Older cat not eating due to stress, please help!

This October, my grandmother passed away. Wanting to support my grandfather, we temporarily 'moved in' with him. He lives less than 20 minutes away from our apartment, but we haven't been staying there overnight at all.

We go every day to feed our three cats. Whisper and Snickers, age 10 and Noodle, 9mo. 

Snickers, who is our usual finicky eater, has been doing fantastic ever since we switched them over to Wellness Indoor Core. He has lost a bit of weight, but not too much and seems to be in very good health. He loves Wellness and has no problem eating it. 

Noodle, our kitten, is much the same. She is on the same formula and seems to love it. We mix wet and dry together. Once again, they have never had an issue with it and are very excited to get it.

However, our cat Whisper has been taking the stress of us not being there VERY hard! 

We are also in the process of moving, so his envoriment has changed too.

Due to a very long seizure he had when he was around 5-6, he has some minor brain damage and total hearing loss. He has always been a very bony cat (before I took over their care, he was getting old formula Iams which seemed to give him muscle wasting) but never without a healthy appetite. 

I know that his loss of appetite recently is due to his stress. We have been trying to visit more frequently and for longer periods of time, where he will meow at us and just want to be held. We do so as often as we can, but with work and distance, it's tough. I have been giving him one-two 'Relax' treats and they have seemed to help a bit, since he was having some occasional diarrhea before. 

Before this whole ordeal, he weighed about 11-12 pounds. In the last month or so, he has dropped to a low 9lb. His hips are hollow and his spine is distinct, however, he still has a slight tummy roll (although that may just be loose skin from his weight loss when we switched to Wellness). 

I am very scared of 'Fatty Liver' and am planning on taking him to the vet soon. However, in the meantime, I'd like some suggestions on what I can do to help stimulate his appetite! 

He doesn't seem to have trouble keeping down his food, and will lick at his wet food or have a few bites of his dry but then seems too distracted by our visit to eat further. He will take treats if we give them, although only a few at a time. He begs for treats even if he has food in his bowl. He's not drinking anymore than usual and ever since I've been giving him the Relax treats, his stool has been it's normal quality. 

We have been trying to leave out more dry food for him to see if he will eat while we are away, but we can't tell if it's him or the other cats eating it. 

Should I start syringe feeding him? I have already tried tempting him with wet food but he seems fairly disinterested. What should I give him to get his weight up? Please help! Thank you!

(( Oh, I forgot to mention. We switched to Wellness well before my grandmother passed this October. He's been on the Wellness Core Indoor formula for several months now. I have been trying different core flavors and they seem to enjoy the Whitefish the most, but even he won't eat more than 3/4 of a can. ))

Well, you could try warming the food to make a "smellier".  Sometimes that works.  Or you could crush up some of his treats and use them as "toppers" to sprinkle on top of his food once he's stopped eating to see if you can draw him back.  Or you could try sprinking parmesan cheese (yes, from the green can) on it to see if you can draw him back.  Or you can get some freeze dried 100% chicken or turkey or some other protein made by Wholelife or Purebites or Halo (Amazon sells them if you can't find them locally...get the dog sized bags vs the cat sized...much cheaper)

and can either feed him pieces of that or crumble it on top.  ALL of the cats I know love that stuff!  Or, if need be, you could probably get an appetite stimulant from your Vet when you visit him.

Good luck with this situation.  I don't guess you could take him with you to your Grandfather's house, could you?   Then you could see him more. Whisper, I mean

Update: 

Went over today to do their normal feeding, and he is having diarrhea again. I'm glad to see he's having SOME bowel movements which means he's eating something (it was a lot of poop). The stool was loose but not completely liquid, so at least that is comforting.

However, looking at his body condition, it seems to have gotten worse. He looks almost like a skeleton with fur on it and he's ridiculously light. I made a vet appointment for next Tuesday but I am calling today to see if he can get seen sooner. 

He has been having some minor nasal discharge and his gums are very pale. 

He took a few treats last night, but seemed to have trouble chewing them. Maybe it's a mouth problem? I can't seem to get his mouth open long enough to check. He turned his nose up to chicken broth, his favorite wet food and cooked chicken meat. He seems ravenous when he's eating but he won't much at all. 

He will still be going to a vet but I'm wondering has anyone ever dealt with this sort of thing before? 

Yes, and I don't mean to scare you, but in my cat it was cancer.

Stress can bring on all kinds of things, so I wouldn't delay on the vet visit. He needs a thorough check-up and blood work. The rapid loss of weight and diarrhea are very disconcerting. It could be something like IBD - cats can develop sensitivities to their food over time. It is a result of chronic inflammation.

