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a a 12 year old female cat started licking

Sent to Cat Experts August 17 10:49 PM

a               a 12 year old female cat started licking her mouth as if to vomit but didnt. later began to drool -sometimes foamy. she wouldnt eat, seemed to want to drink but didnt. next day a little water, no food. fourth day vet exam-no injury, no temp, no masses, good teeth. gave antibiotic, cotisone shot. sixth day, today, little water, no food. losing weight and is weakening. can i help Pearl? ps-she seems to want to eat but only smells food - acts like cant smell it but shes not congested.    Thank you.

 

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August 17 11:24 PM (34 minutes and 51 seconds later)
         
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Hi,

Whatever caused Pearl to stop eating or not feel well initially, is now causing her liver to be damaged because she's not eating or drinking sufficiently. She's dehydrated and needs to have food and water 'force-fed' to her.

Get some children's unflavored Pedialyte if you can, or for now, take a cup of water and add a pinch of salt and sugar. Feed this with a dropper in the side of her mouth, where there's the space between the upper and lower teeth. Squeeze a little in at a time and don't rush it. Wait for her to swallow after each little bit and gently stroke her throat if she doesn't swallow right away. Give her one dropperful every 10 minutes for an hour.

Get some jarred Gerber baby food--plain chicken or turkey (NO spices added, no salt or onions/onion powder). Mix some of this with the Pedialyte or water mixture until it's soupy or liquidy enough to fill the dropper. Give her a dropperful of the food mixture every 15 minutes after you do an hour of the plain Pedialyte or water mixture--give her a rest of about 30 minutes after the water, and see how she looks/feels. If she seems okay, do the same routine with the food. Go slowly; if she should vomit, stop immediately.

If you can't get the baby food, you can use canned cat food, but if you have to go out to the store for either, get both, but use the baby food first, as it's more bland.

If she keeps everything down (hopefully), let her rest, and repeat the the liquids every 20 minutes for an hour, then after a rest, more food from the dropper. Just do it all slowly and see how she looks/feels.

Did the vet do any blood tests? If not, I think that's a very necessary thing. If you bring her back to the vet she can get fluids under her skin (subcutaeous fluids) to be rehydrated. Did they do this at all when you brought her in, or was she not dehydrated at that time? I also think you should call the vet in the morning and report how she's doing since she was there. I just thought of something else, an antacid like Pepcid AC might help, if she's nauseated by acid reflux, but you can't give it without first asking the vet and after she has something (food) in her stomach.

Let me know how she's doing, okay? Thanks!

Cher

Edited by Cerecita on August 17 2006 at 11:26 PM



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