And now she doesn't care for food?!

This could as well be behavioural problem, but I guess I'll place it here.

I've already written a novel on how our cat gobbles down her food and sometimes even pukes from swallowing it all within two seconds. Well, that has changed.

For the past couple weeks, maybe even a little bit longer, Kittica just doesn't care for foods. Any foods, except for, maybe, her midnight snack, which is a dry meal (less than one tablespoon of Merrick Before Grain or Wellness CORE). Otherwise she eats high-end premiums - I've written about it several times, she gets Wellness, Merrick Before Grain, Merrick Five Star, etc.

I do not think the issue is flavour, because she doesn't care for all of them all the same. Sometimes she'll hate some more than others, but usually treats them equally.

The deal is - her rituals need to be respected. She'll scream and meow and bug you if the food is not delivered at breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack time. She needs her few minutes of petting and playing and then comes the excitement of opening a can. She'll beg for it and she'll do it in a really cute way.

Once you open the can and give her the meal, she'll sniff it, eat maybe 1/5 of it and - walk away.

She'll go back to her climbing pole or the arm of our chair or anywhere else. She's been really busy staring at the birds outside, as well as squirrels and wild turkeys. Or, she'll go to our front door and wail. And wail, wail and wail, all because she wants to go outside (which she does only on a leash, with me, whenever the weather permits).

The food in the bowl eventually gets eaten, but it usually takes 3-5 hours. I can't say that it really matters to me, but it confuses me a little, as well as gets me worried because the weather is turning warmer and in a month or so, I won't feel comfortable leaving her wet food out for hours. If I remove it, well, she'll stay hungry (or will she learn to just eat it?).

The meals we offer are as follows:
2.5-3 oz of wet around 6 in the morning
1/2 or less of dry around 1-2 pm (she doesn't really want it anymore - she used to love eating it from her eggzercizer, now it's been sitting out for three days intact)
2.5-3 oz of wet around 6:30 pm
1 tablespoon or less of dry around midnight - the only meal she gobbles down

A little bit of her morning and evening wet meals now never gets eaten.

She's lost weight, or at least looks a lot better now. I don't think she was ever overweight, but I was getting concerned a while ago. Now she's lean and really muscular. Ever since we got her the climbing pole, she's been really active - running, climbing, playing hide and seek with me. I'd expect her to demand more food, but - nope. All she wants is the petting ritual as well as to be there when the can gets opened. After that, who cares.

I can't say I am worried about her health because she seems perfectly content and looks healthy. Pees and poops all the same, as much as I notice (I am the one cleaning the litterbox so I assume I'd notice some differences).

Why is she doing this? It might be normal, I suppose, but since we started off with a hungry, demanding, greedy stray... maybe I really am just confused. (She's 13 months old and I think weighs between 8.5 and 9.5 pounds; I don't have a scale other than normal, human one and have not attempted to weigh her lately.)

I just want to make sure she's doing fine, of course.

I just came back home on my lunch break and her 6am meal is still there. I gave her 2.5 oz this morning and she's eaten only about 1 oz by 11 am. I threw it all away and tried giving her a new serving, just about 1 oz. Nope, she refused to even look at it.

Then I whipped out half a tablespoon, or even a bit less than that, of Merrick Before Grain, dry. She came, sniffed, ate maybe 1/3 of that small serving and left.

I tried giving yogurt, she didn't care.

Should I call the vet anyway? She really does seem fine, but I can't figure out this food issue. She can't just not eat, can she? Or does this kind of behaviour come and go and it's okay to let them be fussy for a while?

All she wants is to stare at the nature outside of the windows and wail in front of the front door. She does play and interact with us when we want it, or she comes and demands it on her own, too.

Nothing has happened that could've or should've stressed her out. Nobody has moved in or out, no furniture has been moved around, there has been no bad weather either (thunderstorms and such). Our routine is all the same, with our work schedules. For the most part, she is NOT home all alone or anything.

The only new thing, that's been around for a few weeks, is her cat tree/climbing post that she seems to love.

I just can't wrap my mind around this at all. Should I call the vet today and make an appointment? If I do so, what should we concentrate on?

I guess this really isn't only a nutrition problem, but both behavioural and health issue, but I guess I couldn't have stretched it across three subforums.

If anyone has any input at all, I'd really appreciate it.

No she can't just not eat. Cats go down hill very quickly when they don't eat. Organ failure and dehydration can happen quickly.

Do call the vet and get her seen. Have you seen her use the litter box? Is her pee and poop normal? She could have a hair ball issue, which can become very serious.

By the way- for general info, when putting down canned food I find a cat is more willing to eat smaller portions. If you are using 3 oz cans, feed only 1/4 can, and then after she eats that, do another 1/4 and so on.

But for now, call the vet, you are right to be concerned.

Thanks for your input. I'll give the vet a call as soon as I can get away from my desk and see if they can take a look at her this afternoon.

Would a hairball problem go unnoticed like this, though? She's not coughing or acting at all different than normal.

