Older cat eating habits

mcmaggie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
158
Purraise
1
Location
Texas
Very concerned about how finicky my Maine coon has become. She is over 13 yrs old and has always gobbled up her canned cat food at meal time and cleaned up any food the others might have left behind. She has always been a chub, but now turns her nose up at almost all canned food and barely grazes on dry. Alarmingly dropping from over 16 lbs to under 10.

A trip to the vet, blood work revealed no system failures, and the vet saw no evidence of oral problems. All they offered me was high calorie food, which I may try, but seriously doubt she will eat.

She drinks water, will eat treats and currently will eat table scraps (turkey, eggs, cheese...) and at meal time she is currently happy with tuna, so she isn't starving to death.. But it is so unlike her and not enough to get a gain on the weight.

I expected more help from the vet. I still feel something is wrong.
 

stephenq

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
Messages
5,672
Purraise
944
Location
East Coast, USA
Very concerned about how finicky my Maine coon has become. She is over 13 yrs old and has always gobbled up her canned cat food at meal time and cleaned up any food the others might have left behind. She has always been a chub, but now turns her nose up at almost all canned food and barely grazes on dry. Alarmingly dropping from over 16 lbs to under 10.

A trip to the vet, blood work revealed no system failures, and the vet saw no evidence of oral problems. All they offered me was high calorie food, which I may try, but seriously doubt she will eat.

She drinks water, will eat treats and currently will eat table scraps (turkey, eggs, cheese...) and at meal time she is currently happy with tuna, so she isn't starving to death.. But it is so unlike her and not enough to get a gain on the weight.

I expected more help from the vet. I still feel something is wrong.
They tested for hyperthyroidism?
 

donutte

Professional cat sitter extraordinaire!
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
5,775
Purraise
2,554
Location
Northern suburbs of Chicago
Did they check her thyroid? That can cause appetite to be increased but if the levels get really high (like they did with my Sara) it can have the opposite effect. I'm assuming they tested everything, including levels for kidneys? Is she drinking excessive amounts of water that you know of?

Going from 16 lbs to under 10 DOES sound alarming. I think it may warrant another opinion (or at least another blood test) if nothing was resolved.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

mcmaggie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
158
Purraise
1
Location
Texas
Yes, her thyroid was fine.. Kidney function and no diabetes. I mentioned water as a normal sign. She doesn't act sick, purrs when happy, plays a little and is interested in food, begs but refuses the normal feeding routine (except the tuna at the moment).

It's weird, she acts hungry then refuses cat food, goes back to the kitchen for me to try again.
 

donutte

Professional cat sitter extraordinaire!
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
5,775
Purraise
2,554
Location
Northern suburbs of Chicago
It's weird, she acts hungry then refuses cat food, goes back to the kitchen for me to try again.
That can be a sign of stomach upset. Lucky was like that. He would sniff food and seem like he really wanted it, then would walk away from it looking dejected. How long has this been going on, btw? I'm guessing at least a few weeks to have dropped so much weight.

I think a second opinion from another vet would not be a bad thing here. Those symptoms can point to so many different things that can be wrong. If it was just being finicky, it wouldn't seem like such a big issue. But the weight loss is worrisome for sure.
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

mcmaggie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
158
Purraise
1
Location
Texas
She had a slight weight loss before I went on vacation. When I returned three weeks later it was drastic. I waited a bit to see if it was separation anxiety, but I have been gone before with no issues, and her behavior did not improve when I returned. She was also scheduled for distemper shot, so we did the blood work then. I'd say overall it's been three months, but extreme finicky for about one and a half months.

