Help for a friend

Well, my Miranda is doing very well, but when I got to work this morning I encountered a distraught friend. She wanted me to post for her since I lurk here all the time, and see if anyone can maybe help her find some answers.

Can you ask if it's possible for a 4 year old cat to get sick of his food? I've given him dry Science Diet ever since I got him, but he suddenly doesn't have much of an interest. He's been eating a little bit of wet food and a very small amount of the dry -- so he's lost a lot of weight. My roommate have tuna for dinner last night and he was going crazy. She said she gave him a little piece, and he probably would've eaten the whole bag if she let him.

Does this sound like a food issue to any of you? I mean, I know Science Diet isn't exactly the best food, but is it possible that he's just sick of it? Or do you think it's something else?

Hi there and first of all Welcome to TCS.

We used to feed Science Diet and my cats did get sick of it so we went back to Royal Canin.

All the best,

Sam.

I know that I wouldn't want to eat Science diet all the time.. Ask her if she could perhaps get him some more wet food that's a premium variety because it smells and tastes more like meat. also, if she could switch to a premium dry cat food, the flavors are more varied, and taste more like real food. Its' worth a shot of buying a little (4 lb bag) and mixing it into the old dry food. Also, try bonito flakes to help stimulate him. I'm concerned that he's not eating and think he ought to be vetted.

Hi everyone,

I'm new at this, but we are talking about my cat, Jack. My roommate said he was acting pretty normal while I was gone over the past few days. He drank his water and ate his dry food. He didn't seem to eat a ton of the dry food but he was definitely eating. He kept jumping on the bathroom sink trying to drink water, which is one of his usual, but annoying quirks. He was definitely eating and drinking. She also cleaned out his litter box so I know he was going to the bathroom too. He didn't throw up at all either.

Maybe he's tired of his food?? He seems to have an appetite. She opened a can of tuna last night and he would have eaten all of it if he could! Is it safe to give cats regular tuna? What else can I feed him to fatten him up??? He's a 5 year old black cat, so he's thin by nature -- but now it's starting to really alarm me....

He does have a vet appointment on Thursday, so they'll probably draw blood and see if anything else is wrong. He had a belly obstruction surgery a couple of years ago, but has been absolutely fine since then.

It's not suggested, there's too much sodium im the preserved tuna, as well as not enough taurine. There's stuff that's particularly good for kitens and nursing mothers, called kitten glop... Let me see if I can find that information. I don't know i'f it's applicable in this matter though. I'm glad you're taking your cat to the vet. Generally, I think it's good to worry if there's a sudden change in behaviour and that includes eating behaviours. You can go to the pet store and buy a premium cat food that's processed to be not like a patÃ[emoji]169[/emoji], but more like chunks in sauce, and perhaps that would be helpful, to change shapes on him, and to give him something new. Wet food seems to be better digested when varied than the dry, but that's only my experience. Also, he could be having a problem with his smeller, and the food he's eating isn't stinky enough (that sounds strange I know) Perhaps sprinkle some tuna flakes or bonito flakes, or rosie's rosedust on top of his meals.

I have to say that my cats really enjoy the nutro natural choice stuff, canned and dry. It is quite .... aromatic...

I think I'm going to run over to Petco tonight and see if I can find the tuna based foods, since he seems to love it. I'll try and find both wet and dry foods to see how that works. I'll see what types have the highest fat content!

Thanks for all the advice. Hopefully the doctor will figure him out on Thursday.

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all of your help yesterday, but I ended up taking my cat into the ER to find that he was actually in kidney failure. Seeing how he was 4 years old and suffering, I decided to put him down. I cried myself to sleep and have been crying all day today, but hopefully things will get easier for me soon. I don't know what caused such a horrible medical problem for him, but I know I did the right thing. I miss my little man more than I ever thought I would -- I even thought I saw him out of the corner of my eye earlier on tonight.

I'm thinking about adopting 2 kittens in the next few weeks -- hopefully siblings. I'll let you know what happens. I didn't think I'd want a new cat so quickly, but I really think it'll help me move on a little faster. My apartment feels so empty, so I'm hoping I can find 1 or 2 new buddies.

Thanks again everyone.


- C