# Need help getting my cat to eat wet food to prevent another urinary block



## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

Hello,

I have a 1.5 year old male cat who had a urinary block Thursday night. We reacted within 2 hours of observing him acting weird and unable to pass urine. He was on a IV for 36 hours with a catheter for 24 hours. He unblock really well they say but given his age this is a concern. Struvite crystals was the cause and he has been put on Medi Cal Urinary dry food. He hasn't touched the Medi-Cal Wet. I am giving him his meds and taking notes on his food and water intake and his pee frequencies. I clean the litter after every use so I can best keep track of his outflow. He is peeing but in little bits. He does not appear to be eating or drinking lots though. 

I have been feeding my cats Origen dry. My female has always been a picky soft food eater. My cats are mother and son so he obviously inherited her finickiness. She eats one Snappy Tom a day but Mr Man has never touched soft food. He seemed to drink a lot of water in the past, we know cause he always drank from our cups so we were never concerned about this happening. I was wrong. I need to make sure he is getting enough moisture but how much is enough? 

I bought a cheap pet fountain on Saturday while I wait for the Stainless Steel Drinkwell 360 to arrive. He's not drinking from it much though. He used to love drinking from a running tap so we'll see if the Drinkwell will stimulate his interest more. 

I could really use some ideas on getting Mr Man eating soft food. I have tried soaking the dry kibble, mixing it and his favorite treats with soft food all with no luck. I went out and bought a bunch of raw food today, all single servings in a variety of meat sources as well as regular canned food. I plan on trying every single brand if I have to. So far no luck. I don't know if it's smart to remove the dry for the day so he's hungry enough later to try the wet while he is still recovering or not. I should add here that before this happened we were finding piles of regurgitated dry food that he wolfed down and didn't chew. I'll have his teeth checked when we see the vet. 

I did find a vet nearby that uses both traditional and holistic approaches to animal health so we will see what they have to offer. If anyone has had any experience and success with holistic remedies for struvite crystals please let me know. 

The hospital bill cost me $1650. I was saving for a newer used car so I had it thank god. I paid it no problem but I can't afford that again anytime soon. That was 80% of a months pay so any and all advice would be appreciated.

Tara


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## alohomora (Jun 3, 2011)

My 3-year-old male cat had a blockage back in May. He ended up having surgery to widen his urethra which cost $3K, so I understand what you're going through. I'm fortunate that my cat took quickly to an almost all-wet food diet. I've been trying to find a grain-free variety that he likes but haven't been successful. I would suggest to just keep trying more brands. Maybe try a flavor enhancer? I've never tried any, but have seen them mentioned before. Once you find a variety he likes mix water in with it. It's a neat trick that works for my cat.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

tarah44 said:


> I don't know if it's smart to remove the dry for the day so he's hungry enough later to try the wet while he is still recovering or not.


This is the key. If he's been snacking on dry whenever he wants, it's very easy for him to turn up his nose at the wet food. He needs to be hungry so he'll give it a shot. I'd try getting him on meal feeding with the dry and once he's adjusted to that, then slip in the canned food. 

If he still refuses the canned, you can try pushing a few kibbles into the wet. Or grinding up some kibble and sprinkling it over the wet. Parmesan cheese is also an enticement. Maybe some pieces of chicken or freeze dried chicken crumbled over it. Basically anything he really likes as a topper.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

That is a good idea. The dry food is hidden away and they will now get morning and evening feedings. I've spent the day researching and researching. 

Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health has some great ideas on transitioning from dry food to wet food under "Transitioning Dry Food Addicts to Canned Food" 

I like the one quote " They are not going to try anything new if their bowl of junk food is in front of them 24/7." 

I know we have hard water here in Calgary but I never fully understood what that meant. Calcium and Magnesium is very high in our water so out goes tap water and on with spring water.


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## cooncatbob (May 27, 2011)

I'm try to get my cat off the junk food and she likes the Merrick 96% BG (before grain) it coarser ground then a pate and she really goes for the chicken flavor.
I understand where you're coming from in regard Vet expenses, 2 months ago I lost my other kitty and had nothing to show for it except a $1300 vet bill.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

cooncatbob said:


> I'm try to get my cat off the junk food and she likes the Merrick 96% BG (before grain) it coarser ground then a pate and she really goes for the chicken flavor.
> I understand where you're coming from in regard Vet expenses, 2 months ago I lost my other kitty and had nothing to show for it except a $1300 vet bill.


