cat not eating after finishing metro / flagyl

my cat finished her 10 metronidazole prescription 2 days ago. she was prescribed it and Zylkene for stress colitis. At the same time we started all our pets on Seresto flea collars because I think the fleas were causing my cat extreme stress. At the end of her metronidazole she was eating and had decently formed stool, though still a little bloody. I should mention she had a clean blood test a few weeks ago as well. Yesterday she only ate a tiny amount and today she is hiding and not eating or drinking. She did a small poo in the litter box but it was very runny and she was frantic to leave after as she has been lately with the loose stools. i just syringed her some water and she purred and curled up with me on the bed. Still hasnt eaten that I know of and I've offered her her kibble, raw food, canned food, and cooked chicken, not interested. At what point do I syringe feed? I would really like to collect a urine sample to submit to vet tomorrow, will see if I can get her to pee. May take her to vet tomorrow but i know the next step will probably be stool (she was on Revolution last month though) and urine samples and possibly x-ray/ultrasound. i was wondering if anyone has had issues after finishing metronidazole or with zlkene?

The flea collars should come off. They have been known to make some pets very sick.

I can try taking it off but I think the side effects of seresto are usually skin related and I feel like she would have been sick from it earlier? We began seresto only after she was already acting ill and was prescribed the Metro/flagyl. Do i need to syringe feed if she's only eaten a small amount in 36 hours?

I'm going to give a shout out to other, more knowledgeable members to help us out.

I just got some Nutri-cal high calorie paste from petco, wiping some of that on her mouth as we speak.

Good!

If I understand this right, two things changed right before she stopped eating.  1.  Her metronidazole and Zylkene prescriptions came to an end and 2.  You put a Seresto flea collar on her.   It seems the problem must relate to either one of those two, or to the stress colitis itself.   The easiest thing of those three to modify is the flea collar, so I'd take it off her.  I don't know much about the Seresto flea collars in particular but flea collars in general do not have a good reputation and sensitive cats can react badly to them.  At any rate, it certainly won't hurt to take the collar off her for 24-48 hours to see if she regains her appetite.  

You were wondering about syringe feeding - if she's been 48 hours without food and shows no inclination to eat, yes, it would be a good idea.  You might have a few other options still, however.  Have you tried feeding her by hand, yet?   And have you tried warming up her food so it has a more enticing aroma?  You might also try offering her chicken or turkey baby food (no onions or garlic) or some crumbled cheese or bits or warmed ham.   If none of these work, then definitely feed her by the syringe.  The Nutri-cal is a great idea so continue that as well.  

I do think you need to take her to the vet.  She obviously feels awful.  I'm not very familiar with using either metronidazole  or zylkene  and am not aware of any withdrawal like symptoms but you should ask the vet about that.  While you are at the vet, you might ask about an alternative to the flea collars.  You mentioned you'd used Revolution before.  Is there a reason you switched to the flea collars?  If you don't like Revolution, you might try Advantage.  

Please let us know how she does!  

Thanks for replies.

She is actually still on Zylkene. It's OTC but it was recommended. Took her to vet today along with urine sample and fecal, she has a UTI and was given a shot of Convenia and another round of Metronidazole.

I have tried warming up her food and that seems to help but she has only had a few licks. I may keep trying new enticing cans of blue wilderness, chicken and egg, and baby food and keep offering her the raw food. The vet says if she is still barely eating bring her back in 2 days for more tests. They think maybe this is stress related. I thought the fleas were bringing her stress but those are gone now. And now I have to pill her another round of flagyl so that will be another stressor :-( This seems like a self perpetuating cycle. She gets stressed and sick, I have to force meds and food, run around treating for fleas and vacuuming, she continues to be stressed and sick.

I had everyone on revolution for quite a while but it wasn't working fast enough for how stressed and miserable my cat Spot was. Now the fleas are all gone with seresto and knock out spray. Our 9 month old kitten and dogs piss Spot off occasionally and may bring her stress.

I was hoping for some a/d but they gave us a free bag of Hills urinary support. I haven't checked ingredients but I recall it being no better than feeding raw or canned.

Any tips for reducing stress when pilling and in general?

Thank you xx

I forgot to mention the vet gave her an appetite stimulant so she was very happy to eat tonight! she loves the chicken baby food and actually had a bite from all the dishes i made for her earlier, the canned, the raw, the kibble. I hope she keeps this up tomorrow.

I'm glad to hear that the appetite stimulant worked and that your girl is eating again.  What is her name, btw?  Is it Spot?    Anyway, it sounds like she made up for all the missed meals. I hope she continues to eat.  Sometimes breaking the food avoidance cycle is all it takes to get them eating again.

You asked about less stressful ways to pill her.  This article describes the basic technique.  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-can-i-give-a-pill-to-my-cat but check out this thread, as well.   http://www.thecatsite.com/t/313723/how-do-i-get-my-cat-to-take-a-pill   It's filled with various tricks that members have come up with to get medicine down the "hatch."  Coating the pill with butter or wrapping it in something tasty are two favorite techniques.  It also helps reduce the stress of pilling if you follow with a treat and a soft pat or two.   Your cat may rather just get as far away as possible though so that doesn't always work.

One of the things that was undoubtedly adding to her misery was the UTI. You should hopefully see some improvement as she starts to recover.  Keep an eye out for straining, litter box avoidance and/or blood in the urine - not every treatment works the first time so you'll need to monitor her closely for awhile.   UTIs are often stress related so efforts to reduce her stress, in general, will pay off here as well.

In terms of reducing her stress generally, it would help to know a little bit more about her situation.  You mention you also have a nine-month-old kitten and a dog that annoy her sometimes.  Does she have a way to get away from them?  This is where it helps to have a cat tree so that she can run to it and jump up on the top shelf.  Is the kitten a fairly new member of the family?  If so, she might be having problems adapting to its presence.  

You might consider ordering a couple of Feliway diffusers.  These emit a substance based on cat pheromones associated with contentment and happiness. They are quite pricey but amazon is said to have the cheapest prices.   One diffuser covers 700-900 square feet so order accordingly.  These don't always work, but when they do, cats become much less anxious so it's worth giving it a try.

Please let us know how she does!  

yes, her name is Spot, but we call her Kitty. She's about 8 and I've had her for 4 years. She was doing well but her appetite started to taper off again, I mixed in some of the Hills c/d and that night she wouldn't eat until I plopped her in the litter box and she did a big poo with lots of gas and then she ate. She hasn't pooped since then (2 days ago) and did not eat today, only had a taste of the chicken and water I blended. I cleaned her litter box and put her in again and she had a long pee. Then she came up to eat, I had out some Rad Cat raw turkey and some of the blended chicken. she tried the chicken again but didnt have more than a lick. I gave her some slippery elm earlier which really ticked her off and ordered some Nexabiotic and Jarrow online, they will get here Sunday and Monday. Worried about her not eating. I don't think she's eaten since yesterday afternoon, so maybe 30-34 hours??

We've had the kitten for 7 months now. She is 3.5 lbs bigger than spot. They played when she was littler but now Spot doesnt enjoy her company. They have a cat tree but the kitten can bother her on it. I've been locking Spot in the bedroom with the cat tree lately while I'm at work so she can have peace and eat and go potty without Danaerys (kitten) bothering her. I will have to order the feliway.

After reading 48 hours is emergency vet time, I just went out (1am here) and bought some fancy feast and Friskies from gas station. Little stinker is eating fancy feast with water right this moment. Guess she got turned off her food