Hi all! I have a 19 year old cat who has been raw fed since she was 8 months. She was sickly when I adopt her and we put her on raw right away. She has never been a great eater, she has never been the picture of health, I have had to trick her into eating raw all these years. In the past, mixing in a little fish did the trick. Now she won't touch fish. I really needed her to eat! I tried some better canned cat food, sometimes she scarfs it down sometimes she won't touch it. Then she decides she wants raw, then the next day won't touch it. She would eat plain canned pumpkin, sometimes. She was getting so weak and I was getting desperate. A friend recommended RC special 33. She will consistently eat it. She is getting a bit stronger. I really don't like feeding her this. The only other thing she will consistently eat is goats milk. She is hungry! One day she wouldn't eat anything and I offered some really nasty treats, she was so hungry she bit me trying to get the treats faster. I would like to find a way to get her back on raw. Any suggestions? I tell myself that if I have to keep her on the RC, that's not the end of the world at her age. But I would rather not. I don't know if it's a factor, but we had a cat and a dog pass away late last year. She hated the cat, didn't interact much with the dog but didn't dislike him. Thanks!
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Elderly cat is hungry but won't eat.
- Thread starter nannette
- Start Date
Hi @Nannette and welcome to tcs!
The very first thing that comes to mind is her teeth and overall oral health.
Has it ever been examined thoroughly?
Her weak eating habits all these years may very well have been stomatitis all along, or other issue.
Or even her recent oral health, at her age she surely has some issues going on if she has not had yearly exams after about 10 to 12 years old. Things will deteriorate quite fast as seniors, and always best to catch them in early stage rather than at the 'too late' point.
She is obviously starving to eat but quite possible that it's too painful to eat.
I rescued one of my current ferals from one of my feeding spots who was skin and bones, literally. She would get so excited when I showed up, and raced to me to eat, yet it didn't take long to see she is in pain when she eats, so she ate barely enough to survive.
Had all her teeth removed and she is now more than double her weigh (was 4 lbs then) and weighs over 9 lbs now and is happy and pain free living in my cat room.
If you haven't had her mouth examined recently to rule this out, I would bet there's something wrong and is hurting her.
Otherwise, with no other symptoms such as vomiting, it clearly points to a mouth problem.
The very first thing that comes to mind is her teeth and overall oral health.
Has it ever been examined thoroughly?
Her weak eating habits all these years may very well have been stomatitis all along, or other issue.
Or even her recent oral health, at her age she surely has some issues going on if she has not had yearly exams after about 10 to 12 years old. Things will deteriorate quite fast as seniors, and always best to catch them in early stage rather than at the 'too late' point.
She is obviously starving to eat but quite possible that it's too painful to eat.
I rescued one of my current ferals from one of my feeding spots who was skin and bones, literally. She would get so excited when I showed up, and raced to me to eat, yet it didn't take long to see she is in pain when she eats, so she ate barely enough to survive.
Had all her teeth removed and she is now more than double her weigh (was 4 lbs then) and weighs over 9 lbs now and is happy and pain free living in my cat room.
If you haven't had her mouth examined recently to rule this out, I would bet there's something wrong and is hurting her.
Otherwise, with no other symptoms such as vomiting, it clearly points to a mouth problem.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Thanks! I will have her teeth checked! But if its teeth, wouldn't she prefer the softer foods?
Oh not necessarily!
An inflammed mouth means there's no desire to eat anything really, and the times she is so darn hungry she will eat anything means just that basically, she will bare with the pain to get some food in her tummy. This would explain the one day she will eat one thing, but the next day she will not.
I would get her seen asap, end her suffering and ease your mind.
No worries about teeth removal either, they do great with none if they need to all come out.
Hoping her vet is experienced in the removal of teeth due to stomatitis, since the entire root must all be removed, none left behind or she will continue having problems later on and suffer again.
If you research stomatitis it will say that despite complete removal of all teeth, sometimes it doesn't make them all better.
Now, what I say about that is, I would bet that the cats who did not completely get better had a bit of root left behind somewhere deep in their gums which will continue to cause the cat's system to reject this and cause inflammation to continue.
I have had several cats with stomatitis and had all of their teeth removed. I have never had a cat continue with any further issues what-so-ever.
Why? Because I have an amazing vet, the same one has done all of my stomatitis cats teeth removals, and he runs an x-ray in search of tooth root left behind. Knowing this will continue a problem for them, he is very careful to be certain he removes 100% of teeth and roots.
