Suggestions for poorly cat

LisaO

Our male (neutered) cat finally appeared last night after being missing for almost 2 weeks. Very thin, coat looking very poor, covered in small wounds & scratches and with a large open wound to his chest. Took him to vet first thing & they have cleaned & stitched the wound, given him antibiotics & painkillers. He is now under "house arrest" for at least a week to recuperate & heal fully, so will be getting plenty of tlc, good food, etc. Just wondering if anyone would/could recommend any supplements that will help things along, put some weight & condition back on & improve his skin and coat?

flowerific

Glad he's back. Maybe give him some cheese as some cats love this and avenmore do lactose free milk or kitten milk. You could maybe put a bit of cod liver oil in his dinner for his coat. it will grow back in no time and with this heat he would be molting anyway

anniehoo

Aw your poor cat, you're so lucky to get him back after that length of time. Basically what he needs now is rest and time to recover. A good food to give him would be something along the lines of this Convalescent Support which will help build him back up again.

Homeopathic arnica can also be useful to aid with bruising and/or swelling and may help speed up recovery times from his injuries.

Overall just keep his wounds clean, dont let him near his stitches if he has any, rest, quiet, hydration and nourishment and he should be grand in a week or 2.

LisaO

Wow - thanks for such speedy replies. Was thinking about the cat milk alright but have always been a bit sceptical about it, thinking maybe it was just hyped-up, overpriced milk & sugar? He does love cheese, so will give him a little tomorrow when he's eating properly.

That food is a great suggestion, Anniehoo & I have Arnica here so may add some to his water, as there is a lot of swelling at the site of the injury.

He is a very lucky boy. I thought the wound was a bite that had become infected, formed an abcess & burst but vet seems to think not - more likely that he fell onto a spike or similar :eek:

Rochester

So glad he is back - you must be delighted. Have no experience of this type of incident (thank goodness) but house arrest does sound like the best idea.

Hope he makes a full recovery soon

cucoigcrice

Hi lisaO delighted you got your cat back, you should try giving him some sardines in his normal dry food cause it is great with getting the coat back into good condition. I would be great to see a picture now and updated pictures showing here progress.

Xiney

they probably checked him for dehydration and he must not be too bad, but a packet of rehydrating salts in water wouldn't go amiss. vets have them.

The Sweeper

Hi Lisa

Glad he came back, looks like he's been in the wars.

Please consider keeping him very close to home for a couple of weeks - whatever about indoors for the first week, for a few weeks after that if you're letting him out, try to keep him close to home by staying with him and just letting him out for a few hours, and keep him in before dusk, overnight, and only let him out again when the sun's well up. This will help keep him close to home until he's gotten his full condition back.

Feeding - you're best off just feeding him a good quality food, as much of it as he wants. Try a wet meal for breakfast and a dry for supper, and while he's skinny you can feed a third meal in the middle of the day (which you can phase out when he's back up to his proper weight). Trying to supplement with sardines, cheese, cream, other fish or food he's not used to could cause him to vomit because they're too rich, or give him diarrhoea. Sardines in oil in particular can go right through a cat, which isn't what you want if he's already skinny. If he's used to these foods and you've fed them before with no reaction, go ahead, but now isn't the time to introduce something new in case he reacts to it.

You'd be better off spending the few extra quid that you'd use on food treats buying something like Nutrigel or a similar supplement (a specific high-calorie supplement designed to put the weight back on convalescing animals) or upgrading the food you'd normally buy to something with a good protein source and high calories.

LisaO

Thanks for all the positive responses & helpful advice. Pleased to say Lou is doing really well & seems in great form now the anaesthetic has worn off. Had some red salmon for his breakfast (with the antibiotic in it) & I have got him some Royal Canin wet food pouches as well as dry food, which has pleased him greatly. Will be ordering from Zooplus later - think they have the Nutrigel supplement (thanks Sweeper) & will maybe get some Salmon Oil as well. He is used to a pretty varied diet anyway, so a few extra treats won't do any harm.

Will definitely be keeping him in until after stitches come out & wound is fully healed & have a feeling he won't be straying too far even then - he's loving all the special attention & good food!

At the moment he's curled up in the dog's bed in my office but is surprisingly lively & agile when he's awake, considering the stitches and all

Here's a couple of pics taken this morning (tbh he looks pretty OK in them but he is quite thin at moment & his coat is not as good as usual).