Fussy about food

Dear friends. My elder male cat is now one year and 4 months old and he was not well for the past few days. Had fever and didn't eat at all for 10-12 days not even water. I had to force him to drink water through syringe. Earlier no vet used to treat cats here but now god has sent one to me. He but only agreed to give me medicines. So he gave medicines for fever, liver and vitamin supplement all in syrup form so that the cat takes them easily with a dropper. And he saved my cat's life. After two doses only my cat started eating and drinking water. But the vet had also advised me to change the brand of his food to tempt him to eat. I used to give him earlier Whiskas dry and canned and boiled fresh chicken and egg. He loved chicken (only breasts) and used to eat that most and not the market food. Now I started giving him royal canin food dry one and fresh boiled chicken and egg. But he has become addicted to royal canin dry food. He has stopped eating boiled chicken and even egg.

He is still on medications and will continue to have medicines for another 15 days. Though now he doesn't like medicines too and it is hard for me to give him three times a day as prescribed and end up with only one time a day.

Please advise as he is only eating dry royal canin is it good for him or not. Why he has stopped eating fresh chicken and egg. And if I tried to remove his plate of dry food and placed it with his earlier food he begged me for dry food and again I had to bend on his demand as I do not want him to not to eat at all.

Please advise as how should I let him eat home made fresh boiled chicken.

Thanks once again.

Sorry your cat is not feeling well.

I don't know why your cat quit eating the chicken breast & egg.

First, where do you live? With this information we may be able to assist you better

The rule of thumb for transitioning new foods in normal situations is to mix a tiny bit of the new/good food with the old food; for example, a teaspoon/tablespoon of cooked chicken breast with dry food.  But this is not a normal situation; your cat is sick.

Did he not eat ANYTHING for 10-12 days.  In which case, I'm surprised he is still alive.

He could be suffering from fatty liver disease, and have anorexia. 

What medications did your vet give you; some medications are famous for causing decrease in appetite.

Also, only boiled chicken and eggs is NOT a balanced diet by any means.  The Whiskas, while not a good dry food (there are better ones out there at least in the USA) is at least nutritionally balanced for cats.

Can you get Royal Canin wet food:  wet food is much better for cats than dry.

How is your cat feeling now?

I am from India and here only two brands of cat food are available: Whiskas and royal canin. Sometimes even stock is not in market as very few people own cats and shopkeepers do not sell in case of low sale.

Yes my cat was off food and water for 10 -12 days and no vet help was available. As the days ticked I felt miserable. I had no option and I only forced him water with syringe. I also forced 1 tsp honey also to him so that he gets energy. He became skinny. When I picked him up at that time it seemed only a ball of wool and I cried a lot. I searched and asked for help from many people around my town and finally someone told me about this doctor. He has come here as a govt vet in a hospital to treat cattles and dogs. I requested him and he agreed to give me medicine for my cat. He gave Himpyrin liquid, Digyton and Liv 52 and A-z multivitamin liquid each 1 ml thrice a day. These drugs are Himalaya products. And my cat's urine at that time was reddish yellow which has now become clear with medicines. Now he eats but only dry and drinks lots of water. Is gaining weight but slow.

I tried royal canin wet but my cat doesn't take it. Infact I bought each flavour and I tried each type of food incase he like it just to save his life.

Now my cat plays and eats only dry but in taking medicines he hides under bed or something and I don't pull him out, I let it be as I do not want him to be stressed and when he comes out and sleeps I fill the dropper and put it in his mouth. Thanks.

Yes, kibble is very addictive. It is sprayed with fats that cats LOVE. I suggest that you crush up the kibble, and sprinkle it on the food you want him to eat. You may need to let him eat a little bit, then sprinkle on more kibble. The egg is VERY healthy for him right now, so if you can get him to eat it with the crushed kibble on it, it will give him moisture, nutrition he needs, a lot of protein, and healthy fat. :nod:

A big part of getting him to eat the canned food or a homemade diet is feeding timed meals, and not leaving the kibble out all the time for him to eat. Of course, as he's been sick and needs to eat, you may not want to make that change until he's healthier. In the meantime, you may want to offer canned food or homemade food with crushed kibble on it, and act like it's a special treat, several times a day. Even better if you can do that at set times every day - the times you WOULD be feeding meals. Cats do best with routine, so the routine would already be established. And cats do best with at least three meal times a day. Morning, early evening and before bed is a good schedule.

The addition of fresh food to his diet is good for him, but unfortunately if it makes up more than 15% of the total amount he eats, he will develop nutritional deficiencies over time.

We had another member here from India that wanted to feed his cat a better diet than what was available there. He rescued his cat, and it was malnourished and suffering from nutritional deficiencies. This is a bit of a long read, but members here helped him figure out how to feed a balanced homemade diet with items available at least to that member: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/249455/please-help-my-kitten-has-a-strange-skin-problem

He chose to feed raw food because of the quality of meat available, but it can be cooked, as mentioned in the thread.

Please ask ANY questions!

Thanks so much LDG for your good advise. The link that you shared really was very informative and gave me much knowledge because similar things available here in my town too. It is very sad that in India there are few vets who know much about cats. I thank this site and all of you members who help people like us with your valuable advise. Here in my country attitude towards animals seem to take ages to improve. Even we women have same situation treated worse than these poor animals.

Anyway I will crush the kibbles as you suggested and I think this sprinkle might attract him to other foods. I just want him to recover soon and put on some weight which he has lost. Has the doctor given me right medicines? He didn't look at the cat nor he is interested. He just prescribed on the symptoms which I told him verbally as here they do not want to touch the cats. please suggest. Thanks once again.

I'm not familiar with those medicines, but they seem to be working, so I would continue using them. Not all medicines for dogs are appropriate for cats. But he's improving and his appetite is coming back, and that's what is important. :nod:

If the information in the other thread is clear, then excellent. But if you have questions, we'll do our best to answer.

But you could see the pictures of the kitty when he was malnourished, and after he got the kitty on a good diet, it took just three weeks for that amazing transformation. !!!

Right now, given his appetite is back, good nutrition will go a long way to helping him fight whatever bacteria or virus this is. :nod:

So see if the crushed kibble will get him trying other foods. If not at first, we have more suggestions to help.

Thanks a ton LDG. My cat ate chicken today. I crushed the kibbles and sprinkled over it..look at the pics and he ate it happily and played with broom and his toys. I placed both the plates one with only chicken and other with sprinkled one and he ate that. You can see him in pics..he has improved slightly past few days. But  I want he eats more and gains weight that he has lost. Please suggest some more of this kind formulas to tempt them to eat.





Also to add: the younger male cat wanted to eat in similar manner so I gave him too. Though he spends less time at home as this elder one who is sick chases him away and they can’t live together any more. The younger comes to eat only twice daily. I feel bad that he is only 7 month old and lives outside as this elder cat doesn’t allow him in. I tried everything to keep them together but the elder one is aggressive to him. Here no vet is ready to neuter them so this problem remains. Thanks once again for your kind help.