Author Topic: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat  (Read 119024 times)

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Offline Middle Child

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The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« on: June 12, 2016, 10:01:08 AM »
Okay.  By the end of this week Mazy cat will be completely transitioned to the Rad Cat HPP product.  Thankfully I had enough of the old product to be able to do this transition excruciatingly slowly.

But now it's over, it will be all HPP.

So the next step is to get her back on the Cornish hen.  I had to stop the CH for a period of time, while transitioning to the HPP, because I needed to use the place where her CH meal was for the HPP meal. Well that and, during all those months I was working overtime and she wasn't getting her fasting times and she was puking almost daily.  The CH was just not fitting in to that whole nightmare episode.

Adding the CH back in, again, will have to be done very very slowly.  Tiny bits each day until I am sure she's able to handle meals of it again.

Okay. So that's where we are.  However, I have been working at changing the amounts fed at certain meal times, because I am STILL not getting to bed early enough.  I have got to find a way to get to bed by 9 pm.  The problem is, getting enough food into Mazy cat by 9 pm has just not been working out.

Things I have been working on are

 1) getting her to be able to eat a larger serving at one time.  The result of this so far is that..depending on the meal period, she can now eat .55oz of Rad Cat at one sitting and keep it down.  That is HUGE!  Also, again depending on the meal period, she can eat .45oz in "chunks" mixed with EZcomplete and water.  (see pic for her current chunk size) Again, that is huge.  I still break down most of her meals smaller portions, most are still between .25oz and .35oz.

and 2) getting more into her at earlier meals so I am not having to stay up so late to get her full quota of food into her at night.

One of the problems is, the more she eats at one time, if it turns out to be a regurgitation day, the more she brings back up.  I'm still struggling with my despair reaction that comes every time she regurgitates.  I know this is how it is going to be for her, forever, so why can I not just ACCEPT it and not feel so darn terrible, frustrated and hopeless every time it happens.

Anyway.  So I have gradually increased her breakfast meals and lunch meals, by tiny increments, to reduce the size of her bed time meal.  The goal is to reduce her bed time meal to about .3 oz.  So I can give it to her as one serving at 8:45 with her Vets-Best in it all three cats having their final bed time meal together, and then go to bed. The issue is, from the time I get home from work until I go to bed I am feeding her practically every half hour, to get enough into her for the day.

Right now I've got the bed time meal down to .66 oz.  She gets .4oz at 9:00 and the last .26oz with Vet's-best at 9:45. I've got to get another .36 moved to breakfast and lunch.

Yikes, how long have I been rambling?

Offline DeeDee

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2016, 10:16:10 AM »

Yikes, how long have I been rambling?

I don't know how you do it. Really I don't. You have my utmost respect for the way you do SO much for Mazy to keep her as healthy as she is. I know I was running in circles when I had to split up 2 meals into 4 per day to get Vlad back to where he is today. Then it was awful trying to get him back down to 2 with a bedtime snack.

Ramble? Talk away. In case you haven't noticed, sometimes it's how I get everything into my head and work things out for Vlad. Who knows who might learn something that helps their own pets by our "rambling?"
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2016, 10:31:13 AM »
As it stands now, here are her meals:

5:45 a.m. ( after an 8 hour fast) - .25 oz RC chicken with s.boulardii and a tiny bit of pork pancreas glandular powder to cover the sb taste.

6:15 a.m. - .4 oz RC chicken with a capsule of egg yolk lecithin.

(the other two are not fed at this time)

7:15 a.m. - .55 (!!!!) oz RC turkey with cosequin and d-mannose

(the other two get their breakfast at 7:15.  Queen Eva eats .48 oz and Jennie gets 1.1 oz, split in two meals because she insists on 2 meals, it makes her think she is getting more)

1:45 pm (give or take) lunch time - .46 oz RC turkey with vets-best and water split into two servings ten minutes apart

(Queen Eva gets ..67 oz and Jennie gets .4 oz, single servings)

4:45 pm-5:30 pm (depending on when I get home) - .6 oz RC split between 2 servings 10 minutes apart.  The first serving (.25oz) contains s.boulardii and a little of the pancreas, the second serving (.35 oz) contains one capsule of egg yolk lecithin