I would immediately put him on a probiotic. The one I use is Natural Factors double-strength acidophilus+bifidus in goat milk (a human probiotic I just open the capsule and sprinkle it on food). If there's a health store you can get to, I'd call to see if they carry it. It can also be ordered from Amazon. Human probiotics are better as they contain live cultures: most pet probiotics use fermentation products, which are not live cultures.

I would also consider giving him a 500mg salmon oil or krill oil supplement. If he's eating wet food while you're there, you can either squeeze it on the food if you're sure he'll eat all of it or just pill him with it. This is very anti-inflammatory, and no matter his condition, will help reduce internal inflammation.

Fatty liver isn't as much of a concern in underweight cats - they don't have fat to flood the liver. But it is always a possibility, and he may be suffering from this at this point.

He may need a dental.

There are SO many things it could be... he really needs to see a vet ASAP. :rub:

Vibes for Whisper!

UPDATE: 

Got him to see the Vet today. They say he's only a little underweight. 

They did some tests and found red blood cells in his pee and said his Glucose is low. They suspect diabetes but they're unsure. They're going to be taking blood all day tomorrow throughout the day to see if his blood glucose is changing at different times. 

Gave us a syringe and some special food to feed him. He has a bit of an infection in his bladder so they put him on a low dose of steroid. 

His heart murmur has worsened, she says it sounds like 'galloping horses' but says that his blood pressure is even and doesn't seem high or low. She says he does have gingivitis but that they can't do dental on him because he has a history of seizures and they're unwilling to put him under. 

Here's to hoping it's diabetes and the heart condition is random. I'm worried about the effect of the steroids on his heart, but she says it's a very low dose... 

UPDATE: 

Took him home with all the intention of syringe feeding him. They put him on Science Diet W/D Feline. We gave him the dry food and he's eating really well! The smaller pieces seem to be making it easier for him. They said he had some gum inflammation which they said the steroids would help with. 

Hopefully he will start putting on some weight!

Update: 

Got the paperwork back. He has a Lower Urinary Tract "Disease"? I'm not sure what that is but he's on Clavamox. He ate a few handfuls of dry w/d and we used the syringe to get some water into his system. He started drinking more from his bowl after that, too! 

We got one syringe for feeding and one syringe for water. She said to give him one syringe of water a day if he's eating the dry. He's back tomorrow for blood glucose testing. This is looking very hopeful! I hope is echocardiogram goes well and he hasn't got cancer or anything. They said they didn't find anything wrong with his blood other than the low glucose so here's to hoping. Maybe the diet they have him on will help him recover. I'm just sad it has Corn Gluten in it. We were trying so hard to keep him away from it... 

Hope your guy continues to improve.  For a great support group for owners of kitties prone to FLUTD, there's a great Yahoo group. 

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FLUTD/?yguid=353539644

What a scary situation!  I am so glad to see he's improving Keep us updated if you can.
 

Update: 

He hasn't been eating enough dry food to actually nourish him, so we have started Assisted Feeding. I have blended the Hills W/D wet food into a thin paste and modified a 15ml syringe to be able to feed him with it. He is getting 15ml twice a day, although I feel this is not enough food. I am scared to give him more. I am also giving him about 6ml of water in addition, to try and flush his system.

He is having discomfort while using the bathroom, but that's to be expected. He is being treated with antiboitics so hopefully that will improve soon.

What I'm most worried about his worsening heart condition. I am almost 95% certain he has HCM at this point and even if he doesn't, his heart is in very poor shape with a level 5-6 heart murmur. Although his breathing isn't "labored" he clearly is having to exert more effort to breathe. With slow, deep breath's. He is understandably lethargic although he doesn't seem to very sleepy, just physically tired. 

Does anyone know a way to possibly lessen the discomfort with breathing? I don't really want him on heart medicine, so many someone has a holistic remedy that I can give to him to treat the heavy breathing symptom? And maybe something I can do for the discomfort while urinating? Also, I would like to know if 15ml twice a day is enough food for him. I feel as if I should be feeding him more often, because he is just so thin at 8lb. I want to get him up to at least 10 (his normal weight). Please help! 

Update: 

Talked to the vet today about increasing his feeding amount. She apparently misunderstood me when I said 'a little kibble'. She agrees W/D is not the right formula to help him gain weight, so we are switching him to A/D Critical Care. She informed me that he would be having diarrhea and loose stool period because the consistency was so smooth, which is to be expected. 

I am now feeding him 5.5 15ml syringes a day, twice daily with his Clavamox. He gets a steroid once in the morning, but he just ran out today. Today I started introducing him to having 5.5oz of food in his stomach by feeding him 3 syringes once every half hour (in the beginning of the day) and then the last 2 right before bed for a total of 11 syringes a day (5.5oz, the amount in the can). 