Ouch. I am sorry for your loss.


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## def kitty (Mar 1, 2011)

tarah44 said:


> That is a good idea. The dry food is hidden away and they will now get morning and evening feedings.


Since he has a struvite problem, maybe adding at least one more meal wouldn't be a bad idea. My FLUTD cat (10 months old when he had the first episode - so far the only one, thank goodness) gets pretty hungry before the next meal, and I feed him three times a day. It's better for them to eat smaller meals more often than larger meals two times a day because the larger the meal, the more alkaline their urine becomes several hours after the meal, and that is the perfect environment for struvite formation.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

def kitty said:


> Since he has a struvite problem, maybe adding at least one more meal wouldn't be a bad idea. My FLUTD cat (10 months old when he had the first episode - so far the only one, thank goodness) gets pretty hungry before the next meal, and I feed him three times a day. It's better for them to eat smaller meals more often than larger meals two times a day because the larger the meal, the more alkaline their urine becomes several hours after the meal, and that is the perfect environment for struvite formation.


How old is he now or how long has it been since his last episode? 

Thanks for the heads up. I did not know about how large meals= more alkaline. Both cats are on my bed in the morning trying to wake me up for food now that I have removed the overnight dish. They had 3 feedings yesterday, though the afternoon feeding was more like a nibble then anything. My days are long with his meds and so I've been feeding right before he is due for his next med. It's funny, they follow me around meowing, wanting food and then when I drop the food down they sniff and look up at me as if they were saying "is that what I get....you don't have something better?". I've been putting out small samples of canned and raw on a dish with the Royal Canin Urinary So but so far just the kibble is consumed. They won't even touch a kibble that has been dipped into the gravy juice but hey it's only day 3 so I will keep on trying. I'm actually looking up live prey diets now. At this point I will try everything.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

Thanks to everyone posting their thoughts and advice. It's greatly appreciated.


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## praline (Jun 3, 2011)

I can give you some of my experiences. Not sure if they will help however.

With my kits, I started adding really warm water to their canned food and placing it in a small food bowl. I make a warm soup. They eat so much better this way! Before they would leave half of their food but now they lick the bowl clean. I take the canned food and water and mush it up really good. 

Now with my dog, he is an adult and was 10lbs overweight at his vet checkup. He has lost 5lbs this month on my own diet plan lol

I feed him Wellness core dry kibble. I cut the amount he gets in half. I grind it up in my magic bullet to make a fine flour/powder. I then had hot tap water to the flour and make a shake with it. I can make a huge bowl of food for him to fill up on with half the amount of calories. It sounds like a lot of work but magic bullets are the BEST thing ever in a kitchen! It really takes me less then 30 seconds to do this. He thinks he is getting more to eat then he normally does and doesn't realize its all water lol he is FULL and losing weight!

Here is a link to it:
The Magic Bullet Blender - Official Website
I use it to make protein shakes and stuff but it has become a wonderful tool for Bentley's weight loss!

That might be a better option for you if he won't eat canned. It taste, smells exactly like his dry food. Once he starts eating the pet food shake, you can slowly add some canned to it and keep doing that until he is on canned food only. 

I got the idea of adding warm water to the kits canned here on the forums. I was concerned they would not get enough calories with all of the water BUT they actually eat more this way. I think the warm water (I use hot tap water) releases the smell of the food. I love warm soup vs cold any day lol


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## praline (Jun 3, 2011)

The official site sells the bullet for $99 ~ don't buy it from there lol

I have seen it on Amazon for half that and I am sure you can find it even cheaper if you look around!


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I will give that a try. We have a high end blender so I'll try that and a puree blend as well. We have very hard water here in Calgary, meaning high calcium and magnesium so they are drinking nothing but spring water now. We are shopping for a water dispenser and converting the whole family to spring water shortly. The cats do drink from the fountain, but still prefer to drink out of our cups so it seems to be the best way to avoid the magnesium intake. 

