'll finally settle in and drink, sometimes for a few minutes straight! But if I leave the teacup out for her for the day, every day, she ignores it. It's almost as if I have to present it to her with the freshest of fresh water. Perhaps she just likes being served!

Anyway, just wanted to suggest syringing and making the friskies even more liquidy by adding water and mixing it. Hope Fister starts drinking soon.

[Randi]

Thanks for all your suggestions, Lara. I knew I could count on some good info from you.

I have tried the things you mention... giving him wet food (the Whiskas pouches with 12 in box) with a little extra boiled water in. Since it's hot water, he can smell it better and will lick up the juice, and sometimes even eat a little of the meat. It's difficult to tell which flavour he wants, though. Some days he will eat the meat ones and some days the fish ones. He will not eat the rest of a pouch if it has been open, so I try to sit with it under his nose to make him eat/drink more. I do that with his glass of water, also. Sometimes it works and sometimes not.

The syringe I have also tried, but he hates that, so it's difficult. Half of it will run down his cheek. I have used two different sizes syringes.

The vet said he was not dehydrated, so that's good. He told me that you can normally tell if they are dehydrated by looking at their gums. I do think his gums are a little pale, though.

After breakfast, he will come out when he sees his brush, so that's also good.

These two past days, he has gone to the bathroom to lick up some water from the floor. When I see him go out there, I rush out to turn the tap on. A few times I have seen drink from the Pet Mate, also, but very little.

Somehow, I have a feeling that he wants to eat, but finds it difficult to swallow. I'm not quite sure. Will take him for a check again, unless he gets better. I suppose an X-ray might be in order.

[Catty1]

JMO - I think an xray would be a really good idea...I am surprised your vet hasn't yet suggested it. It's a good way to see 'what's in there'. Prayers for Fister and you!

[phesina]

Continuing prayers and good wishes for dearest Fister.

Here's hoping you and the vet can get to the bottom of this soon and fix things up.

[emily_the_spoiled]

You can also tell if a cat is dehydrated by pulling at the skin on the nape of the neck. If they cat is fine, the skin will come away somewhat but still appear "firm". When they are dehydrated, the skin will come away a lot more and it doesn't feel as "firm".

[ChrisH]

... giving him wet food (the Whiskas pouches with 12 in box) with a little extra boiled water in. Since it's hot water, he can smell it better and will lick up the juice, and sometimes even eat a little of the meat. It's difficult to tell which flavour he wants, though. Some days he will eat the meat ones and some days the fish ones. He will not eat the rest of a pouch if it has been open ...

Randi, are the Whiskas pouches the 'steamed' ones, Ebby prefers the fish ones over the expensive organic pouches. As for opened pouches, what I do with any I have is put them in an airtight container in the fridge and then microwave to warm before feeding her. Of course that may not work with Fister, because he will most likely work out what you are doing.It's sure not easy to outwit a cat, especially one as clever as he.

Prayers and good thoughts continuing for your special orange boy.

[Randi]

Catty1, the vet wanted to do the regular tests first, plus the T4 I suggested. He said we can do further tests later, if it's necessary (he knows I don't have much money).

emily_the_spoiled, I know about the neck fur test. Thanks anyway!

Chris, the Whiskas pouches are both the normal ones and the 'steamed' ones, it's only recently I could get those, so had to try them, and it seems Fister likes them, too. When i comes to Whiskas wet food, it has to be the ones in Gelé and it does seem he prefers meat over fish in this case.

Today he ate a little dry food - on his own! - but he didn't want to drink, and that is what worries me. I opened a can of "people" tuna in water and poured the juice into his glass with water, but he wouldn't drink it. It worked before.

When he was on my bed earlier, I lay down with him for almost an hour... face to face and my arm up along his tummy, he enjoyed that. Then he wanted to go under it and he slept there for another hour. Now he's under a blanket on a chair (kind of like a den).

I can feel his bones, so I want him to put on some weight! If I had ten different kinds of food for him, he might eat a bit more, but I can't afford that, since the bags are 2-3 kg. I buy his food at the vet, since it's healthier. At the moment he has four different kinds, one smaller bag I got for free - plus he has the Whiskas pouches. I will go to a pet shop and get some of those little $2 bags. anything new, he will usually eat. And tomorrow, I'll buy some calf liver again.

