Daphne- Temperature- Hasn't eaten for two days!

zazi

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Daphne is an outdoor cat. She's part of a TNR program. I noticed she'd lost some weight and was not eating as much as usual.

So we took her into the vet. Vet couldn't find anything wrong with her. No diahhrhea, nothing except a raised temperature which is sometimes caused by the visit to the vet itself.

He gave her a shot and a course of baytril just to be sure.

BUT SHE WON'T EAT!!!!!

I can handle everything except when a cat stops eating. To me its a sure sign something is wrong.

She's been in doors for two nights now. She was initially in the guest bath room downstairs but i felt that perhaps because the litter and the food were so close together she was not keen to eat.

So i moved her to my study. She has a view of the garden outside, and the litter is about 6m away from the food and also not near the door where she can smell my other cats.

It is an old litter tray, one that was being used by my cats recently. I scrubbed it as clean as possible last night. Gave her fresh litter. AND about a litre of standard garden sand just so it smells like what she is used to.

She ate a bit the first day. If i gave her some minced quail, or some felidae or whiskas (we have a whole variety of cat foods) she would eat a few mouthfuls and then stop.

Today i am going to try with some boiled chicken and some baby food.

What could it be?

Stress from being inside?
I'm so worried that she won't get any better. I just have so so so so much on my hands right now i'll probably have a nervous breakdown if she doesn't recover from this.

I have some classical music on to calm her. She meowing and meowing although she will stop and sit on my lap and purr like it's going out of fashion if i pick her up and hold her.

Any helpful suggestions?????????????
 
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zazi

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I'm really worried.

I just gave her some boiled chicken and butter. She seems very very interested in the butter but not the chicken.

She has about a teaspoon full and then stopped eating!

I'm going to go and blend it and see if she does any better with a softer food.
If she does perhaps it's a tooth problem.
 
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zazi

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I tried to blend the chicken into like a paste.
Added some of the chicken broth from the steamer and then fed her some.
She seems quite happy to lap up what ever i give her from a spoon.
She won't eat from the bowl. Mind you these are the same bowls she ate from when she was out side. She even has the blanket from the basket she used to sleep in on the arm chair that she has taken a shine to.

She just won't sort of take the initative to eat and i'm extremely worried as ... when cat's don't eat it's usually a bad sign especially since she is normally quite a greedy cat.
 

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Can you ask the vet about appetite stimulants? Sometimes, they can help "convince" the cat to eat again.
 
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zazi

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I could do that. I have to call in a day or so to let him know how we are doing.

I'm beginning to think it is tooth or gum related.

She will lap up blended chicken. And yesterday i remember that whatever i gave her she only licked up the saucey bits.

Because everything else seems fine. No diahrhea and no vomiting. Just not eating and a slight fever.

This was similar to another cat we rescued who was being treated for a bad tooth.

She is amazingly cuddly for a TNR cat.

I have draped over the armchair a felt blanket and i was sitting underneath it with her a few moments ago and she curled up on my stomach and fell asleep with her head under my chin!

I can only imagine how affectionate she would have been if she had been raised as an indoor cat.

I just hope she starts eating again. I'm going to blend up the kibble tonight and use that to try and pin point what it is about the food she doesn't like. The taste or the texture. That might give the vet some clues also.
 
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zazi

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She's still not eating.

Can any one suggest anything? i really need some ideas. i am under so much pressure from work and home etc. i really need help but we just moved here some time back and i hardly know anyone...

i'm so stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment.

this is just such a lousy time for her to get sick - i know it's not her fault but it's just such a lousy situatation right now and i iwsh she would just start eating on her own.
 

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Can you get close enough to her to let her allow you to examine her mouth? I am thinking abscessed tooth, rodent ulcers, something stuck in her throat?

Is there someway to put her outside and keep her outside but still somewhat confined? Sometimes the shock of an outdoor cat being pulled inside can throw them off so they don't eat. They are nervous, they are in a huge cage (your home) and they cannot adjust.

I have one old fella here, he has been a true feral all his life. He got into a horrible fight with a newcomer someone dumped on our property, a tomcat.
At any rate, Cleo vanished for awhile and when he came back he was skinny and injured. I took him in, they discovered a huge hole in his eye. I was told to confine him till the infection was under control, then they planned on putting him through surgery.