Thank god I work from home and can try all this stuff out.


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## praline (Jun 3, 2011)

you can also try using a food processor to break the kibble down. I am not sure if a regular blender will do it? 

Once the kibble is broken down into a flour then add the warm water to make the shake in a blender? 


Something else you can try is catnip tea. This does take some time but my daughter makes it for the cats all the time and they love it. We even made catnip snow cones last month lol She is 10 and gets a kick out of stuff like that. It might be more of a chore for you then her but it might get him used to drinking more.

Take fresh catnip and put it in a clear water bottle. Shake it up and leave it out in the sun for a few hours. Presto catnip tea. You can also make it over the stove on very low heat but you don't have to watch the sun tea like you do the stove top.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I had a food processor given to me, I'll have to pull it out and try that. Awesome idea on the catnip tea. I don't care about the time it takes. I booked 4 days off work to watch my cat, research this issue and run around town buying stuff for them. I should have done this a long time ago. I knew better. I had a friend who went through it with his male Bengal last year. In the weeks following up to last week I was researching raw food diets. I always knew I should get on it, but I kept putting it off thinking everything would be fine, he drank lots of water. I won't make that mistake again.

I almost forgot to ask....why set it out in the sun?


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

Does the heat infuse the flavours much like herb teas? Do you serve it warm or do you chill it after it's been warm?


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## praline (Jun 3, 2011)

Habit?
Seriously, I am from the south and we take our iced tea very serious :wink
My granny always put out a container to make sun tea. She would add a few blackberries or blueberries from her bush to the tea and let it sit out for several hours. She swore up and down it was the only way to make decent tea. I grew up doing it. 

I put my catnip tea right next to my sweet tea to slowly brew on my back porch :love2

I don't chill it as they don't care for it that way. Warm and sun fresh is how my kits like it but I am sure each cat is different. You could add a little of this to the food as well....


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

praline said:


> Habit?
> 
> I don't chill it as they don't care for it that way. Warm and sun fresh is how my kits like it but I am sure each cat is different. You could add a little of this to the food as well....


I thought of that as soon as you mentioned cat nip tea. 

LOL...pardon my Canadian ignorance...we igloo dwellers are hot tea drinkers!


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## def kitty (Mar 1, 2011)

tarah44 said:


> How old is he now or how long has it been since his last episode?


It's been two months, and weaning him off kibble was a nightmare, but I didn't give in. Fortunately he loves raw food so I had him on it for maybe a month and a half, and switched the other cats (voracious beasts who would eat anything - lucky me!) to canned in the meantime, and then he spontaneously started joining them in eating canned (which he previously detested!). So now I free feed canned to all of them, they eat as many times a day as they like.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

So expect a nightmare then...lol. 

None of the Wellness was touched this week so that's out. Nor were the raw chicken and salmon samples. 

I just picked up 14 flavours of the Almo Nature tonight. They are all very basic formulas with no additives or fillers but most are fish formulas. Angel ate the Chicken and cheese in water without hesitating. I am happy to find a non fish soft that Angel likes but of course Mr. Man didn't touch it, nor did he go for the catnip sprinkled on it. Dry food is not coming out tonight. He had some kibbles at 2 or 3 pm today and isn't crying for food right now so we'll see how hungry he is in the morning. 

I should mention that I woke up this morning to both cats on my bed making a ruckus to get me up. I dosed on and off for 45 minutes and every time I woke up a bit both cats took turns walking over me meowing trying to get me up. They were so persistent I had to get up and feed them.


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## praline (Jun 3, 2011)

Since Wellness isn't being accepted, have you tried Weruva?
There stuff looks like people food lololol

Here is a photo of their steak meal. I could put that sucker in a bowl and give it to my teenage boys and they would sarf it down before realizing it was cat food .... not that I thought of this or anything :cool


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I contacted Weruva on Teusday looking for retailers in my area. They got back to me within 12 hours which impressed me. They contacted their distributor and they emailed me 4 local stores that are suppose to carry their products. As it turns out, only two stores carry the BFF line which is all tuna based. I talked to my local pet food store tonight about ordering some of their stuff. In the meantime, I'm still searching for a way to have 1-2 servings of each flavour sent to me.