Thanks everyone for thinking of him.

[krazyaboutkatz]

More prayers and positive thoughts are being sent Fister's way.

[Emeraldgreen]

Oh gosh, I always get a bit worried when I hear that cats aren't eating much. We lost Paddington in the fall and it was really complicated and started with hyperthyroidism that was unfortunately overmedicated which made him lose his appetite. He just nibbled here and there but because he had been such a big cat and lost so much weight (which lead us to get him to the vet and then the thyroid issue was discovered) fatty liver disease developed. I didn't know enough about it and by the time I did, I was up every 2 hours trying to feed him (syringe) but it was too late and we lost him. So now when I hear a cat isn't eating I always suggest trying everything under the sun to get them going again sooner rather than later.

I know Fister's t-4 was checked and it's unknown what might be causing him to drink and eat less and maybe it's just the new normal as someone else suggested. But if you're starting to feel his bones, I would maybe try and get him jumpstarted again (if possible) by picking up some high calorie wet food like 'Reovery' or Hills A/D from the vet. You may have used the A/D in the past but if you haven't, it's got tons of calories and is made for cats that are quite ill so it's very digestable and super palatable. It's blened so much that it is like a 'whipped' pate and you can add just a bit of water and mix it and then you can syringe it into Fister. But I know you mentioned that he hates it so it could be tough. But if you can get some good, dense calories into him, it might get him back on track and feeling well enough to start eating more on his own and hopefully drinking more too.

I was also thinking that some chicken or beef baby food might interest him. Paddy was keen on it one day but not the next so you never know. Depends on how they're feeling I guess.

Anyway, just trying to come up with ideas to help. Maybe he is just slowing down in all areas of life including eating and drinking but it does seem that if he's losing weight, maybe some underlying thing is going on. Have you had him checked for diabetes? I was just reading up on that for one of my own cats. Some of the symptoms are eating less and losing weight. They do tend to drink more so perhaps this isn't it. But you could buy some 'Nosorb' (not sure if you have that in your area?) and use that in place of litter and then when he pees, pour it all back into the jar it came in and have the vet test it for diabetes. Not a high tech way to test but could indicate if he has a problem.

Hope things improve soon for Mister Fister.

[Catty1]

Randi, my mom's 13-year-old cat just started the same thing - lethargic, not eating or drinking much, puking what he DID eat, and all the blood and urine tests were normal!

KAK mentioned that her RB Storm went through the same thing and had small intestinal disease. Some prednisone really helped him. You might want to go through Shiney's thread and see if anything there helps.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Randi, my mom's 13-year-old cat just started the same thing - lethargic, not eating or drinking much, puking what he DID eat, and all the blood and urine tests were normal!

KAK mentioned that her RB Storm went through the same thing and had small intestinal disease. Some prednisone really helped him. You might want to go through Shiney's thread and see if anything there helps.

My RB Storm was also low in folic acid so I had give him some supplements for about 6 weeks. I think that this was found in his blood work. I sure hope that Fister's health will start improving. Lots more prayers and positive thoughts are being sent his way.

[Randi]

Thank you everyone.

I can not concentrate on writing much. Fister is mostly laying under the cupboard and the things I bring him, he gives a sniff and turns his head. And he didn't come up in my bed last night or this morning. He usually comes out to be brushed, at least, but these two last days, he wasn't much interested.

Yesterday, I went over to the vet but he is away sick and probably won't be there the next week either. There's a woman vet he has seen once or twice also. She is nice, too.

Everyone there are against giving cats B-vitamin shots, they say it can be dangerous.

I imagine the tests he had done recently includes diabetes. Isn't that the Glucose test?

2012 - 18/12

Veight 5,92 kg
Urea 9,3
Alat 60
Glucose 7,8
T4 test 46,3

What the normal numbers should be is in the first post.

I will go and ask about the A/D. I have not seen anything called Recovery, but will ask about that also.

Last night, he licked up a little bit of raw liver with water in and he has made two little puddles in his box, but no poo.

[phesina]

Lots of prayers and good wishes and love are being sent for Fister and for you, Randi.