Nokk the cereal cat
Nokk the cat was a very fussy eater and was severely underweight, luckily Steph from our Community Outreach team stepped in.
Nokk’s owner contacted Woodgreen’s Outreach team for help with their cat’s vet bills. Nokk the cat was rather fussy when it came to food and seemed to only have a taste for human cereal made with goat or special cat milk with a taurine supplement. She wouldn’t eat any other meat. We were able to cover the cost of an initial vet consultation which raised concerns over Nokk’s weight. At just 2.2kg, the vet said she was very malnourished with a body condition score of 2/9. Nokk’s owner needed some help to turn this around and raise it to a healthy score of 5/9.
Steph arranged to visit Nokk and her owner at home, accompanied by one of our behaviour and training specialists for support. Here Steph was able to come up with a plan to gradually encourage Nokk to eat cat food instead of cereal and treats. The owner had tried multiple times to feed Nokk normal cat food and was becoming more concerned about the weight loss. So she would feed Nokk six times a day to try and stop this. Nokk just knew which buttons to press to get what she wanted.
Nokk hadn’t been neutered either so she kept coming into season. Her low weight didn’t help either and this meant she couldn’t be neutered safely. The aim was to get her on a more suitable and manageable diet to help her put on a bit more weight so she could be neutered.
Our team supported Nokk’s whole family who were on board with the plan and raring to go. We were in regular contact to give them the confidence boost they needed to stay on track. We also supported the family by running through their options including an overnight stay at the vet to try and encourage Nokk to eat. Eventually, the vet recommended recovery food to help Nokk gain some weight and then to try moving onto kitten food.
Nokk’s owner kept us updated with their progress and through a lot of perseverance and trial and error, Nokk began to eat cat food and gradually put on more weight over six months. The owner even started to do some research of their own on the nutritional value of foods versus the cost, to make things more affordable and efficient.
Today, Nokk is looking fabulous with her bright eyes and glossy coat. She weighs a healthy 3.2kg. What’s more, her owner’s son got a new job and wanted to use his first wage to get Nokk neutered. The owner is now looking to get a catio for Nokk in the new year, so she can safely spend some time outside. Nokk’s owner says: “If it wasn’t for Woodgreen, I don’t think Nokk would be here today.”
It’s been a very busy year for our team, they’ve been on the road with Dennis, our community outreach vehicle, establishing new partnerships with food banks and helping pets in need. So, who are the people behind our Outreach team and what are their recent highlights? Meet the team and read all about their role.