A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

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Walesgang
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Walesgang »

((((Mark)))) just catching up with this.

How very worrying for you.

Fingers crossed an answer is found for your precious girl.

Positive vibes from me and the gang xx
Last edited by Walesgang on Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Kay
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Kay »

poor Kylie and poor you, Mark - there can be nothing worse than this daily anxiety hanging over you

I do hope you get a proper diagnosis in the next few days, so at least you know what you are up against
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

Thanks everyone. I have a feeling of deja vu, with 5 bowls of various foods on the side. Holding a dish for her to eat etc. She has been picking at t few things this morning. She had a nibble of AD, but not sure she will keep eating it. She is having quite a good go at a pouch of Felix supermeat at the moment - an old favourite.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Marla »

Have you every tried Meowing Heads wet cat food? It's really high in meat content, smells fantastic and all of our cats love it whereas they don't like most other foods.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by meriad »

Mark, I'm also only just catching up on this - what a worry for you. Hopefully you'll get the HT results today and can then figure out next steps.

In the meantime, think she'd enjoy some probiotic yoghurt. Not sure anyone here remembers Spencer? But I'm sure he said he had quite a lot of success with it on his boy Diesel. I think he always recommended the Yeo Valley one and would give Diesel about 1 teaspoon a day. Yes it's diary which isn't the best but the good outweighed the bad and he often recommended it.

Fusses to your girl; I hope you find the right food soon

PS: how did she like the Arden Grange? No luck I take it?
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Shelly and Dora »

Oh Mark. What a worry. Poor Kylie.

I'm sorry I'm so late picking this up. I don't tend to come on the main site very often.

What about just plain old chicken? Have you tried her on that? Dora sits licking her lips and watching the oven when I'm cooking it.

When should you get the HT tests results back?

Thinking of you all. Fusses to Kylie

Shelly & Dora xx
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

Thanks everyone. The T4 came back as normal, so it looks like the biopsy is going ahead. I have tried every food going. She didn't like Arden Grange (although the youngsters hoovered it! :) )
Meowing heads is probably one of the very few I haven't tried - amazingly, our local pet shop that has a pathetic range of cat food stocks it - so will get some tomorrow.

I bought her Hill's pouches today - she had a little lick, but no real interest. Interestingly, I recommended Butchers Classic on here to someone last week as being good quality, but cheap. As it was on my mind, I picked up a 6 pack in Morrisons a few days ago. I put some in a bowl for Kasper & Ingrid and they liked it. I put the rest on plate for the birds. Kylie was in the garden. As I passed, she wanted to kno what I had in my hand. I let her sniff it, but she ate lots of it :) - since then, she is eating more of that that anything else :)

Shelly, Kylie is a freak as cats go. She has never liked real meat. She ate one small piece of chicken about a month ago and that was the first time in 14 years. She didn't want a 2nd piece.

PS - I had to stop typing as she got out of her bed and was sniffing 4 dishes of food. She opted for the Classic that I gave her before I went out this afternoon, but there was no jelly left. I just went and opened a fresh can and she is happily eating.

That really is lucky. I never would have dreamed that she would prefer it over anything else.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Lilith »

Good luck Kylie and you too Mark.

The bit about meat rings a bell - didn't you once post about cooking some pulled pork and Kylie (who never looks at meat) went mad over it? They always surprise you. 'You don't want this,' I'll say - and then they do. I once cooked some beautiful fish for Emily after her dental and nobody wanted it, least of all her. But I cook some fish for ME and it's a different story! My lot aren't bothered about chicken either - unless it's freshly cooked and warm and off my plate...

I've just started them on Butchers though and they love it - plenty of soft jelly. With Felix as backup for when they tire of it. As they will. It's one of the best of the mainstream catfoods though I think.

Hope Madam K goes on eating and building her strength up - paws crossed!
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

Yes I remember Kylie eating the pulled pork now - it was a one-off :)

I plan to get more stocks of Classic tomorrow - thankfully the Morrison's local sell it.

