Please help...Cat not eating or drinking

My 6 year old male cat has no interest in eating or drinking water. It started yesterday evening. I took him to the vet that evening. The vet said his temp was normal, however he has some gas in his small intestines. He was quiet to entire night, usually he runs around the house like a mental patient. I took him back to the vet this morning, they took an x-ray, his temp, blood and hydrated him. Everything was normal, as well as his blood. However, he is still not eating or drinking. He has soft stoole, I wouldn't call it diarhea. We wre beside ourselves in trying to figure out what to do. Other than this he was perfectly healthy with no issues. Also, the vet said there's no obstruction and the gas that he felt in his small intestine has moved to the large (as per the xray). We tried to force feed him using a siringe and watered down food, he still has no interest. He's still very affectionate and purrs, etc. I should also mention that his eyes water all the time, they seem to be a bit more since this event.

Also, our other 8 year old male was brought to the vet on Friday evening with a herpes flare up - his third eye lid was red. It was treated with a cream and is almost back to normal. He was brought to the same vet.

There have been some changes to the environment:

1- New living room furniture

2- New den furniture

3- Put up the christmas tree in den.

4- We got a new 6 month old kitten in October. She has seen the vet and had all vaccines and tests. When we first brought her home she had bad gas, however we asociated that with a change in food brand. It has since cleared up.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Paul

Do you have feliway running? with an older cat a kitten sometimes take up to a year to become part of the household

I am sorry you are going through this... I am going through something similar, but for quite a while now... my Bugsy has had watery stools for over 70 days now... It all started with an antibiotic that killed his intestinal microflora, started a bowel inflammation, and all heck broke loose (no pun intended). Did your vet give him any medication? Metronidazole for example is an antibiotic that is used for colitis in cats as it has great anti-inflammatory properties. Usually works like a charm. Is he on probiotics? My vet prescribed me a good one, called Proviable-DC - ask your vet about it...
Unfortunately metro is not working fully for Bugsy this time, but we have used successfully in the past.
About force feeding: It is VERY important to feed your cat - do not let him go without food as that can affect his liver, and that happens fast. And we are talking about liver failure here...

Originally Posted by pcarpe

We tried to force feed him using a siringe and watered down food, he still has no interest.

Click to expand...

A cat will not have interest in food when you are force-feeding him, that is why you are force-feeding... But, he will eat, and that is what is important nonetheless.
If you put the food on the right place at the mouth, on the right amount and at the right speed, he will not spit out, and will swallow it. You should aim for almost a can a day, divided in 4-5 meals. Water it down just enough to go through the syringe easily - remember, the more water you put, the more syringes you will have to feed, as water is just empty "space". Kitty needs nutrients and calories.
Dab the syringe on the kitty's nose, and he will lick it, opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out - aim the food on his tongue. NEVER to the back of his throat, as he ca aspirate it into his lungs. If you can not get the angle right, try the side of his mouth, or the roof of his mouth. 1-2cc (ml) at a time. Let him swallow it, and do it again.
Let him rest in between syringes. There is good information Here. Good luck! I hope he gets better soon... My Bugsy went through this yesterday, and I also had to syringe feed him; we did just fine, and once his tummy settled he started eating again. He did take medication to help though - an appetite stimulant pill that will last 3 days to help him start eating on his own, Reglan, to coat his stomach and help with nausea... I would discuss these options with your vet - a cat that is not eating is not good at all...

Update:

Soooo, no change this morning, however he did eat a little dry food and some treats. However, he -Oliver is still not himself. He had some diareaha today.

Also, the original vet gave him Bitrall (spelling) injection. However, since it's not a one time shot I think it was a waste.

We took him to another vet and he took another x-ray. He said everything looks good, even his blood work. He did say that there was/is some gas in his intestines. He rehydrated him and gave him some barium to trace a potential obstruction when we bring him back in the morning. The vet gave us some AD food and told us to continue to "force" feed him.

We just bought Feliway and plugged it in the den. He immediately starting smelling it, but so far it's too soon to see if it has any impact.

We have been going over stuff again and again trying to figure out if it was the new furniture, new cat, etc. The odd thing is that when we moved into this house last year he didn't have a reaction like this, he just hid a little.

We were also wondering if we should give him Clavamax for 7 days, since we have an unmixed bottle.

Regards,
Paul

I would HIGHLY recommend you to stay AWAY from clavamox right now. Clavamox has started a diarrhea on my cat that is now on its day 73. He also had that Anorexia because of it... His bowels got very inflamed...
If you discuss any antibiotics with your vet, you want to discuss Metronidazole... He also needs a good probiotic.
Two major side effect of Clavamox are diarrhea and Anorexia - and never ever self medicate your cat

Update:

Happy holidays everyone!

Oliver started eating yesterday morning - wet and dry food throughout the day and even this morning! It looks like he is returning to normal. He started playing again, wanting attention, not hiding etc. He still has some soft stool, but I guess it just needs to go through his system. We are soo happy!

Thank you for all the advice! We also found a new vet out of all this, he called yesterday morning to follow-up on Oliver's condition and mentioned that we would not need an appointment should there be an emergency event.

Regards,
Paul

Happy holidays - it's great that Oliver is getting back to normal and eating!

what a wonderful holiday gift! Here's hoping Oliver just keeps getting better and better - and how great you found a wonderful new vet as well.

Just for future reference- Whole Life Pet Treats has a wonderful product that helps finicky eaters eat again- http://www.wholelifepet.com/page.php...eVour+for+Cats

Wonderful stuff and you can keep it for a long time unopened on your shelves. Just in case you might need it.

Hissy, I can't remember...are you from Canada? Do you know where I can get that stuff here!

To the OP, I'm glad your cat decided to eat again. It's so worrisome when they won't eat and can't tell you why!

I am so glad Oliver is eating again and feeling better. If you rotate his food, it could be that one of the foods is causing the gas in his tummy. This used to happen with my Callie. We figured out that she can't have any canned food with fish in it.