Anorexic cat

lindens

Thanks for the further suggestions, she is eating the odd morsel, mainly ham, but a bit of a breakthrough yesterday when i cooked chicked dinner and she stole a bit off our plates!

As an aside, she is the middle of 3 cats, The eldest who is (was )top cat has been very ill and was PTS yesterday - is it possible that has been affecting her mood also?

antw23uk

To be honest I dont think you following her round shoving a bowl under her nose is helping (not meaning to sound harsh but it can be VERY off putting when they are already feeling stressed)
I would relax, she isnt going to waste away over night and you are definatley doing the right thing by keeping her under the vet.
Smelly food is normally the way forward as already mentioned but have you tried offering her some raw chicken breast or perhaps a chicken wing? (wing not so much if she hasnt got suitable teeth to break the bone down alhtough im sure she would love it!)

I would be inclined to try a bit of raw chicken breast or perhaps some lambs heart? both can be brought from super markets, personal preference is free range organic for me but your budget, your cat.

You might be pleasantly surprised by her interest in raw food. Good luck and hope you try for her sake.

lindens

yes I didn't think of raw food but its obvious! will get some tonight.

lindens

So I have now tried the following-

ham - some success
tina/mackerel/pilchards - no
biscuits-no
biscuits with hot water - no
cooked chicken - some success
raw chicken - no
pouches warmed up-some success
pate - some success
baby food - no
water - this is fine
milk-no

After watching her and analising endlessly I have decided that she stopped eating because of 5 bad teeth and she is now afraid to use her mouth. She is definately hungry as when I cook our food she is sniffing our plates and even stealing a bit off it, but then sniffs the item and leaves it on the floor.
She was a very licky cat, she won't even lick herself clean let alone your hand etc! That's right - there has been no self-grooming as well as no proper eating for 2 weeks.
Somehow I have to get it through to her that its Ok to eat/lick, and it wont hurt. The vet has examined her mouth at least 5 times since her op and says physically she is healing fine.
I think I'm going to have to resort to force feeding using a syringe.

paddypaws101

Try Gourmet Gold pate, comes in the small 85g tins, on sale in all the supermarkets. It is a very soft and smooth pate so by adding a dash of warm water she will be able to lap it up and no need to chew. I also find it easier to syringe than any of the more expensive vet foods.
Poached white fish is also a tempting soft food for them.
Hope she eats soon.

PinkTiger

I have had some success with crushing up a few Dreamies & sprinkling it on top of the food they show the most interest in, my cat's really would do anything for Dreamies!

have you tried mashing the pouch food so theres not much chewing required (& maybe mixing in a bit of water). Sorry i don't know what else to suggest but i hope Kitty starts eating again soon xx

lindens

Not looking good. she has just been at the vets for 3 days having shots of valium which do make her eat a fair amount very quickly but once it wears off its down to her again. so we know she can physically eat there is nothing wrong with her gums, teeth etc.
our only options left are to try and persevere with tempting her, force feeding with a syringe or an oesophageal tube.

at the moment she's just going to waste away

absolutely gutted as we had our older cat PTS only 2 weeks ago.

partner

Maybe it's the bowl she has a problem with. Deep ness, smell ,association? My cat doesn't like a deep bowl just a thought. Good luck.x

lindens

partner wrote: »

Maybe it's the bowl she has a problem with. Deep ness, smell ,association? My cat doesn't like a deep bowl just a thought. Good luck.x

apart from biscuits which are in her cat bowl(quite shallow) she prefers a plate and then drags it onto the floor but with mushy she has to eat it off the plate. tried different plates in different parts of the house

~Chameleon~

Have you tried the RC Convalescent diet?

I recently put my own cat on this. She's in her mid 20s and had been losing weight and condition as her appetite was reduced but since I put her on this, along with RC Fibre Response dry food (she was constipated and vomiting every time she tried to defecate) she has regained her appetite and gained 200g in weight. She is also looking a lot brighter and starting to groom herself again. I was almost at the stage of putting her to sleep but now I feel she can go on for several more months yet