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Old July 26th, 2008, 04:23 PM
pierrenev pierrenev is offline
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How much food should my cat eat?

Our 10 year old cat came out 7 days ago from a veterinarian hospital.
He is still sick, but has none of the negative signs that the vet told us to look for.
The only thing is that, after afew days of huge appetite for its new canned vet recommended food, he is now eating less than half a can a day.
We are waiting for the results from his blood samples taken 4 days after he was out of the clinic.
Are we worrying for nothing, since the cat behaves OK, except for its reduced appetite? Maybe, in the first days, he was overeating, since he almost ate nothing during his 6 days at the hospital.
How much food should a 15 pound cat eat, normally?
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Old July 26th, 2008, 05:32 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pierrenev View Post
Our 10 year old cat came out 7 days ago from a veterinarian hospital.
He is still sick, but has none of the negative signs that the vet told us to look for.
Sorry to hear your cat is sick. Any idea what the problem is?

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Originally Posted by pierrenev View Post
The only thing is that, after afew days of huge appetite for its new canned vet recommended food, he is now eating less than half a can a day.
What is the particular food? Why was it prescribed?

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Originally Posted by pierrenev View Post
How much food should a 15 pound cat eat, normally?
Generally, and this varies from cat to cat, the guideline is 20-30 calories per lb per day. So a 15 lb cat might need between 300 and 450 cal/day. A half of a 5.5 oz can probably isn't enough, especially if your guy is still in recovery mode. Unless you have a specific diagnosis that excludes certain foods, I would be trying something else to get him to eat more. What was his food before this illness? You can also try top-dressing his meals with tasty treats like powdered freeze-dried meat (Halo Liv-a-Littles or Real Food Toppers are two common ones), or tuna juice or parmesan cheese.
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Old July 26th, 2008, 05:48 PM
pierrenev pierrenev is offline
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More information

The food he is taking has been prescribed by our vet for his liver problem. Before he entered the hospital he was eating dry food. But, in the last days before we took him to the hospital, he was not eating at all.
This new food is Medi-Cal Hypoallergic/Castro and is only available from veterinarians. Judging by his beahaviour, his health seems to be improving a lot: no more vomitting, pink gums, no jaundice, etc.
Like I said, our only worry is the fact that he is not eating much.
Our vet is out of town for the week-end. She will only call us back on Monday, to tell us about the blood samples. We will ask her about this low appetite, at that time.
We are afraid to add some stuf to this food, because it may not suit his diet.
Besides, he takes 4 different pills each day and my wife puts them in his mouth with this new food (at 4 different hours). He keeps them (the food and the pill), every time.
Anyway, thanks. Please don't hesitate to give me any other advice.
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Old July 26th, 2008, 07:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pierrenev View Post
The food he is taking has been prescribed by our vet for his liver problem. Before he entered the hospital he was eating dry food. But, in the last days before we took him to the hospital, he was not eating at all.
Anorexia in cats can easily lead to something called Hepatic Lipidosis (aka "fatty liver"). Sometimes there's a primary reason a cat stops eating and the HL is a secondary consequence, or in some cases the HL is idiopathic. Overweight cats are more at risk for HL.

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Originally Posted by pierrenev View Post
This new food is Medi-Cal Hypoallergic/Castro and is only available from veterinarians. Judging by his beahaviour, his health seems to be improving a lot: no more vomitting, pink gums, no jaundice, etc.
The Medi-Cal Gastro formula has 184 calories per can, so if your cat is only eating a half a can a day, this isn't enough.

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Like I said, our only worry is the fact that he is not eating much.
And this is definitely a worry when there are liver issues present. The remedy for HL is sufficient quantities of a high protein food to reverse the accumulation of fatty deposits in the liver. I think a more important issues than what he eats is that he eats enough.


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We are afraid to add some stuf to this food, because it may not suit his diet.
There really isn't anything magical about the vet prescription foods and they mostly have poor quality ingredients. At this point, I would be picking up some other canned foods like Wellness grain-free and trying to tempt him with those. If he doesn't get enough nutrition, he's going to end up back in the hospital.

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Besides, he takes 4 different pills each day
What are the pills he's taking?
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Old July 27th, 2008, 08:10 AM
pierrenev pierrenev is offline
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Smile Better news

Our cat is eating more. In the last 12 hours, he ate more than half a can.
The pills he is taking are: Enroflaxicin 50 mg, Ursodiol 50 mg and Clavamox 62,5 mg (this last one, twice a day).
Thanks for your advice, but I don't want to take the chance of giving him some other food that might be bad for his illness.
Since he seems to be eating more, since last night, I think that we will wait until the vet calls back (tomorrow), before giving him something else.
Besides, as I said in my first posting, he continues to have all positive signs (no fever, pink gums, awareness and willingness to play, no vomiting, no diarrhea).
We are very encouraged and our only worry was the fact that he is not eating a lot of food. But if he continues like this, he will eat a full can in a day.
Thanks again.
Pierre.
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Old July 27th, 2008, 10:39 AM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pierrenev View Post
Our cat is eating more. In the last 12 hours, he ate more than half a can.
That's great, keep encouraging him. What's his name, by the way?

Quote:
Originally Posted by pierrenev View Post
The pills he is taking are: Enroflaxicin 50 mg, Ursodiol 50 mg and Clavamox 62,5 mg (this last one, twice a day).
Antibiotics, and Clavamox in particular, are well known to cause digestive upset in cats, often resulting in inappetance. If your cat's appetite is still down on Monday, I would ask the vet if the Clavamox is really necessary. Ursodiol can also sometimes have a side effect of nausea, so it's really no wonder that your little guy has lost his enthusiasm for food. You might want to consider giving probiotics at some point because both the Enroflaxacin and Clavamox are probably reeking havoc on his intestinal flora.

Good luck, and let me know what the vet says.
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Old July 28th, 2008, 07:22 AM
pierrenev pierrenev is offline
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Thanks a lot

Hi,
Thanks a lot for your good advice. That would explain is reduced appetite.
For the rest, its health has improved a lot, since he got sick, 2 weeks ago. His medications seem to work, but maybe an adjustement to improve his appetite would be in order.
We will ask that to te vet.
Pierre.
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Old July 28th, 2008, 07:58 AM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Clavamox can cause nausea creating a decrease in appetite.

I second sugarcatmom's advice of trying a different, quality cat food, cats need meat protein, not potatoes. I have added some links so you can compare ingredients in medical to quality cat foods.

http://www.medi-cal.ca/diets/diets.p...dients&lang=en

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/cat_w...can_index.html


http://www.bynaturepetfoods.com/prod...nnedcat.php#tc

http://www.naturesvariety.com/instinct_cat_can
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