08/20 Shmee AMPS 111, +2 98, +4.5 60, +5.5 55, +6.5 52, +7.5 54, +8.75 60, PMPS 86, +1 126

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Amanda & Shmee

Amanda & Shmee

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Previous condo

Good morning,
I messed up last night :(:banghead: at +4 he was at 69 and +5 he was at 71. He hardly ate his +3 meal which is why I think he dropped that dramatically. At +4 when I noticed he hardly touched it I gave him another flavor and he ate it.

@Wendy&Neko since we were going to reduce a few days before Sunday, I was thinking about just doing it tonight. Since he might have went low last night I don't want the depot to get too far ahead of us. But maybe it's too soon? I assume he leveled out after he ate, but its hard to tell.

I am getting worried about his appetite. The last few weeks he has been eating, but is not interested and will not initially start eating a meal without me putting the spoon up to his mouth first (most of the time). Although there is hardly ever that much food remaining in his bowl when it comes time for his next meal, so he's eating just not as interested as he used to be. And super picky, I feel like I am wasting so much food from opening it, he doesn't want that flavor, or he won't accept that its leftovers from the fridge and not fresh, so I have to open another. I just weighed him this morning and he was 15.2 lbs. (from subtracting our weight from my weight on a human scale, weighed both three times to be sure). At the vet from the echo he was 15.9 lbs. :eek:… He is going into the vet today for his microchipping so I will get his weight again there, which might be a little different than the human scale. I probably need to set an alarm to weigh him every week and really track his food habits better.

I hope everyone has a nice day.
 
Hey Amanda. Nice start for Shmee. The weighing on a human scale and subtracting isn't always real reliable. Right before you go into the vet today weigh your way and then you will see what the difference is. Also, when my guys go to the vets, they aren't always being weighed on the same scales as there are several operatories there. So, there is even a margin of difference being weighed there.

I can relate to the not eating well. My civvie, Forrest, has not been eating well for several days not. It's a real chore to get him to eat enough to get most of the supplements into him. I feel your pain. :blackeye:
 
Bobbie And Bubba said:
Hey Amanda. Nice start for Shmee. The weighing on a human scale and subtracting isn't always real reliable. Right before you go into the vet today weigh your way and then you will see what the difference is. Also, when my guys go to the vets, they aren't always being weighed on the same scales as there are several operatories there. So, there is even a margin of difference being weighed there.

I can relate to the not eating well. My civvie, Forrest, has not been eating well for several days not. It's a real chore to get him to eat enough to get most of the supplements into him. I feel your pain. :blackeye:
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Good idea I will do that today and compare weights.
Sorry to hear about Forrest :( it's so hard to tell sometimes if there is an issue or they are just being stubborn/picky. Come on kitties you gotta eat!
 
Another side note - Wendy asked me a while ago if I have an autofeeder and I keep forgetting to mention that I did buy one a few months ago and it was working in the beginning but it is not reliable anymore. Sometimes when it turns it only does a half turn... so I do not trust it. Since its been over 30 days I can't return it (although I should just call Amazon and ask...), so that was $50 down the drain. Since he doesn't eat as much during the day anymore I was thinking I wish the autofeeder worked so I can leave some out at night and reduce his daytime meals. Maybe after I get back from NY I will buy another one and try it. His current schedule is: AMPS 1/2 can, +3 1/2 can, +7 1/2 can, PMPS 1/2 can, PM +3 1/2 can.
 
I have the 2 meal feeder that runs on batteries and you turn the dual in 2 hr increments. It's not the most exact feeder by anymeans. If the battery is starting to die of course the feeder is slower. Sometimes it opens early and sometimes late. It's never been off by more than 30 minutes either way except when the battery does die. But now I use rechargeable and put a new one in every month, the day Olive gets her spot treatment.
 
What type of autofeeder do you have? Just wondering if anyone here has a trick. Sorry his appy seems off, but he should be less hungry in better numbers.

As for reduction, good plan. Whenever I wanted Neko to be safe, I reduced at least 3 cycles before I wanted to be sure she'd be safe. The depot can take 4-6 cycles to reduce, and it's a bit ECID. Now you have another chance to gather data and see how long it takes Shmee.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
What type of autofeeder do you have? Just wondering if anyone here has a trick. Sorry his appy seems off, but he should be less hungry in better numbers.
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I have this one https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GEWHNS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Update - tried to give him HC with the Gabapentin at +8.5 because that is two hours before the vet and he is only at 60, and he would not eat it. I opened three different flavors and wasted three pills. So I had to give it to him orally, ugh I hate having to orally give him pills. His nail latched on to my hand hard and it really dug in. I always feel like I am going to hurt his teeth from trying to open his mouth so much.... I finally got it down with the pill covered in butter and rinsed with water from the oral syringe. Now that I know I have to bring butter in the car just in case he wont eat food with the Gaba! :banghead:
 
I purchased 2 five meal autofeeders probably last summer. One of them (Gizmo’s) would sometimes only turn half way. At first we couldn’t figure out why. We put new batteries in, but it just happened at random times. I was much discouraged and feeling like I couldn’t trust it. But since we had a second one for our civvie and I knew Gizmo would still have access to food, we continued to use it and try to figure out what was going on. What we learned through watching via a video camera at food times was Gizmo often had his head in the bowl while it was turning and these were the times the feeder only turned halfway. We think he may have actually been causing it to only turn half way due to adding resistance.

