cat only eats treats after a traumatic event

Hi everyone! I'm new to this site.  I am hoping that I can get some guidance from all of you.  My cat recently got lost on Friday night (5-4-12) and a good samaritan returned her to me on Monday (5-7-12) through Craigslist. The nice lady found her in the stairwell at my apartment complex. She told me that my cat refused to eat throughout the whole weekend.  So when I got her back, I tried feeding her her favorite foods but she refused to touch them. I used a small syringe to force her to drink water because I know she must be dehydrated. I also know she's really traumatized and she likes to lay down a lot.  I gave her a massage all over her body just to make sure she doesn't have any pain is not visible to the eye but it seems like she just enjoys her "rub downs" and she purrs a lot when I do so. She also doesn't have any open wounds or injuries and I think the nice lady took care of her pretty well.

Before my cat got lost, she had a really healthy appetite. After she came back, the only food she will eat are her Whiskas Temptations Treats (crunchy outside, soft inside).  I am planning on taking her to the vet if this behavior continues. She only takes a couple bites out of her wet food and she refuses to touch the dry food.  She used to be able to eat a whole can of wet food but now seems very uninterested. She has no problems gobbling up her treats though.  Any thoughts or concerns that I should know about?

Thanks everyone for your help!

As long as she's eating something, I'd give her a few days to recover. She might just feel a bit out of sorts. But I wouldn't want her to go into the weekend like that. . .maybe call now and make an appointment with the vet for Friday, explain the situation to them, and tell them that if she starts eating normally before the appointment you'll cancel? Although a checkup wouldn't be a bad thing.

Is your kitty overweight? Cats systems aren't designed to use fat stores for energy, so if they don't eat, their livers can become overwhelmed with fat deposits that they can't process. This is called hepadic lipidosis, or fatty liver disease. It's more of a risk with overweight cats. :nod: Of course, as every cat is different, the amount of time it can take to occur is very different - it can range from 24 hours without food to weeks without food. But one of the main signs of the problem is not eating. The good news is that it is fixable, and the solution is simple: food. Syringe feeding her water is GREAT - I'm sure she was dehydrated after that.

"Gobbling up treats," of course, sounds like there likely isn't a problem. :cross:

But you may want to run to the supermarket to get some baby food (gerber or beechnut plain meat babyfood), or try some Fancy Feast (classic pate). If she won't eat either of these, you may want to try syringe feeding her some baby food, or mix water into Fancy Feast and syringe feed her that. Or see if you can get her to eat if you finger feed her. Otherwise I would get to the vet tomorrow, especially if she's overweight to begin with. She may need the prescription food Hill's a/d, which is meant to be syringe fed.

Hopefully it's just the trauma and stress. That she's eating some treats is great.... but I'd try some other things to get her eating again, and if her appetite doesn't pick up, if it were me, I wouldn't wait until Friday to get her in.

Vibes her appetite picks up soon!