Kitty not eating

I took home a cat from my shelter in hopes to get her to eat anything by herself. She is in good health otherwise. She is about eight years old, and her teeth and gums do not seem to be infected. We thought at first she was just depressed, but after having her in a home for a couple days, she still won't eat or drink anything. She did eat a little turkey off of a sub I had the ither day. Should I just try to get her to eat that instead of regular kitty foods? I don't know how healthly that would be. She hasn't eaten anything on her own for a leats two weeks. Any thoughts or suggestions?

This doesn't sound too good. I got a cat one time who wouldn't eat for a week and I had to bring him to the vets because of it. It is definately not healthy and can cause the cat to become anorexic and lethargic and this behavoir does not always get better on its on. The cat I got had to be on a liquid diet and I had to give him some medication to relax him twice daily which then helped him settle in easier and he began to eat by himself after he started feeling better.

Maybe she does not like the cat food you have her on?? Did the shelter tell you what she was eating before?? Some cats are very picky eaters. Have you tried giving her wet cat food?? Or I would recommend wet kitten food (it has more nutrients, calcium, etc then regular cat food) and by the sounds of it she definately needs that right now.

Some one told me once that if you want to see if a cat is truly sick see if she will eat a can of tuna. Cats cannot resist Tuna!

I would be more concerned about your cat becoming dehydrated. I hope she has been drinking something these last two weeks. Well, I would assume she has any ways or my guess is she wouldn't be alive right now.

If you feel she is truly not eating or drinking and you have already tried wet food, tuna (this is not a preminant food, only to see if she will eat it) and other kinds of dry cat foods I would take her to the vets asap to see what is causeing this behavior.

After two weeks I wouldn't think it would be a problem with settleing in. Is her food and water in a place that she would feel comfortable eating/drinking it??

If all else fails try the liquid diet. You use a syringe to feed her and eventually she should pick away at it herself. But atleast this way you know she is getting the food she needs. But again, if she isn't drinking she needs to see a vet.

Best of luck
Take care

It's almost always something is not right when a cat refuses to eat. As mentioned above, dehydration should be your number one concern. Also, contact the shelter and find out what food she's been fed. Give her the same food and transition to her new food gradually.

I work at the shelter, which is why i have the cat. She ate when she first came in, and then she just stopped. Our vet ran a couple tests and nothing came back unusual. She is otherwise a healthy, happy, active cat. She isn't being overly lathargic, and she was given fluids before i brought her home, last night she did eat some tuna (not a lot) and drank a little water. I had been forcing pedialite and regular baby food down her. But she did eat a little bit last night. And she's not too dehydrated this morning. And she is peeing, so thats a good sign right? If she isn't eating at least a little on by monday, i may have to take to her to a vet and pay outta pocket for her. We are not in a good area for the shelter to be able to afford it.

The shelter I worked at had 3 cats come in all around the same time and about that age that refused to eat, and it resulted in kidney failure for all 3 of them. Have you tried kitten milk replacer? That might be more enticing to her and at least get some nutrients in her system.