Although still lethargic, he doesn't seem much different than his usual self other than having pained mewls when I first greet him in the morning. Once I give him his medication and "breakfast", he settles down and sleeps for the rest of the day. I imagine he doesn't have a ton of energy due to his condition and just being sick in general. He is not using the litterbox much, but then again, he could have gone sometime early this morning and we just didn't see him. He doesn't have an issue walking or anything, but has understandably low energy. I am working closely with my vet to monitor his health. 

A/D is a great solution and the vet should give him subcutaneous fluids too, which will perk him up a lot. You can also buy a can of pumpkin and syringe feed him that if ok with the vet and it should help a lot with his diarrhea.

Sounds like you're giving him great care. Have you tried giving him raw chicken and beef?

I haven't tried feeding him anything other than can food slurry, but I bet it couldn't hurt! I was reading the reviews on the A/D and they say their cat gained a pound in one week. I hope I get the same results! 

As for the pumpkin - That sounds like a great idea! But unfortunately, he hasn't had a bowel movement since we took him to the vets. He apparently does have some stool because they were able to do a stool test, but since he hasn't been eating anything but slurry can food than I would suppose he wouldn't have much bowel movement. In-fact, I think he's only peed once since then, too. It's weird because he will cry /after/ using the bathroom but not during.

I should also mention he's deaf and has always been a low energy cat, although he is clearly more lethargic than usual. Hopefully having a bit more sleep will help him get over his UTI quicker.

I'm looking into supplements for his heart health, since his heart murmur has worsened and he is having noticable trouble breathing (deep breaths, although they don't seem labored other than a slight wheezing). 

The pumpkin should help add fiber to hard or runny stool and help it slide out lol, it is a good all around stool helper lol

Haven't tried the pumpkin yet, since I have switched him to A/D. The vet assures me the constistency of the food will help moving things along in his intestine. If it doesn't, they said they will need to do an Enema to help clear out the blockage. 

He seems to be steadily improving, having an easier time moving, and seems to be having a bit more energy. He still is only sleeping most of the time and occasionally switching places. I think he has peed but since we have 3 cats, it's impossible to tell. Tomorrow we are making a vet appointment for a feline only vet, and his regular vet he has an appointment on Friday. 

Whenever I come home from work or when I wake up in the morning, he is usually moving around and will sit near the kitchen and mewl at me painfully. I give him his antibiotic and do a session of feeding. He stops mewling, settles down and rests again until the next feeding. He usually only meows when he is hungry, so maybe it is helping him feel more comfortable. 

I had to put Hoot on the AD but this was years ago.  She's 15 now but had to go on it at 6 weeks of age due to her injuries.  I had to assist feed her too.  She needed rapid weight gain for a surgery she needed ASAP.  So I was feeding her small amounts every 3 hours.  She went from 1.75 pounds to 2.9 pounds in about 4 days.  On the 6th day she had gained enough for surgery and they could get an IV needle in with the added weight. Good stuff!  Sounds like some improvement happening.  Sending vibes
 

yes a/d is known to cause diarrhea depending on how much is used and the cat's immune system, i.e. small kittens, older or sick ktties. Are you sure he has not had a bowel movement? That would be very unusual with him on a/d. The pumpkin should help a lot- I had not tried it until last month when two of my fosters were on an antibiotic and got diarrhea, it helped them immensely, and also helped my cat Toby with intestinal cancer ad partial stool blockage.

In Toby's case I could not be sure whether he had diarrhea or blockage following his chemo since diarrhea sometimes accompanies chemo, so I used the pumpkin on him too, I just took a few finger-fuls and wiped them on his tongue. Anyhow he had a regular stool soon after, not perfect but like a soft tootsie roll lol.

Good luck. A/D is really great, to help jump-start appetite as is subcutaneous fluids. He sounds like a sweet little kitty :-)

This took a while to respond to, so I apologize for that.

Unfortunately, Whisper had many more issues than just FLUTD than I realized. Some of them were acute, some of them were not.

The first and most lethal issue he had was actually a tumor. The tumor was so large on the EKG that they were unable to tell if it was attached to his heart or his sternum. It was robbing his blood supply as well as putting a lot of pressure on his heart and lungs.

He was going through diabetic decay at a fairly high level, thus the muscle wasting. They told me they were uncertain if it was linked to the massive tumor, and that it was very, VERY likely that he had some sort of cancer.

Multiple systems in his body failed - Parts of his kidney's she referred to as 'stone', his lungs had a significant amount of fluid in them. They were unable to treat the diabetes due to the amount of strain the tumor was putting on the heart.

Ultimately, we decided the kindest option would be to let him rest. It was an extremely difficult decision for me, but the vet assured us that if something wasn't done in the next 48 hours after discovering how badly his diabetes had progressed, he would go into diabetic shock or cardiac arrest. I decided to let him go painlessly.

I appreciate your help and thank you so much for giving your time to me.

So very sorry. I'm sure you made the right decision.