Anorexia is an extremely common presenting complaint in feline cases and has an almost endless list of differential diagnoses. A detailed history and physical examination is essential and may reveal the cause of the poor appetite. In all cases, nutritional support should be considered – whether there is a partial or complete loss of appetite and/or whether the cause of the anorexia is known. Patient status should be improved through initial tactics to ‘find and fix’ anything which could be contributing to the poor appetite such as dehydration, hypokalaemia, pain, fever and so on. Should the anorexia persist beyond/during correction of these issues, appetite stimulants can also be helpful. Assisted feeding should be considered for patients with continued poor appetite and techniques for short and medium term support of patients will be discussed in this presentation.
- -Define resting energy requirements and state how to calculate this in patients
- -List common ‘fixable’ causes of poor appetite in cats that should be addressed before appetite stimulants are considered
- -State available appetite stimulants for cats
- -Describe how to place a nasal or oesophageal feeding tube in a cat
- -Explain how to work out a feeding protocol post placement of feeding tube
Feline / Diagnostics
Presented by Sarah Caney, CEO - Vet Professionals
Presented at BVA Live 2023
Clinical Theatre 1
Thursday, 11 May, 15:35 - 16:25
Please note this session is not RACE-approved but you can still earn a CPD certificate