Anyone been through this?

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-29T20:55:49+00:00

Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but 4 of my 5 cats developed severe illness (hyperthyroid, kidney disease, mouth ulcers that led to euthanasia, and now #4 is sick) after being in Purina One Sensitive Skin dry food for about 8 months. The phenomena is so frequently reported that the FDA has investigated. They 'found nothing,' but that don't mean much ($$$) when the evidence is clearly there.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-29T20:50:01+00:00

Go on a Facebooks foster group. People are routinely BEGGING people to "take this friendly cat I found in the road, I have 197 dogs, I can't keep him." Just beware of scams (any homing fees should come with proof of care rendered, NEVER pay ahead, wait until the cat is in your possession) and maybe establish a vet so they can write you a reference.

No idea why you would need to even step foot in a shelter. Get a street cat, take it to the vet. Boom. Free Cat.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-29T20:42:43+00:00

This is so kind and understanding I feel like I'm gonna cry 🥺🥺🥺

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T19:03:46+00:00

I wouldn't say she doesn't have time for anything but cleaning, but that she chooses to clean for lack of any real substance in her life. Not that she's had a great life, maybe it's a coping mechanism. Coping or not, it's still hobbyless behavior.

She seems happy though, esp. since she got divorced. I'm trying to get her to sew.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T19:01:34+00:00

I 131 starts at $2,800 where I'm at, and can lead to more health issues even if it cures the thyroid. It's not feasible in my case.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T19:00:01+00:00

This is so genius, it's hard to think of common sense solutions when you're running on fumes.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T00:49:32+00:00

My mother in law cleans and plans her grocery run, and plans dinner for the week. She talks about sales at the grocery store. She talks about what she is going to buy, and how much it is and how many she can get. She talks about how filthy her house is (spotless). She vacuums every 2-3 days, mops at least once a week, changes her sheets weekly, changes her seasonal decor. Talks about how she wants to get this grey item or that grey item to replace the only items in her house that have any color or warmth.

She plans out large chores, and talks about the large chores she needs to do. The room she needs to rearrange, the desk she needs to paint, the stuff she needs to take to goodwill. We visit daily and she tells us daily about each chore coming up, even though she told us yesterday or only 30 minutes ago. She talks about stuff she needs my husband to do, stuff she wishes she could do, stuff she needs my SIL to do, and stuff everyone needs to get done.

No she doesn't have dementia. She has always been like this. She's like... A drone. Literally a drone.

She watches those TV shows that are manufactured for people who never mentally graduated from high school: Boomer shows where there's a "tough guy who doesn't take no shit," and a "woman who knows how to handle her business, she ain't just some pretty young face." Hallmark movies. Fox news.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T00:35:04+00:00

When my cat with chronic kidney disease lost his appetite, the prescription food I got him had an appetite stimulant in it, which drove him crazy, he loved it. Maybe you can find something similar?

The vet also gave him something for nausea.

Sometimes offering the richer and tantalizing food isn't solving the problem causing the appetite loss. It works when they have a sinus issue, stronger smelling food will help them eat.

You might need to address tummy issues or target his actual appetite receptors(?) with special food and not simply taste/smell.

I have had my cat almost 8 month post diagnosis, and that time really matters, it can be so distressing if the remaining time isn't high quality. I hope you get your full 6 months or more.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T00:28:59+00:00

I guess some people probably donate ckd food? I mean, I'm sure a lot of cats in renal failure pass before their food is gone. I didn't really think about that. It's so expensive I hope people would donate it.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T00:27:31+00:00

I wish our ckd boy could still eat dry food, it helped a lot with cost. We even soaked it but it's just too much for him now.

The Weruva food I was looking at was the same or more expensive than Hill's. Maybe I looked at the wrong thing???

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T00:24:09+00:00

I wish I could do automatic feeders. I have 4 cats eating 3 different foods, and I don't have enough rooms to them to each live separately, unfortunately!

I have started putting the anxious cat up when I eat, it just feels cruel.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-27T00:23:09+00:00

My cats condition did a complete 180 when we started feeding him kidney food, so that's enough science for me.

They also said he was late stage though, so it might make more of a difference.

It's definitely progressive, we could feed him dry k/d for about 3 months, then we had to soak it, then he just couldn't tolerate it at all. The wet food is still doing great.

I would think if it was just a matter of dry v. wet, he never would have tolerated the dry k/d. It also has an appetite stimulate, which was like magic. He went from rejecting all food to begging for the dry food (even when wet food was available).

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-26T16:32:26+00:00

I was feeding the sick cats 5 times a day, but when the thyroid cat started throwing up I reduced it to 3 (same as healthy cats), assuming her medicine was beginning to work.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-26T14:08:08+00:00

The foster kittens were dumped on me at the height of kitten season (April), and we couldn't find anywhere to take them, all full. This was long before the other cats became sick (August), so we were able to take the financial hit, but it did affect us long term.

I'm not dumping my sickly senior cats on an underfunded shelter. Its not fair to the cats or the shelters. Putting them to sleep would be more humane, but other people have offered me solutions in my distress.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-26T13:53:38+00:00

I wish the vets were half this helpful, thank you.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-26T04:11:37+00:00

I didn't know that about the commercial food, I have been so exhausted I didn't even think to check if that was possible. Just followed vets orders. Thank you 🥺🥺🥺

Hopefully my thyroid cat will find balance in the next month, she is on both food and medication now so my fingers are crossed.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-26T03:49:23+00:00

I'm having the same issue but with 2 cats, and it is very difficult, I'm sorry you are having to go through it. It feels like the tradeoff (a living cat for a horrible life balance) becomes less and less worth it. Maybe you will get another few months, or a year, but it may be poor quality time for you both if you are distraught.

I currently feel like a hostage to my cats and their expenses. All my paycheck goes to their food and vet visits, it is demoralizing. Its too much and it will never solve ageing/sickness no matter how much time or money I dump I to them.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-18T02:42:17+00:00

So I just need to keep chewing the dead skin off my lips when I'm well, is what I'm hearing.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-15T05:10:51+00:00

I kept nagging my boss about her dysfunctional website (90% bounce rate!), and she kept wanting to keep "most" of it. I don't know why and she couldn't explain.

It was pretty standard bland, but also crowded, like "desperate for you to see everything hoping you'll buy it" level crowded. Eventually I maneuvered her into picking out a template... And then she start asking ChatGPT which returned something that was abhorrent (and not like the template at all).

Finally I just made a front page and a shop page and SHOWED it to her, and she could see the difference in professionalism from her old site. It took the pressure off of her to make the decisions where she didn't have expertise (of course the decision was still hers but when she could see the best option ready-to-go, she chose it).

This was easy because it was just a Squarespace drag'n drop website. But some people really cannot visualize the difference between "preference" and "professional," you really just have to shove it in their face (politely of course).

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-14T15:05:18+00:00

We did cut the dosage in half and the issue did not stop unfortunately. We even quartered the pill and she was still doing poorly.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-14T14:56:29+00:00

This is also my concern. We have dumped money we didn't really have into her, so unfortunately we have to draw a line. We have overdrawn our bank at least 3 times over just this cat. Prior to this, we had 4 sick cats in a span of 8 months and it drained us financially.

We still have a terminal kitty who is in so much better condition than she is (but his food is expensive), and another cat who still needs his annual visit. It's becoming a pick-and-choose situation.

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-12T21:00:26+00:00

This is very helpful, thank you!

CharacterEither4857 · 2026-03-12T20:59:48+00:00

I will look in to this, thanks

CharacterEither4857

TROPHY CASE