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## praline (Jun 3, 2011)

I really don't know about the company but it all looked good lol

I asked on here about them last week. I am a Wellness Core pet owner hands down. I would like to find something different for the cats to keep their interest. Bentley has a sensitive tummy and we have explosions whenever I give him something else :wink

Have you tried the Core fish version? My cats pick at the turkey version but aren't thrilled with it. They suck down the fish version like its their last meal lol

Pet food direct sells the Weruva in variety packs so you might check there.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I should have known better. I let Mr Man skip a meal last night and I am the one that paid for it. You would think he'd have no energy but nooo....he was non stop crazy playful from 10 pm to 2 am. I couldn't sleep he was making such a rucus. Little ****. I'm back to work now so I can't clean the litter after each use to see what's coming out of him. There was a lot in there yesterday but with 2 cats I can't tell his from hers so we decided to lock him in our room with us over night with litter, water and soft food only available. The litter had two big and one small clump in it so that is awesome. He is peeing more and more. He didn't touch the soft food though. 

For the morning feed, I ground his dry into 3 different consistencies. I am thinking if it's consistency that is a big issue, then lets try changing the consistency of the kibble a bit. I mixed the kibble into different blends of soft food and powdered kibble, soft with whole kibble on top, chopped kibble slightly soaked in water and kibble in juice from the canned. He did eat the kibble soaked in canned juice but not much. 

For the afternoon snack, he wouldn't eat the kibbles & soft out of the bowl so I crawled over to him. I picked out one kibble soaked in the juice and feed it to him, he ate it and another without hesitation. I did the same with a flake and he ate it, so I presented another larger piece. He just licked that one to death but it's getting him used to the taste right? I had to had feed him piece by piece.....Princess! 

Angel meanwhile is loving the changes. She has always been a small portion eater so she keeps coming up to my desk every couple of hours with the pass under my chin. It's the “I want soft please” pass. She loved one of the cans I cracked open today so that's a plus with her. She hasn't had any kibble since yesterday afternoon. She is so easy to work with right now, considering she was exactly like Mr Man 4 years ago, I can't help but think “just my luck”.

I put all 4 rejected cans of food from yesterday out on my doorstep last night and it was completely gone this morning. The neighborhood cats are loving me! Most are unaltered pets from poor families so I imagine most are stuck with the cheap kibble. At least my waste is going to better use.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I took Mr. Man to the vet today and he says we should do another urinalysis in three weeks. I was kinda expecting a bit more of an explanation on his tests results but whatever. In the meantime he sent me home with a Chinese herbal powder called Wei Ling Tang. 

The Stainless Steel Drinkwell 360 finally arrived today and what a nice unit it is. I will keep the cheap plastic one I got last weekend rather then return it. Doesn't hurt to have a second one for our bedroom for those nights I lock him up with me to track his litter use. I really need to get a water cooler and delivered spring water. Daily trips to 7/11 for a jug of spring water is getting to me or maybe it's the daily nag to my boyfriend “ stay out of the cats water...lol. He of course thinks I'm being a little over the top. Easy for him to say, I'm the one that paid the E-Vet bill. 

Mr Man didn't touch any of the 20 or so cans of food I presented this week. I even resorted to a few cans of friskies. He did not eat it when I added water, tuna juice, canned food juice, bonito flakes or cat nip. Apparently neither of my cats like Parmesan cheese. He hasn't gone for any of the chip n dip's I've presented either. I have been grinding his dry food all week. 

Angel is at a 70/50 ratio of wet/dry already. She's still picky but at least she checks it out. She wouldn't touch the duck I presented tonight but she ate it once I threw in a bit of dry. Problem with her is she has always been a grazer eating small bits several times a day so she's up at my desk every 2-3 hours crying for food. 

I am picking up the food bowls after 20 minutes but Angel must have pushed one of her bowls behind a chair last night cuz I caught Mr. Man trying to eat a dry left over piece of flaked chicken. I ran to grab a fresh can and cracked it open. He inspected but didn't eat. 

