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Old May 1st, 2011, 08:51 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Location: Calgary, AB
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dbg10 View Post
My vet has said to isolate him in a room by himself, but I think he would die if he was isolated as he is such a people cat so I have resisted this method of forcing him to lose weight.
That's a ridiculous (and cruel) suggestion. Maybe he meant to isolate him while he's eating? Feeding set meals for everybody instead of free-feeding would be the best idea. One of my kitties is a total hoover and finishes before everyone else, so I have to police him during meal time but it's not that big a deal.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbg10 View Post
After that it was a fight everytime I tried to give it to him to the point that if he saw the package he would hide
Ya, not worth the trauma to both of you. I went through a similar thing with Antirobe drops after Aztec had some teeth removed. I will never again give him such a horrible tasting med no matter what it's for.

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Originally Posted by dbg10 View Post
They tend to gravitate to the SO though which makes it very expensive to feed them
It can actually be dangerous to feed urinary diets to "normal" cats that don't have a urine ph problem. They may end up with calcium oxalate crystals, which are much harder to get rid of.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbg10 View Post
The only canned food that he is able to tolerate is Merrick's Grammy's Pot Pie or Turducken which he doesn't like as much. We still don't know why he's losing weight I need to have an xray done.
Has he had blood work done recently? What other canned foods have you tried? Is a raw diet an option?

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbg10 View Post
What I want to do is avoid any wet food that will make his crystals worse. They use to talk about the ash content of food all the time but I haven't heard that for a very long time. What I guess I need to know is what wet foods or types of wet foods to avoid. (like fish to start with)
Ya, the ash thing is outdated thinking. It's really more about the moisture content and the propensity for certain foods to create acidic or alkaline urine. Meat protein = acidic, grainy carbs = alkaline (oversimplified).

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbg10 View Post
Do I buy the L-methionine at a health food store or do pet food stores carry it?
Health food store.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbg10 View Post
buy some L-methionine as I don't suppose it can hurt him.
Make sure you monitor his urine ph though, cause if he gets too much L-methionine, or his urine is indeed acidic enough already, then you could end up with calcium oxalate issues instead. I'll find out what a reasonable starting dose of methionine is and get back to you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbg10 View Post
Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with both Smokey and Sam's feeding problems at the same time.
Meal times. No more free-feeding. And if you need to, maybe sneak Smokey into another room for an extra meal here and there. If Smokey can jump up somewhere that Sam can't get too, you could leave more wet food for him there. Is there a treat that Smokey really loves? Sprinkle that on top of his meals to encourage him to eat more. I always have freeze-dried chicken treats (PureBites or Halo Liv-a-Littles) on hand for just such a purpose.

Good luck! I know food issues can be challenging with cats.
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