Cat not eating after dental....

My 14 year old cat recently had dental work done and got very sick afterwards and the vet could not figure out why or what was wrong. She had to fast for 12 hours before i brought her in at 8:30am. She had a full checkup beforehand, and got bloodwork done the same morning before her dental(they have an in-house blood lab) which came out perfect. I forget when they called to tell me about her bloodwork. They went ahead with the dental and used isofluorane for anaesthetic. The work involved one extraction and regular cleaning etc. I got a call around 4pm saying she was taking longer than usual to wake up so I wouldn't be able to get her until around 6pm. Closer to 6, I got another call telling me to wait until 7:30pm(the vet is fully staffed 24/7) When I brought her home, she was awake but still quite "drunk" on anaesthetic; very unsteady and incontinent. She licked sauce off of her food that evening but didn't eat. The next morning she was grumpy and lethargic and refused food. I tried warm food, cold food, different flavors, treats, etc. with no luck. The vet had sent me home with Metacam for pain, but I didn't give it to her because she wasn't eating. I took her to the vet around noon because she still refused to eat and had diarrhea. She spent 3 nights with the vet on IV fluids. They did more bloodwork, which came back good, and also tested her urine and stool and found nothing wrong other than some dehydration. They gave her painkillers the first night but none after that. They have her an appetite stimulant on the first night, but it didn't seem to have an affect so they fed her by syringe after that. On the second night she started to have blood in her diarrhea. They gave her antibiotics and treated her diarrhea. She showed improvement on the third day. When I called around midnight on the third night to check on her, I was informed that she had eaten a bit on her own and was much more alert and interested in things around her. I was able to take her home the following evening(the day before yesterday) with antibiotics and anti diarrheal medication; both oral liquids. She was acting like her normal self again, very curious and active. She had diarrhea the first night, but that was back to normal by morning. I have had a lot of trouble getting her to eat. She will eat about a teaspoon of canned purée food if I hand-feed her, but only 2 or 3 times a day. The rest of the time she won't even sniff it. She goes to her food bowl a lot but just looks at it and leaves. Again I've tried heating/chilling the food, offering different flavors, softening her normal kibble in water, etc. with no luck. Softened cat treats will get a bit of interest, but she'll only eat 3 or 4. So far I've managed to get her to eat between 1/4 and 1/2 of what she normally eats. She is drinking normally. She acts like she's perfectly fine, but she's really skinny! She's a pretty small cat, her healthy weight is around 7lb. She was 6.9lb on the day of her dental and 6.6lb after her 3 nights at the vet. She also seems to be having trouble talking...like every noise she makes is really quiet and/or scratchy...not sure if that's from the anaesthetic tube.... She's scheduled for a re-check this evening(7 days after her dental). I will have the vet do more bloodwork to check for liver damage from not eating....but what is wrong with my kitty??

I have no idea whats going on but I do know that the behavior of going to the food bowl, looking at the food and walking away is a classic sign of nausea.  When you take her back to the vet you could ask about Cerenia.  It doesn't do anything as far as a cure but it is very effective for nausea.  Please continue with the small frequent meals and I hope the problem is found and gets resolved.

It's a good thing you've got a re-check schedule already for today.  (probably already had it by now)  I'm thinking somewhere along the way she is also on antibiotics, for that extraction, and they could cause the nausea.

for your old girl.  Sounds like she's been through quite a lot this past week, poor little one

This afternoon PJ had a pretty substantial meal of water-softened kibble/treat mix, so the vet was happy about that. She is 6.2lb now. They told me they aren't concerned about her liver right now because she was a very lean cat to begin with and she isn't showing any discoloration anywhere. They gave her a shot of sub-Q fluids as she was still a bit dehydrated, but nothing severe. I have another appointment on Tuesday, at which time we will talk about additional blood work again. They want to see a daily increase in her food intake. If that doesn't happen, then we will talk about more diagnostic tests. I did ask about something to treat nausea, but they prefer to limit the number of drugs she is taking so that they don't have too many potential antagonists in her system. We will talk about such alternatives again if she shows no more improvement in the next couple days. Everything that has been done for PJ since her dental has been complimentary, with the exception of take-home meds, since her issues seem to have been triggered by something to do with the dental procedure, so if you have any ideas for further testing I won't hesitate to ask.

It's so good she ate.  Please make sure she continues to eat.  I had a vet tell me that fatty liver wasn't a concern because my cat wasn't overweight.  The next time he was sick I waited too long to take him in hoping he would get better on his own which he did sometimes.  When I finally took him in he had fatty liver.  Overweight cats are certainly at more risk and will develop it quicker but any cat can develop it.  As long as she is eating though it's no concern.

PJ actually woke me up this morning and demanded breakfast! Her overnight ration looked untouched, but once I got some fresh food in front of her she chowed down on her usual amount She had some really smelly poop this morning, but I think that's probably due to either the recent changes in food types or the antibiotics(are there any probiotics I can give her? I keep forgetting to ask the vet). It looks like we're going to be fine. I'll definitey make sure the vet looks specifically for signs of fatty liver on Tuesday. I'll probably get more bloodwork done too. If there is any liver damage, I want to catch it early.