I picked up another 17 cans of food and 3 wellness packets tonight including Weruva's BFF product line. I mixed the wet duck in warm water but so far nothing. I got a syringe and squirted some on his lips. He didn't repel from it but licked it up looking at me like a little baby. I won't force too much of that on him at once, just a bit at some meal times is enough I think to teach him it's not so bad. 10 minutes later I mixed the new herbs with water and went to squirt a bit and boy did he ever react to that. He spit it out. It went all over the place and he bolted away from me pretty fast. Guess I'll be trying to figure out another way of giving that too him. Ic an't have him develop an aversion to the syringe. 

I seriously have the most stubborn cat on the planet! 

And here goes week two....and another $40 out of my wallet!


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## cooncatbob (May 27, 2011)

Little Chiquita barfs up anything that doesn't agree with her like the Merrick 96% BF and hasn't thrown up any of the varieties.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

cooncatbob said:


> Little Chiquita barfs up anything that doesn't agree with her like the Merrick 96% BF and hasn't thrown up any of the varieties.


Yikes.


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

Ah, I found your wet food struggle thread.

Did you try actual human grade meat? If he doesn't seem to like ground up/wet/soft food, maybe he actually likes stuff that requires him to chew a bit. When you're cooking, try feeding him a piece of raw chicken and see what happens. Maybe you're just trying to hard to get him to like wet. But yeah, cats can be stubborn picky litter buggers.

When I fed wet I used Nature's Variety Instinct. Have you tried that brand yet? It's an expensive grain-free food but if he may like it. They have the conventional chicken, beef, lamb. They also have more exotic stuff like venison and rabbit. At Global Pet Foods, I was paying roughly $2.19 for the conventional and $2.69 per can for the exotic meats.

About the hard water, I got a water softener installed in the house. Although that's obviously a very expensive solution, you yourself might like soft water to use as well, so you could think about it.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I have presented a few small pieces of raw in their food dishes. Beef, venison, chicken and salmon. At most meals I have 2-3 different piles of stuff on flat or low height cat dishes for them to try. So far the raw has not been touched. I am going to scale back on the raw this week. I've laid out a few pieces of raw steak but it just got played with by both cats. My concern with human grade food is the sprays they use to preserve the meat especially red meats. You ever wonder why meat looks so red on the outside but is brown on the inside? I forget the name of what they use but there is speculation that it's not good for humans. We hardly eat chicken unless it's free range. I had to work this past weekend and didn't have time to hit the farmers market but I will try next weekend. I have not tried Nature's Variety Instinct but it's been added to my list. I've got a long list of things to try which is great. The more people suggest the more options I have.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I've also picked up semi moist cat treats. I picked up Ziwipeak "Good-cat" raw meat jerky treats in Lamb and Lamb Liver as well as Pet Greens and Natural Balance Rabbit formula. So far no luck there either. Anyone know of popular semi-moist treats for cats?


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## Muzby (Jan 9, 2008)

Have you tried the cheap brands of cat food? I know it's not ideal, but it could be a gateway to the better kinds! Friskies, etc. will get him EATING the food, then you can slowly start mixing in the better stuff (I think Marie is doing this with her kids now, and Heidi did it before/does it regularly?).

Quick edit: Also, have you tried COOKING the meat? I know, that sounds weird.. but you can start them on the road to raw by cooking the meat and slowly leaving it more and more raw. I also get my kids to try something by "dropping it by accident" on the floor (LOL) and they all DIVE for the thing. It's weird, but it worked.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I resorted to Friskies last week and since my female loves pate style fish fancy feast he has always had that as an option but no luck. I will however try your other suggestions. My list of things to try gets longer which is good. Thank you


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## littlesushi (Jun 8, 2011)

Ugh, it is hard to get your kitties to do what's best for them sometimes. I went through this too where my kittens went through a phase of being picky eaters and would skip meals. This stressed me out and I would open up another can of food if they ever rejected anything. Big mistake. Cody was starting to be smart about it and realize that if he didn't eat what I gave him, he would be offered something else. This resulted in a lot of wasted food. I now don't do that, what is out is out and either you eat it or you don't. Cody was a bit rebellious at first but hunger overtook him and now he will eventually eat something, even though it might not be his favorite.

Best of luck with your boy. Glad to hear your female is making some good progress!


