Cat seems to be starving herself.

kat3cats

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Hi,

I have, in the last two weeks, gotten my cats off of a particular brand of food that was causing severe diarrhea in all 6 of my cats. Three of them are indoor only, 3 are indoor/outdoor.

Upon switching the food, everyone did great, diarrhea stopped. There's one issue.  I have ONE cat that refuses all food, and will wait until a single crumb of human food drops.  Or raids the trash can, steals food from the kids, raids the cabinets and opening bags of chips, crackers, whatever. She is losing weight (they are all at great weight, no overfeeding or human snacks are allowed here). I keep the trash covered with a heavy lid and have banded all my cabinets shut.

We have been to the vet, initially nothing was wrong with her, and come Monday morning we will be at the vet again, since she refuses food.

Is there ANYTHING else I can do? For her ONLY, I have bought 4 more small cans of food and two more bags of dry to try next week. I am hoping at this point that her liver isn't damaged.

Thank you.
 

neely

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Welcome to TCS, there are many wise and knowledgeable members here who can help support you.


I've actually been going through something similar myself with our present cat.  When I transition I do it over a longer period of time than you mentioned.  However, since you said all but one of your cats are doing okay I guess this is a moot point.  I don't know where you live or if this is a possibility for you but I discovered our cat took to raw food immediately.  I use the freeze dried raw while I am transitioning him.  I have gone to several different pet stores and got samples of all different brands and types of (better quality) food.  That way I wasn't breaking the bank.
  This is how I found out he loves raw.  

Perhaps other members can weigh in with their advice.  Good luck, I hope you find a suitable food choice.  
 

denice

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You need to go ahead and feed her whatever she will eat just to get calories in.  Unfortunately some cats will simply refuse a food and they won't eat 'when they are hungry enough'.  
 

Willowy

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I had one like that (she lives with my mom now). Strange cat. Anyway, when I had her she wouldn't eat any canned food, but dry food would give her a cystitis flare-up. And stupidly, I didn't monitor her intake and assumed she would eat the canned food when she got hungry enough :/. But she didn't, and ended up with fatty liver disease from not eating, and I didn't notice until she was jaundiced. Fortunately she's very docile so I was able to force-feed her enough to pull her through that crisis. After that I fed her a homemade diet made with real chicken, and she would eat that.

So, just to get something in her, try some cooked chicken, she'll probably eat that. And keep trying different foods to see what she'll eat on a regular basis. Some cats really will starve themselves, crazy cats :sigh:.
 
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PushPurrCatPaws

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Hi,
I have, in the last two weeks, gotten my cats off of a particular brand of food that was causing severe diarrhea in all 6 of my cats. Three of them are indoor only, 3 are indoor/outdoor.
Upon switching the food, everyone did great, diarrhea stopped. There's one issue.  I have ONE cat that refuses all food, and will wait until a single crumb of human food drops.  Or raids the trash can, steals food from the kids, raids the cabinets and opening bags of chips, crackers, whatever. She is losing weight (they are all at great weight, no overfeeding or human snacks are allowed here). I keep the trash covered with a heavy lid and have banded all my cabinets shut.
We have been to the vet, initially nothing was wrong with her, and come Monday morning we will be at the vet again, since she refuses food.

Is there ANYTHING else I can do? For her ONLY, I have bought 4 more small cans of food and two more bags of dry to try next week. I am hoping at this point that her liver isn't damaged.

Thank you.
Is she one of the cats who is indoor only? Do you feed all of your cats at the same time, and put their dishes in the same location? It could be a territorial or behavioral thing, where she wants to eat at a different time, or simply just alone and/or separately.
 
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kat3cats

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Is she one of the cats who is indoor only? Do you feed all of your cats at the same time, and put their dishes in the same location? It could be a territorial or behavioral thing, where she wants to eat at a different time, or simply just alone and/or separately.
Yes, she's indoor only.  The others that are also indoor only are her litter mates/siblings. :) All this not-eating-the-cat-food is very recent, they've always eaten together.

I really really really wanted to keep her off human food, but, whatever it takes, I reckon. Chicken it is, for Miss Lilly.

Thanks for all the replies.
 
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