Cat Won't Eat. Any Tips?

I'm posting on behalf of my parents' cat, Tiara. They are currently out of town and I am caring for her. Tiara is about 12 years old. As a kitten she had Panleukopenia, became very seriously ill, but managed to recover. The high fever she had as a kitten has impacted her ability to walk and focus. The best I can describe it is that she bobs up and down. She's very stiff, but overall had compensated very well these past 12 years. She has a history of hairballs, but has otherwise been a fairly healthy cat.

Anyways, my parents noticed the past month or so her appetite has been decreasing. This cat has never been a food fanatic. The cat is fed four times a day and there were often days where she would skip one of the meals. She's also pretty strictly a dry food girl. They have tried feeding wet food and other than a few licks, she'd rather be eating her dry. Anyways, she started skipping more and more meals. She would have to be carried to the food bowl and even then didn't want much to do with it. My parents took Tiara in to the vet and found she went from 11lbs down to 7lbs. I can't tell you how quickly she dropped the weight since there is a large span of time between those weigh-ins. Regardless, she is much too skinny.

The vet ran a blood panel and found she is anemic. We are currently waiting for further results. In the meantime our task is to get her to eat since her appetite is near zero. She is also not drinking enough, but we are doing sub-q fluids to make up for that.

I've dealt with kitties that refused to eat, but it was much easier since those cats liked wet food. This one doesn't, so I'm curious to see if anyone has any ideas of what to try.

I have had some luck with kitty treats, but everything only gets us through a day or so and isn't a sufficient amount of food. I bought some soft treats she's eating for the moment, but I have no doubt she'll be off them tomorrow.

I've tried tuna water with no luck. Warming food or putting warm water on it has no impact. We've tried pate wet food, wet foods with gravy, wet foods with more of a broth-- she'll try it all once and never touch it again. I bought some chicken to boil and I know she used to like turkey. I'm going to try both of those tomorrow.

Any suggestions on foods to try, techniques of feeding her, anything would be greatly appreciated! This cat is also not the biggest fan of me; she doesn't hate me, but my presence isn't comforting to her. Anything you can suggest will be very helpful.

Thanks!

I would ask for an x-ray to rule out an obstruction, tumor, or impacted bowels.  Secondly, I'd try plain meat baby food and classic Fancy feast.  Lastly, get a Feliway or Comfort Zone with Feliway diffuser and run it 24/7.

It is extremely important that your parents' cat gets nourishment, and if she will not take it herself, then she should be given an E-tube for feeding.  Here is an article about the importance of feeding tubes and how they save lives.  They are not difficult or expensive to put in, and they can save a cat's life.  Discuss with your vet and see if he or she will agree.  Print a copy of the article for your vet, it includes x-rays showing the placement of the tube as well.  Do NOT go with nasal tubes, they do not work for cats, it's traumatic and a waste of time.  When cats recover, they can still eat their own food with the feeding tube in place until they are eating enough to sustain themselves.  Read the article and yo will understand that a cat's liver cannot process the products of such an extreme weight loss and if you don't intervene radically, her liver will fail.  Do a search above at the top (search box under the brown line) for "feeding tube" and you will see that recently we had three or four cats on this site get feeding tubes and they all pulled through.

http://www.iwillhelpyourcat.com/blog/2015/3/8/feeding-cats-that-wont-eat-at-all-pina-the-e-tube

http://consciouscat.net/2015/06/08/feeding-tubes-save-lives/

I should've mentioned, but the x-ray is fine. The vet is supposed to call tomorrow with more test results. The vet is looking at blood parasites, some sort of auto-immune disorder, or cancer. When we get our test results, we'll know if we're dealing with something we can manage or not.  I'm going in to pick up an appetite stimulant and some of that a/d prescription food first thing in the morning. She was eating, although clearly not enough, up until my parents left on vacation yesterday morning. They were trying to get her to eat enough where as I'm struggling to get her to eat.

She turns her nose up at Fancy Feast; won't even look at the stuff. I will get the Feliway tomorrow morning.

Something else that might be complicating things is that your parents are not home with her and she's feeling some separation anxiety and having some abandonment type issues. 

I would try either baby meat flavored baby food with no onions or garlic in it or plain cooked chicken.  I used plain cooked chicken with my seniors when they suddenly decided not to eat their wet food anymore at various times.  

If something is wrong it's possible she's feeling nauseas too. Ask your vet if they have something she can take in case it is nausea that's putting her off her food. Her behaviour sounds very much like my IBD boy (although he had vomiting that went along with the not wanting to eat).

And yes, please do ask about the feeding tube, kitties can get seriously ill if they starve themselves for too long, even if their water intake is still decent.

Okay, so we got the results in. There are no parasites in her blood, so the vet is thinking auto-immune or cancer. Not the results we wanted, but at least it gives us something. I'm going in to pick up steroids for her now as well as their recovery food.

Boiled chicken is working for now. She was really excited about it and ate quite a bit. She followed it up with a few treats and seemed to be satisfied. If the chicken continues to be good, does anyone know about how much chicken she needs to be eating? I know I might not be able to get that much in her until she starts feeling better, but I'd like to try and gauge how far off we are from the ideal. My vet won't give me a very clear answer. Even if I knew how many calories she should be getting I'd be happy.

When I've given my kitties nothing but boiled chicken due to stomach upset I usually give about 1/4 cup (I don't measure, just a small handful) and let them eat until they walk away. If they still look hungry I'll give more, if not I'll offer some up about 5 or 6 times a day. I don't know in grams though how much that would be.

I'm sorry the results weren't what you wanted to hear. I do hope you can get her sorted soon though.

Keep us updated on her results and how she is going x

It's awesome that you found something she likes. Plain food needs something. Can you ask the vet about vitamins? Have you tried Nutrical?

Unfortunately Tiara developed a clot in her lung last night and we decided it was time to put her to sleep. I really wanted to thank you all for your advice. It really helped us a lot and made Tiara's last few days better than they would've been otherwise. Thank you!

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that Sending much love your way.

So sorry to read this news.  On behalf of the TCS Team, we offer our condolences.  We will lock the thread now as a sign of respect.  Please consider posting a tribute to your kitty in our  Bridge  forum.