Rescue Journal

spunk

Carol · Sept 6, 2008

someone nailed a freaking 2x4 to my neck and head last night...geez i am stiff and sore.

spunk is officially in a cat mental melt down..he is not eating or drinking and he has gone thru the pipe cutout and is hiding under the bathroom vanity....sigh...freaking, god damn de-clawed cats...do people know that when they de-claw them they tumble up the coping and stress packages inside their brains? these are the cats less likely to handle stress very well...and who can blame them? last time they were in a terrible and scary predictament, a human surgically amputated their toes....they have very good reason to be very afraid.

the fact that he is a urinary crystal cat sucks even more cuz now i get to risk him developing a blockage while i try to find SOMETHING, ANYTHING that he will actually eat. hunger striking cats in the midst of a melt down are ripe for developing fatty liver disease...hey spunks owner? did you know that he can actually die from the stress of being left in a cage in my driveway for unknown hours and then moved into a busy and noisy shelter that wasn't prepared for him and didn't have any room?

sigh, sorry...it is just that i am now the one responsible if he continues to flip out and dies. i bet that is why i have a stiff and sore neck today cuz i had the life of that poor frightened cat nailed right to the top of my head....it is heavy and it hurts.

Comments

Sharla

Ahh, fatty liver disease. My cat had that after a hunger strike due to an unhappy trip to Kamloops. He ended up with surgery to insert a feeding tube and me chasing him around trying to get food into it. Good times! He made it though, and I still have him 12 years later.

Chris T

I am so glad he ate!

carol

in between TRASHING the bathroom last night...spunk took time out of his busy activities to eat an entire bowl of carslye cat tuna...since his tail was thumping hard against the tub and his continuous growl was low and deadly...i left him to the mess he had made...just a quick pee without eye contact and i was outta there quick.
i am starting to like him, he is a scary little bugger, he reminds me of boo when she first came in.

Emma

What about A/D? . Wouldn't that bring him up from the depths? Tuna Fancy Feast?

Carol

severely stressed cats don't eat...when their stress level drops their appetite increases and returns. the problem with cats is unlike dogs...they can't go very long without food. their bodies start to break down and metabolize their fat stores because it is very easy for the body to break down which in turns damages their very sensitive livers from the over abundance of free floating fat that their body is trying to use. it is not so much that they starve themselves to death, it is the fat break down that can kill them. the more body fat a cat has, the greater the risk...leaner cats don't get such a huge dump of fat into their systems as the chubbier guys do. spunk is a very hefty cat.
AND cats who have starved in the past are quicker to go into fatty liver failure a second time around. and once their liver is overloaded they actually start to feel very unwell which complicates getting them eating again.

first things first tho...i have to somehow get him back up from underneath the vanity base.

Deb

Carol, will a cat actually allow itself to starve to death? Dogs won't, but can a cat get so messed up that it literally gives up the will to live?

If not, the only thing I've ever heard from feral cat trappers I know and trust that is almost fail safe, is BBQ chicken from Save-On, Safeway, Extra Foods or wherever. It helps if the chicken is still warm.

If this poor animal has truly lost his mind and will allow himself to die of starvation, I hope his owner faces the same sort of death when her time comes. This was so preventable.....

lynne

i am thinking it is not even the food, that poor cat has had his whole world turned upside down . does not know what the hell has happened to him i cannot imagine all of a sudden being left on someones porch and then in someones bATHROOM and he is supposed to act normal. that lady ought to be ashamed for her cowardly act hopefully he will adjust what a rotton thing to do

bridget

when our old diabetic boy, simon, wouldn't eat, we'd try anything. he loved tinned tuna and salmon in these situations. also, roast chicken. once, when i was at the computer and he was on my lap, he took the breast of cold chicken i had finished (it was leftovers) and, toothless, started "gnawing" on the carcass. thinly sliced meats.... actually, anything we were eating.
but, try the chicken. buy a plain roasted one at the grocery store? it'll make good sandwiches, and everyone can have a piece.

Jenine

Carol,
I completely trust your judgement. Just a thought,
the ONLY thing one of my wild cats would touch was
STRAIGHT TUNA. It was the only way I could get her
to take her medicine. I tried everything else I could
think of. Now, we all know tuna is not a good diet,
but for emergency situations???????? I wish I could
help you with this one. He has already won my heart>>