Cat wont eat or drink.

We have a two year old female cat. On Tuesday, we notice that she had thrown up and didnt want to eat any more. Wednesday came, and still nothing in the morning, so we took her to the vet and he gave her some saline in her neck and some anti nausea medicine. She still wouldn't eat. Thursday morning she still wouldn't eat, so we took her to the vet again. They did blood work, an x-ray and a sonogram, but everything came back fine. He gave her some more saline in her neck and a appetite stimulant, but she still wont eat. We feed her some wet food and water with a syringe but very little. I'm at my wits end, and I have no idea what to do next. She looks so uncomfortable and the other cats are hissing at her. Does anyone have any advice on what to do next?

Thanks, 

Sad Cat Dad!

Ah... this brought back some not so good memories, but I joined this forum just to post here.

In 2010, my beloved cat, Dolly also quit eating and it became a month long 50/50 fight for her to live.

We took her to the Vet and said blood tests was pointing to she had kidney disease, so she had a 50/50 .

This is part of of a email I had saved from then, so it might help you. It is NOT good when a cat quits eating.

The big problem was Had I not waited three days from the time she quit eating before taking her to my Vet.

Apparently cats get extremely sick after not eating for 3-4 days and their bodies start shutting down.

I will pray for you and your cat.

Below is from 10/13/2010

The Vet sent home this bottle of special liquid food, Viyo Veterinary and water, smells good, full of nutrition and that is what 

Iryn and I were syringe feeding her. The Vet said she was eating some on her own at the hospital. Here she won't eat it on her own, just sniffs it.

The Vet left specific instructions to only feed her that, (no regular food for 24 hours, then put her on a blend of white rice and ground biased turkey) 

However, this morning, an hour after Iryn went to work, Dolly was in the kitchen looking at her food bowls and meowing like she was hungry, but ignoring the special liquid food, then I put a spoon of her favorite can beef down, didn't want that, then tried a spoon of can tuna, no go, then put down a spoonful of Purina Special Care dry food and she gobbled that right up! I put out a little more and she gobbled that up too. Then I stopped. Now to wait to see if she can hold it and not throw it up. That is the key the Vet said. If she doesn't throw it up, she'll recover. (she didn't recover, died after a month long fight.)

Maybe it will help you?

Hi Cat Dad,

I'm going through something similar right now with my 10 year old female cat.  Right now the vet thinks it might be gastritis.  Her bloodwork and x-rays came back fine too.  She had an ultrasound yesterday which showed a lot of fluid in her stomach (stomach acid).

She hasn't eaten or drank anything on her own since Sunday night, so I've been syringe feeding her and giving her fluids.  She has vomited a few times, even on anti-nausea medicine (Cerenia).  As of yesterday she's also on Famotidine to control stomach acid, which I'm hoping will put an end to the vomiting.  So far appetite stimulants haven't helped either.

What does the vet think you should do next?  You may have to keep syringe feeding her wet food and a little water.  You may also need more doses of appetite stimulant and anti-nausea medicine.

Good luck and please let us know how it's going!

Has she been throwing up at all since the vet appt? Is it foamy in nature if so? (could indicate hyperacidity)

Is she just sitting in one position (laying I should say) all the time, kinda like a "loaf"? Does she lick her lips a lot? (could indicate nausea)

What kinds of foods are you trying to give her? Usually with cats that are in that "I'm not gonna eat and you can't make me" phase, you have to offer them a smorgasbord of things, and not necessarily limited to cat food. At this point you need to get the calories in, that's gotta be the focus. Have you offered her tuna? And has your vet offered you anything called Hills a/d? It's nutrient-dense and high-calorie, and cats often will eat that even if they don't eat other things. It's also very soft and easy to use for syringe feeding. You have to get it from your vet though, so if they didn't offer I'd ask them about it.

I also recently had a cat with a gastroenteritis diagnosis - he was vomiting, not eating or drinking, hiding away from us (when he was usually stuck to us like glue), and I could see his third eyelid peeking up through the eye's tear trough - I could just look at his little face and tell he wasn't feeling well.  After 2 days of vomiting and not eating, I took him into the e-vet.   They did x-rays to check for an obstruction - they didn't find one, but they said his intenstines looked a little inflamed.   His bloodwork came back perfectly.    I have no idea what causes "gastroenteritis" but they kept him in the hospital for a couple days, giving fluids and meds.   They also tested him for pancreatitis - that came back negative.  

