Thread: Worried

Well I’m a very happy cat mummy today The blood test has come back normal and he has eaten a reasonable amount of hills this morning. I just hope he can keep it up. He’s back on kitten food while we try and get some meat on him.

The vet basically doesn’t know what the problem is/has been. I suggested maybe he was just not growing at the moment, but she says for a 6.5kg cat to be only eating half a pouch some days is odd. They don’t think it’s his gums because they see animals with far worse mouths that still manage to eat. Anyway, I’m to keep an eye on him and take him back in 2 weeks for another weigh in.

Thanks so much for the toothpaste advice Puzzles. I’ve mentioned it to the Vet and she is going to brief me on teeth brushing next time. I bet it will be a challenge to say the least! I like your idea of just using fingers, sounds like a more realistic method.

Here’s a recent picture of my darling ‘bone bags’ as I’ve been calling him:

Awww! He is super cute! I'm glad he's eating and that all his bloodwork was normal. As a former vet tech I am obligated to say that yes, you should absolutely brush your cats teeth, but as a cat owner I know that it's easier said than done I will honestly admit that I don't brush Pikachu's teeth. I tried to when he was younger and for a while I faithfully battled it out with him once a week. But eventually it got to the point where I just didn't feel the benefits for his teeth were worth the stress on his heart (he has HCM/CHF)

As for his food, I would definitely keep him on kitten food until he is at least a year old and I agree with wivelspiker: let him eat whatever he is willing to and sort out the balanced nutrition and such later.

Luckily Pikachu only likes kibble (dry food) which does help reduce tartar build up and he LOVES his feline greenies dental treats, so his teeth are pretty healthy. I'm not sure how much the dental treats really help but he loves them and they're probably not making things worse.

It sounds like a lot of you are in Europe so I'm not sure if it is common there, but here in the vet clinic I used to work at we did yearly dental prophylaxis on cats and dogs. That is a full dental cleaning just like we get at the dentist, but it is done under anesthesia for pets. That might be something to look into for anyone whose kitty has dental issues.

He cleans his teeth by eating a certain kind of grass that he found himself, he chews for minutes and enjoys it.

I love the name Pikachu, it’s really cute. I’m hoping to get another coonie soon and was considering Japanese names, I’m quite taken with Toshi at the moment.

I’m liking the grass idea. Casco doesn’t go outside though. When he was little I had some cat grass in the house, but he kept dragging it around/knocking it over and I ended up cleaning up compost every day. Might have to look into getting a heavier plant pot and try again.

I guess raw meaty bones is another option, but I can’t get Casco to eat raw unless it’s beef mince/steak.

Originally Posted by Sketches

I love the name Pikachu, it’s really cute. I’m hoping to get another coonie soon and was considering Japanese names, I’m quite taken with Toshi at the moment.

thanks I love the name too even though I'm not a Pokemon fan or anything. He is orange and stripey like the character so it fits. I found out that it means "lightning mouse" in Japanese and then I loved it even more! One of my Pika's many nicknames is "mouse" I love the name Toshi, super cute!

Originally Posted by BunnyBoo

Luckily Pikachu only likes kibble (dry food) which does help reduce tartar build up and he LOVES his feline greenies dental treats, so his teeth are pretty healthy. I'm not sure how much the dental treats really help but he loves them and they're probably not making things worse.

Sorry, will have to disagree with you here.

Dry food / kibble does not help reduce tartar build up nor is it good for their teeth in any way.
It is an all too common misconception encouraged by the dry food manufacturers, and - unfortunately - a lot of vets who sell these products in their surgeries. Think about what happens when we eat dry biscuits. They turn to wet mush in the mouth. If we ate nothing but dry biscuits and never cleaned our teeth we would be pretty unhealthy. Some cats don't even chew dry food.

I suspect the dental treats are doing more to keep his teeth clean than the dry food. Perhaps he also has youth and good health on his side.

The best way to look after a cat's teeth in the long term is to feed them a good diet including regular raw chicken wings or whole prey, or to clean their teeth for them with pet toothpaste, as you say.

Also, kitten food is a gimmick. A kitten has the same nutritional requirements as an adult cat: they just need to eat more, little and often. The difficulty is finding a good quality meat protein that your cat will eat.

Originally Posted by Sketches

Well I’m a very happy cat mummy today The blood test has come back normal and he has eaten a reasonable amount of hills this morning. I just hope he can keep it up. He’s back on kitten food while we try and get some meat on him.

The vet basically doesn’t know what the problem is/has been. I suggested maybe he was just not growing at the moment, but she says for a 6.5kg cat to be only eating half a pouch some days is odd. They don’t think it’s his gums because they see animals with far worse mouths that still manage to eat. Anyway, I’m to keep an eye on him and take him back in 2 weeks for another weigh in.

Thanks so much for the toothpaste advice Puzzles. I’ve mentioned it to the Vet and she is going to brief me on teeth brushing next time. I bet it will be a challenge to say the least! I like your idea of just using fingers, sounds like a more realistic method.

Here’s a recent picture of my darling ‘bone bags’ as I’ve been calling him:

He is a beauty. He doesn't look too skinny to me either. Glad appetite has improved.