Stomatitis is a type of autoimmune disease, like humans get.
This particular one is not uncommon at all, it's when their bodies do not recognize the teeth as part of their makeup and rejects them, in an attempt to be rid of them. Push them out. This causes swollen, red, very sore gums and loosening of teeth as well. Extremely painful. Their teeth and mouths are just as sensitive as ours, and I can't imagine what it must feel like to have this going on. Sad for them!
An inflammed mouth means there's no desire to eat anything really, and the times she is so darn hungry she will eat anything means just that basically, she will bare with the pain to get some food in her tummy. This would explain the one day she will eat one thing, but the next day she will not.
I would get her seen asap, end her suffering and ease your mind.
No worries about teeth removal either, they do great with none if they need to all come out.
Hoping her vet is experienced in the removal of teeth due to stomatitis, since the entire root must all be removed, none left behind or she will continue having problems later on and suffer again.
If you research stomatitis it will say that despite complete removal of all teeth, sometimes it doesn't make them all better.
Now, what I say about that is, I would bet that the cats who did not completely get better had a bit of root left behind somewhere deep in their gums which will continue to cause the cat's system to reject this and cause inflammation to continue.
I have had several cats with stomatitis and had all of their teeth removed. I have never had a cat continue with any further issues what-so-ever.
Why? Because I have an amazing vet, the same one has done all of my stomatitis cats teeth removals, and he runs an x-ray in search of tooth root left behind. Knowing this will continue a problem for them, he is very careful to be certain he removes 100% of teeth and roots.
Stomatitis is a type of autoimmune disease, like humans get.
This particular one is not uncommon at all, it's when their bodies do not recognize the teeth as part of their makeup and rejects them, in an attempt to be rid of them. Push them out. This causes swollen, red, very sore gums and loosening of teeth as well. Extremely painful. Their teeth and mouths are just as sensitive as ours, and I can't imagine what it must feel like to have this going on. Sad for them!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #5
Here is the thing though, there are 3 things that she will eat consistently, goats milk,
RC dry food and one particular crunchy cat treat. Its the softer foods that she is weird about. She is doing better as she gets the RC and goat milk everyday. Having been raw fed for 18 plus years, her teeth should be OK, she has pretty much no tartar, one of several reasons I'd like to get here back eating raw. So now she eats well, she just won't eat anything quality
RC dry food and one particular crunchy cat treat. Its the softer foods that she is weird about. She is doing better as she gets the RC and goat milk everyday. Having been raw fed for 18 plus years, her teeth should be OK, she has pretty much no tartar, one of several reasons I'd like to get here back eating raw. So now she eats well, she just won't eat anything quality
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #6
You know, I just thought of something!!! 20 years ago, I had a 14 year old Rottweiler who as starting to fail. He started getting picky. We found he would only eat very seasoned cooked food. He also had been raw fed. We figured his sense of smell/taste were failing. For the last few months of his life he would only eat meats cooked with garlic and other stinky seasonings. She has eaten roast chicken (which I don't make often). I would prefer to find a way to get her to eat raw again but maybe I could find some cooked cat food recipes. It would be better than the RC or any dry for that matter... I am taking all the dogs to vet Wednesday. I will see what he thinks. I know he would rather not see her on commercial food. What do you think? Thanks for all your advice!
Well, as I was saying, my first thought is her mouth/teeth.
If she had recently been checked with a clean bill for her mouth, my next guess would be she is possibly deteriorating of old age basically.
this doesn't mean she is going to be gone tmrw, by no means, it simply would mean she is at a turning point, and it may be her last year to be with you.
They get crabbier, pickier, not as snuggly and spend more time by themselves rather than right in the mix of things going on as they might have once done.
Imagine an elderly person, same thing. They get quieter, crabbier, pickier, speak their minds, know what they want and do not want, and so on.
Feeding her a raw diet, as well as your dog, is excellent. Props on that for sure!
But it doesn't mean her teeth are healthy and well either. It helps for sure, but it's almost more of a genetic thing.
Take my Krissy cat for instance.
She just turned 12, and hasn't been to a vet since she was 1 1/2 yrs old. Of course alot of that is due to my cat medical knowledge, but in the past year the small changes I noted in her I felt it was time.
I thought her teeth should be overdue for cleaning, etc.