I'm glad my kitty is doing well, but I'm concerned about what caused her problems. If she ever needs to be put under anaesthetic in the future I'd like to know what her specific risks are. Isofluorane is a pretty safe anaesthetic, so I don't think it's that...maybe Metacam? They did give her a shot of it for her dental. Of course it's also possible she may have had a preexisting GI/digestive condition that was aggravated by the anaesthetic...any ideas from you guys?

Metacam isn't the best choice for cats.  It is approved for a one time shot after surgery but I don't care for it even in that limited amount.  I don't know about probiotics but I am sure someone will give you some suggestions.  I know people use human probiotics but that's all I know about it.

I am glad she is eating again.  Since she has an appetite she doesn't have fatty liver.  Cats with it have absolutely no appetite that's why they usually have a feeding tube put in.

The 2 probiotics used on this site most often are Natural Factors 10 billion CFU Acidophilus/Bifidus and the Nexabiotic 20 strain.

Thanks, everyone! All the vets at my clinic are unsure what really happened, but they agreed at least to use a different painkiller next time just in case. Now if only they could give me amoxicillin in some flavor other than mixed berry...PJ absolutely hates it!

diarrhea is a pretty comment side effect of amoxicillin, and sometimes nausea is also a side effect, and loss of appetite would, naturally, go right along with nausea.

As far as her taking so long to come out from the anesthesia, I'm wondering if perhaps that works the same as in people...the older they are, the tougher it is on them and the longer it takes for it to work it's way out of their systems

I'm just thankful she's hungry again now!  That's really good news.    BTW, I use the Natural Factors probiotic listed above.  Each cat gets one capsule daily, sprinkled into their food.  If they are on antibiotics, then I just make sure not to give them the probiotics at the same time...maybe the probiotics in the am, antibiotics at night, something like that.

Okay this is weird. PJ just had a sort of...foamy poop. It was like the texture of a marshmallow, like a lot of air is in it or something...obviously I'm calling the vet right away, but I've never seen such a thing! What's that about??

I'm guessing that marshmallowy poop was all about the antibiotic still, since it's known to cause digestive issues.  Is she still eating ok ?

The vet had the same opinion as you. She is still eating regularly and acting normal. They will run a panel on her poop if it continues with the marshmallow consistency or if there's any blood. They aren't too concerned unless she starts showing signs if distress or stops eating, though.

Glad your baby is doing better my girl had dental surgery a few weeks ago but she had 12 teeth removed but had no trouble afterwards except slow in eating. Sounds like a reaction to the meds antibiotic and anesthesia is that what they still think? Let us know how your little one is doing

Yesterday and today PJ has been pretty grumpy. She growls when anyone tries to pick her up. After eating, she hides in a corner behind my dresser. Upset tummy? Her poop is well formed but soft and stinky; I assume antibiotics are to blame.

She had another recheck today and she is down to 5.9lb even though she's eating alright There were no signs of dehydration or any other issues, though. The vet instructed me to stop her antibiotics today and return on Thursday for another recheck. If there is no improvement then, they will do more bloodwork. They'll call me tomorrow to see how she's doing, or I can call them, whether her recent strange behavior continues.

Gosh, I don't know what to think   Let's just hope stopping the antibiotic gets her back on track   I know my old guy used to act like he was dying every time he went on antibiotics, so we absolutely hated it if he needed them, and usually ended up cutting them short (per his Vet's orders).  Then he would usually perk right up.  But he never growled at us or anything.  But he always lost weight on them.  Lots of it

that she starts getting back to her old self now that the medication is stopped. 

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble antibiotics caused for your kitty, but it comforts me to know that he recovered well afterwards. Hopefully stopping the antibiotics does the trick for my baby. She's normally a very friendly and social cat, but she's never really been ill so I'm not really sure what to think of her behavior.

I do think that the marshmallowey stool is probably from the antibiotics, but I also think that some cats have a particularly hard time with anesthesia. Given that PJ took awhile to wake from it, it's possible that perhaps they gave her too much or her body just couldn't process/handle it as well as most cats. I'm concerned about her weight loss, but I know you are doing everything you can to get her back on track. I hope she's feeling better and puts on weight soon!



If you get blood work again, be sure to get a full CBC so that everything is covered. A diagnostic profile only checks a few things.

Yeah, she got the full CBC last time she had bloodwork since the basic panel they did before her dental had come up clean. The vet said they will do the same if she needs bloodwork on Thursday.

I worry about what will happen if she ever needs anaesthetic in the future...it would be tough to weigh the risks, depending on why she needs it...

PJ's weight is up a little bit to 6.2lb, but she didn't show as much improvement as the vet expected after stopping the antibiotics. They sent blood and urine samples to a bigger city for a broader range of tests. PJ seems okay, but not great. She won't play, she barely talks to me, and she rarely leaves my room without motivation.