She is not impressed with the Hill's pouches despite them costing £5.99 a box (and that was £2 off)

Kylie still likes her Coley, but is quite particular. If I try to fob her off with cod, she isn't fooled :)
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by bobbys girl »

Lilith wrote:unless it's freshly cooked and warm and off my plate...
with Willow it's pork sausage! We buy ours from a guy who keeps his pigs on an island in the lough - free range, very little cereal filler and no onion. The little madam must know this, when we have 'sogage' she's there, sitting to attention with the 'pretty kitty' look on her face. Mind you at least she asks. You don't turn your back on Thomas (remember the duck portions - and more recently, turkey)

When my sister's cat was so ill (suspected antifreeze poisoning), not eating and going down fast, a nurse at the vets suggested Tesco's chicken roll. In truth, I think it is revolting stuff, but Yowlee loved it and started to eat again. :D He is now on a carefully controlled diet due to the damage done, but he is alive and relatively well.

As OH says 'whatever makes your boat float'.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Lilith »

bobbys girl wrote:As OH says 'whatever makes your boat float'.
Or whatever's worth washing your whiskers for.

Preferably after it's been pinched. :lol:
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by nannymcfee »

Watching 'Eat well for less' on TV and catching up on Kylie, not always the expensive ones that are the best , :D

They ought to do an episode on cat foods !
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

I missed the vet's call today. He left a message on my mobile, but hadn't called the landline. He said her T4 level is 'what they call' equivocal - in a grey area, neither too high or too low - odd as you would think it might be a the grey area of higher than normal or lower, but not both!

Anyway, her folate levels are now normal, but B12 is now on the low side, so she might need a few B12 shots - however, this shouldn't stop them doing a biopsy to investigate the rapid weight loss. i am going to make an appointment tomorrow. I assume it will be done on Monday or Tuesday.

My poor girl. I assume they think she is fit enough otherwise and I will ask if they are going to check her kidneys again before proceeding - although I don;t think we have much choice. She can't keep losing weight like tis. The diarrhea has been worse over the last 24hrs, although she is eating a reasonable amount.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by nannymcfee »

Has the vet mentioned Crohn?'s , do you think some of the bowel could have become very inflammed and causing the sudden weight loss.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

Yes he thinks there is inflamed tissue in the small intestine, but said without a biopsy, he can't determine the cause. He said there are several things it could be. One of them is white blood cells migrating into the tissue, which prevents nutrients being absorbed.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Lilith »

Again good luck.

These things are so damn difficult to pin down...I'm reminded of my last Siamese, Annie-Mouser. She had a wonky stomach too, but in different ways; she was sometimes incontinent; once I was cradling her and she needed to pass wind...well. She played the trumpet voluntary like a little lilac-pointed bagpipes - so undignified for the girl!

Blood tests showed nothing, although my vet and I knew she was on the way out. I was lucky to have a brilliant vet (Mr Hall-Patch of Castle View, Wakefield.)

However, do hope that Kylie isn't on the way out just yet and that the stomach biopsy yields some clues. It is good that she's eating more...even if it means there's more running out of the other end, poor lass!

All paws crossed here, snakes are crossing their tailsssssssss :)
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by booktigger »

She could still have hyper t then, if values are in the upper quartile (which I'm guessing they are if he said grey area), then they can actually be hyper t which can be confirmed with a Free T4 test.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

I agree, but surely that would cause long-term chronic diarrhea? - I will mention it.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by nannymcfee »

I mentioned Crohns, as Kylie's symptoms are very much like son in law ( Crohns) as opposed to myself (IBS)

The biopsy diagnosis from the small bowel ,should show inflammatory cells therefore confirming Crohns.

Hope they find a result Mark then at least they will be able to know what next step is.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Crewella »

I'm so sorry poor Kylie's still in the wars, but glad to hear she likes the Classic - my lot will always eat it.

