<p>Many of you kindly responded to my earlier thread about my cat, Mittens, a few weeks ago. Well, Mittens was doing well for awhile, but then had another stroke. He was in the animal hospital for a week, but now he’s home. I’m concerned that he’s getting dehydrated again. Every 30 minutes I shoot a little bit of Pedialyte into his mouth, but I’m still not sure he’s getting enough. I’m also giving him little bits of wet food every hour because he only eats a small bit at a time. (He seems to have lost the correct tongue/eating process a bit, but he is slowly relearning.) I’m giving him kitty food because it’s higher in calories and he needs to gain weight. I’m also giving him some of that high calorie paste that is supposed to supplement his eating. If you have any other suggestions about eating/drinking, please share. :)</p>
<p>Anyway…Someone mentioned pinching his skin to test for dehydration and I have, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to notice. I know someone said something about the skin “sticking” or something, but does that meant that when you pinch the skin it doesn’t quickly return to flat???</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any and all help and ideas. :)</p>
<p>BTW…Mittens is only 7 years old, so this sudden change in his health has been shocking for us.</p>
<p>looking at the top of the head should be able to tell if dehydrated- does he have kidney issues?
I had to give our oldest cat sub-q fluids for about 4 years- daily 2X
boy when she saw me, she went running!</p>
<p>EK4… What should I see at the top of his head (I feel like an idiot about this whole process.)</p>
<p>Do you mean that you had to give the shots of water under the skin? Right after they took Mittens off his IV, they shot water under his skin. I had no idea that I could ask to do the same at home. I will ask about this tomorrow. </p>
<p>Do you just lift the skin, insert the needle at an angle and press the syringe? I guess they would show me at the vet’s. I hate shots, but if it will save his life, I’ll do it.</p>
<p>Did you ahve any trouble getting him to eat? or just drink? </p>
<p>No kidney issues. Just strokes that have affected his sight a bit, his back legs (don’t know if that’s permanent), and his eating. </p>
<p>The vet does think he might have some heart issues, so Mittens has been referred to a cardiologist…so that is coming up, too.</p>
<p>My cat had severe kidney failure and one of the options would have been for me to do subcutaneous fluids at home. My neighbor does that for her diabetic cat. She reports that is very easy and the vet told me it wouldn’t be a big deal. I would take Mittens in and let the vet show you how to determine if fluids are needed and show you how to administer them. I assume, as with people, you don’t want to give fluids if they are not necessary as fluid can accumulate in places you don’t want them - around the heart and lungs.</p>
<p>OK. I’ve had to bury one that got hit by a car, cry for one that went out one night and never came home. And take two to the vets to be put to sleep. I know how tough it is.</p>
<p>I do think that the tendency is to wait too long for the inevitable. The question we really have to ask is whether or not the quality of life for the cat is really doing it a favor when the decline is irreversible.</p>
<p>I lost two in one year last year. One never came home and I finally put the 16 year old to sleep after a long kidney decline. Waited six weeks and brought home two kitties from the rescue shelter, one that loves attention and one feral kitty, born in a rabbit hole, that has been slow to accept humans. They are both a lot of fun. So the circle of life can continue with a new start.</p>
<p>I am ready to accept it if Mittens is too far gone to be saved. I’ve cried a lot over the last week about that. He’s not in any discomfort (the vet assured me) and the vet says that right now, we should wait to see if after the brain swelling subsides (after stroke), to see how much Mittens regains. He’s already regained much of his sight (he was completely blind right after the stroke). </p>
<p>Having been thru 3 major strokes with my mom, I know how severe the after affects can look at first (when my mom had her first major stroke, the neurologist (at UCLA med!) told us that she’d be a vegetable and to put her in an institution! Within 4 weeks, she was almost completely normal…except some vision loss and the loss of some nouns…she can’t remember the words “purse” or “bedroom”…but she can talk “around it” to get her message across…“the place where I keep my money.” </p>
<p>So, my point is, I’m willing to wait to see if any of the problems from Mitten’s stroke subsides. He’s only 7. He doesn’t have kidney trouble or liver trouble.</p>
<p>He purrs like an engine when petted, so I’m hoping that means he’s happy. Does it?</p>
<p>My cat is 7 also and so sweet and healthy. It would be a shock indeed for her to get so sick so suddenly. You have my sympathy and hope he recovers soon.</p>
<p>Mittens just ate his dinner…the most he’s eaten at one time since the stroke. He seems to have relearned his tongue/eating thing.</p>
<p>When he was in the hospital, he was mostly fed by IVs, so he didn’t get much practice there, although he did eat some there. The vet told me that he wasn’t that hungry/thirsty because of the nutrition/fluids he was getting via the IV.</p>
<p>I was so happy tonight to see him eat nearly a full serving of food!</p>
<p>Oh I’m so sorry to hear that your kitty is not well, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he will be able to eat. You can offer him chicken or salmon “broth” without added salt (no spices and absolutely no onions either!) as his drinking water alternative.</p>
<p>My cat, Callie who is reading this as I write(!), had incredible kidney failure that nearly killed her. I had to provide sub-Q Lactated Ringer’s fluids 1-2x a day. I don’t think the vet expected her to live. </p>
<p>Well, she’s obviously alive and now fine. I haven’t had to provide the fluids for at least the past 4 years. She certainly has gained weight and my constant companion. My point is that the Ringer’s routine wasn’t so bad, and I know it saved her. She didn’t love being poked in the shoulder blades, but she was a champ which I rewarded with moist cat food. Her feedings include special canned cat food and dry cat food (from the vets) for kidney problems.</p>
<p>My guess is that if you think she’s dehydrated, she is.</p>
<p>Prepackaged fluid shots. You inject the fluid sub-cutaneously and thus sub-Q. Cats tend to tolerate shots pretty darned well.</p>
<p>We had a cat that died of kidney failure and old age. The fluid loss was obvious; when I’d pull on the fur, it didn’t snap back and would hang like a deflated balloon. Injectable fluids were easier on her than me.</p>
<p>I’m going to go to the vet tomorrow and get some. :)</p>
<p>I had no idea that people could do this stuff at home. I have no problem doing it. Mittens is very laid back…lets me do what I want with him. He even let me give him a bath.</p>
<p>I gave my cat daily insulin shots for almost 4 years. It really helped that she was a real angel, she tolerated the shots very well and even asked for them by making a special sound :). If you cat is very mellow, giving him sub-q fluids will be easy.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of this phenomenon, but can’t imagine. If I tried to give my cat a bath, I’d end up a bloody mess, lol. Then again, I was always astounded by people who said they had babies who never cried. Just not my lot.</p>
<p>That’s really great that your cat will tolerate interventions. Says a lot about the trust level between the two of you…</p>
<p>Cats don’t seem to care much about the pain from a shot. Their pain tolerance is unreal. I found one of my cats hitting himself in the face, grabbed him and saw he’d broken off a tooth above the gum line so a ragged stump was showing. He hadn’t showed any grouchiness at all. The next time this happened, he hid it so well I only found it because his mouth looked different. Another cat stood up on the back of a chair, stretched and passed out cold. She had a giant abscess she’d completely hidden from us. My first cat was sitting quietly near the door when I came home from school. He didn’t jump on me so I picked him up and he had blood on the underside, hole in his mouth where a tooth had punctured, but he was otherwise acting normally. Our neighbor said a car hit him. He had a broken leg, but he acted as normally as possible.</p>
