Hand feeding

The treatment for fatty liver disease is to get the cat to eat so that the body stops trying to use the cat's fat stores for fuel.
I can't describe the specifics of it, but just share that it's ironic to be hand feeding this cat who used to clean all the other cats' food dishes.

I wanted to post a little bit about hand feeding. I read on the internet that vets are often doubtful that owners can deal with the challenge of hand feeding. Now that we've been doing it for a few days, I completely understand their reluctance. I'm committed to feeding her. The alternative is a surgically placed feeding tube, which we are not sure we could do, but even if we could, right now she is in no condition to have surgery.

When it's time to feed her, we get the food ready, adding warm water and now some unflavored pedialyte to her food, and syringing it into her mouth in small amounts. Once it is wet and can be sucked up in a syringe, we get ready. I sit on the bathroom floor and put a towel over my lap. I hold Kyra in my lap and use one hand to open her mouth and the other to syringe small amounts of food onto her tongue so she swallows it. Then I repeat. A few spoons full of food mixed with water equals A LOT of food and syringes. We take breaks, I pet her, talk to her, tell her how much I love her and how good she's doing. We both wind up covered in wet cat food, but most of it gets into her little belly. It's tough to do, but I know this is her shot, and I'm committed to it. She doesn't like it, but she is so sweet and goes along with it. When I tried it at the vet last week, she shook her head a lot and sprayed food all over. She's not doing that now, she's been so awesome. In a way, even though we both don't like it, it's a nice time for us to spend together, and R is there as my aide, refilling the syringes and offering support.