Critical care nutrition: practical tips to make the difference

Since cats will often be anorexic when they are ill and prolonged anorexia can cause multiple problems in cats, nutritional support is very important in cats that are unwell.

Malnutrition is a major complication for hospitalised human patients, and the situation is thought to be similar for cats. Failure to meet the nutritional needs of hospitalised patients leads to increases in morbidity and mortality.

In short, nutritional support should be considered for every hospitalised patient sooner rather than later.

During the International Society of Feline Medicine congress 2016, Alex German BVSc (Hons) PhD CertSAM DipECVIM-CA MRCVS, University of Liverpool, UK, held a very interesting and practical talk about the essentials of critical care nutrition. Different methods of (enteral) nutrition were discussed, followed by a practical approach on tube feeding (when, how, how much etcetera).

This article will offer more insight on the use of enteral nutrition in ill cats with lots of very practical tips and tricks.

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Enteral versus parenteral
• Types of enteral nutrition
• How to place an oesophagostomy tube
• A practical approach to enteral nutrition
  • When should I intervene?
  • What methods should I use?
  • How much should I feed?
  • What diets should I use?
  • Tube etiquette
  • For how long should I feed?
  • Complications
• Keep records
• Summary
• Further reading
• References