Sinbad won't eat

Oh, okay. I see.

Getting excited to eat and then sniffing and walking away could also be a sign of nausea. My Sebastian has chronic pancreatitis, so I know that all too well. What are you trying to feed him? Some cats won't want to eat the same food after it has made them sick. Is there something else you could try that will be okay on his tummy?

Hi, the clear mucousy fluid is likely gastric acid. If it's been a few hours since they eat then the only thing left to heave up is the stomach acid. Was it a lot? Like half a cup or more? If your cat is not drinking either then chances are he is dehydrated. I agree with @goholistic that he is likely nauseaous. That is because it's a vicious cycle... Dehydration leads to nausea then more vomiting then more dehydration. Especially if there is now diahrea. Your cat shows an appetite which is good but something painful is keeping him from eating.... It could be nausea or likely acid reflux. I am surprised the vet did nothing for you (then again not really in my experience).

Is your cat showing weight loss yet?

Really your cat should have gotten 3 things from the vet. SubQ fluids, cerenia tablets for the nausea and vomiting, and an anti-acid like Pepcid. Though you can give the Pepcid on your own. But they are bitter so you need the pill pockets.

The other thing that could help is slippery elm. It soothes the intestines.

If he is still not eating, I would recommend you at least give him 2 jars of pure turkey baby food a day. This is best done with a syringe. The baby food will keep him going while his system recovers from whatever it is that ails him.

Also how old is Sinbad?

Not saying it's the culprit here but stress can be a trigger in this sort of scenario as well.

zoneout said:

Really your cat should have gotten 3 things from the vet. SubQ fluids, cerenia tablets for the nausea and vomiting, and an anti-acid like Pepcid. Though you can give the Pepcid on your own. But they are bitter so you need the pill pockets.

 

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These three things are precisely what she said she'd recommend if he's still demonstrating his symptoms tomorrow/in a few days, thus her planned calls. His blood work showed no current dehydration, but a slightly elevated something or other that indicated he might be approaching it.  Sinbad drinks a lot of water, plus we feed him canned wet food and raw meat so he gets plenty of hydration.

He's almost 2 years old. Estimated. The shelter where we got him takes cats from animal control that are otherwise going to be put down, so they rarely know exactly how old their cats are.

As to food, we're feeding him buffalo canned food, supplemented with chicken hearts, chicken livers and cut up pieces of chicken carcasses. I'd like to switch him to full raw, but I haven't been able to find a reliable source of secreting organs yet.

One of the things that I do with wet cat food is to add some warm water to it.  Helps bring out the smell factor which helps a cat's appetite.

Hi Keyes,

I'm sorry about your cat not feeling well, my cat did this once and he was constipated from grooming himself, I used a hair ball remedy that worked well. But it could be a more serious symptom, some cat have problems passing their urine, and the can pee, and it builds up until they become toxic and die, this happen to my cat but he did not die, but he had to have an operation to open his urinary hole to pee better, then he has to have a special diet. You see it comes from a type of ingredient in the food that causes little sand like particles, and it is very thick and blocks the urinary tract, and is very dangerous, they can also run a fever with this, not eat, or drink, vomiting, pain, the cat will cry out of ball up, and keep trying to also use the bathroom.  so you might want to air on the side of caution and take it to the vet ASAP to get checked out.

I hope this helps you, and your best friend

skritters

keyes said:

 
One of the things that I do with wet cat food is to add some warm water to it.  Helps bring out the smell factor which helps a cat's appetite.

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This is a good idea.   Especially if you say Sinbad is drinking normally then he may prefer a saucy consistency that he can lap up for now.

If he is only around 2 years I wouldn`t be as alarmed as maybe with an older cat.   Hopefully it is just a reaction to something he ate and he will recover in a few days.    

Still, you should keep track of what occurred in the event he has another flareup like this in a few months it could be a sign of a chronic condition - but hopefully that does not happen.

Well, I think he's on the mend! He's definitely not top form yet, but when he's resting now he's actually resting rather than lying there in an alarming heap.

I did two things:

1) I'd been leaving him alone because he was hiding and moving away from pets, but last night I stayed with him the entire night and gave him a "mommy cave" by curling up on the couch so he could crawl under my chest. He spent a few hours with me like that, just lying like the dead. I stayed there with him like that until he got up and wobbled up looking for his food bowl, at which point I - 

2) Took the suggestion with water and made a soup out of his food. I was able to coax him into eating his dinner.

The non-scritchy snuggle seems to have reduced his stress by vast amounts. He's still refusing the buffalo, but starving and wolfing down his treats, so we're going to go out and get him a different flavor of canned food and see if he's just associating the buffalo with being sick now.

But he does seem very much improved aside from that. He actually seems to be resting, and he's interested in playing again. I won't be happy until he's wolfing down his meals again, but at least I don't look at him now and worry that he's unconscious rather than sleeping.

great news!

@Losna -- i'm so glad to read that sinbad seems to be on the mend! i've been following this thread.

This is really funny - 

Sinbad refused the chicken canned food that we picked up, and I started to get upset because while I've been able to coax and cajole him into eating through a combo of hand feeding and adding the water, he doesn't actually finish his meals, only eats a portion of them. So my hubby picked up Sinbad, dropped him in front of his food bowl, and said, "YOU WILL EAT, SINBAD!"

And he did!

He gave my hubby a very disgruntled look, but obediently ate the whole thing!    

And now he is behaving completely normally. He's racing at breakneck speeds around the house, whining for play and making a general energetic nuisance of himself. Hopefully this means he's better now and tomorrow will be fine.

Daddy is the alpha cat. 

Losna said:

 
Thanks @mickNsnicks2mom  ! We call him the walking stomach, that ought to give you an idea of how worrying it is when he won't eat. 

He's such a sickly little guy. The first host family who had him really did a number on his immune system. I wish there was more that could have been done to them than simply taking away their fostering license.

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)  my mickey was like that too. he always had such a good appetite, and i knew that if he wasn't eating well something definitely had to be wrong. by contrast, his sister/litter mate (snick) is a very picky eater.

oh, poor sweet little sinbad!

The good thing about adding water to his canned cat food is that not only is he getting nutrition but is keeping hydrated.  Two birds one stone.

So apparently he just needed some bullying. My hubby had to growl at him once more over the weekend, but he's eating normally now and back to his completely usual behavior.      

Although he is more snuggly. That one night that I spent giving him a hidey cave with my body seems to have really made an impression on him. Now whenever one of us sits on the couch, he's jumping up too to share a cuddle.

We also had a great compliment from the vet. Tempest went in to get her rabies shot, and the vet picked her up, gave her a big snuggle and said: Look how healthy she is!!! Both your cats are so healthy!!! You take such good care of them!! Even though Sinbad is a little sick, I could see that overall he's so healthy!!! I wish more people took care of their cats like you do!!!

It made me happy. 

@Losna -- it's great to hear that sinbad is eating normally now and back to his usual behavior.

more snuggly sounds nice! it took my snick until she was about 9 years old to try curling up on my lap, but once she did, she started curling up on my lap relatively often.

those are wonderful compliments from your vet!