Brodie won't eat, please help

Hi, my cat Brodie was a stray 12 years ago and is now estimated to be
16. The last couple of years she has gotten so sick a couple of times
that I thought she wouldn't make it but she's a survivor and is right
at this moment sitting on my desk.

I should mention here that I have hardly any money to procure
veterinary services and have had very bad experiences with vets: a
msidiagnosis resulted in the expensive death of Sid a few years ago
and his sister Nancy died in 2001 immediately after pouring a lot more
money down the vet toilet. It seems that you spend $600 on tests and
they die anyway.

The current crisis with Brodie is that she has lost a lot of weight.
When we met, she had been abandoned and the story on her was that she
was unwanted and her owner's other cat and dog kept her up a tree
24/7. She would sneak down to eat and then run back up to her safe
perch. This accounted for her overeating which usually led to
vomitting.

Here is a link to a pic of her in fatter days circa 2000:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie01.jpg

Since my other cat Nancy died in 2001, Brodie lost a lot of her
overzealousness at the food dish and lost some weight. She became ill
last year and lost so much weight that I thought she wasn't gonna make
it, but some antibiotics helped her to recover and she was ok. She is
a survivor.

here she is when she was sick:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie04.jpg
and when she was better though now a skinny cat:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie02.jpg

here she is last year:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie05.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie06.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie07.jpg

She was sick again in mid 2003 and again antibiotics seemed to do the
trick. She again seemed ill just last month but recovered quickly
without any medication. However the problem is that she has lost most
of her body weight (since her heyday as a fat cat) and now finds it
difficult to eat.

She wants to eat but the only thing she'll eat consistently is canned
gravy or beef boullion. She will eat the crunchy Whiskas Temptations
cat treats but most of the time they fall out of her mouth and once
they've been in her mouth she won't try to eat them. Same for moist
cat treats, I have a pile of them on my desk less than 6 inches from
her mouth right now.

Cream dries up in the dish. She licks the gravy off chunky cat food
(several types) and the rest is ignored and dries out. I've tried
mixing kitten food with gravy but she licks up the gravy and most of
the kitten food is ignored.

So my question to people here is, how do I get her to eat?? I don't
need her to be fat again but I'm afraid that she's so skinny she'll
soon die.

So any suggestions would be most appreciated

Thanks in advance,
John


(remove "spamcityaka" to reply)

She must see a vet. There is no question about this.
Gail
"John" wrote in message
...
Hi, my cat Brodie was a stray 12 years ago and is now estimated to be
16. The last couple of years she has gotten so sick a couple of times
that I thought she wouldn't make it but she's a survivor and is right
at this moment sitting on my desk.

I should mention here that I have hardly any money to procure
veterinary services and have had very bad experiences with vets: a
msidiagnosis resulted in the expensive death of Sid a few years ago
and his sister Nancy died in 2001 immediately after pouring a lot more
money down the vet toilet. It seems that you spend $600 on tests and
they die anyway.

The current crisis with Brodie is that she has lost a lot of weight.
When we met, she had been abandoned and the story on her was that she
was unwanted and her owner's other cat and dog kept her up a tree
24/7. She would sneak down to eat and then run back up to her safe
perch. This accounted for her overeating which usually led to
vomitting.

Here is a link to a pic of her in fatter days circa 2000:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie01.jpg

Since my other cat Nancy died in 2001, Brodie lost a lot of her
overzealousness at the food dish and lost some weight. She became ill
last year and lost so much weight that I thought she wasn't gonna make
it, but some antibiotics helped her to recover and she was ok. She is
a survivor.

here she is when she was sick:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie04.jpg
and when she was better though now a skinny cat:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie02.jpg

here she is last year:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie05.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie06.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie07.jpg

She was sick again in mid 2003 and again antibiotics seemed to do the
trick. She again seemed ill just last month but recovered quickly
without any medication. However the problem is that she has lost most
of her body weight (since her heyday as a fat cat) and now finds it
difficult to eat.

She wants to eat but the only thing she'll eat consistently is canned
gravy or beef boullion. She will eat the crunchy Whiskas Temptations
cat treats but most of the time they fall out of her mouth and once
they've been in her mouth she won't try to eat them. Same for moist
cat treats, I have a pile of them on my desk less than 6 inches from
her mouth right now.

Cream dries up in the dish. She licks the gravy off chunky cat food
(several types) and the rest is ignored and dries out. I've tried
mixing kitten food with gravy but she licks up the gravy and most of
the kitten food is ignored.

So my question to people here is, how do I get her to eat?? I don't
need her to be fat again but I'm afraid that she's so skinny she'll
soon die.

So any suggestions would be most appreciated

Thanks in advance,
John


(remove "spamcityaka" to reply)

She must see a vet. There is no question about this.
Gail
"John" wrote in message
...
Hi, my cat Brodie was a stray 12 years ago and is now estimated to be
16. The last couple of years she has gotten so sick a couple of times
that I thought she wouldn't make it but she's a survivor and is right
at this moment sitting on my desk.

I should mention here that I have hardly any money to procure
veterinary services and have had very bad experiences with vets: a
msidiagnosis resulted in the expensive death of Sid a few years ago
and his sister Nancy died in 2001 immediately after pouring a lot more
money down the vet toilet. It seems that you spend $600 on tests and
they die anyway.

The current crisis with Brodie is that she has lost a lot of weight.
When we met, she had been abandoned and the story on her was that she
was unwanted and her owner's other cat and dog kept her up a tree
24/7. She would sneak down to eat and then run back up to her safe
perch. This accounted for her overeating which usually led to
vomitting.