I was shocked and pleased when her vet did the oral exam. He said she has the teeth of a healthy 5 year old! How that is, I couldn't tell ya. Dry cat food for most of her life, now an all canned diet, with treats at night.
Then on the other hand, one of my fosters still has a cat who I pulled from the shelter over a year ago as a 3 week old kitten, but still not adopted (sadly overlooked, she is an all black and takes time to be adopted) Well this 13 month old kitten has advanced gingivitis. Now how is that? So you see, regardless of the diet, although it helps alot, won't mean her teeth/gums are in great shape.
As for her diet nowadays, to be honest, if she were mine, I would give her what she wants. You can't do her any harm to allow her to eat what she likes to eat at this time, you have already done good over the years in feeding her raw.
I would find a good, healthy and nutritious homemade cooked diet, lots of chicken, and any supplements she should have to help aid in her senior/elderly state, but allow her to dictate what she does and doesn't want to eat.
At this point she does need to at least maintain her current weight, if not hopefully gain a bit. Have to tried giving her fancy feast canned classics? (classics are the pates)
Another very tasty food is chicken baby food with cooked/boiled chicken added, along with some other things, rice, yogurt, etc.
Nutrition isn't my strong point, but I know enough about cats who are picky, or sick and near impossible to get eating, and know these things work great!
You're a great pet parent
If she had recently been checked with a clean bill for her mouth, my next guess would be she is possibly deteriorating of old age basically.
this doesn't mean she is going to be gone tmrw, by no means, it simply would mean she is at a turning point, and it may be her last year to be with you.
They get crabbier, pickier, not as snuggly and spend more time by themselves rather than right in the mix of things going on as they might have once done.
Imagine an elderly person, same thing. They get quieter, crabbier, pickier, speak their minds, know what they want and do not want, and so on.
Feeding her a raw diet, as well as your dog, is excellent. Props on that for sure!
But it doesn't mean her teeth are healthy and well either. It helps for sure, but it's almost more of a genetic thing.
Take my Krissy cat for instance.
She just turned 12, and hasn't been to a vet since she was 1 1/2 yrs old. Of course alot of that is due to my cat medical knowledge, but in the past year the small changes I noted in her I felt it was time.
I thought her teeth should be overdue for cleaning, etc.
I was shocked and pleased when her vet did the oral exam. He said she has the teeth of a healthy 5 year old! How that is, I couldn't tell ya. Dry cat food for most of her life, now an all canned diet, with treats at night.
Then on the other hand, one of my fosters still has a cat who I pulled from the shelter over a year ago as a 3 week old kitten, but still not adopted (sadly overlooked, she is an all black and takes time to be adopted) Well this 13 month old kitten has advanced gingivitis. Now how is that? So you see, regardless of the diet, although it helps alot, won't mean her teeth/gums are in great shape.
As for her diet nowadays, to be honest, if she were mine, I would give her what she wants. You can't do her any harm to allow her to eat what she likes to eat at this time, you have already done good over the years in feeding her raw.
I would find a good, healthy and nutritious homemade cooked diet, lots of chicken, and any supplements she should have to help aid in her senior/elderly state, but allow her to dictate what she does and doesn't want to eat.
At this point she does need to at least maintain her current weight, if not hopefully gain a bit. Have to tried giving her fancy feast canned classics? (classics are the pates)
Another very tasty food is chicken baby food with cooked/boiled chicken added, along with some other things, rice, yogurt, etc.
Nutrition isn't my strong point, but I know enough about cats who are picky, or sick and near impossible to get eating, and know these things work great!
You're a great pet parent
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I wouldn't add garlic or onions to any homemade CAT food, as both of these ingredients are considered bad for cats. But we do have some homemade cooked food recipes here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263751/cooked-recipes-thread.