(the other two are not fed at this time)

6:30-7:15 (depending on what time the pre-meal was) - 1.2 oz of muscle meat with EZcomplete.  this meal is divided into three portions, the EZcomplete, while using the correct amount is added to only two portions.  She likes it, but for some reason will not eat the EZ three servings in a row. So she gets .7 oz with EZ and .5 oz plain

 (these meals alternate between Coleman certified organic verified non-GMO project chicken breast and chicken thigh)

Okay so the 1.2 oz is split like this: .7oz of meat has EZ added, mixed with a little water and is split into two serving.  The first serving of that .7 oz is .45oz (including EZ and water).  The second serving, half hour later is not given all at once (I'm not sure how much is left in oz, but I give her half, make her wait five minutes, then give her the other half)

(the other two are fed their full meals)

All this takes us to 8 pm. - 8:15 pm.  If I don't wait a full hour between the second EZ serving and that final .5 oz of chunk meal (plain) it all comes back up.

8:00 (hopefully)-8:15 pm - .5 oz plain chicken breast or thigh split between 2 servings 10 minutes apart.

And then, she needs an hour between that and what should be her final meal of the day.  But because the final meal is still too big for one serving with Vets-Best and water added I am having to stay up an additional 45 minutes.  She gets the .4 oz RC at 9:00 (hopefully) with her Proviable DC and the final .26 with VB and water at 9:45.  (I've tried 9:30, but it's too soon)

I've got to work out a way to get that .36 oz into morning and lunch meals, so all I have left to give her at 9:00 is .3 oz of VB and probiotic, then I can get to bed at a decent time and maybe not be so flipping exhausted all the time.




Offline Middle Child

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2016, 10:32:15 AM »
When she's back on the Cornish hen I think I'm going to make that meal her 7:15 am breakfast meal.  The Cornish hen meal is a modified prey model meal with liver and egg shell calcium. I'll have to move her cosequin to the EYL meal I think.  I don't like to mess too much with her Cornish Hen meal because it is her favorite meat.

Offline Middle Child

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2016, 11:00:22 AM »
I don't know how you do it. Really I don't. You have my utmost respect for the way you do SO much for Mazy to keep her as healthy as she is. I know I was running in circles when I had to split up 2 meals into 4 per day to get Vlad back to where he is today. Then it was awful trying to get him back down to 2 with a bedtime snack.

Ramble? Talk away. In case you haven't noticed, sometimes it's how I get everything into my head and work things out for Vlad. Who knows who might learn something that helps their own pets by our "rambling?"

Thank you Dee.  Really, I just do what needs to be done you know? Each step has evolved over time, it's not like a sudden routine change, it al kind of blends in after a while.

I will not deny that I get very tired and discouraged some times. It IS a lot of work.  But I don't see that I have any other choice. Mazy cat's health and well being depend on me.

Offline Pookie

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2016, 12:22:08 PM »
Quote
  I'm still struggling with my despair reaction that comes every time she regurgitates.  I know this is how it is going to be for her, forever, so why can I not just ACCEPT it and not feel so darn terrible, frustrated and hopeless every time it happens.

Because there's always that hope that things will get better, and the regurgitating makes it hard to hold on to that hope.  I know exactly how you feel.  I don't know if it will help, but try to remember that her quality of life and her health are SO much better because of what you've learned, and because you never gave up looking for ways to improve her life and health.  She's as healthy and happy as she is because of YOU.   DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy  GoodVibes GoodVibes GoodVibes
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2016, 09:03:33 AM »
Oh thank you Pookie!  I never saw that last post. I was about to start a thread with almost an identical topic and I saw this one right on top so I'll continue here I guess.

The endless quest continues, to get the right amount of food into Mazy cat and get to bed by 9 p.m.

I won't bother typing out all the minute by minute details this time but I've got her eating 1.7 ounces of Rad cat at her breakfast meals (4 servings from 5:30 am to 7:30 am) plus supplements.