I still have the itemized bill, so I can tell you the meds they gave him:
SubQ fluids & ectrolytes

B-Vitamin injection

Famotidine

Buprenex

Mirtazapine

Sucralfate

Neopolybac ointment for his eyes

He stayed in the hospital for two days, then they released him back to me.   They gave me Buprenex, Sucralfate, & the Neopolybac ointment to take home - they also told me to get generic pepcid (famotidine) and give him a half pill every 12 hours.   It took him about 2-3 days to really bounce back once he got home.  He was eating a little bit w/no vomiting, and his appetite really picked back up after he'd been home a few days.

He is totally fine now -  I don't know if this is a contagious "illness" - it doesn't seem like there's a good way to diagnose it, it seems like it's the diagnosis you'll get if the vet has ruled out other causes for the vomiting........I just wanted to post this here in case you want to discuss those meds with your vet if they are giving you a gastroenteritis Dx - they worked for my cat & he's been right as rain ever since.     Good luck - I know it is so incredibly stressful when our cats are ill - you never know when it's really a "big deal" so we just do the best we can..........

Edit:  Forgot to add, for the first few days Bump was back home from the hospital, they told me to make him very bland homemade food.   Boiled hamburger or chicken & rice - meat to rice in a 1:1 ratio.   You could try cooking some of that for your cat, see if she will eat it.    Bump did eat it, but not as enthusiastically as he ate his Primal & other canned food.........I was scared to give him raw immediately after being sick like that, so I did the bland diet for 3-4 days before re-introducing his canned food - then I started giving him raw again like a week later and he's been doing fine ever since.

Update: We took her this morning to another vet in a nicer part of town. They did additional x-rays and the vet was thinking that it looked like something might be blocking the small intestine. However, this place also sends the x-rays to a specialist for further analysis, and he said that there was no blockage and that she was constipated. They are now sedating her and are going to do an enema. I really hope this works! Luckily we aren't going to have surgery!

chrisj102 said:

 
Update: We took her this morning to another vet in a nicer part of town. They did additional x-rays and the vet was thinking that it looked like something might be blocking the small intestine. However, this place also sends the x-rays to a specialist for further analysis, and he said that there was no blockage and that she was constipated. They are now sedating her and are going to do an enema. I really hope this works! Luckily we aren't going to have surgery!

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I am so glad  you took him to a different vet!  I was thinking to ask yesterday if it was possible your kitty had eaten something and had an obstruction. But constipation if it gets really bad can also cause an obstruction so I pray the enema takes care of the problem. Hopefully constipation won't become a chronic problem.  Is your kitty eating wet or dry food? If dry, consider adding wet food, this I learned from my first kitty.

I would definitely recommend wet food too.How did the enema go?

The enema worked perfectly! She was soon acting like her old self, begging for food 24/7! She is 100% back to normal! I had no idea cats could get so severely backed up. We are now going to work in more wet food. Thanks everyone for your concern.  

that is wonderful 

chrisj102 said:

 
The enema worked perfectly! She was soon acting like her old self, begging for food 24/7! She is 100% back to normal! I had no idea cats could get so severely backed up. We are now going to work in more wet food. Thanks everyone for your concern.  

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Very happy for you! You were the reason I joined this place as I was searching online for the proper way to feed my cat (I was feeding her dry) and saw your post.

My Vet never checked for blockage that I know of and Dolly had the same symptoms your cat had to. I didn't think to try another Vet as he was in business over 30 years and I assumed he was good?

Im happy your cat is fine now... did you notice he asnt eting when constipated? my daughter has two and its hard to tell especially when she working most of the day,,,he just look smaller but I have seen him eating so.. thought maybe it ws the food ... shes been changing the food ..goin crazy

udcat said:

 
Im happy your cat is fine now... did you notice he asnt eting when constipated? my daughter has two and its hard to tell especially when she working most of the day,,,he just look smaller but I have seen him eating so.. thought maybe it ws the food ... shes been changing the food ..goin crazy

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udcat:  It is common for a kitty to stop eating and even vomit when they are constipated. If your kitty has stopped eating, is not using the litterbox, or is vomiting, it may be time to bring her to the vet.