Newly Adopted Cat - Variety of Symptoms Wont Eat

Hello, I am hoping you can give me some advice/calm me down about my new cat.

Salty was adopted from a rescue based in Kentucky, but we are in DC. In the pictures of Salty on Petfinder he appeared to be a very large cat, with particularly handsome eyes. While they listed his age as 3-5 years, our vet informed us that he is likely closer to 10 years old. When we went to get him he was quite thin and his coat lacked any shine. He had also been sleeping in his litter box at the adoption event so he smelled unpleasant. We brought him home and immediately showered him only to discover fleas. We gave him a dawn soap bath, and then treated him with Advantage which seemed to take care of the fleas. 

The next day we took him to the vet (this past Sunday) to get him all checked out. There we learned that he had an upper respiratory infection (which we suspected), an ear infection, tapeworms, and was significantly underweight. We scheduled a follow up appointment for a week later (Sunday) to check that the worms and URI are gone, and if he is healthy enough get him a full dental workup. The vet was actually able to scrape a large chunk of calculus from his teeth. The vet also found two small lumps on his neck, however she did not seem overly concerned at the time about them.

What is worrying me the most however, is that he is not eating much of anything. I have offered him a variety of canned foods, fresh chicken, and baby food to no avail. He is interested in his dry food, however he is really not eating much of it, he is just picking it up in his mouth and then dropping it. 

I know that it is normal for cats to be very cautious in new homes, however I am concerned given how thin he is already. He appears to be so weak that he cannot get on to the bed by himself (I placed a bin nearby for him to use a step stole so he can come and go). He did enjoy the tiny bit of cow milk I offered him, however I do want to avoid giving him any. I bought goat milk, which I will try to offer him this evening. 

Salty is the most loving cat I have ever had, he wants nothing more than to have belly rubs and kisses. He has already become such a large part of my heart, I want him to be healthy as soon as possible. I would appreciate any advice, or past experiences that can be offered.

The behavior of acting interested, picking food up then letting it drop out of her mouth, is indicative of nausea.  I seen it a lot with my IBD kitty before he was diagnosed and began the right treatment.  Have you called your vet to tell him/her about this behavior?  There are a couple of medications that can relieve nausea so that she will eat.  Of course the root cause for the nausea needs to be found and treated.  It could be just from the shelter conditions and being generally in poor condition.  She does need to eat to avoid a condition called hepatic lipidoses which is unique to kitties.  Since she is underweight she is not as prone to it as normal weight or overweight kitties.  It is still possible though if she continues to eat less than what she needs to eat to maintain her body functions.

saltymeow said:

 
Hello, I am hoping you can give me some advice/calm me down about my new cat.

Salty was adopted from a rescue based in Kentucky, but we are in DC. In the pictures of Salty on Petfinder he appeared to be a very large cat, with particularly handsome eyes. While they listed his age as 3-5 years, our vet informed us that he is likely closer to 10 years old. When we went to get him he was quite thin and his coat lacked any shine. He had also been sleeping in his litter box at the adoption event so he smelled unpleasant. We brought him home and immediately showered him only to discover fleas. We gave him a dawn soap bath, and then treated him with Advantage which seemed to take care of the fleas. 

The next day we took him to the vet (this past Sunday) to get him all checked out. There we learned that he had an upper respiratory infection (which we suspected), an ear infection, tapeworms, and was significantly underweight. We scheduled a follow up appointment for a week later (Sunday) to check that the worms and URI are gone, and if he is healthy enough get him a full dental workup. The vet was actually able to scrape a large chunk of calculus from his teeth. The vet also found two small lumps on his neck, however she did not seem overly concerned at the time about them.

What is worrying me the most however, is that he is not eating much of anything. I have offered him a variety of canned foods, fresh chicken, and baby food to no avail. He is interested in his dry food, however he is really not eating much of it, he is just picking it up in his mouth and then dropping it. 

I know that it is normal for cats to be very cautious in new homes, however I am concerned given how thin he is already. He appears to be so weak that he cannot get on to the bed by himself (I placed a bin nearby for him to use a step stole so he can come and go). He did enjoy the tiny bit of cow milk I offered him, however I do want to avoid giving him any. I bought goat milk, which I will try to offer him this evening. 

Salty is the most loving cat I have ever had, he wants nothing more than to have belly rubs and kisses. He has already become such a large part of my heart, I want him to be healthy as soon as possible. I would appreciate any advice, or past experiences that can be offered.

Click to expand...