Here is a link to a pic of her in fatter days circa 2000:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie01.jpg

Since my other cat Nancy died in 2001, Brodie lost a lot of her
overzealousness at the food dish and lost some weight. She became ill
last year and lost so much weight that I thought she wasn't gonna make
it, but some antibiotics helped her to recover and she was ok. She is
a survivor.

here she is when she was sick:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie04.jpg
and when she was better though now a skinny cat:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie02.jpg

here she is last year:
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie05.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie06.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/testiculos/me/brodie07.jpg

She was sick again in mid 2003 and again antibiotics seemed to do the
trick. She again seemed ill just last month but recovered quickly
without any medication. However the problem is that she has lost most
of her body weight (since her heyday as a fat cat) and now finds it
difficult to eat.

She wants to eat but the only thing she'll eat consistently is canned
gravy or beef boullion. She will eat the crunchy Whiskas Temptations
cat treats but most of the time they fall out of her mouth and once
they've been in her mouth she won't try to eat them. Same for moist
cat treats, I have a pile of them on my desk less than 6 inches from
her mouth right now.

Cream dries up in the dish. She licks the gravy off chunky cat food
(several types) and the rest is ignored and dries out. I've tried
mixing kitten food with gravy but she licks up the gravy and most of
the kitten food is ignored.

So my question to people here is, how do I get her to eat?? I don't
need her to be fat again but I'm afraid that she's so skinny she'll
soon die.

So any suggestions would be most appreciated

Thanks in advance,
John


(remove "spamcityaka" to reply)

"John" wrote in message
...
....
She wants to eat but the only thing she'll eat consistently is canned
gravy or beef boullion. She will eat the crunchy Whiskas Temptations
cat treats but most of the time they fall out of her mouth and once
they've been in her mouth she won't try to eat them. Same for moist
cat treats, I have a pile of them on my desk less than 6 inches from
her mouth right now.

Cream dries up in the dish. She licks the gravy off chunky cat food
(several types) and the rest is ignored and dries out. I've tried
mixing kitten food with gravy but she licks up the gravy and most of
the kitten food is ignored.
....
Thanks in advance,
John


I know you would like to hear something else, but I think you need to take
her in immediately to have her teeth checked. She seems to have an
appetite, but is unable to handle chewing. Is she drinking water? Is she
able to swallow?
She might like Science Diet A/D, which is soft and specially made for cats
with eating problems. You can dilute it with water and feed her with a
syringe (without the needle). That, of course, is assuming that she does
not have a problem swallowing.
Her prior illnesses, and extreme weight loss mean that she may have some
fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis). Our cat Moxie had a couple of
bouts. Antibiotic treatment helped buy her some time, but eventually it got
her.
Given your experience with your other cats, I understand your frustration at
spending big bucks at the vet's, but the vets can't always predict how a
particular cat will do. Sometimes they pull through, and sometimes they
don't. We can only do what we can to give them a chance and hope for the
best.
I hope all works out for your cat.
Annie

"John" wrote in message
...
....
She wants to eat but the only thing she'll eat consistently is canned
gravy or beef boullion. She will eat the crunchy Whiskas Temptations
cat treats but most of the time they fall out of her mouth and once
they've been in her mouth she won't try to eat them. Same for moist
cat treats, I have a pile of them on my desk less than 6 inches from
her mouth right now.

Cream dries up in the dish. She licks the gravy off chunky cat food
(several types) and the rest is ignored and dries out. I've tried
mixing kitten food with gravy but she licks up the gravy and most of
the kitten food is ignored.
....
Thanks in advance,
John


I know you would like to hear something else, but I think you need to take
her in immediately to have her teeth checked. She seems to have an
appetite, but is unable to handle chewing. Is she drinking water? Is she
able to swallow?
She might like Science Diet A/D, which is soft and specially made for cats
with eating problems. You can dilute it with water and feed her with a
syringe (without the needle). That, of course, is assuming that she does
not have a problem swallowing.
Her prior illnesses, and extreme weight loss mean that she may have some
fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis). Our cat Moxie had a couple of
bouts. Antibiotic treatment helped buy her some time, but eventually it got
her.
Given your experience with your other cats, I understand your frustration at
spending big bucks at the vet's, but the vets can't always predict how a
particular cat will do. Sometimes they pull through, and sometimes they
don't. We can only do what we can to give them a chance and hope for the
best.
I hope all works out for your cat.
Annie

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 15:01:20 +0000, John wrote:

Hi, my cat Brodie was a stray 12 years ago and is now estimated to be
16. The last couple of years she has gotten so sick a couple of times
that I thought she wouldn't make it but she's a survivor and is right
at this moment sitting on my desk.

John, get her to another vet. There is a chance she'll make it if you do.

--
Dennis Carr - | I may be out of my mind,
http://www.dennis.furtopia.org | But I have more fun that way.
------------------------------------+-------------------------------

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 15:01:20 +0000, John wrote:

Hi, my cat Brodie was a stray 12 years ago and is now estimated to be
16. The last couple of years she has gotten so sick a couple of times
that I thought she wouldn't make it but she's a survivor and is right
at this moment sitting on my desk.

John, get her to another vet. There is a chance she'll make it if you do.

--
Dennis Carr - | I may be out of my mind,
http://www.dennis.furtopia.org | But I have more fun that way.
------------------------------------+-------------------------------