How to Nutritionally Care for Cats Who Suffer From Strokes

Strokes are fairly rare in cats, but they do occur. The good news is that cats are extremely adaptable and can live a long life, even with any disability caused by a stroke. You can help your cat to live its best possible life by making sure to keep it well fed and hydrated. After a stroke, you may need to syringe feed your cat to make sure it gets adequate hydration and nutrition.

Things You'll Need

  • Towel
  • Syringe
  • Water or milk substitute
  • Cat food
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Instructions

  1. How to Nutritionally Care for Cats Who Suffer from Strokes

    • 1

      If your cat can no longer chew or swallow easily, you may have to syringe feed it. Your vet will give you advice about this type of feeding. You can syringe feed your cat with its normal wet food after pulverizing it and thinning it with water or a milk substitute sold at pet stores. The mixture should be thin enough to pass easily through the syringe.

    • 2

      Purchase several feeding syringes at your local pet store or pharmacy. If you go to the pharmacy, ask for the type of syringes used to give children medicine, which have a tube and a plunger. Draw the thinned food up into the syringes. Your cat will likely need more than one syringe full of food, so it's a good idea to fill all the syringes at the same time, to make feeding go more smoothly.

    • 3

      Hold your cat in your arms, wrapped in a towel if it tends to scratch, and relax its mouth by placing your hand over the snout and pinching slightly with your thumb on one side of the mouth and your index finger on the other. You may need to wiggle a little to get the mouth open, but it does not need to be open much. Another strategy is to put a little food on your cat's nose and then to slip the syringe into its mouth when the cat licks its nose. Slip the syringe into the cat's mouth, from the side, and begin to inject the food slowly onto the cat's tongue.

    • 4

      Make sure your cat gets the calories it needs. A 10-pound cat needs 300 calories per day according to the Best Friends Pet Care Company. You can figure out how much food that means by using the calorie counts on the packages of food or by asking your vet. In general, your cat should eat the same amount of food it did prior to the stroke. Weigh your cat monthly to make sure it's not gaining weight from inactivity or losing weight from a lack of nutrition.