Food for Cats with Cancer

29 Aug 2008

29 Aug, 2008 Cat Cancer, Cats - Feeding Your Cat

It is too much to expect that veterinary science would know much about cat cancer and dog cancer especially when despite extensive research very little is known about even human cancer. Till date no one knows exactly what causes cancer and how it can be prevented.

Feline cancer, like human cancer is not easy to detect in its early stages and once the disease has advanced, cat owners are left with no option but to watch helplessly. The most that can be done is to delay the ultimate and provide home care irrespective of whether the treatment option has been exercised or not.

Feeding your cat and meeting his basic nutrition needs is one of the primary aspects of a home health care program. The matter may appear easy but can be pretty challenging. Just like humans, cats are also likely to develop an aversion to specific foods or food in general due to alterations in the sense of smell and taste.

In addition, benign as well as malignant tumors can have a direct and indirect impact on food intake. While oral tumors make eating and swallowing difficult, gastrointestinal tumors may lead to blockages of food passages or inhibit efficient absorption of nutrients.

While trying to find ways and means to meet your pet cat’s basic nutritional needs you are likely to face a dilemma of:

-    Guessing what your pet is going through
-    Ways and means of making the food more palatable
-    Leaving the cat alone for some time and taking recourse to artificial feeding (tube feeding)
-    Letting nature takes it course and restrain from force feeding to avoid a development of learned food aversions.

The best course is to understand that that the disease and the treatment modalities result in metabolic changes and therefore it is necessary that you are sensitive to the changes in your pet’s needs. If the cat is showing signs of indisposition and nausea then it is better to let him be for the time being without continuing to coax him to eat.

Your primary attention should be towards ensuring that the cat eats at least the bare minimum for the basic energy requirements. For that purpose you may try any or all of the following methods:

-    Add water to dry cat food to make it more palatable.
-    Find novel foods including home cooked food if commercial foods are refused.
-    Induce acceptance by trying to feed him warm home cooked warm food as it enhances the aroma.
-    Feed frequent meals preferably in a stress free environment.

Although the nutritional needs of cats with cancer are not fully known, your veterinarian will be able to suggest the right choice and amount of food that you should feed. It is of great importance that the cat is fed properly because only then will he be able to respond to cancer treatment.

Reference:
http://www.oncolink.com/

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