After much experimentation with meals, I found that one cat that was particularly plagued with mouth sores (his name was Meatball and he was FIV positive) would eat dry cat food mixed with just enough water so that he could swallow the kibble like we swallow a pill with water. I got the smallest kibble dry food I could find, and added just enough water to cover it. He had to eat it immediately - if the kibble get's too soaked with water and it expanded, it hurt his throat. I usually did multiple small servings at a time several times a day. His being on the kitchen counter was my cue to prepare a meal for him.
I tried pureeing every kind of fish, poultry and beef but even strained it was still too thick for him to swallow comfortably. If I boiled chicken though, he liked the "soup" made from the water, strained. He also loved the "gravy" in the canned cat food, so I would take the small Friskies Turkey and Giblets Pate (smaller cans for some reason have more separated liquid than the larger can), shake it back and forth, open it, leave the lid partially on and pour from the area where there was a natural "divot". With the larger cans I added an equal amount of water to the wet food, stirred it well, then poured it through a strainer. Oh, and tuna fish juice was another favorite.
I wish I could say that I'd had luck with L Lysine, Slippery Elm, or Oxyfresh Pet; but I didn't notice any improvement.
Another FIV cat I had responded immediately to a Convenia injection - she was "asking" for food as soon as we got home from the vet, and ate ravenously and well for about three months. The next shot gave 2 months of relief and the third just a couple of days. I should mention that some cats have had an adverse reaction to Convenia, including death. The FDA has Veterinary Adverse Event Reporting on their site - the information is submitted voluntarily by vet's and available to the public.
No comments:
Post a Comment