My cat won't eat or drink

Hi All - I am new here and just found this forum today. I have 2 persian cats; Simba (male) and Virginia (female).

I'm really worried about my cat Virginia. Last night she was sick vomiting for most of the night. She would throw up about every hour until 4:00 this morning. After all the food came up it was just a white foam. She hasn't thrown up yet today, but she is very listless and hasn't eaten or drank anything since yesterday morning.

I have an appt. to take her to the vet at 9:20am tomorrow morning. I know that cats can't go very long without food and water, but I can't find any info. on the web as to how long. Has anybody else experienced this with their cat? Any idea what it may be? It happened one other time back in July; the exact same thing.

Any info. would be greatly appreciated; I am really worried about her. Thank you!

That happened to my roommate's cat when i brought my cat in. She didnt eat for 3 days and was throwing up all over. I'm no expert but is there any change in environment, anything that could be upsetting her? My roommate took her to the vet and told her to give her some canned chicken or tuna and she ate that and started eating again. Sorry, not much help, but I tried! :/

Thank you for your reply. There hasn't been any changes in the environment or anything stressful going on. She stopped throwing up around 4am this morning, but so far today still hasn't ate or drank anything. She is also very listless. I am just concerned because I have heard that cats can't go very long without food or water and my appt. is not until tomorrow am.

I would try and get her in earlier if you could, her most important health issue is dehydration and if she is dehydrated she won't be able to wait till tomorrow morning. While she is at rest, gently scruff her skin, hold it lightly in a pinch a few seconds and then let it go. It needs to fold down in just seconds to where it should be- if it stays tented up get her to the vet NOW


It depends on what is wrong with her, but they can only go 3 days tops without eating before problems occur. I would also suggest you get some pedialyte and start giving her some in a feeding syringe (or ask the pharmacist for an eyedropper) I would only give her drops at a time, anything else might cause aspirations to occur. Give her the liquid sideways in her mouth, not straight down her throat.

Thanks Hissy. When I get home from work today if she still hasn't eaten anything I'm going to see if I can get her in tonight. I always heard they can't go long without food or water. I tried to do the dehydration test with holding the skin up on her back, but she is a persian and with all her hair I couldn't really see what was going on.

I would strongly recommend taking her to the emergency vet clinic tonight. They have the capability to start her on continuous IV fluids immediately if she needs it, and they have the ability to run diagnostics in-house that many regular vet offices need to send offsite. The sooner you identify the problem and start treatment, the quicker she will make a full recovery. Even waiting overnight will only complicate the situation since it will give her another 12 hours to become more dehydrated. She will probably be fine with treatment but it would not be advisable to put it off. I know that the Pet ER in Towson is a well respected hospital so that might be a place for you to consider going tonight.

Please keep us posted. Hopefully she will recover very quickly.

Hi All - I wanted to let you know that I took my baby to the vet last night. My vet seems to think it may be a food allergy. They gave her some fluids, she got a steroid shot and I need to give her 1/2 tablet of Pepid AC every 12 hours. She is starting to come around. She has eaten a little bit today, although not much. I hope she can adjust to the new food.

Thank you all so much for your replies. I am so glad to have found this board.

Glad things are going better. If your kitty still won't eat or has less than a normal appetite, ask your Vet about Cyproheptadine.
This is an appetite stimulant in tablet form. Usually given twice daily, it works well for cats and kittens that go off their food and have some trouble getting back to normal eating.
Hopefully you won't need it!