Another reason he may not eat is he can't smell his food well due to the URI and/or he just isn't feeling well. One possible way to deal with this, and we do this in the vet community, is to offer stinky food like 9 Lives tuna.  As @Denice said he may also need anti nausea meds, might benefit from some sub Q fluids, and may need a bigger "work up" at the vet.  Not eating can become very serious very quickly, he needs more aggressive intervention.

Hi. I adopted a rescue cat (my first cat) almost 9 months ago that I also found on Petfinder. I was told she was 3 years old, so 4 now, but after an x-ray and ultrasound (she got ill maybe because of what I fed her suddenly), it seems she is more like 6 or 7 years old. Could even be older...I love her dearly and fell in love after a couple weeks of us getting to know each other. She had already had 4 teeth (including a fang) removed surgically before I adopted her. I would suggest you get pet insurance for your new cat. The rescue shelter kept urging me to get it, but I was going to get it later when she was around 7 or 8. Turns out, she is already probably 7 or even 8. =/ I just spent $3,300 alone on only emergency hospitalizations & tests at 2 different places. It could have been cheaper if it was only one place. I love my cat and am so glad I got her though, even despite the unexpected $3,300 cost for the emergency. I'd already spent a ton on her and still spend a lot, but have to cut back now. If I could go back and change anything, I would just get pet insurance. Sounds like you already love Salty.

My cat also needed a dental cleaning and just had hers last week. She is very picky and I had to try different wet foods to find one she would eat, then she'd stop, and I had to try again, then again and again and I'm trying again right now to get her to eat wet food. She loved Orijen cat and kitten kibble when she first tried it. Now she wants only Orijen Regional Red. She is very picky and will only eat what she likes. She'd rather starve if there is nothing she wants. I don't know if that is the case with Salty. Given his low weight and that he is only interested in dry kibble right now (and seems to have nausea?), maybe you can try Orijen? They're grain free and high quality kibble. You can order 12 oz sample bags from Amazon. My cat, when she does wolf that down, does really well, gains weight, has high energy, and is very playful. She drinks a lot of water though when she eats just dry kibble like right now. If your Salty doesn't drink water though, dry kibble is not good for him. 

Also, since he's not even eating and needs to gain weight, ask your vet if he can have Hill's prescription a/d wet cat food for a while...that might be a bad idea. But it also seems really tasty to cats and worked on my cat after she lost lots of weight after her emergency. It seems lots of cat like the taste and texture.

Thank you so much for your very helpful feedback!

Salty does appear to be on the mend, while he still isn't showing interest in any canned foods (sigh) he showed an appetite. I got him some goat milk on Wednesday after he showed interest in my cereal milk, and boy was it popular. He has even started to meow at me until he gets some (have I created a goat-milk-monster?). The Orijen packs from Amazon arrived today and he does seem to enjoy it more than the Wellness Core I had gotten for him. Hopefully he will eat enough I won't have to continue supplementing his diet.

Additionally Salty's URI seems to be clearing up, he no longer has big chunks of snot on his nose and the little buggar isn't waking me up sneezing on my face anymore. He's finished his antibiotics and only has the occasional sneeze now. He has also resumed (I assume) grooming himself, which is a relief as I understand sick kitties tend to ignore this. His strength and energy levels are improving. I hope on Sunday the vet will find him to be much healthier.

Ps. I got him pet insurance as well, the stress of all this made it worthwhile.

@saltymeow, that's great news! That's great about the pet insurance too. The monthly cost is well worth it because you now have peace of mind that if he gets seriously ill, you're mostly covered cost-wise. Instead of $3,300 I spent in less than a week on emergency costs for my cat, I could have paid just 20% so $660 (+ annual ~$240 pet insurance).

Salty is lucky to have been adopted by you! I would just make sure he drinks enough water while he is only eating dry kibble, especially since he's a boy kitty and has a higher risk of UTI than girl kitties. You can tell by scooping daily to see how much urine output he has. I believe I read it should be two nice-sized pees per day.

I completely know what it is like to have a cat who refuses wet food. =/ Thar is my cat child right now. I've tried new brands and also the old brands she used to eat before, but still nothing. I've tried Fortiflora, but nope. No with treats on top of her wet food and no with crumbled Vets Best tablets also. Oh, that is something definitely worth trying to get your Salty to eat wet food - Fortiflora. If you're willing to buy it to try it, you can order it on Amazon, then put a little on top of the wet food. It worked for a while to get my baby to eat a little wet. Look for the lowest price on Amazon because there are some price gougers. You can also try crumbling Vets Best hairball or urinary tablets on top of the wet food. Again, available on Amazon. Those both used to work on my cat before her emergency hospitalizations. Other people seem to have success either mixing dry food with wet or putting treats on top of the wet food. Both don't work on my cat baby though. I wish they did!