Her litterbox seems the same as it's always been. About 2 piles of stool a day and at least two wet spots as well. We don't use cluttering litter so it's a bit harder to find the pee.

She is showing signs of some kind of problem now. Cats hide illness instinctively so by the time we notice something is wrong, usually it's been going on for a while.

If they don't bring the hair up and don't pass them, the fur can sit in there and grow. Gas can build up, too. If she's got a belly full of fur and gas, she isn't going to want to eat, even if she is hungry.

My Tolly gets deathly ill from hair balls. I brush him daily, use a furminator, use hair ball remedy. But even so, he still sometimes gets extremely ill.

You can start dosing her with a hair ball remedy, but if she has gone more than 24 hours without any significant sustenance she may need some fluids, and that has to be done at the vet.

Keep us posted on your little girl

Kittica

If you do start with hair ball medicine, give it on an empty stomach at least two hours before food.

Thanks again!

I won't do anything on my own, I'll call the vet and see if we can have her in by the end of the day today.

She HAS been eating all this time, just not nearly as much as normal and she's been dividing her normal meals into smaller portions by herself.

Doesn't seem bloated at all, she's actually leaner than normal.

Will keep you posted for sure.

Actually, work is slow, so I'll go call the vet right now.

Well it may be that she is self regulating, but I don't like that you said she has lost weight. That's always a concern.

Tolly doesn't bloat either. When he can't eat because of hair ball sickness he gets very thin.

Some might think I am an alarmist, but I've seen what can happen (Mazy also has been very sick with hair balls) and don't believe in wait-and-see, myself.

<edit>Come to think of it, Queen Eva and Tolly do self regulate by eating less, or not eating at all for a day, every week or so. But only for a day, and I know you are new to cat care, so I don't think things should be left to chance.

Weight-wise, she seems to be doing fine. Before, I was actually concerned she was getting chubby. Now she looks nice and muscular and she's been a lot more active, too, with the introduction of her climbing post/pole.

Now that I think about it, she really might have some stomach/hairball issue because the last two times she went outside with me, she wanted to munch on some grass which she later puked with some bile.

Still working on not getting distracted by work and calling in for a chat with the vet...

I managed to get them to squeeze her in tomorrow during my lunch break, so I hope we'll find out what's been bothering her, if anything.

According to this same story I posted here, they also do feel the need to see her, if anything for just-in-case purposes.

I hope she's just fine or that it's something really trivial and simple.

Today, she actually ate more than any other day in the past week or so. She's still going in for a checkup tomorrow.

I'm glad, I'd do the same. Hopefuly all is well, but peace of mind is everything. Be sure to let us know how the vet visit goes.

Originally Posted by otto

I'm glad, I'd do the same. Hopefuly all is well, but peace of mind is everything. Be sure to let us know how the vet visit goes.

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Please do keep us updated. She is showing signs of something.

My kitty usually behaves like this with season changes. Now that is getting warmer out, 89 humid, she will not be as enthused about eating food as she was in the winter time.
If it was my cat, I'd wait for a little while before taking to the vet.

Good luck to you with whatever you decide to do.

Ritz (about 20 months old) goes through phases where she will eat a ton of food (well, to me at least) and then 2/3 of what she had been eating. I've learned that she is self-regulating, which is a totally foreign concept to me (and appropro for another type of forum & website).
I do watch the amount of pee and consistency of poop, but if she is eating less, then the amount will also decrease. Also, higher quality food usually generates less poop.
As long as she is behaving more or less normally; peeing/pooping appropriate amounts; and is still cuddly, then I am slowing learning that she is not as food oriented as she once was (or me) and doesn't need a trip to the vet. Given that she lived on the streets for the first six months of her life, I need to cut her a break.
That said, the first time she hides from me, is when I take her to the e-vet. And then panic.

We just got back from the vet. She seems perfectly fine and the vet (we had an experienced feline specialist take a look at her) said it was 99.9% behavioural issue. Change of season, activity outside of the window and the fact that she is 13 months old and, therefore, getting out of the rapid growth phase.

They took her temp and it was perfectly fine, they were happy with her teeth, gums, coat, eyes and ears. Abdominal palpation exam was pleasant to the cat, and the vet found no signes of any problems. They suggested no further examinations right away (bloodwork and X-rays), but we'll stay in touch and come back immediately if we notice even any signs of vomiting, diarrhea or letargy.

She weighed 10 pounds today and I got worried about that one, but the vet said that this seems to be the perfect weight for her built and that we should maintain it. Should keep averaging around 200 calories a day. They said she was really well built and muscular.

I guess this was enough to calm me down. She ate yesterday, drank water as well and her litterbox content looks just fine. The vet said we should offer food the way we used to, but take it away after 15-20 minutes. According to her, it will take a little while to figure out the possible new schedule, now that Kittica is a fully-grown cat. If staring out of the window, eating imaginary prey or chasing any and all life away from our yard continues or turns into a real obsession, we should consider buying Felyway.

All this sounded pretty reassuring so I think I feel fine about this. Well keep a close eye on her food/water/litter for a while, of course. Well, closer than normal.