I agree with Catwoman, though, in that at this point, I'd let her eat whatever she's happy eating. I've got an old girl myself, and she used to eat raw too, and has now rejected it
You may be on to something about needing a stronger smelling food for her. I bought my girl some Wellness Core Beef, Venison & Lamb, which is very strongly scented
I wanted to second mrsgreenjeens on the Wellness Core beef/venison/lamb food: when our elderly cat was in her last weeks and not much interested in food, this was one of the few foods she'd eat. Lamb in the form of Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen Lamb Burgini -- which also has some tuna -- was also a big hit, as was their Fowl Ball. She also ate a lot, relatively speaking, of Merrick's Cowboy Cookout and some of their chicken recipes, though they're now fairly high-carb, I think. But she loved them, and they was something she would actually eat; they was recommended to me by a pet food store employee as a food with a strong smell. She also ate a couple of Nutro's Natural Choice poultry foods; they are rather pungent, too. Our new cats especially love the chunky chicken.You may be on to something about needing a stronger smelling food for her. I bought my girl some Wellness Core Beef, Venison & Lamb, which is very strongly scented, and she dove right in the first time I served it up
. So, naturally, I then ordered a case of it, and suddenly she decided she didn't like it anymore. So you might start looking for those stinky foods. Lamb is pretty stinky, IMHO, as are most of the fish flavored foods. As to raw, may you could try reintroducing it using those treats she likes as topper to it
As for making food, that cat and my new cats both enjoyed the semi-cooked chicken food on catinfo.org, using bone meal. If you've never made it, It's especially fragrant when it's fresh!
Good luck!
It could very well be a case of stomach acid. The cat acts hungry then sniffs food and walks away. Or else she takes a few bites and walks away another few bites walks away as the pain from the acid hits. It is safe to give Pepcid 2.5mg/day. The 10mg pill is split in quarters and use a pill pocket as they taste bitter.
Being fed a raw diet does not preclude the possibility of FORLs.
Our old gal, going on 18, has lost almost all of her teeth to FORLs, and she's been fed raw for the last 7 years.
There is really no rhyme or reason with FORLs. They show up out of the blue, and "they" still haven't figured out what really causes them.
I could always tell when Belle got another FORL, because she would start being "picky" about eating. She would try to eat a bit and then leave it, then try again, and eventually give up. She only cleared her plate when she had "picked" at her meals for a few days.
I could see how this pattern might also contribute to an upset stomach. If she's hungry, but unable to eat, then the stomach acids are just sitting there making life miserable.
The other thing about FORLs, and other periodontal issues is that if there is any kind of infection, it has easy access to the bloodstream through the surface veins in the mouth. If an infection gets into the bloodstream, you could end up with much more serious problems than a couple of tooth extractions.
Our old gal, going on 18, has lost almost all of her teeth to FORLs, and she's been fed raw for the last 7 years.
There is really no rhyme or reason with FORLs. They show up out of the blue, and "they" still haven't figured out what really causes them.
I could always tell when Belle got another FORL, because she would start being "picky" about eating. She would try to eat a bit and then leave it, then try again, and eventually give up. She only cleared her plate when she had "picked" at her meals for a few days.
I could see how this pattern might also contribute to an upset stomach. If she's hungry, but unable to eat, then the stomach acids are just sitting there making life miserable.
The other thing about FORLs, and other periodontal issues is that if there is any kind of infection, it has easy access to the bloodstream through the surface veins in the mouth. If an infection gets into the bloodstream, you could end up with much more serious problems than a couple of tooth extractions.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #12
Sorry I have taken so long to reply. My roommie is in hospital and I am moving in 29 days so lots going on... Thank you ALL for your kind replies. Kiya went to the vet, nothing at all wrong with her. The vet said her teeth are amazing, her heart and lungs are incredible, he couldnt find anything wrong with her kidneys. No idea why she is not eating. I can find a way to get her to eat at least something every day. He gave me a bunch of b12 shots. She gets one a day for a week, then just once a week. She seems a little brighter, but still not eating any better. Thank you all!!!! You are amazing!!!!
On especially bad days I would offer her Gerber baby food, chicken or turkey,I haven't seen a cat yet that can resist that! Good luck and I pray she'll be all right!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #14
Thanks for that info, I will try baby food. She is so weird. All that she will consistantly eat is goats milk, but if I offer some stuff from time to time she will take it. She is as sweet and cuddly as ever, even more friendly than before. I think since the b12 shots she looks better but still being a buthead about food. Ugh, this cat is giving me ulcers.....
But does she act like she has an appetite?? In other words does she ask for food and then when you put food down she just sniffs it or else takes a few nibbles and walks away? Not having an appetite is one thing and usually is a sign of some underlying ailment. But having an appetite but not eating could be excess stomach acid burning the esophagus and causing the cat to withdraw from food due to the pain. This is not something a vet can detect. I would try 2.5mg pepcid in a pill pocket once a day. It will reduce stomach acid in about 2 days. If this is the problem, your cat will be eating better within a few days.
Have you taken your cat in for a check-up? Many elderly cats develop health issues that effect their appetites. Or sometimes they just need a change
