Force-Feeding NutriCal:
One Method of Calorie Supplementation

Coco was a fighter when she didn't understand what was being done to her. Fortunately I don't bleed readily. I never had any real success with syringes or any of the other suggested ways to get real food in her... they just splash out and make a mess.

What saved her life was a product called Nutri-Cal. It is a concentrated calorie and vitamin supplement that comes in a large tube like toothpaste. It contains virtually no protein, but contains enough calories so that if you can get 2 or 3 teaspons in per day you can minimize the wasting caused by assimilation of bodily proteins for energy. (Cats need to ingest protein daily, but if they are not ingesting anything, some source of calories is far better than none.)

I started out trying to give it by syringe, but it is so thick it is virtually impossible to draw up. Eventually I found that the best way (and the way that Coco accepted) was on my fingertip. (Nutri-Cal is about the consistency of honey, so it will run slowly. Once the amount is put on the finger, it must go directly into the waiting mouth before it starts to drip. The first step is to take the cap off of the tube and place the tube on the side where it can be reached by the hand doing the restraining.

In the beginning, it was best to restrain her with a blanket wrap (towel), to keep her from backing away. I held her close under my arm, so that she was held firmly with my forearm along her body. My hand came up under her chin, so I could force her jaws open with thumb and finger in opposite corners of her mouth from below (the opposite of pill-giving, where I usually grasped from above). Best not to rush, talking all the way about the nasty stuff she was about to partake. (Patter is good for the nerves). Having gotten settled in position to the point where I felt I could ease my grip for a second, I would pick up the tube, quickly squeeze a thick bead on my forefinger from the first joint to the tip, put the tube back down, grasp the jaws and open them, and insert the finger so that I use the upper front teeth to scrape the goop off onto the roof of her mouth. Done successfully this way, there was quite often none lost and no mess. If she resisted or jerked or twisted her head, it was almost as good to smear it on the inside of her cheek, though the corner of her mouth was softer than the teeth and not as effective a scraper.

The content of Nutri-Cal is largely corn syrup and fish oil, which means it gives a sugar rush. At first I gave it just to keep her from dying, (she had tongue laceration from a blade of grass), but after she started gaining strength, the sugar rush seemed to perk her up enough to actually eat real food. It was about that time that we had to switch her from dry k/d to canned, both because it was easier on her mouth, and because the canned contains better quality proteins (more animal-based).

When she started realizing that it made her feel better, she began to cooperate and not struggle. Once in position, she would start jawing and making a "nga-nga-nga" sound like a baby eating peas, and continue until it was all in. (She was so cooperative that I would have to be quick to minimize the finger-chewing).

She never did really like the stuff, though. Part of the ritual that she added horrified Connie at first, until I convinced her that it was just part of the routine.

When I was going to give her some, I showed her the tube first, as I did everything to be given by mouth. She would then retch, a good, long, neck-stretched retch with sound effects. Connie would plead with me not to "do that to her, the smell is making her sick", until I showed her that she did the same thing even if the cap was on the tube. It was like when we were ready for her treatment, I used to say "It's time to play Stick the Kitty." Retching before the NutriCal was just her way of saying "Yeah, but how come I always have to be the kitty?"

This relates to arguing. Our kitties have the right to argue. I let Coco win an argument every now and then, but only if she was persuasive. It preserved her dignity, and she knew I had let her win, so she gave less static when we tried again after a short break.

Another interesting side effect of her dislike for the NutriCal came when she was eating well some days, less well others. On the days where she ate close to a normal amount of k/d, no Nutri-Cal was necessary. If she did not eat a reasonable amount by noon, I would give her NutriCal (and it would usually spark her appetite). If she ate in the morning, but then nothing else by late afternoon, Nutri-Cal. Before I gave it to her, I would always give her a chance to eat, and a time frame ("If you don't eat, I'll have to give you this in an hour"), and show her the tube. Since she was not being put in position, she knew she was not getting it then, but knew I was talking about it. Almost half the time, she would decide within a reasonable period of time that she was hungry, and I didn't have to give her any.

(By the way, Nutri-Cal is available in a lot of pet food stores as well as from vets. Prices vary from place to place between about $6 and $12. Vets usually charge on the high end. There is also another almost identical product, NutriStat, with slightly less vitamin content that is usually priced slightly higher.)

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