FatCat Issues
My cat Mischa, has FatCat issues. He is overweight and kind of passive. On the other hand, he is hyper-thyroid and asthmatic. If left unchecked the excess thyroid hormone levels could aggravate the asthma. How is it possible that an overweight cat can have a hyper-thyroid condition? I don't know. I do know that obesity n older cats can lead to diabetes or renal failure. I was concerned about this, so when my veterinarian did a blood test for thyroid hormone level, I asked her if she could also look at his insulin and blood glucose levels. These turned out normal.
He tends not to get much excercise for the following reasons: He is an inside cat. He has been an inside cat for a number of years. I would rather not expose him to the dangers of the outside world, especially with South Floridas' maniac drivers. He does not play with toys. His value system includes food, comfort, and affection. I like to believe that allowing him to listen to music on the radio increases his comfort level. My veterinarian suggested that he be walked. Unwilling to take him outside, I put him on a walking program in which he walks seven lengths of the back porch. Initially, I tried putting a leash and harness on him. That failed and he had to be dragged. I worked with him to positivley reinforce whatever bit of walking he did. I began to give him treats after he completed his walk. Eventually he looked forward to walking on the porch. In the beginning he had to be pushed and prodded. If he stopped, I would put the ;leash on him and drag him. Sometimes, one or more of the lengths he walked would be choppy I switched his food to WELLNESS CORE and also tried BLUE WILDERNESS. He loved both of these, but he would play a game of only eating the freshest of the moment that was placed in the bowl. He would rub his face on the bag of food as if marking his scent on it. I then, would take a tiny amount of fresh food out of the bag and thoroughly mix it with the other food in the bowl and tell him "EAT DAT! EAT DAT!". Then he'd start eating out of the bowl.
Weeks later, we were very low on cat food. Coming home from visiting my sister in the hospital, I stopped into a pet store that was about to close. I looked around and couldn't find any of the new natural food brands that I had become used to giving Mischa, so i noticed Natural Balance which I understoood to be another excellent brand. Unfortunately, I grabbed a bag of the first flavor that caught my eyes, "Duck and Green Pea Formula". I later found that Mischa is not particularly keen about this flavor. A few days later, I bought another bag of Blue Wildeness. Not wanting to waste food, I tried to sneak in some of the Natural Balance "Duck and Green Pea" flavor, mixing thoroughly by hand as I had done with the old versus new Blue Wilderness.
I began to use "pill pockets" for both Mischa and the dogs. For Mischa, these were used to convey both the thyroid pill as well as a prednisone which was used to cover the interval in which i had run out of Flovent and was waiting for a new order to arrive. ( Flovent is used to treat MIscha for asthma). At first, the "pill pockets" worked like a charm and they were gobbled up. Eventually Mischa seemed to have lost his "taste" or his "patience" for them. On May 31st of this year (2008) there is an entry in the log that indicated that Mischa was not interested in eating the "pill pocket" and placing the "pill pocket" in his mouth was tried with difficulty.
On June 2nd of this year, it was noted that the offer of a "pill pocket" was unsuccessful, so the pill was dropped down his throat and he was made to gulp it. The next day, I had to take the thyroid pill out of the "pill pocket" and drop it down his throat while gently rubbing and tickling his neck in the throat area, encouraging him to gulp. The first time, he spit the pill out. On Thursday, June 5th of this year, the attempt to give Mischa the thyroid pill turned into a struggle. He would not eat the "pill pocket" so I dipped it in the tuna flavored anti-hairball ointment and he still didn't "go for it". I took the pill out fo the "pill pocket" and opened his jaw, and dropped it down his throat while stroking his neck to encourage him to gulp. I finally got a gulp. On Saturday June 7th, putting the pill down Mischas' throat or even getting his jaw open failed. I then tried putting the pill in a small glop of science diet hairball control chicken entree'. After the first attempt, the pill was left behind. During the second attempt, I wrapped the pill in 2 layers of the wet food which was dry enough to form almost solid flakes. This was shaped into a glop and presented to him. This finally worked.
What worked one day does not necessarily work on another day. One must adapt. On Sunday June 8th, I placed the thyroid pill in a double glop of science diet hairball control chicken entree'. After the canned food was consumed, it was discovered that the pill was left at the bottom of the bowl. I then tried putting the pill in his mouth. He manueverdd the pill out of his mouth with his tongue. I placed the pill back in his mouth and shook it down. Subsequently, I gently stroked his neck to encourage a gulp. Finally, he got it down! I thought to myself "There has got to be a better way of doing this!". I wondered if the bitter taste of the pill could have a conditioned association to the pleasant taste of the canned cat food. Perhaps this was a mix of pavlovian and operant conditioning.
A new day brings a new method. On Monday June 9th after trying to quickly "strong arm" Mischa and put the pill in his mouth, I was faced with a new level of tighter jaw pressure. After he had spit the pill out 2 or 3 times, I noticed that the pill was softened by exposure to his saliva. I decided to "think like a chemist". In other words, it was not necessary to have the pill in its' usual form. Rather, it mmight be helpful to grind the pill into a powder. Initially I was using the back of a plastic spoon. Once in powder form, the medication could be easily mixed into the wet canned cat food. I switched from using the back of a plastic spoon to a pill crusher. This method appeared to have been working very well.
After viewing Gary Nulls' DVD on Natural Pet Care I vowed that at some point in the future I will wean this cat off of the thyroid pill entirely.
Here are some disadvantages of the current method:
1) It can be very sloppy. When one crushes the pill with the back of a plastic spoon or other utensil, so many parts per billion or pieces of pill that shoot out into the air are lost when pressure from the plastic utensilis applied.. This can be dangerous when other animals roam the kitchen. I had thought of what it would be like to use a mortar and pestle but having switched to a pill crusher turns out to be much better. When the pill crusher is used the pill is in a closed container. Nothing is lost from the container except that some small residue of the powder is left behind in the container.
2) The regular serving of canned food to the cat may be off-setting efforts to get him to lose weight.
3) There is no guarantee that the cat will completely devour the entire serving.
4) If the cat leaves a portion of the glop of canned food uneaten, he might not have received all of the medication.
5)The cat may taste the medication in the glop of canned food. The medication may not be thoroughly mixed into the food.
6) The cat is now spoiled for the canned food. In fact, now when Mischas' water is changed, and at a time when the cat would have looked forward to receiving more of say the Blue Wilderness in his bowl, he turns around and walks back into the hall. He waits for the canned food.
A young lady named Nikki at LakeSide Animal Hospital in Plantation, Florida told me about a lady who developed a technique in which she places the pill in a portion of the "pill pocket" and wraps layers of treat around the surface of the "pill pocket". The technique was said to have "worked like a charm" for her cats. I may use this as a last resort. We'll see how much Mischa weighs on his next checkup.