I'm going have her weighed again next week and consult again at that time. I think it could stomach too, or something effecting her sense of smell?
 

donutte

Professional cat sitter extraordinaire!
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
5,775
Purraise
2,554
Location
Northern suburbs of Chicago
Good point, sense of smell plays a huge part with their eating and appetites. And he is eating stuff that is very strong-smelling. Might still want to ask about the stomach though. When you say she smells the food, does she do like a thorough going-over of it, or is it just a couple of sniffs? I am not sure if all cats that have stomach issues do this, but Lucky would do a thorough smelling of it before deciding he didn't want it. So much so that I was sure he'd pick up a piece. And we made him chicken wrapped in bacon, he was very obviously interested in it.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

mcmaggie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
158
Purraise
1
Location
Texas
Honestly she's done both, quick sniff..sometimes from afar as if to say "I know that is..and I don't want it", and sometimes she'll try to eat it, lick at it then decide no.  And the WAY she eats is different.  She used to gobble, and properly bite the food, now it's mostly licks and tiny bites. 

I forget the significance of it, but she used to always prance around with her tail up.  Not sure if it's a mood thing or dominance thing, but it's been mostly dropped down now, ever since the vet visit. 
 

donutte

Professional cat sitter extraordinaire!
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
5,775
Purraise
2,554
Location
Northern suburbs of Chicago
Found this article on here that might help. I realize your cat isn't quite at the "not eating anything" point, but that's a point you definitely don't want to get to. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-get-your-cat-to-start-eating-again

Have you tried doing any of the following with the cat food?

- mashing and warming it up

- moving it to another location

- stirring with finger if they taste and then walk away

- finger-feed to get them to taste it

I honestly think I'd go nuts not knowing why he's acting like this. My Lucky had acute renal failure so he went quickly from being finicky, to not eating anything at all. So seeing this kinda puts me on high alert. I know in your case everything was good in that department, but even Sara got like that at one point from a combination of her T4 being super-high and a UTI. And she was a tiny cat to begin with, so going from 4lb 14oz to 4lb 4oz was very bad.

Edit - sorry, just realized your cat is a "she", not a "he".
 
Last edited:

catlover73

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
2,627
Purraise
1,541
Location
Chicago area
What type of wet food were you feeding?  I was feeding one of my seniors Wellness Core grain free wet food and he suddenly decided he was not going to eat it one day.   I have had some luck using Fancy Feast pate style food to get seniors to eat again.   I fed him the Fancy Feast until he was eating consistently and then transitioned him back on to his grain free food by mixing them together and gradually reducing the amount of Fancy Feast.  I never did figure out why he stopped eating his good food originally. 

One of my friends had a senior cat that was under vet care for various medical issues that did the same thing with a different brand of high quality food.  Her cat stopped eating completely and would not even eat table scraps.  I told her to try the Fancy Feast and she was resistant to the idea at first and even decided to pick up expensive high calorie wet food from her vet.  The cat would not eat that either so she finally decided to try my idea and her cat who refused to eat for 24 hours wolfed down an entire can of food.  She did the same thing I did and gradually transitioned her cat back on to the original wet food she had been eating.

I also agree about getting a 2nd opinion from another vet due to the weight loss issue.  

One of my cats ended up with some sort of flu type bug a few years ago.  She was also throwing up when she did try to eat.  I took her to the vet and they gave her a shot for nausea.  I was able to get her to eat wet food the same night of the day she got that injection.  Perhaps you cat is experiencing nausea even though she is not actually throwing up. Also some cats do not show symptoms right away when they get a URI and that could be causing her to not be able to smell her food.  I adopted a kitten and he had a URI but did not show any symptoms for over a week.  He shared it with all 3 of my other cats before I even knew he was sick.
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

mcmaggie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
158
Purraise
1
Location
Texas
Thought I would update since we seem to have the problem solved. Thank goodness to hills urgent care cat food for buying me some time while I figured this problem out. She'd eat that and canned tuna, salmon and chicken people food, but not eagerly.

I think it was stomach upset. For years she's only been fed RC Maine coon cat food and wet canned cat food twice a day. I have a smaller cat and we've always kept her food separate. When I went on vacation however I left her with my mother who put the two foods beside each other and Maggie apparently ate the smaller kibble not chewing it well. When I returned she was so skinny that I was glad to see her eat anything so it didn't occur to me to take away the small kibble until a few days ago.

She still needs to gain a lot, but after a couple of the days away from the smaller kibble she is once again gobbling up her wet canned cat food and then goes looking for any the other cats have left. Back to normal eating habit wise. Such a relief.
 
Top