Update on my FIV+ cat; kitty won't eat

Two weeks ago I posted about feeding my FIV kitty, Arwen, asking for advice on what to feed her, because she wasn't eating much.  It was recommended that we switch her from all-dry to an all-wet diet, which I did, and she seemed to be doing better.

Then she stopped eating again.

We tried everything we could think of.  We tried different brands (Wellness, Nature's Variety, Friskies, Fancy Feast, Whiskas, a brand called Sheba); we tried different flavors.  She'd take a few bites and walk away or she'd ignore it completely.  We tried warming it up; we tried mixing it with water into a gravy.  No luck.  She was acting hungry; she came running when we opened cans and follow us as we set the plate down.  She just wouldn't eat it.

This went on for several days.  We put dry food back down for her; she didn't touch it.  Yesterday, we took her to the vet, and learned that she's dehydrated, has lost 3/4 of a pound since we brought her in for a checkup a month ago (she now weighs 5 3/4 lbs), and has a respiratory infection.  The vet gave her an antibiotic and a fluids injection, and told us to come back today if she still wouldn't eat.

She wouldn't.

We gave her some turkey lunchmeat this morning (I know it's bad for her, but she's crazy about it, and at this point anything is better than nothing); she ate it, but she wouldn't eat anything else.  We gave her tuna juice and she wouldn't even drink that!  We'd only ever given it to her once before, but she was EXTREMELY happy when we had.  We tried giving her another slice of turkey this afternoon; she ate about a quarter piece but wasn't very enthusiastic.

So off to the vet we went again.  They gave her another shot of fluids, checked her temperature (it's up a bit from what it was, which is good - it was low), gave her a shot of vitamin D and a pill to stimulate her appetite, and gave us two cans of Hill's Prescription a/d (Vet tech said it was smelly food to tempt her appetite, and that it would help her recover).

We haven't tried to feed her again since we got back; it was less than an hour ago and she seems pretty stressed.  Do you all have any recommendations for how to get her eating again; any tips or tricks I haven't tried yet?  I'm extremely worried for her, and I don't know what to do if she won't start eating again.

On the plus side, her diarrhea's nearly disappeared; her stool's much firmer.  Small blessings, I suppose.

I'm sorry to be posting so late, with a/d the consistency is such that you can get a large plastic syringe from your vet and swirl the a/d around like a slushy and suck it into the syringe and feed her that way. She won't be happy but it will work. And you can mix canned pumpkin in with the a/d too that way, which will help her diarrhea. You should aim to give her a full can a day that way. You can also use a syringe to give her water.

I give my fiv foster kitties a half capsule of antioxidant support on their food, this might help your kitty after she recovers from her uri http://www.pawsitivityforpets.com/essential-nutrients/antioxidant-capsules. Also there is a support group for fiv cats on yahoo, where you can get a lot of help for your kitty.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FivCats/

Hun, how's she doing? With URI's, it's not uncommon for them to not eat other than strong smelling foods. It can help to warm the food up a bit.

But if she won't eat, you will need to assist feed her, as Barb described, with a syringe. Cats can develop a liver disease if they go without food, so it's important to keep food moving through her, whether you have to help her, or figure out a way to entice her. Sometimes spoon feeding them may help - you can even offer the food to her from your finger. But however it happens, she does need to eat or be given via syringe as much food as she requires daily.

Vibes for you and your girl!

Thanks for the reply

We've been dropper-feeding her for the past few days; she doesn't like it but it's better than the alternative.  We've only been getting about 3/4 can in a day, because we're out of the house a lot.

We took her to the vet on Monday (again) and got a full blood panel done; unfortunately, she's having liver trouble and the toxins in her blood are high.  So now we have to give her a pill daily to flush out the toxins and hydrate her with special water (it has extra electrolytes to rehydrate her).  The water's injected via hypodermic, and it is way too expensive to be going to the vet every day, so we have to pin her down and pump her full of water, on top of force-feeding her.

It's all a little overwhelming, to be honest, and she hasn't done anything but get worse.

You should ask the vet for a special syringe for the force feeding, it is easier than a dropper IMO and u can get more in her. The liver toxins may be what Laurie is referring to about how cats develop this from not enough food. Indeed it is overwhelming- when I had a very ill cat, my motivation was that I had more fear she would die, it is the only thing that enabled me to force so much on my kitty against her wishes. Just remember, like a small child, they don't know what's best for them and you have to do the tough love. It WILL pay off. Also join the fiv support group, they are incredibly knowledgeable, the head of the group is a leading expert and has the "bud's fiv therapy" website.