We had chronic gut problems with Minnie, and to be honest we never did really get to the bottom of it as by the time we were running out of options she was 19 or so. I'm sorry if you've mentioned this, but have you tried her on steroids. Minnie was on Prednisolone for the last year of her life and it did help with both the diarrhea and the lack of appetite - at her age any negatives were far outweighed by the positives.

Fusses to the lovely Kylie xx
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

The worrying thing is that she has had it for ages, but lately it has got worse. It was worrying anough when she had gone down to 3.2kg a month ago, but when they told me on Wednesday that she had lost another 1/3rd of her body weight, I really started to worry. At this rate, unless they can do something, I don't suppose she has more than a matter of weeks left. I am trying just t feed her as much as she will eat and let the vets do their job and hope for the best.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by bobbys girl »

I may have already mentioned this and you may have already tried it. Purdy is a skinny little cat and every so often we give her (Hills?) recovery food - on a spoon. We call it baby food and she loves to eat it off the spoon (all part of the ritual)

You can almost see the weight going on her. Problem is after one tin she gets bored with it, but by then her little face has filled out again.

She is, I hasten to add a healthy cat. It is just that she is a picky eater and nervy with it.

Is Kylie the sort of cat you could spoon feed? Would she take a nutrient-packed gloop from you?

I really hope you can find something she likes and can resolve her problems.

Thinking of you.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

Thanks, but yes I bought her a couple of tins of AD to try last week. She had a tiny lick from one and that was it. I kept trying, but no joy.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Kay »

you have probably after all this time tried everything in the book, Mark, so sorry for inflinting yet another suggestion on you, but nearly all cats love liver, so I wonder if you have tried gently cooking some lambs liver and mashing it up to add to regular cat food - it smells and tastes strong, and I have found it very useful in the past to get fussy cats to eat regularly

it has the merits of being cheap too
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

Thanks Kay. I will give it a go, but she has never been remotely interested in real meat. She had her worst day yesterday with several episodes of messy diarrhea and she stopped eating in the afternoon. She ate overnight and again this morning. I think we will just have to wait for the biopsy results. She has always loved her food until recently.
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Lilith »

Hey Mark, have you ever come across this stuff?

http://www.viovet.co.uk/Nurish-UM_Vitam ... ent/c2421/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can get it from Pets At Home too. I got told about it in the 80s when it was known as 'St Aubrey Jelly' and passed the info on to a friend with a very weak girl of what was then an experimental breed (I won't name the breed) and her kittens who were fading out - and it worked wonders. They all survived. It looks like golden syrup and you put a bit on a finger and wipe it round the cat's lips, so she has to wash it off. I wonder, even if Kylie's still eating well (and hope she is - ah sorry, edit, missed your last post, do hope she picks up again) whether this mightn't be a good backup with vitamins and calories.

And as has been said, sorry to keep bombarding you with advice and possible remedies - but still, hope SOMETHING might work!

Still all paws and tails crossed for Kylie :)
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

Thanks Lil. Her appetite has picked up a bit now :) - she is far from well, but has just eaten 1/3rd of a foil tray and a nibble of Classic. I saw the paste in the vets last week. I was going to buy a tube, but noticed on the back that it gave a warning about not feeding without seeking the advice of a vet, due to excessive amounts of Vitman D, Iodine and something else in it. At that stage we didn't have T4 results, so I was a bit wary of it. Something to bear in mind and I know that I can buy it an any time if needed.


This is the stuff my vet stocks, but I assume it is a similar product. http://www.vet-medic.com/cats-c67/hairb ... GwodBvQJRQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And she has just gone back for more food :)
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by Crewella »

It's horrible when you're having good days and bad ones. Hurrah for a good day. xx
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by SarahT1 [PLLE] »

Good girl, Kylie. Thinking of you both. Such a horrid time for you. Are you back to the vet tomorrow?
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Re: A long battle with Kylie's food and sods law.

Post by MarkB »

Sorry, I meant to update after I updated on Facebook. She is in for biopsy tomorrow. Just hoping they can find the cause and treat it, or at least control it.
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