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

It is a struggle but I'll keep trying. 

On a good note, the new Drinkwell 360 was a great idea. He's been drinking and playing with the water spouts a lot throughout the day. The best part is I got from Costco for $80 compared to $130 at Petsmart.


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## amz_raptor (Mar 20, 2008)

I have only 1 male that is not even neutered. He is over 6 years old now. He had 3 urinary blockages the first was around 1.5 yrs old too. We tried to change his diet from the dry food to wet food(with some dry meals) but failed so we stopped trying then 3 months later the other blockage we tried again but he wouldn't eat except his dry food....failure I know. The first two he was rescued within 3-6 hours from the start of the symptoms which is very good. The third one, the poor guy was alone in the house for 48hrs and he started throwing up because of uremia. We got him rescued but he wouldn't eat on his own for about 4 days after and kept throwing up, still affected by uremia. We had to inject fluids under his skin to help his pH balance get back to normal. He starting eating on his own around the 5th day. I said no, no more dry food so I did this: I got the canned wet food and frozen it before opening, then served it frozen. He started licking on it but left it. When he got hungry enough he ate it. For a whole month he has been just eating wet food (served frozen, so you can leave it for hours without worrying about it). Then we started giving back some dry food. Right now he has 3 meals a day, with 1 being wet food (still best served frozen so he can leave it and come eat later). We leave the wet food there as long as it is still wet. (yes i know experts say don't leave it out for too long but I always think animals have better ways of getting rid of bacterial toxins in food than humans). He hasn't had any blockage for about 3 years now. We don't use anything fancy, just regular drinking bowl. I think what got him to start trying the wet food is the disturbance in feeding habits after the last blockage. But you just have to keep an eye on the cat, as long as the rescue happens within 10 hours of the blockage you don't have to worry about much regarding back pressure on the kidneys nor blood pH.

Edit: the wet food is still never left over 16 hours out. but I guess it depends on the room temperature.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

amz_raptor said:


> I have only 1 male that is not even neutered. He is over 6 years old now. He had 3 urinary blockages the first was around 1.5 yrs old too. We tried to change his diet from the dry food to wet food(with some dry meals) but failed so we stopped trying then 3 months later the other blockage we tried again but he wouldn't eat except his dry food....failure I know. The first two he was rescued within 3-6 hours from the start of the symptoms which is very good. The third one, the poor guy was alone in the house for 48hrs and he started throwing up because of uremia. We got him rescued but he wouldn't eat on his own for about 4 days after and kept throwing up, still affected by uremia. We had to inject fluids under his skin to help his pH balance get back to normal. He starting eating on his own around the 5th day. I said no, no more dry food so I did this: I got the canned wet food and frozen it before opening, then served it frozen. He started licking on it but left it. When he got hungry enough he ate it. For a whole month he has been just eating wet food (served frozen, so you can leave it for hours without worrying about it). Then we started giving back some dry food. Right now he has 3 meals a day, with 1 being wet food (still best served frozen so he can leave it and come eat later). We leave the wet food there as long as it is still wet. (yes i know experts say don't leave it out for too long but I always think animals have better ways of getting rid of bacterial toxins in food than humans). He hasn't had any blockage for about 3 years now. We don't use anything fancy, just regular drinking bowl. I think what got him to start trying the wet food is the disturbance in feeding habits after the last blockage. But you just have to keep an eye on the cat, as long as the rescue happens within 10 hours of the blockage you don't have to worry about much regarding back pressure on the kidneys nor blood pH.
> 
> Edit: the wet food is still never left over 16 hours out. but I guess it depends on the room temperature.


Wow 3 blocks! Thanks for sharing your story. I am glad you have been incident free the past three years. I'll try freezing it and see what happens.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I am still syringe feeding him a soupy mix of watered down canned food once a day. Not much but enough to test his taste buds. He isn't revolting from it. In fact yesterday, he licked the syringe on his own accord so he is interested in the taste he's just being super stubborn. I took a 24 hour break the day before to lesson the stress on both of us. My next experiment is to liquefy a mix of dry & wet food and syringe feed him that so he gets a taste of both familiar and foreign. He spits out any "clump" of food I gently put in his mouth but he is accepting the syringe squirts so I'll stick with that for now. 

