The mystery of Oliver the cat

[Emeraldgreen]

Thanks everybody for your posts and kind words. I'm hoping to find out some good information from the petstore when I go there in a few days to see what different types of quality protein foods they have available. And if I don't find anything suitable, chicken and eggs it is! But hopefully I can find some canned and dry food that will work well for him. And I'm going to see if Oliver's cough subsides with Lysine. He just coughs every now and again but it bothers him. All this time, I never knew coughing was a symptom of the upper respiratory herpes virus in cats! I knew he had this virus but didn't make the connection about the coughing. So I'll keep on with the Lysine and see if that helps.

For now, Oliver has a huge appetite which to me, seems like a symptom but the bloodwork and urinalysis and exam didn't show anything else going on. But he is so ravenous, it is odd. But at least he is eating rather than not eating. So I'm grateful for that.

As long as my stripey boys can have more time together and with us, that will be a blessing. Thanks again everybody.

[katladyd]

Wilderness cat foods are high in protein and lots of other good things! I highly recommend this brand!

[Emeraldgreen]

Thanks for the recommendation on the Wilderness food. I went to the petstore and oh my gosh, there are so many different foods for cats!! I ended up getting a bag of dry grain free Chicken and Green pea (George can eat this too- he has allergies but this food will work for him). I'm going to also pick up some higher protein wet food (higher than the not so great Friskies wet food Oliver's been getting) tomorrow because I've been reading online and found this really interesting article that talks about how western medicine might have it wrong in prescribing low protein food for kidney cats. It also recommends acupuncture. I wish I had the funding for that but for now that will have to wait. But I might look into the herbal treatment in conjunction with the mostly wet, high protein food. If you read the article it writes about two types of kidney problems, 'inflammatory' and/or 'deficient/ischemic'. The vet didn't say which he had but just said 'kidney insufficiency' although she did mention that the bloodwork showed some inflammation 'somewhere' in his body. If he has the inflammatory type, the vet who wrote the article advises medium protein (not low though) along with acupuncture and herbs.

If anyone's interested or has a cat with kidney issues, here is the article:

http://www.allthebestpetcare.com/kid...ilure-in-cats/

Seems to make sense and I'm going to try this approach with Ollie. Hoping this will help him out a bit.

[pomtzu]

Lara - I had also heard that the thinking on giving a dog or cat with kidney issues a low protein diet was no longer carved in stone, and that the new school of thought is to give good quality pure protein. I brought this up with Myndi's vet and she said that she is not sold on the idea at this time - and it also depends on the animal and all the factors considered. Being that Myndi is so old and is doing well on the canned K/D - I'm all for leaving well enough alone. If she was younger, perhaps I would do more research on it and consider a change, but she's 17 and still going, so I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Sending good thoughts for Oliver - hope he likes his new food.

[Barbara]

First of all- there is no reason why you shouldn't have Oliver for a long time to come. You know that Filou had this condition and survived it for 5 years! My vet said at that time that it is important that the cat eats or it begins to digest its own proteine which gets him to lose even more weight. So I am more on the high quality- delicious food line.
As the illness processes sub-q fluids may be necessary. Filou went every week to the vet for that but with a more relaxed cat (and a not so squeamish owner) you can administer them yourself.
Best of lucks with Oliver

[Catty1]

Hi Lara: My little kitty Zoe is 12 years old and a bundle of energy! She wasn't getting bony - but I sure didn't want her any thinner. I got a high calorie wet food from the vet, but see if your pet store has some too. It has helped!

[Emeraldgreen]

Pomtzu- I think the K/D food is good. It sure worked well for my cat Jade who had kidney issues for years. She loved it and wasn't losing weight on it. I think if Ollie was not so thin, I'd probably go the K/D route as it worked so well in the past. But I'll see if I can get him to put on a bit of weight.

Candace- that sounds like a good idea about the high calorie food. I did buy 2 cans of A/D from the vet a few weeks ago but holy smokes is it expensive! 2.50 a can. He liked it one day but not the next. But I've heard that there is a Wellness (I think) high calorie chicken wet food that I could get from the petstore that I'll check out.

Barbara- My hope is that Ollie won't need the fluids for awhile but when he does, I'll be able to help him from home thankfully. I used to give my cat Jade 100cc's once a week sub-q at home and it made such a difference in her life and allowed us to have her for a longer period which was great. Thanks for the encouraging words. I really do hope that we have some more years with him.

I didn't realize it until recently but George, Oliver's best friend is drinking a ton of water. I've been so focused on Oliver that I didn't notice that George was drinking even more than Oliver. I'm in the process of saving up for the blood work and analysis for George now. It's crazy how fast the money goes at the clinic. Close to 800.00 on both these guys in less than 2 months. But I have myself to blame because when I first brought them both in, I could have had the full geriatric blood panels done on both cats and chose to only do the CBC's and t-4 but everything we need to know now (kidney and diabetes) is in the full panel. Live and learn.

Thanks for all the ideas and comments.