even butt-ugly boat houses can look pretty in the right light

[piranha]

so they pulled all of shadow's teeth, they were in such bad shape. poor catling. she was very agitated when we brought her home; clearly still confused from the anesthetic -- all she wanted was to go to ground. but we couldn't let her do that, so we spent three hours sitting with her in the egg room, keeping her from tearing herself up at the door, and calming her down bit by bit.

when she could finally walk without wobbling, we let her out, and she was fairly ok. she actually ate (liquified canned food), peed, and defecated, and everything looked normal. i kept her with me overnight, which didn't please her a whole lot, though she did settle down and purred up a storm after initially sitting and worrying a bit at the door. but she kept returning to the door, walking back and forth much of the night. i didn't sleep too well, and after i woke up again around 5 with a tach attack, that was it for sleep altogether.

in the morning she wanted to eat, but wouldn't touch any food, *sigh*. the paramour went out and got various cans of differing food, and when i mixed the IAMS chicken with some half-and-half and warmed it up, she first licked up all the liquid and then actually ate a bunch of the little chicken bits.

alright. so maybe she's still afraid of food, since it hurt her so much lately. also, the pain killer has probably worn off. i'm waiting for her to want more food so i can dose her with metacam.

Comments

catfood

[betonica.livejournal.com]

It's pretty gross (I think my vegetarian housemate still has nightmares) but I fed my aging cat pureed chicken liver when he was getting too old to eat anything else. The young cat thought it was delightful, too. I'd put the raw liver in a blender, and then pour it onto parchment paper in a casserole dish and freeze it (say, 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick). Then break off pieces and quickly put them back in a ziploc and back into the freezer. But it sounds like you'll be able to find canned food that she'll go for once she's gotten over her fear.

Re: catfood

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

considering that i was fed raw liver pureed in milk by my grandmother, doing it for my cat doesn't seem so gross (man, the memory alone gags me).

good idea. i think it's mostly that her mouth is really hurting her now, and so any food that's not liquid is viewed askance. she did lick up the cream/gravy mixture, and i got the NSAIDS into her, so maybe later she will eat more solid food.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

Poor kitty! I hope she starts eating much more after she's all healed.

I'm on a Vitamix (souped-up blender I got at a yard sale) mailing list that sometimes has people talking about using it to puree food for special-needs pets, so I imagine a lot of people/pets have been through this kind of thing.

[amagranz.livejournal.com]

poor shadow -- I hope she gets better. i have no idea if this applies to cats, but i have sat with a couple of dogs who were on their last legs, heavily medicated, and had no appetite -- i noticed that the one thing that could get them to eat was hand-feeding. they wouldn't eat from a dish, but if i scooped a handful of cottage cheese, peanut butter, or yogurt, and sat quietly with them, stroking them with one hand, they would lick it out of the palm of the other.

[flarenut.livejournal.com]

Poor cat!

In our household tuna water (sometimes with some of the fish fragmented into it) has been standard for invalid cats. But it sounds as if it's mostly the pain now, which she will get over...

Feline dentistry is just never good.

[janetmk.livejournal.com]

I hope Shadow is feeling better and will soon be able to eat without pain. Meat baby food can be tempting.

I've heard of toothless cats who eat kibble without difficulty. Many cats don't really bother with chewing.

[prairierabbit.livejournal.com]

No advice, but I hope Shadow's mouth heals quickly. Sorry about the tach episode. Do you think the lack of sleep was a trigger?

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Poor Shadow. Two of mine have had some teeth out and were much better after a couple of days. I imagine losing them all has to be shocking, but she's doing so well already.