I got a call from the E-vet yesterday for a follow up call. They wanted to go over test results and see how he was doing. She gladly spent a full 30 minutes on the phone with me asking questions, answering questions, offering suggestions and explained all the “medical lingo to me” in terms I could understand. She adopted a cat who came in with a block. The owner couldn't afford the procedure opting to Euthanize, so the vet ended up adopting the cat to save him. She had similar struggles with him and soft food so she was a great source of information. She was far more helpful then the vet I saw on Monday. You know, at first I was really upset about how expensive they were but the service has been outstanding. They have stayed in constant communication, I never had to wait more then 2 minutes to get and update and I called 3-4 times a day. All 3 of us were able to have a private 1 hour visit him in a private waiting room the second night. All in all pretty great service


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

It's nice to see you're making headway and progress. Sometimes, it takes just takes patience and time for them to get into a new feeding regime.


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## amz_raptor (Mar 20, 2008)

are you feeding him with a syringe because he's not eating on his own? even if its the the dry food?


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

He is eating the dry food. I only syringe feed him 3-4 squirts to make sure he has the extra liquid in him and to teach him the taste of soft isn't so bad. It helps me figure out what tastes he likes or doesn't like. So really he's only getting maybe 1 full syringe of the stuff. The other day he accepted three of them but hasn't since.


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## amz_raptor (Mar 20, 2008)

well I'd leave syringe feeding to a more worth it time as it can impact the cat's behavior towards sitting on owner's lap etc (depending where and how you do it)... just trying giving him smaller amounts of dry food in the day so he's always hungry then put some of that wet food where u usually place his dry food (just a small amount) if it goes bad throw it, and replace it but only a small amount so you don't waste food. If you noticed he ate the small amount once that's good, it means u can start giving him more. I know cat begging for its favorite food is very hard to handle but you have to try natural approach (coming from the cat himself) since it's the syringe feeding does actually affect the behavior. You have to keep in mind that this is a very slow process and can take up to a month. You can also expect loose stool but hopefully no vomiting. Good luck


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I thank everyone for their input I do take it all to heart and is always added to my list. 

We have let Mr man go hungry for 12 hours a handful of times already. The longest I could bear was 16 hours and he had a few soft options available to him throughout that period. Anything over 24 hours is dangerous. He won't even touch the dry when it's kept separate but on the same plate as the soft. I've posted everything I've tried so far and will continue to try new things, new cans of food and will repeat what didn't work before. I've also been warned that stress can have a huge impact on another incident so I am careful not to stress him out too much either. He is getting lots of brushes and love when he wants attention during his “ I am not eating that crap” periods to lessen any stress. 

I have not syringe fed him for the past 2 days. When I do syringe feed him he will book it when he's had enough. Sometimes he's booked it right after the first squirt, other times he's laid peacefully in my arms and taken lots. He has never been a lap cat and does not like to be picked up or held so when he doesn't want it, he's gone and we let him go. I give him and myself at least one day break and then a few days of trying, then another break. I'll keep switching stuff up but it's kinda exhausting. I am cleaning the litter morning and night so I know he's still peeing. A new litter box is arriving this weekend so we will have two shortly. 

I picked up some meat baby food, chicken breasts and chicken legs today to try this weekend. He hasn't eaten since midnight last night. He's been offered 4 different variations of soft today including a small sample of raw turkey, and chicken but no dry. He didn't touch it. He knows I'm gonna give in to him eventually. My bf paul is in on it now. I'm hoping Mr man will be more receptive to his favorite person. 

We make these frozen blended drinks called fruzi's. Kinda like a fruit slurpee. Mr Man is always fascinated with watching us eat it. His nose is literally at the edge of our cups watching the spoon move between it and our mouths. Sometimes Paul will put a little smudge of it on the cats chest and the cat licks it up. Well I just tried the same thing but with baby food. I sat on a chair with a can of chicken broth (with no onion or garlic salt) baby food and started to eat little bitty bits. He comes over to me and sits right in front of the jar sniffing and watching me. So I put a little smudge on his chest and he licked it all up. He buggered off I gave him 10 minutes to do what he wants but then I came and sat on the same chair eating from the jar and he came right back over, jumped up and we repeated the process a second time. He would not eat it from the spoon or the little plate I put out! 

