Sick kitty help, please!

[GreenPartyVoter]

As some of you know my dad's cat was just put down because he stopped eating and taking his meds and went into kidney failure.

My Pretzel is headed in the same direction. He has bad teeth and is refusing to eat, even if I water the food down so he can "drink" it. I usually crush his thyroid meds into his food and he'll eat it up most times. But the last week he has been very fussy and refusing to take his meds. His heart rate is back up and he is getting skinnier by the hour.

I tried to force the pill into him by coating it with butter and sticking it into his mouth, but I just got scratched a lot and he just kept spitting the pill out. I _think_ I might have gotten it in on the last try, but I am not sure. I might try wrapping him in a towel and getting hubby to help me, like we used to do when Pretzel was a kitten and needed ear mite drops.

Any other suggestions? I really don't want to lose this cat yet, but if I can't get his thyroid under control before next week I am afraid instead of pulling all his bad teeth the vet will just say we should put him down like they did with Dad's cat. :cry:

Editing to add that this crazy cat just broke into a box of kibble and is trying to eat it, bad teeth or not. Maybe he is just sick of wet food??

[Dangerously Amused]

1. Call the vet and tell him what's happening.

This sounds like an emergency. The vet may be able to get kitty in earlier for the teeth - and also find out if something else is going on. Which in turn may save his life.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I found a website that shows me how to get the pill into him. We can't get him

in any earlier, though. :( I just have to keep trying to dose him and hope that the infected teeth don't make him septic. I might call and ask if we should put him on amoxicillin, but if I do that and clear up the infection how will they know what teeth to pull?

[Dogtown]

9. There will be visible damage to the

to the teeth and gums. Mass buildup at the base of the canines will give a "sabre-tooth" appearance to the cat.

Call your vet and get advice from them. You need professional adviceon medical problems, all we can do is guess.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Yeah. Hopefully next Friday will be soon enough.

[XOEnterprises]

2. It could be an infection.

Our oldest cat, Charlie, had bad teeth for years, and we didn't think anything of it until she started hiding under beds and refusing to eat. My mom took her in, and the vet found out that her gums had become infected because of her teeth, and it had found its way into her bloodstream, almost killing her.

Call the vet and get an appointment ASAP. They can determine if that's the case or not.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. His teeth have been infected for months, but the vet wouldn't work on them until we

got the hyperthyroidism under control. Which obviously it's not right now.

[grasswire]

7. I would think the vet would give the cat low-dose antibiotics..

...for the teeth so you can get him through the thyroid crisis.

[grasswire]

3. there is something called "compounding" pharmacy...

...where the pharmacist can make a liquid instead of a pill, which is then easier to get into the cat by using an eyedropper in the corner of his/her mouth. Find a local pharmacy that does "compounding" and then get your vet to write the prescription for it. I think there's also a way of making it into a substance that can be rubbed inside the ear and absorbed that way.

Food: there's a very high-calorie paste that comes in a tube that is often used to bring up the weight in a pet. I'll go try to find the name of it. I bought it at petco when I was fighting the same thing.

Could you try chicken broth through an eyedropper in the corner of kitty's mouth for some sustenance? I would try the low-sodium broth. You can get eyedroppers at any drug store if you don't have one.

Also, I learned that sometimes the ailing cat's sense of smell is diminished and they don't eat because they can't smell the food. The suggestion was to provide some sardines. That worked for my kitty for a while. He gobbled the sardines, even the ones in tomato sauce.

[grasswire]

6. the paste is called Nutrical

...and there are other variations. It's a high-vitamin, high-calorie substance just for this purpose. Chester would lick it off my finger and I also would take a dab and stick it under his upper lip so he had to lick it and swallow it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I'll see if we can find some over the weekend. I am going to call the vet and ask about the

antibiotics.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

11. Hang in there with him ---

You will need a creative way to get his meds in him -- I assume you have tried the piller that is available that you pop in a cat's mouth and push with a plunger? Is there a way to get the thyroid into a liquid form?

I had a cat with bad teeth who was older (16), starving, and had kidney problems -- I found a vet who specialed in that kind of dental surgery. Once his teeth were fixed up (all but the canines yanked) Elwood ws just fine and lasted another two years eating wet food and roasted chicken cut up into tiny bits.

No need to out the cat down -- you can do this for him.

Your vet could put him on a round of antibiotics or pred until he can get worked on -- that willhelp with the gum pain and thepred will pick up his appetite.

The way I pill my cats is to tilt their heads back until their noses face the ceiling, pry their nouths open and just drop the pill as far back in their throat as I can -- straight down the shoot. This rarely fails, if you get the pill far enough back.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. I think we are getting him some antibitotics at the vet tomorrow. I have been trying to

get the pill into him that way but I was afraid of choking him so I didn't put his head up very high. Has that ever been a problem for you?

[crispini]

12. Here's how I pill my cats.

I catch them. I kneel on the floor. I put them between my shins so that their head is between my knees. This lets me sort of grip onto the cat with my legs -- close your feet so they can't back out. You sort of "sit" on the cat (but not really). Then, you have the cat completely trapped, and you can use one hand to pry open their mouths and one hand to shove the pill as far as possible down the throat.

Good luck. :hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. I hadn't thought of that. I might give it a try if I can't do it with him tucked into

the crook of my arm. (Same concept of blocking him from backing out.)

[XemaSab]

15. That happened to my cat

and when it was over, it was over.

Sorry you're going through this. :(

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Thanks. I hope it doesn't have to be over yet. Pretzel is the sweetest little guy

[XemaSab]

17. How old is he?

Koshie was 11, and she hung on for months, but it got to the point where her condition was so bad that the cat vet basically said there wasn't much he could do, and it would be better to put her down.

Her teeth started falling out, she couldn't clean herself, her fur got all matted, she had trouble eating, her mouth was all infected, the vet couldn't pull her teeth because her condition was so bad, even with oral lidocaine she wasn't eating enough, she went from 4.6 to 3.8 pounds... It was one of the saddest days of my life, but I know I did the right thing. :(

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. That sounds liek my dad's cat. Pretzel just turned 14, but he's still taking care of himself all

right. He caught a mouse just the other night and was so prrrroud. LOL

I am so sorry for how things went with Koshie. :hug: I hope we can head things off for Pretzel. Otherwise we're going to have to say some very sad good-byes in the near future.