The downside of this is that at lunch time (about 1:30) she is not hungry enough to eat more than .25 oz.  So that backfired as a way to get more into her before evening, but it does make it easier on me at lunch, because she can eat that in one serving.  And if she brings it back up, it's not as much to replace later.

The evening feeding is still the problem.  I just cannot get enough food into her in the time allotted, and have a life too.  I want, NEED to be able to have my walk after work.  My physical and mental health depend on it.  But unless I come straight home from work every day, I can't get enough food into her without staying up until 10 pm. 

Which not only does not get me into bed early enough, it also doesn't get her that essential 8 hour fasting period.

So now I'm trying something different.  Instead of aiming for that 4 or 4.1 ounces a day I've settled on 3.6 oz a day, with making up the difference on Wednesdays (egg yolk day) and the weekends.  Getting MORE than 4 ounces on those days to make up for the less on the other days.

This has been in the works for about 2 weeks and so far she has not lost any weight, so I will continue.

She is back on the Cornish hen, and she gets bone broth every day too, so that may be adding calories.  I don't skim the fat in her broth either.

She is regurgitating once every 3-4 days though.

Next vet appointment will be for the Endocrine imbalance tests. I have not scheduled that yet.

Offline Lola

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #7 on: September 04, 2016, 05:04:27 PM »
Quote
This has been in the works for about 2 weeks and so far she has not lost any weight, so I will continue.
   thumbsup1

Quote
She is regurgitating once every 3-4 days though.
   :(

Quote
Next vet appointment will be for the Endocrine imbalance tests.
   thumbsup1 thumbsup1

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Offline Pookie

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #8 on: September 05, 2016, 08:51:22 PM »
What Lola said (all of it).   ;D

Your Mazy Meal Plan makes sense.  I know with raw feeding, some try to balance (bone, meat, organ) over the course of the day, others balance over the course of a week, and this schedule of getting enough calories over the course of a week sounds similar, and it (knock on wood) sounds like it's also working.   thumbsup1  Great job!   DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy

BTW, thanks for the update.  I wondered how she was doing with her regurgitation.  I'm sorry it's happening as often as it is.   :(  GoodVibes
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2016, 08:06:13 AM »
This is still working. Mazy cat's weight is remaining exactly the same. Not even a half ounce fluctuation.  Regurgitation pattern remains every 4 days. No pattern as to which meal.  This last time it was sometime after the 13 hour fast. When I got home from the concert  I was extremely careful with feeding tiny meals slowly for all of them (I fed By Nature Organic to make it easy on myself), and didn't see anyone puke.

But the next morning I found the pile of regurgitated canned food downstairs on the floor.  I have to assume it was Mazy cat.

Offline Pookie

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2016, 09:22:23 PM »
I'm glad she's maintaining her weight (have I mentioned lately how awesome you are?   DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy), but sorry to hear about the continuing regugitation episodes.

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Offline Middle Child

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2016, 05:00:23 PM »
Thanks Pookie.  The time between regurgitation episodes has increased to 6 days.  So we're going in the right direction.  She did lose half an ounce over this past week.  That may be because last Sunday, instead of getting her extras, she had even less than usual, it was a rough day, puked twice, after that I gave her only bone broth for the rest of the day.

I'll try to get a few extra servings into her this week to get that half ounce back.

Offline Lola

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2016, 08:37:08 PM »

1/2 an oz isn't much..even for a cat. What my pea brain is thinking...  my weight can fluctuate quite a bit within a 24 hour period.  Wouldn't a cat's weight also?   :-\
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2016, 05:10:19 AM »
Probably though they don't usually. I'm not worried about that half ounce..unless it continues.

Mazy cat is having some trouble with arthritis in her hips and back legs.  As soon as the temperature dropped I noticed it.  I've got the selfwarming beds out.

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Re: The on-going ever-evolving process of feeding Mazy cat
« Reply #14 on: October 03, 2016, 09:03:50 PM »
Forgot to update yesterday.  Mazy cat lost another ounce.  :(

Conversely she went 9 days without regurgitating (today would have been 10, but she brought up lunch.)

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