Moms cat and the new Vet

[Winston]

Well as I posted yesterday I took Winston to the new vets office...Well today was my mom's turn to take her kitty in..and we met the new vets partner! he was just as great!

Brady has the rodent lip. My mom was so impressed with the vet as well because he took the time to explain things to her and she loved his bedside manner as we put it!

We also found that Brady's rodent lip has improved over the past 2 months and he has received no prednisone or any form of treatment...So after a lengthy discussion we decided to give the depo shot a try...the vet seems to think it will clear it up in 7-10 days..As well mom thought Brady had some kind of mites or bugs on him..we knew for sure it wasnt fleas cause she is not finding anything like a flea and no bites..as it turns out Brady has been scratching some areas around his neck and lower jaw and that is from the rodent lip...what mom what finding was his skin attached to the hair folicle..

Brady went from 13 lbs last August to 10.9lbs today! Brady eats Orijen and we have introduced him this weelk to the Venison and Green Pea and so far he likes it..I was impressed with the vet having more knowledge than the last and he fully indicated what Sugarcatmom had said about giving the cat a different protein like venison or duck! He also stated that he would think that the canned would be better for him as well!!

So all in all moms happy I am happy and most importantly her little guy Brady is healthy and a very happy kitty...

Sugarcatmom can you help me with the amount to get Brady to eat? Mom has been dividing the large can into quarters and giving him that once per day....so after increasing this amount how much of a can will be adequate for him? 1 can per day? I will be getting mom to slowly reduce his kibble as well..

Cindy

[Winston]

While I am talking about this little cutie here are a couple of pics of Brady!!

[phoozles]

Great news Winston!
Brady's a cutie!
I'm no sugarcatmom, but I did manage to get Jake's weight down pretty easily with the wet food. What is Brady's ideal weight?
For an easy way to cut down the calories, take what he has been eating, and cut it by about 20%. Then monitor his weight every three days and adjust accordingly.

Jake was 17lbs, and we figured he needed to eat about 200 calories a day to cut down. A can of Wellness grain free Turkey or Chicken is about 280 calories a can, so we split the can into 5 portions and fed him 4 times a day. (If that doesn't make sense, it's because I'm bad at math.. but my fiance isn't, so it really works out properly - I might just have Jake's calorie count wrong). Anyway, once we got him down to his healthy weight (12lbs), we started to split the can into quarters, and now he's successfully maintaining..

The key is to make sure he isn't losing too quickly, and you can really tell if he looks like he's losing muscle mass near his hindquarters - if that's the case, then up the amount a bit.. and if you can, cut down the dry food completely.

Hope that helps until sugarcatmom gets back on here!

[chico2]

Winston,I am happy little Brady is ok
I recently change vet too and I love him,it's more than half the battle if you are comfortable with your vet.
As for feeding,I feed my 3 cats morn/lunch/dinner each time they split a can of Wellness and they seem perfectly satisfied with that amount.
They do get some treats,usually boiled chicken,then just a little bit of dry food,which I am trying to wean them off,since they are 3 neutered males.

[Winston]

The vet said he is good where he is! far from being 13 lbs last year..so he is 10.9 now...My mom feeds him 1/4 cup of dry in the morning and 1/4 cup at night! he is food MOTIVATED so I dont want to over feed while making the transition...This week the dry has stayed the same but we have been giving him 1/4 of the large can per day...I will have to check out the listing on the can but I will need a magnifying glass for that..

Cindy

[phoozles]

Ahh.. sorry about that - I was actually wondering how much lower you wanted to go

Jake's maintaining on just one can of Wellness (5.05oz) a day. He's 12lbs, but also a pretty big cat.

[sugarcatmom]

That's awesome that you guys have found a decent vet! He sounds great.

And Brady sure is a hunk! I love the shiny black kitties.

As for food, a 10ish pound cat would typically get somewhere around 200-300 calories per day (20-30 cal/lb). Supposedly, the NB Venison is around 156 calories per can, although the accuracy of that is debatable. Which means, I would feed approximately 1.5 cans per day (without the dry), give or take. That would be a good place to start, and if Brady seems overly hungry, maybe he needs a touch more. If he gains weight on that amount (perhaps take him to the vet for a weigh-in in a month), then give him a little less. Hope that helps!

[Winston]

THanks Sugarcatmom! Other than trying the depo shot we were really happy with his weight coming down and also to alleviate my moms worries he had no kind of bugs....shes been through a rough 3or4 months so this was a happy day! it put her mind to rest...

Also having the vet agree on the canned transition was helpful cause I dont think mom understood me when I was explaining it! and how it might help the rodent lip problem...

Brady was the best behaved kitty! he had us in stiches laughing! he was rolling around on the exam table on his back and puttting his paws up towards the vet like he was saying hi! it was cute! he didnt even want to investigate the office..he just stayed on the table...(he didnt even know he was given the needles!)