Milo the malnourished kitten updates

[Misty Lee 123]

He’s looking soooo much better already! Way to go team Milo.

 

[Ebby]

My middle daughter has epilepsy and sleeping or waking up is what triggers her seizures so I have a motion camera facing her bed just in case, well Milo sets the camera off sometimes and boy does he look creepy.

 

[Ebby]

This might be a dumb question but I’m in a Facebook group for sphynx cats I don’t comment, just look at the pictures being posted, well I noticed a lot of the sphynx on there are obese some even very morbidly obese, is that common? I thought they tended to have a faster metabolism due to their lack of fur.

 

[Condo commando]

This might be a dumb question but I’m in a Facebook group for sphynx cats I don’t comment, just look at the pictures being posted, well I noticed a lot of the sphynx on there are obese some even very morbidly obese, is that common? I thought they tended to have a faster metabolism due to their lack of fur.

I think the main reason is pet food companies were very successful in marketing kibble. Weight gain comes down to eating more calories than you burn off. If you think about it, a ton of cats have access to kibble 24/7, plus kibble is very high in calories to begin with, and finally indoor cats don't exercise much.

I've read where some people say Sphynxes have higher metabolism. Not to argue the point but without scientific proof, who really knows. But never mind that, even if that's true what weight gain is telling you is that those cats are consuming more calories than they're burning off. That should be the call to action.

 

[Ebby]

I think the main reason is pet food companies were very successful in marketing kibble. Weight gain comes down to eating more calories than you burn off. If you think about it, a ton of cats have access to kibble 24/7, plus kibble is very high in calories to begin with, and finally indoor cats don't exercise much.

I've read where some people say Sphynxes have higher metabolism. Not to argue the point but without scientific proof, who really knows. But never mind that, even if that's true what weight gain is telling you is that those cats are consuming more calories than they're burning off. That should be the call to action.

What is a good age to stop free feeding kibble for kittens?

 

[Sheldon13]

Lol now, if you talk to any of us kibble-haters

It would be better to feed more wet food and more often than to continue kibble.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

 

[Condo commando]

I don't think free feeding is ever a good idea to be honest. But if you wanted to do it, go by their body size and shape. When they stop growing bigger and start becoming thicker, that's your sign.

Kittens cat eat like crazy but it's ok as long as they are growing. Once they have reached their full size, they need less food but they're used to eating a lot so there's an imbalance there. If you try to limit them by putting less food in their bowl they might eat it all by mid-afternoon and be hungry at night. That's why the best thing is to give them separate meals thruout the day. I always recommend starting early to get them in the habit.

It's not hard to get started because all you do is fill their bowl and let them eat as much as they can in say 15 to 20 minutes. Then you take the bowl away. You repeat this process maybe four times a day with a kitten. An adult cat only needs three meals a day.

 

[Condo commando]

Lol now, if you talk to any of us kibble-haters

It would be better to feed more wet food and more often than to continue kibble.

I have to agree wet food is better. When we're talking about weight, kibble is very high in calories so let's say you have a cat that should eat 200 calories per day for his size. Just to throw a number out for an example. In kibble 200 calories is probably slightly over half a cup. That is it for the whole day. That cat is liable to still be hungry after he's finished all his food. Now if you take canned food, 200 calories is about a whole can plus one fourth of another (of the 5.5 oz size). Now the cat has a much better chance of being satisfied. Same amount of calories but a different amount of food.

 

[Ebby]

Still not much to update yet, his skin still looks like it’s slowly improving to me, I actually had the idea randomly as I was trying to sleep right now to message his breeder and ask exactly what food wet and dry, they use, and what wash and cleaning products they use because he wasn’t having problems there.
I did buy one of those special lights vets use to see ringworm and he didn’t light up but I know not all ringworm does.
He was extremely playful today and awake for like 10 hours straight it was kinda exhausting lol it’s been 6 years since we had a kitten and I forgot they’re like toddlers running with scissors.
He also let me clip his nails with no issues.
Two pictures today, my dog did a creepy photo bomb and I’m rewatching Buffy and laughed telling my daughter “that monster looks just like Milo” she didn’t agree.

 

[Ebby]

Ok I beat him to the scale before he got food today, he’s at 3lbs 9oz. Currently he’s getting half a can of wet mixed with fish oil, after he finishes that I put down his dry food.
Do you guys think his overall growth will be permanently stunted because of the lack of nutrition at such a young age? He’s 19weeks old but compared to other cats that age he seems tiny.

 

[Sheldon13]

He looks sooo much better. I think you will be surprised how much he catches up. It just may take a while.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

 

[Condo commando]

Ok I beat him to the scale before he got food today, he’s at 3lbs 9oz. Currently he’s getting half a can of wet mixed with fish oil, after he finishes that I put down his dry food.

What size can of food?

Do you mean omega 3 oil or is it just plain fish oil?

Do you guys think his overall growth will be permanently stunted because of the lack of nutrition at such a young age? He’s 19weeks old but compared to other cats that age he seems tiny.

It's possible, but I don't think so because there's no evidence of permanent damage. I would prioritize #1 getting the best food you can comfortably afford and #2 a probiotic powder to add to his wet food. Probiotics are good when they're on meds like antibiotics because the antibiotic kills good bacteria as well as bad, so the probiotic restores good bacteria in the gut. You really only need it while he's on meds.

