Advice on reduced appetite please?

Katie is our small, three-and-a-half-year-old, former feral black cat...


Recently, she was overdue for both her usual SpotOn flea measure and worming tablet (we have a lot of difficulty administering them; she's so savvy and hates the liquid being squeezed on her neck, and she spits out the tablet when placed in her food).

So we took her to our veterinary nurse last Saturday, who administered the SpotOn and force-fed half a worming tablet.

I think her appetite had started to dip prior to the appointment. But now we're becoming concerned that it's just too low...

Usually, she has half a pouch of Whiskers meat for breakfast, Whiskers crunchies for lunch and another half pouch for supper.

But she's really off her meat this week, and not massively interested in her crunchies either. I'm seeing her eat grass in the morning, so she wants to clean her stomach.

She is taking pieces of cooked chicken breast. And her character is otherwise fine - keen for play, in fact. She's outside a little bit more this week, but that coincides with the temperature becoming milder.

Any thoughts?

Side-effect of leaving it too long before administer the worming tablet?

Does a worming tablet have the effect of neutralising any developing conditions, as well as being a preventative measure, or is it only a preventative?

Perhaps some new food-related psychological issue? At the vet's last Saturday, the nurse had to force-feed the half-tablet, locking her mouth shut with her hands after Katie spat it out a few times. She did that by placing the tablet in some soft wet food on the tip of her finger. Has Katie developed some kind of reaction to food as a consequence, I wonder?

Thanks very much.

I don't think Katie is not eating because of psychological trauma from the nurse feeding her the tablet with some wet food. I do think that you should take Katie to the vet right away though. I would call them and they should see your Katie immediately and really shouldn't charge you for another office visit since the symptoms started right after the treatments. I wonder what was the name of the flea treatment? the worming tablet? Katie could be having a problem with one or both of those products that has made her sick and not wanting to eat. for your Katie.

I think you should call the vet back and take the baby in for a followup visit. If the medications are causing the decrease in appetite I'm hoping the vet will be able to help. I don't think it's psychological. You might try switching her wet to several different brands to see if you can get some interest from her but I'd still discuss this with the vet regardless.