Drinkings lots of water, but not eating

My cat, Bella, is ten years old. She's been acting cranky and hiding, but we figured she was adjusting to the new cat we brought home last month. The past week or so, however, have made me really concerned. She's been drinking a lot of water, but we can't get her to eat. I was able to coax her into eating a bit of tuna, but not much. She also drank an entire bowl of water in one day. She still seems to be unusually thirsty. We are calling the vet tomorrow, but does anyone have a clue as to what might be wrong? I'm really worried! 

    

Diabetes comes to my mind. It's common in senior age cats. Excessive water drinking is a common symptom. is the litter box use ok? Do the pee clumps see larger than normal and / or sticky to scopp out and / or sugary smelling? Does your cat's breath smell normal or does it smell like nail polish remover? If the breath does smell like nail polish remover, you need to take your cat to the vet ASAP. The nail polish remover smell is a sign of ketones, a waste product from burning the body's fat for energy. Excessive drinking of water, not eating, and ketones are good signs of diabetic ketoacidosis which can be fatal if not treated ASAP. This is not something you can wait to deal with tomorrow morning.

if your cat doesn't have nail polsih remover breath, then keep trying to get her to eat something. Definitely call the vet first thing in the morning and make an appointment for as soon as you can.  When you do bring your cat to see the vet, make sure the vet does a senior blood panel and includes the fructosamine test for diabetes and the test for hpertyroid (can't remember the name of that test).

diabetes or kidney disease cause cats to pee more and be thirsty. both can make your cat feel poorly and not want to eat. our cat has kidney disease, and he was drinking like mad - he also has IBS and had pancreatitis, so he was queasy and didn't eat. he's on a steroid for his IBS, subcutaneous fluids for his kidney disease, and he's been doing much better since we started those. he's a picky eater, which he wasn't before, but at least he'll eat if we give him a flavor he wants.

hopefully it's something easy to deal with for your cat!

Yikes! I was afraid of something like that. She had blood-work done as part of her senior wellness exam in June, and everything came back fine. She's been peeing a LOT for the past year or so, but has remained otherwise fine. I haven't noticed any weird polish-like smells coming from her, and she hasn't been peeing any more than she already was.

My husband is calling the vet first thing in the morning to get her an appointment. Her drinking so much was water really alarmed me. Hopefully she will be okay; I'll keep everyone posted. I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty with IBS! That sounds awful. :-(

the thing is, if she's drinking more water, she has to be peeing more - after all, where is the extra water she's drinking going? and three months is enough to develop something.

IBS is irritable bowel syndrome, and it's pretty much controlled by the steroid drops HK takes.

best wishes for you and your cat, and please let us know what the vet says.

Thanks so much for the well wishes and advice everyone. We heard back from the vet today, and she has a slight hormonal imbalance that was exacerbated by the stress of the new kitten. We have a synthetic progesterone to put into her food that should help her get back to normal. The extra water drinking was mainly from her not eating, as she usually eats wet food and gets moisture from there. Anyway, I'm so glad that we went to the vet, and I'm relieved that it's not too serious.

Thanks again!