New Skills

[Greyden]

One of these days I'll learn to copy what I have written so it doesn't disappear when I have to step away mid sentence and then get logged out. Grrrr.

Anyway, just know that I have read appreciate y'all's information and insights.
As with most things these days, there are no easy answers.
Living in a rural area makes it tough to get specialized vet care - no internal med vet, no vet nutritionist. EPI seems to be a new thing here.
Thanks again for sharing!

[Olesia711]

Greydon,
you are very welcome! Thank goodness for the internet , eh? so you can at least read and research on your own if need be.

[Greyden]

For sure -

[Montgomery]

V... you made me laugh.... and yes i DO think genes has a lot to do with much of it.....

but over 15 years, we have seen patterns emerge with these EPI pets... but the difficult thing is when we "suggest" certain brands and then they change the formula or if there is a recall, or of it is discontinued.... it gets very frustrating.... so the best thing for us to do is suggest a criteria of what type of food "appear" to work best.... and then mention what currently seems to work, but offer no guarantees..............

I've had foods that worked well for my cats discontinued so many times. For awhile it seemed that if my cats liked it, it would be changed or discontinued. Then there was the mad scramble to find something Montgomery could eat when his food was suddenly unavailable. Luckily I'm always in CYA mode with these guys, so I had a supply, but it takes so long to find something that agrees with his system that I was panicking. Switching to home-made fixed that, but now we're butting heads over the menu. I do have a set of infant spoons that I use when spoon-feeding Montgomery is the only option. He will just flat out refuse to eat. Sit down, pin his ears, turn his head. NO. Have you ever tried spoon-feeding a tiny carnivore?
Felix was twelve pounds of attitude. Orange, fluffy, looked like Bert Lahr. His canine teeth sort of stuck out. He had huge paws. He did not take anyone's crap. He'd been feral a few years and survived death row at Kennel Inn. He feared nothing and nobody. He was tough as nails and we called him Survivor Man. When he got old, we'd joke he was the kind of old guy who would stomp off his porch in his boxer shorts and yell at the kids to "GET OFF MY LAWN!"

Greyden, I live in a large-ish town with several veterinary clinics and it still took ages to get a diagnosis for Montgomery. Even post-diagnosis it was hard to get answers. Thank goodness for this forum and the information and support it provides. I used to go into the clinic with double-sided pages of questions and bits of information that had come from reading this forum and asking questions, and it really did help. Just having other people who have been there with their pets and understand what it's like, what these guys go through and what we go through trying to help them is a huge asset.

[Olesia711]

thanks V for sharing your experience with foods...... sounds a LOT like mine over the years....so frustrating!

I suspect it is very "interesting" living at your place.... but also very lucky for all the 4-legged beings

[Montgomery]

Especially when you don't get a warning of an up-coming formula change or potential shortages. Sometimes I think the manufacturors of pet food don't actually live with pets.

[Olesia711]

Oh Gosh... i bet some of them don't have pets!!!!!!!!!!

[Eddiespaghetti]

While it is a lesser degree, I have gone through this.
When Eddie was first diagnosed with meningitis 3.5 years ago(hell yeah what a fighter boi). We were trying to figure out how to get his medication in him. At the beginning it was a lot of pills. https://a.co/d/hxBXo5l
We found that. Perfect size to put his medication in without having him get chunky. They discontinued it shortly after and we have been chasing that dragon since.
Edit; wait it's 4.5 years (double mega hell yeah strong boi)

[Montgomery]

Between Montgomery and Flapjack, I'd have no fingers left if it wasn't for my pill gun.