Complete Care for Your Aging Cat - Amy Shojai [117]
Multiple drugs can have side effects. “She stopped eating—that’s her barometer,” says Andrea, and tests showed Aztec had developed diabetes. Besides all the pills being poked down her throat, Aztec also was given insulin injections twice a day. Switching to a different steroid medication cured the diabetes, though, so Aztec doesn’t need insulin shots anymore.
The struggle to first diagnose and then treat and maintain Aztec’s disease began to affect the cat’s quality of life. After being force-fed pill after pill, soon she began avoiding Andrea altogether. “It’s so hard when you deal with something like this because you want to take care of your cats, but at the same time they start hating you,” says Andrea. “It’s just very emotional.”
The struggle continued until Aztec recently stopped eating again. This time the veterinarian placed a stomach tube so that she could be fed a puddinglike high-calorie food, called Prescription Diet a/d. “I have to mix it with water to get it through the tube,” says Andrea. Aztec should weigh 6 or 7 pounds and her weight has dropped to about 5 pounds so she needs all the calories she can get. Andrea feeds tiny amounts three times a day. An added advantage is that Aztec’s meds are administered at the same time—no more pilling.
Now the cat feels a whole lot better about Andrea and being medicated. “I don’t have to stick things down her throat all the time. Now she sits on my lap and purrs while I’m watching TV, and it takes about a half hour to get everything down,” she says. “I’m a big fan of stomach tubes, it’s a life saver!”
To date, Andrea has spent over $3,000 on Aztec’s diagnosis, care and medications. She’s also had to deal with the rest of her feline household. “It’s pretty common for cats to reject a cat after its been in a clinic, because it has different smells about it,” she says. “That can be a real problem. But Aztec is a very strong personality, she’s very independent.” She says the other cats can yell and scream all they want, and “Princess” Aztec doesn’t care.
Andrea says it’s vital for people to know what’s normal for their cat while they’re healthy, so they know when to get them help. “Be sensitive to them. That’s what helps me.”
Feeding For Health
Foods designed to be highly palatable and digestible are appropriate for cats suffering from liver disease.
Iams Veterinary Diets, Nutritional Stress/Weight Gain Formula, Maximum-Calorie/Feline
Hill’s Prescription Diet Feline a/d (recovery)
Hill’s Prescription Diet Feline l/d (liver diet)
IVD (Royal Canin) Select Care Feline Mature Formula
IVD (Royal Canin) Select Care Feline Development Formula
Purina Veterinary Diets, EN Gastroenteric Formula
Waltham Feline Convalescence Support Diets
OBESITY
Obesity is defined as an excess of body fat 30 percent beyond the normal and more often affects middle-aged and older cats. Obesity is their most common nutritional disorder. A recent survey of veterinarians indicates that half of the adult cats seen are overweight or obese. “In the six-to-twelve-year-old group as many as 40 percent of the cats are overweight or obese,” says Debbie Davenport, DVM, director of special education for Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
Fat is an active metabolic organ capable of producing hormones intricately involved in glucose stability and body composition. Resistin, leptin and adiponectin are key hormones involved in fat stability and glucose regulation, so excess fat impacts more than the cat’s weight. Obese cats are four times more likely to develop diabetes, five times more likely to develop lameness, and three times more likely to have no allergic skin conditions compared with cats of optimal body condition
Aging cats tend to gain weight