Pet Lovers

[hyacinth003]

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@Fona wrote:

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@Witchy Woman wrote:

@Fona

Your response was very kind and I'm sure our hearts are in the same place.  It is so hard when we don't know exactly what to do...sigh.

Had my boy to the emergency vet one last time before returning to my regular vet.  He has improved, but the ear polyp will not go away without surgery and I'm reluctant to do that to a 15 year old cat.  All we can do is treat it externally and give him prendisone. 

I have 3 other cats and all are aging so...we do the best we can.

My guy would NOT accept any type of prescription allergy food.  I did eliminate two of the Fancy Feast kibbles that had color in them -- one was red, one was green.  They are deemed "junk food" and I felt that if he was allergic to anything it was the coloring.  I am only giving grain free kibble now and experimenting with different kinds

We do the best we can.  Mostly, I just want him to be able to enjoy a few more summers in the sun and I'm sure you want the same for yours. 

I did read that tracking allergies and turning them around takes some time.  I hope you know soon or at least see an improvement!

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Witchy Woman:  I am sorry to hear about your boy's ear polyp and I agree with your reluctance to let him have surgery at his age.  As I have mentioned previously, my girl was diagnosed with hyperthyroid last year but she is allergic to the pills.  Surgery or radiation treatment are the two solutions but I have said no, and actually the vet agrees.  So it seems that my girl will be untreated for now and that is worrying, but she has too many other ailments and is getting rather frail so I am not considering surgery or any other invasive treatment.  One thing I would like to mention to you if I may, just for what it is worth.  There is both Prednisone and Prednisolone.  The vet has my cat on Prednisolone and told me that Prednisone can be hard on their liver (I believe) but that Prednisolone is the newer version and bypasses the liver, so that it eliminates that worry.  Now, please excuse me if I am not remembering all the details correctly but that is the gist of what I remember.  I am sure the vet has a reason for giving you Prednisone, but this might be something to keep in mind if your boy is going to be on it for a long time.  Again, my continued good wishes for a full recovery for your boy.

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You probably already  know this, but the first med we gave our hyperthyroid cat was a cream you put on the ear.  We had to stop that one because it made her lose her ear hair, and she I guess was allergic to it.  We had to go with the pills eventually.

Hyperthyroidism is dangerous untreated.  One of my kitties (she lived to be 21) developed sudden blindness due to probably hypertension from the hyperthyroidism.  So not treating it can be dangerous too - as it would be with people.

Hyacinth

[Fona]

Hyacinth:  I personally have a low thyroid so I am always aware of how carefully thyroid problems have to be treated.  I have been quite concerned that my cat's thyroid problem is untreated for now but apparently, quite surprisingly, I am told that there aren't any pills other than the metamazole (and the vet thinks my cat is allergic to that one).  She has developed a thinning of her fur recently and the vet took her off the metamazole (which causes allergies in about 4% of cats) about two weeks ago just to double check if that is causing an allergy.  I spoke to the vet today and let her know that my cat's fur is now "holding" so we are going to give it a few more days and we'll have another discussion next week.  I thank you and Witchy Woman very much for letting me know about the ear cream and I'll definitely mention it to the vet.  I hope you both have a great holiday weekend.

[1MrsT]

I previously posted this on another thread, but I'm a huge believer in Nature's Variety Instinct Grain Free in the chicken flavor. Nature's Variety has different lines, I believe, but the Instinct was a life saver for our 19 year old cat. You can get it from Petco and Pet Smart, but I buy it by the case from Amazon. It's part of my monthly Auto Ship "Subscribe and Save" and I save 15% on my order.

My girl had been on premium dry food for the first 13 years and then began throwing up multiple times a day - every day. That had been her life for the last 5 years, and then in Nov the puking stopped. Weird...but I attributed it to this food. 

[Fona]

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@1MrsT wrote:

I previously posted this on another thread, but I'm a huge believer in Nature's Variety Instinct Grain Free in the chicken flavor. Nature's Variety has different lines, I believe, but the Instinct was a life saver for our 19 year old cat. You can get it from Petco and Pet Smart, but I buy it by the case from Amazon. It's part of my monthly Auto Ship "Subscribe and Save" and I save 15% on my order.

My girl had been on premium dry food for the first 13 years and then began throwing up multiple times a day - every day. That had been her life for the last 5 years, and then in Nov the puking stopped. Weird...but I attributed it to this food. 

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1MrsT: Thank you for recommending the Nature's Variety Instinct and I am so glad you finally found a good food that would help your cat because there is nothing worse than the frustration of trying to help a sick cat to no avail.  After a few years of constant diarrhea and a lot of different foods, I finally found raw, freeze-dried food for my 14 year old girl and that stopped the diarrhea almost immediately.  The relief for me was enormous.  I guess every cat responds differently but the trick of finding just the right thing can be soul destroying.  I am so glad to hear that your 19 year old girl is doing well.

[1MrsT]

@Fona You are so right. Finding the right food is tough. When we switched Sera off of dry food...it was just a miserable experience. I used to stalk different forums to see what worked for others...googled diets and brands and ingredients to avoid. Tried raw, tried cooking chicken breasts, tried every premium healthy brand, tried cheap(er) brands with the bad ingredients just because she needed to eat something. Every time I found something she would eat, it was just half hearted and she'd stop eating it weeks later. Stop times she'd eat something for a few months before stopping. She'd never been a picky cat with her litter or her dry food brands. But changing to wet wasn't easy. 

Then I tried the Instinct a second time, and it took. And now she's just so remarkably better, that we're actually shocked. It's just so nice to have our girl back after that long 5 year struggle.

Fona, I'm so glad you were able to find what your little girl needed. ❤️

[Yardlie]

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@Witchy Woman wrote:

Posted about this a few weeks ago.

I know there is truly no answer to this, but I'm still searching.

Just posted on another thread that I often donate food my boys won't eat to local animal charities.

Have one boy they suspect is allergic to something in his food, so, trying to find something he will eat that is either prescription or "novel protein" is nearly impossible.  He is older and on prednisone, so testing for allergies won't work.

I've tried just about everything but kangeroo.  Seriously, that is my next purchase.   He said no to prescription diets from Hills and Purina.  Will not touch venison or rabbit.

I decided that any new cats (if ever) will be started on one good food and that's it.

And, yes, I've tried many, many holistic, limited ingredient brands.  A few licks and they are done.

I think they know it drives us crazy for them to reject everything.

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Witchy Woman, I'm just wondering how you are determining that your cat says "no" to the food. Obviously, if he just won't eat it, that clarifies things. Also, if he gets sick from it, that eliminates it.

I just posted a topic in "Pet Lovers" about something I recently learned from my vet about how cats will try to "bury" food that they love. Here all these years, I thought my cats were trying to bury their food because they hated it!

Good luck finding the right food for your kitty.

[Witchy Woman]

@Yardlie

My cats say "no" by just walking away. 

The prescription allergy food was a no go, and I'm not sure that is such an awful thing.

Kitty had a chronic ear infection which CAN be brought on by allergies, but it can also be other things. 

I did see your post on burying and that's not the issue.  They just don't eat it.  End of story.

I have 4 cats, so if they ALL reject it, I might as well forget about it.  I'm convinced it's not the food that's giving him problems.

The biggest issue for my kitties ear is a polyp in the ear canal.  I asked, in another post, if anyone has experience with ear surgery in cats. 

I've given up dried food other than a little kibble now and then.  They are now eating a variety of wet foods and I constantly try new ones to see what works.