Cat stopped eating. Could be due to meds or Nature's Miracle?

dnmeador

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I have a 4 year old male- Squints. He has been through the ringer lately. He had a urinary block in early January that led to him being catheterized. He was sent home with anti-spasm and anti-inflammation meds. He still wasn't urinating so I took him back in and they put him on pain meds and an anti-anxiety to help calm him enough to go on his own. This immediately helped. His bladder remained very inflamed so I continued to give him the pain meds and anti-anxiety. For 3 weeks, he was on Alprazolam (Xanax) .5 mg twice a day. He just ran out this past Monday. Since then, his appetite is gone. He has been on Hill's C/D canned food since his block and he would snarf it down whenever he was fed, up until this week. He usually ate 1.5-2 cans per day. He is 15lbs (was 16.8lbs when the block developed).

On Tuesday he left some food in his bowl all day--very unlike him.

On Wednesday he only ate a few bites in the morning and didn't touch the rest all day. I got him to eat a few more bites around 4pm but only because I held the bowl right under his nose. It was as if he couldn't smell it?

Today-Thursday- he didn't eat ANY of his morning food. Around noon, I tried putting it in a different dish. I tried warming it up. Nothing. Around 5pm he would only lick food off of a spoon-not off of the plate. But was still very reluctant to even do that.

He would "bury" his food after he smelled it, he wouldn't eat any, but just bury it. 

He is still urinating fairly normally-doesn't seem to show any signs of re-blocking. His behavior is otherwise normal. He is acting somewhat more "on edge" but I would attribute that to not being on Xanax anymore.

I called the vet this evening and he said that he would expect kitty to eat LESS but not stop eating altogether. I am supposed to bring him in on Saturday if he doesn't eat much tomorrow. 

I am getting his Xanax script refilled tomorrow to see if that will encourage him to eat, but I don't want to end up DEPENDING on drugs to get him to eat. I know if cats don't eat for long enough they can develop Fatty Liver Syndrome, which is scary because he is also a big boy. He hasn't been drinking hardly anything since he's been eating wet food and I add water to his food to make sure he gets fluids. So now that he's not eating, he's also not getting any fluids--which is even worse for cats with urinary problems!

ALSO: He was urinating on the carpet because of his blockage and I just recently (one week ago) cleaned the area with Nature's Miracle. It is still drying out-I used a lot of product and it will still take awhile to completely dry and air out. This area is close to his litter box. He is using the box just fine and hasn't used any other area on the carpet. His food and water is in the same room however. They are far enough away from his litter that it has never posed a problem before. I'm concerned now though that the scent of the cleaner (because it's pulling up the smell of urine as well) is overwhelming and it's throwing off his ability to smell. 

Once I noticed he wasn't eating, I tried moving his food into a different room, with no luck.

Is it possible that his ability to smell has been damaged by being around the fumes of Nature's Miracle? 

Has anybody else had a change in appetite this drastic after coming off of Xanax? 

What other possibilities could explain this?

So stressed! PLEASE HELP! 
 

molly92

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I think the vet will be able to help you best determine why he's not eating and how to resolve the underlying problem. I doubt Nature's Miracle has anything to do with it. The enzymes in the spray do not produce a specific odor themselves, rather, they break down the chemicals in the urine stain so they don't smell like urine to the cat anymore so that spot no longer smells like a bathroom to the cat. 

In the meantime, heat up his food for a few seconds in the microwave and offer it to him. He might be able to smell it better when it's warm. You can also try feeding him pretty much anything he likes, like smelly tuna fish. Human baby food also works sometimes for cats with low appetite. Make sure to get a chicken, turkey or ham flavor without any onion powder in the ingredients. The tuna and the baby food both have water in them so that will help if he eats them. If that doesn't work, you can try spoon feeding it to him or syringe feeding. If his appetite isn't back to normal before Saturday I'd say definitely bring him in to the vet so they can give him some subcutaneous fluids, which will rehydrate him.
 

catlover73

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Another thing you could try using to get your cat to eat is plain cooked chicken.  I cooked it plain in skillet.  After it cooled off a little I put it in the food processor to cut it into tiny pieces.  My seniors would not eat tuna or baby food so I tried the chicken after a friend recommended it.

I agree that your cat needs to go to the vet to figure out what caused the not eating.

I doubt the Natures Miracle has anything to do with this issue.  I used it to clean cat pee out of carpet and after the product dried I put a bowl of food on top of the spot I had cleaned.  None of my 4 cats has refused to eat out of that bowl.
 
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dnmeador

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Thank you for the suggestions! 
 
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