Sudden loss of appetite

Hi! Yesterday I noticed that my four year old cat was only nibbling on her food and barely drinking her water. Now today I can't get her to eat or drink anything even though she acts like she wants it when I give it to her. She is acting normal she just won't eat. Also I think she may have a fever but I have no way of telling for sure and I can't contact my vet until tomorrow. Any ideas of how I can get her to eat or why she may have stopped eating?
Thanks for your help.
Pat
Also she often has problems with her ear could that effect her eating habits?

Yes, ear pain could make her not want to eat. Is she peeing and pooping normally? Try not to fuss over her too much. I know it's hard when they don't feel well.

What kind of food are you feeding her? Try giving her some very smelly wet food warmed up. Warming the food makes it smell stronger, so more appealing to her.

I warm food by running hot water over the dish, then, leaving a very tiny bit of the hot water in the dish, put in about a teaspoon of canned food and mix it around until the food absorbs the heat. You can check the temp with the back of your finger. It should feel just warm.

Don't leave food sitting out, and offer her just very small amounts at a time as described above. You can also try a little white meat chicken from a can. Give her the water in the can and some of the chicken, with a little more water added to that, too.

Turkey baby food might appeal to her too. When getting the canned chicken or the baby food be sure to buy a kind that does not contain any spices (esp onion or garlic)

Using caned food (or canned chicken) and adding a little water will help keep her hydrated.

One day of not eating anything won't hurt her but do get her in to see the vet first thing tomorrow, because a cat can only go about three days without food before the organs start to shut down.

Welcome to the forum, and please let us know how she (what's her name?) is doing.

I been trying warming her food up and it worked yesterday but it's not working so much today. I just warmed her some of her favorite flavor of cat food(she eats fancy feast) up and she (her name is Sadie) mostly just licked up some of the gravy and took a couple very small bites. I haven't tried any of the other foods you mentioned yet but I will run to the store and buy some then see if she will eat it.

Originally Posted by otto

Is she peeing and pooping normally?

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Yes but the amounts are not as much as normal but that is probably because she's not eating or drinking as much.

Do you notice Sadie licking her lips and/or swallowing a lot? That could be a sign of nausea. She feels hungry so she approaches her food, but then feels sick in her tummy so can't eat it.

This is only conjecture of course.

She could have a big hairball gumming things up. Hairballs can cause serious problems if not passed in time. Not knowing what's going on, I won't advise you on that now, though.

I hope you can get some canned white meat chicken and a jar of turkey baby food (remember to read the labels, no spices). You might try offering the baby food from your finger, let her lick it off.

In fact you could try hand feeding the canned food too. Just sit with her, scoop some out of the dish into your finger and offer it to her, see if she'll lick it off.

Get some pate style food. The kind that doens't have chunks and gravy. Fancy feast gourmet chicken or gourmet turkey are good ones to try.

All paws crossed for Sadie.

If she is still not eating, try boiling a small chicken breast or chicken tender in plain water (no seasonings). When it's done, shred it into very small pieces, add some of the broth to make it about the consistency of chicken or tuna salad. Then offer that to her. Try tuna, too. While it's not nutritionally balanced, it's better than nothing in a pinch.

Also, call the vet's office or take her to the emergency vet. Even if your vet's not open, there's probably a message about what to do if you have a sick pet on the weekend or after hours.

If you have an ear thermometer, take your kitty's temp in her ear. (Ear thermometer: http://www.walgreens.com/store/catal...n=push-product) Gently pull the ear flap up, stick the probe into the canal, and push the button. Her temp should be around 100.5º-102º. If she's running a fever, then she's got some kind of infection and should be taken to the vet.

I got her to eat about 1/3 of a 3oz can of white meat chicken by hand feeding her but that's as much as she would eat. I still can't get her to drink any water though.

I do have an ear thermometer around here somewhere I'll have to find it.

If you can get a syringe, try forcing the water into her. If need be, you can get plain Pedialyte (not the flavored kind) and give her that.

Originally Posted by topaz2877

Yes but the amounts are not as much as normal but that is probably because she's not eating or drinking as much.

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She just had a bowel movement and it started out solid but ended up more like diarrhea.
I called around and finally got a hold of a vet and he said to try as many different flavors of food until she eats something but to wait and bring her in tomorrow unless she starts acting lethargic (which she's not, she's acting pretty normal) then bring her in immediately.

Originally Posted by stephanietx

If you can get a syringe, try forcing the water into her. If need be, you can get plain Pedialyte (not the flavored kind) and give her that.

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I'm about to make another run to the store and I'll pick up a syringe and see if I can get water into her.

When Hannah had the runs (from licking the empty ice cream bowl), we gave her 1/2 a capsule of acidophilis in her food. We just broke open the capsule and poured half the capsule in with her food. We then put the capsule back together until the next feeding. This helped her tremendously to get over the diarrhea. You can also try plain yogurt and see if that helps.

Good job getting some food into her! Keeping her hydrated with syringing (or eye dropper) water will keep her going until tomorrow.

I agree that acidophillus or other probiotic is good for diarrhea, but of course, finding out the cause of the inappetence and diarrhea is important too.

Please let us know what you find out at the vet!

I just got back from the vet and he said she has an ear infection that is making her sick so he gave us some drops to put in her ears. So far today she has ate more than she did over the weekend. I'll keep giving her the drops and hope she feels better soon. Thanks everybody for your advice.