I sure hope I don't have to resort to eating cat food out of a dish to show him it's ok to eat. He was always like that with water. He never drank from the water dish preferring freshly poured water in our cups. That's how we knew he was drinking a lot of water. As soon as he heard the tap, he came running and then his head was in our cups. That left me with frequent runs to the sink. He still tries to drink out of my cup since we got the fountain. I remove the cup, get down to the floor and I drink from his fountain. He almost always follows suit. 

What a funny, frustrating gorgeous cat I have!


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## JBerotte (Feb 4, 2011)

Have you tried smearing a bit of wet food on Mr. Man's paw?

I did this with a year old male who never had wet food before. He wasn't interested when the food was in front of him. However, when I put a bit on his paw he "cleaned" it off quickly. The addition of the food I guess made him feel dirty so he started to groom his paw. I smeared his paw for 2 days twice a day and this method worked wonderfully. When it seemed like he was enjoying the grooming/eating session (licking his lips afterward) I would add about a tablespoon to his food dish. After about 5 days he was eating one wet meal a day.

FYI: I did not offer him several types of wet food. He got a bit of whatever my female, Buffy, was eating that day (EVO or Weruva). My advice would be to let him get used to one kind in the beginning and once he's accustomed to wet then add a variety.

I hope this helps....good luck!


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I've tried that a few times but with canned food that he flicks off before licking. Maybe I'll try it with a more soupy mixture and more often like you said.


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## Muzby (Jan 9, 2008)

I get lost in all the replys, but is there still dry food in the house? Even "put away" our kids SMELLED it and refused to stop pestering us (before we did the switch).

I would literally get rid of any and all dry foods from the premises. I would keep a SMALL baggy in the freezer, behind all the people food, for a just incase.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

I've been keeping it in the basement where they are blocked from accessing except for a dry baggy in a high cupboard. I will try keeping it in the freezer. I've managed to get quite a bit of the baby food in him by putting it on his paw. He licks it right up. I tried again a few hours later and same thing, licked it right up but then he barfed it up. It's been 18 hours now so I gave in and presented some dry. He waited 10 minutes before eating it. He barfed that up, he didn't even chew it. I chopped up the next bit and he seems to be holding it down ok. He hasn't been bugging me for food all day. It's weird. 

I'll keep putting food on his paw a few times a day and try to stick with single flavored foods. It is far less evasive then the syringe.


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## Muzby (Jan 9, 2008)

Smells don't care about "blocked access" LOL That stinky kibblesmell will come right through your vents/door/stairs/etc. He WILL know it's there.


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## its.alice (Jun 15, 2011)

tarah44 said:


> I know we have hard water here in Calgary but I never fully understood what that meant. Calcium and Magnesium is very high in our water so out goes tap water and on with spring water.



Might I suggest you buy a brita filter instead? It'll save you money, and works really well. I don't know how hard water will be affected, but I've never really tasted a difference.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

Good point Muzby,

Its.alice, Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure if it will filter out the magnesium or not. The jugs of spring water is actually pretty cheap. A 4 liter jug lasted 4 days this week. I need more when I clean the fountain out and re-fill but in the end it's not that much money.

When I bought 2 jugs today the lady said, you should go get some ice. I'm like no thanks. She insisted and I said it's for my cat, ice isn't necessary. All 3 counter attendants froze and looked at me? LOL....what is so strange about buying bottled water for a cat?


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

tarah44 said:


> Good point Muzby,
> 
> Its.alice, Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure if it will filter out the magnesium or not.


This from Brita's site.


> Does the BRITA water filter cartridge remove all minerals from drinking water?
> The BRITA water filter cartridge only partially removes the hardness from drinking water. This part is temporary hardness, which causes scale deposits during cooking. It does not remove all of the minerals from the water. It reduces the concentration of calcium and magnesium with cation ion exchange resins, but theses substances are not completely removed as in desalination systems or industrial plants that use reverse osmosis or distillation processes, for example.


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## tarah44 (Jul 18, 2011)

Guess that answers that then. Thanks Mowmow


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