ETA - that is the same autofeeder we have, but it doesn’t sound like Shmee is waiting to bounce the feeder like Gizmo would often do.
 
Chubba (GA) said:
I purchased 2 five meal autofeeders probably last summer. One of them (Gizmo’s) would sometimes only turn half way. At first we couldn’t figure out why. We put new batteries in, but it just happened at random times. I was much discouraged and feeling like I couldn’t trust it. But since we had a second one for our civvie and I knew Gizmo would still have access to food, we continued to use it and try to figure out what was going on. What we learned through watching via a video camera at food times was Gizmo often had his head in the bowl while it was turning and these were the times the feeder only turned halfway. We think he may have actually been causing it to only turn half way due to adding resistance.
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Awh haha little sneaker! My autofeeder turns only halfway on its own :/ I have tried "test runs" where I set the times for like two minutes apart so I can watch it, and sometimes it only turns halfway :(
 
Amanda & Shmee said:
Awh haha little sneaker! My autofeeder turns only halfway on its own :/ I have tried "test runs" where I set the times for like two minutes apart so I can watch it, and sometimes it only turns halfway :(
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Maybe try contacting the company to see if they will offer a replacement. I would think there is some sort of warranty with them.
 
Bronx's dad said:
Appy vines for Shmee :bighug:
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Thank you Paul :bighug: I don't know what's up with him. He didn't eat the food with Gaba one time before, I think he can smell it or something, even though I thought they weren't supposed to be able to.

Chubba (GA) said:
Maybe try contacting the company to see if they will offer a replacement. I would think there is some sort of warranty with them.
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Thanks Amazon has a 30 day return policy but you are right I should try to call the company and see what they say.

Off to finish the blankets in the crate so I can get him in there soon for the vet. I am so curious how he will act in it.
 
That feeder will only rotate a 1/2 turn if the tray is not seated properly. I always make sure the tray turns fully by pressing the rotate button (upper right) after I place it back into base to make sure it is seated properly.
 
Good luck with the vet visit. I got the Buster pill shooter, it really helped me give pills. You can load water in it so it does pill and water in one go.

For the Petsafe 5, I always did a manual advance before loading it, to make sure it would rotate on it's own. If you don't get it seated just right, it will sometimes miss going forward properly. OK, Paul just said the same thing. GMTA.:p
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Good luck with the vet visit. I got the Buster pill shooter, it really helped me give pills. You can load water in it so it does pill and water in one go.

For the Petsafe 5, I always did a manual advance before loading it, to make sure it would rotate on it's own. If you don't get it seated just right, it will sometimes miss going forward properly. OK, Paul just said the same thing. GMTA.:p
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Wendy&Neko said:
Good luck with the vet visit. I got the Buster pill shooter, it really helped me give pills. You can load water in it so it does pill and water in one go.

For the Petsafe 5, I always did a manual advance before loading it, to make sure it would rotate on it's own. If you don't get it seated just right, it will sometimes miss going forward properly. OK, Paul just said the same thing. GMTA.:p
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Oh wow I didn't even notice that button :banghead: thank you so much. I wondered if the tray wasn't in correctly! But it matches up to the bottom so I thought it was ok. I will get batteries in it again tonight and try that out. Wendy I am adding that to my Amazon cart, just looking at it makes me nervous! Haha but I would try it.
 
I felt so bad for him at the vet.... ugh that microchipping needle was HUGE (I swear it looks too big to even call it a needle). She said "sorry but this is going to hurt him" and he REALLY freaked out under the towel. Screamed like a baby so loud. Tears as soon as I got in the car. I am so happy that is over.

He did ok in the crate, he didn't meow nearly as much as he does in his little carrier so that was a nice surprise. I drove around for about 15 minutes before we went to the vet since she is super close, to see how he would react. I put a small box in there, cut out a hole, and put his smaller bed in there. I didn't think he would go in it but he did, when I looked back there I saw his butt sticking out of the hole and he was laying half in the box and half out of the box, haha funny cat... I wish I could have gotten a photo. The bed is pretty small for him already though so he might not have fit, so I don't know if I will keep the bed in the box. Overall it was a good start.
 
For reference, Little Dude HATES his chip. He has had it since 2016 when we adopted him as a feral. He is always scratching at it.
 
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