Cat Won't Eat After Dental Surgery

Help! My cat Lily just had dental surgery yesterday. This was her first time having any surgery other than when she was spayed. I have never had a cat undergo dental surgery before, so this is a first for me.

Lily is 7 years old. She is a Siamese/tabby mix. Super tiny (4.9lbs) and has always been that way. She is not bony or underweight and is actually very healthy. Just a small gal!

Anyway, Lily was scheduled for a dental cleaning on Monday and ended up having to have 10 teeth extracted. Yes, 10. I was so sad to find out about this, but of course understand that she needed the teeth gone and will hopefully be much happier without them! By the way, she is always a happy, playful cat with a HUGE appetite.

Her surgery was on Monday (yesterday) morning, so she could not eat past 9pm on Sunday. When she came home yesterday, she did not eat more than a tablespoon of her canned food. She drank a bit of lactose-free milk but that was it.

Today she has eaten 1-2 tablespoons of tuna and drank a small amount of the tuna juice (this was recommended by my vet). She will not eat anything else nor will she eat any more tuna/tuna juice in her bowls.

I have tried hand feeding and she took a few bites from me, eats really awkwardly, and then walks away. The vet said to call tomorrow if she doesn't begin eating/drinking more by the time I am home from work (3:30pm) but I am so so worried about her. She's a small girl as it is and doesnt have many pounds to lose! I am also concerned about dehydration, etc.

She was given an injection of Metacam and an antibiotic injection for swelling as well. She does not appear to be in pain (although I know they are great at hiding this) and is playing with her toys, snugging, and getting lots of rest.

If anyone has been through a situation similar to this, please let me know! I am freaking out and so worried about her...everyone keeps saying she is fine and just uncomfortable, but I just want to be sure.

Were you given any  pain medication to give her at home?  My guess is that a sore mouth is why she isn't eating.  If she doesn't start eating tomorrow morning I would call the vet and tell them that she still isn't eating.  Kitties can't go as long as other animals without eating because of the way their liver works.  It isn't efficient at metabolizing fat and can be overcome with fat deposit, it's a condition called hepatic lipidosis or fatty liver.

Nope, I wasn't given anything for her to take at home. The vet said the pain med injection and antibiotic injection would last over a week. I have read online about "fatty liver disease" and that's what is beginning to scare me. She has now gone over 48 hours with not much more than 2-3 tablespoons to eat Thank you for replying!

Please call the vet today and ask for advice. It is typical for vets to send a pet home with pain medicine after teeth removal. Insist on having some pain medicine for your cat. Liquid buprenex is the most common. You squirt this into the side of the cat's mouth to be absorbed by the mucous members. Swallowing the medicine will have no effect.

Try feeding soupy canned food. It's a lot easier to eat. Pate canned foods are best. You can smush the food down with water and a spoon or blend it up in a food processor or blender with water. If you make it really soupy, you can try syringe feeding with an oral syringe. Pharmacies will have these and even pet stores for orphaned kitten and puppy feeding or you can ask the vet for one.