On probiotics....
Vets sell FortiFlora but it's expensive because you're buying from a middle man and there's nothing special about it. You're better off buying something else on amazon. On that note, I bought a box of Synacore Feline for one of my cats which came in a 30 day supply but I only used like 5 days. I'd be happy to send you free of charge the 25 days that are left if you just message me your home address.

 

[Ebby]

What size can of food?

Do you mean omega 3 oil or is it just plain fish oil?



It's possible, but I don't think so because there's no evidence of permanent damage. I would prioritize #1 getting the best food you can comfortably afford and #2 a probiotic powder to add to his wet food. Probiotics are good when they're on meds like antibiotics because the antibiotic kills good bacteria as well as bad, so the probiotic restores good bacteria in the gut. You really only need it while he's on meds.

On probiotics....
Vets sell FortiFlora but it's expensive because you're buying from a middle man and there's nothing special about it. You're better off buying something else on amazon. On that note, I bought a box of Synacore Feline for one of my cats which came in a 30 day supply but I only used like 5 days. I'd be happy to send you free of charge the 25 days that are left if you just message me your home address.

Probiotics were literally my next question so thank you! I know when I take an antibiotic I need probiotics at the same time or I get all messed up so I can see that being similar for pets too.
Edit I forgot to answer the rest, it’s the smaller can of wet food, the fish oil we use is called SuperOmega it has omega 3&6

 

[Condo commando]

@Ebby

You don't need omega 6, just omega 3.

I would give him the whole 3 ounce can, then dry food after that. As he gets older I would increase it to the bigger can. It doesn't have to be expensive - Fancy Feast will do. We already discussed protein but in addition to that water is important for muscles. The problem is that cats don't drink much water if it's in a bowl; when they get it in their food they drink more. Don't take my word for it, you can google it.

 

[Ebby]

The lighting in the room happened to be perfect to really see his skin, vet is at 6:30 which is about 7 1/2 hours from now, we also found a second vet in our area if we decide this one is trash even tho we’ve been taking all our pets there for years lol.
He’ll also be getting the rest of his shots, except the two I keep seeing warnings about.

 

[Condo commando]

I don't know what that is but it's definitely not normal. It's ridiculous they wanted to charge you more to squeeze you in sooner. I mean they can either make time for a situation or they can't. If they can't, maybe it's not the right vet. BUT you can't just assume the other vet would be better. You only know if a vet is really the right one when stuff goes wrong; if all you ever do is come in for checkups and routine stuff, they can all knock it out of the park.

 

[Ebby]

I don't know what that is but it's definitely not normal. It's ridiculous they wanted to charge you more to squeeze you in sooner. I mean they can either make time for a situation or they can't. If they can't, maybe it's not the right vet. BUT you can't just assume the other vet would be better. You only know if a vet is really the right one when stuff goes wrong; if all you ever do is come in for checkups and routine stuff, they can all knock it out of the park.

Yeah a downfall of living in a really small area is we don’t really get to be picky with vet offices, there’s literally only two unfortunately, and all our pets have been coming here for 6 years, we’ve never had a real emergency to test them, once we thought our dog broke her leg when she was a puppy and they rushed us in after hours, they didn’t even charge us for that all we paid were for some pain meds(she was just bruised) and the shots she was due for.

 

[Ebby]

Ok we’re back from another very long and expensive vet visit, they did cultures but we have to wait for those to get back but his vet didn’t think it was ringworm but the cultures were taken as a precaution. We were given the option to go with a steroid shot or cream and we went with a cream, and were also told to give him Benadryl 2x a day. Anyone have experience with this kind? He has to wear a cone so he can’t lick it.

 

[Catzzzmeow]

Glad the vet took a culture so you can hopefully see what is the root cause. Please keep updating this thread as your information can help others in the future.

 

[Ebby]

I also forgot to mention he has the start of an ear infection ugh! Little dude can’t catch a freaking break, I’m supposed to put the animax in his ears too. On the brighter side he was right at 4lbs on the vet scale, also this morning his skin already looks so much better after just 12 hours of applying the cream!

 

[Catzzzmeow]

That is awesome news!!!!!!!

 

[Condo commando]

It's great the cream is helping.

Did he also recommend a certain shampoo? Or are you going to ask him about that after the results from the culture come back?

 

[Condo commando]

Ear infection is pretty common. I've dealt with that a few times myself. Of all the things this is probably the easiest to deal with, just a few drops for several days and voila - all will be good.

 

[Condo commando]

Yeah a downfall of living in a really small area is we don’t really get to be picky with vet offices, there’s literally only two unfortunately, and all our pets have been coming here for 6 years, we’ve never had a real emergency to test them, once we thought our dog broke her leg when she was a puppy and they rushed us in after hours, they didn’t even charge us for that all we paid were for some pain meds(she was just bruised) and the shots she was due for.

Maybe you don't want to dump your vet just yet but just because they used to find time for you before doesn't mean they always will. Years ago I used to have a vet that I loved. I started with her when she first opened her office. As the years went by it got busy and she didn't have time for anything. Communication was through the young girls that worked the front desk, who were always changing. I finally had enough and found another vet. Should have done it sooner. But she was good in the beginning; it's just that things change.

 

[Condo commando]

Oh and last thing, one of mine got the steroid injection a couple of years ago for a staph infection. It worked really well for what it's worth and it's just one and done.