Tube Feeding Fatty L Cat; Can't Get MaxCal. Help!

Hi,

Does anyone know a vet in San Diego County who carries the Iams Prescription MaxCal food? Priss is on an etube and we were recommended this food as it is better and higher calories/lower carb than the Hills L/D. We tried calling a number of local clinics but all carried Hills, no luck at petsmart/petco either. Can it be purchased online? We have a written prescription.

Thanks!
Elizabeth

 

Ask if any vet place has Cliinicare. Another tube feeding liquid diet. I've used that only, one for 9 weeks before she started eating. I also did the ones with the tubes every 3 hrs. 24/7. Clinicare is excellent and is everything the liver needs.

 

Clinicare is too high in carbs and not enough calories on its own. Its one calorie per ml. Clinicare is a great way to add calories though using it to thin out food to tube feed instead of using calorie free water.

 

Can you get maxcal from petsmart near you?
Can you have it shipped from a place like petfood direct without crazy shipping charges?

I posted on your other thread. Wellness chicken is 220 calories per 5.5oz can. This is better than AD by 50 calories. A DKA cat needs 1.5xs the normal amount of calories. This is why a lower calorie food is less than ideal. Even more than a cat recovering from just FHL - with FHL the goal is a minumum of maintenance calories.

I don't know if anyone explained fatty liver/feline hepatic lipidosis to you. The yellowing of her ears is liver failure. A cat has a unique biology in that it can't process body fat to make up for a calorie defecit from food like humans can. Their livers clog with the fat - causing fhl/fatty liver. Maverick almost died from this - his story is in my signature. This is why i'm such an advocate for safe weight loss and jumping in with assist feeding right away. I wish someone had warned us. Liver disease is horribly nauseating. My dad got liver disease a year after Maverick recovered and my dad was able to verbalize how horrible it made him feel. In the six weeks prior to getting help and a diagnosis my dad didn't eat solid food for six weeks. Ondansetron is a cornerstone to FHL recovery. Once my dad got treated with antinausea medications he ate food that very day. Vets don't recognize nausea in cats and they should. Sorry got side tracked - anyways.... with FHL the goal is to prevent the liver from having access to body fat stores so at a minimum feeding maintenance calories so no more weight is lost. With a DKA cat you need even more calories.

The only way to know if you are feeding enough is with a baby scale or pet or shipping scale that weighs to the ounce. Do you happen to have on already or can you borrow one from someone? A sick and recovering cat often needs a lot more calories than they did before they got sick to maintain weight. Maverick for the first two weeks needed a can and a half of high calorie food to maintain his 13 lbs but once he started recovering he gained really well on the same amount.

Hang in there, you are doing great. It will get easier. You got thrown into the fire but you are doing everything you can to get her through this. A lot of us have been right where you are. Sending lots of hugs.

 

Hi Karrie,

I called the Petsmart and they said it wasn't carried there, I can try calling another branch. I'll try ordering from petfood direct I wasn't sure if it was legitimate site. The l/d food the vet wanted us to get is 183 calories a can. I do have a food scale, do you weigh the food first and then dilute it?

The vet has her on a schedule to increase the amount of food each day. 15ml day 1, 30ml day 2, 45 ml day 3, 60ml day 4. Priss should weigh about 10 pounds and the vet said 60ml a day was her normal amount to eat. I think they did the increase schedule to avoid the refeeding problems.

Tonight she is doing a lot better. Yesterday she just lay on the couch but tonight she is jumping up on the sink, moving around a lot and talking a little bit. I cleaned out the spare bathroom to move her to another room this morning. She smelled the dry prescription food she never gets that we store in there and started meowing for it, I found out she would eat it because I held out a piece to her and she almost bit my finger off!

 

We didn't give her the . Yesterday and today both she ate a little on her own. I really hope she pulls through, she seems like her more usual self tonight, I think the tube really made a difference for her.

 

Elizabeth,

Karrie wrote:

I buy Wellness chicken food at Petco in large cans, but I have also seen it at Sprouts in small cans. Sprouts stores (some stores at least) keep it by the front door/front windows, and you see it to your left as you are checking out. You have to get it from there and go around the counter to buy it.

Good luck. It sounds like she is recovering, and I'm so pleased for you. Keep up the good work.

 

Iams MaxCal is a veterinary prescription formula so you won't find it at any pet stores. PetFoodDirect.com and general pet supply web sites don't have it either. National Pet Pharmacy does have it: http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/product/7794/Iams-Veterinary-Formula-Maximum-Calorie-Canned-Food

 

San diego county is where you are located? I'll see what I can find and ask some US friends.

Most cats just can't handle 60mls of food. Its very uncomfortable for them and they will vomit it up. Some cats with etubes when they vomit they will vomit up the other end of the tube. So please be careful. A lot of cats can't go above 40mls. If she can handle 50 you are lucky but I would not go up to 60. Especially with the post flush on top of that. Maverick was a big boy at 17.5lbs before he got sick and he did okay with 50 plus a 6ml post flush.

Are you feeding every three hours today and doing 45cc's of food? How is her poop?

Hang in there. I will give you some tips later on how to make the prep a bit easier to save some time. Did you look up the Kitty |Kollars?

You are doing a great job.

 

Hi Karrie,

We need to get one of the collars. She was sent home with gauze tight around ehr neck, the vet who placeed the tube said not to open it but thee ER vet said to clean daily with wet squares they gave us, I posted about it on the FAF. I think we'll try to clean it today and go with what the ER vet said, I'm just scared to pull it out.

They gave us some diarrhea medicine the other night and she hasn't pooped since then. I think we need to stop giving it to her. I'm going to call the Iams hotline once they open again and see who carries it here, I found one place but sold out. This is the right one, it says dog/cat and is called maxcal plus?

http://www.iams.com/cat-food/iams-veter ... and-feline

 

Squeem thank you for the link if Iams can't tell me who carries it here I think we can order it off that site since we have a written prescription.