Well after 4 days of confinement, it was clear that Cleo wasn't liking this arrangement. I called the vet and asked him what would happen if I just let him outside, and continued doctoring him there. I was told this would lead to a poor prognosis. But, I let him out the next day. He took off and I just resigned myself to the fact that he was done in the world. About two weeks later, he returned. He was fine. The hole was gone, the infection cleared up, and he is still happily living underneath a neighbor's barn.

Sometimes with these outside cats, we just have to gamble. If I were you, I would take her in and get bloodwork done. Find out how her liver is doing, have her mouth and throat checked as well and then go from there. Depending on what the vets finds wrong, make the best decision you can for her.

Also read the article in the Health Section of the website (not the forums) Feline Hepatic Lipidosis. On the second page, I leave tips on how to get a reluctant cat to eat-


Good luck- taking care of ferals properly is never easy. As smart as these cats are, we can't alway tell them that what we are doing (stressing them out) is really for their own good!
 

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Originally Posted by zazi

She's still not eating.

Can any one suggest anything? i really need some ideas. i am under so much pressure from work and home etc. i really need help but we just moved here some time back and i hardly know anyone...

i'm so stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment.

this is just such a lousy time for her to get sick - i know it's not her fault but it's just such a lousy situatation right now and i iwsh she would just start eating on her own.
I feel your pain. My foster ernie is doing the same thing. he refuses to eat (i think yesterday with much encouragement i got about 10 pieces of kibble into him), he won't eat tuna, wet food...or anything else i've tried. He was an outdoor stray, extremely affectionate etc. So i thought maybe he was depressed etc from being inside (and in a basement), so i took him to my friends where he gets big windows and her company etc. He's staying there for a week in the hopes that this perks him up so he can get on with being neutered and adopted out. It's stressing me out completely...

I hope things turn around and maybe the vet has some advice. Keep me updated on your progress!
 

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If either of these cats don't eat normal amounts in 48-72 hours get them to the vet quickly to stop any liver damage.
 

renny

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Thanks hissy...i've just talked to the rescue director and she's wondering if the vaccination and deworming he got last tuesday (on top of being trapped indoors) might be stressing him out and making him not feel well. I'm going to try taking him outside for awhile again and see if he'll eat out there.
 
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zazi

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She's just had some canned whiskas, blended.

I kind of know what to look for where the gum is concerned, red swollen areas etc. I will do that as soon as i can. The problem is... gaining her trust.

She is admittedly not 100% at ease in doors but right now she's just sitting on the edge of the rug with her eyes shut purring away.

I think i'm just going to back off this evening, take a break and go watch american idol and come back later.

All in all i've spoon fed her about 2-3 oz of belnded chicken and as i said earlier, whiskas which went down quite quickly.

I'm supposed to give her her baytril later... That's going to be real tricky.

She has not used the litter box yet - that's worrying me a little. She went at the vet yesterday, on the puppy liners. But since then, nothing.

Any advice about the litter box. At the moment it's 80% litter 20% garden sand.
 
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zazi

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Hissy- we don't have mice etc in the garden. I'm not sure why but they're not such a big problem around here.

Will check the teeth as soon as i can though-
My main concern about letting her out is being unable to keep tabs on her food intake and her elimination.
 

renny

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Litter is a toughy....try less litter and maybe more dirt/sand. When she goes somewhere else (if she does), take it and put it in the litter box and she'll start to understand. Then you can slowly put less soil and more litter.
 
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zazi

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URK!
Lets hope THAT doesn't happen!
 
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zazi

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I don't believe this.
Its proving impossible for me to give her the medication.

She won't eat anything with even a hint of it in the food.
She won't eat.
She won't drink.

She hasn't used the litter.
It's been 3 days since she has had anything substantial.

I am really at my wits end.
I have 7 other cats at home. My mum is arriving on Friday.
My husband is out of town. I'm so totally stressed out i just don't know what to do anymore
I've never dealt with a cat like this before. If i let her out i have no way of knowing wether she's eaiting or not.

Why did this have to happen now? This is just too much pressure for me. I really feel like i'm on the verge of just totally loosing the plot. I am so unglued. And i'm so sorry for writing all this here, i just don't have anyone else to turn to oer anyone else who can even begin to understand what this feels like.

I feel so helpless.
 
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zazi

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I managed to give her the baytril this morning.

Once again i tried everything. Three different types of food.
3 wet foods. 2 dry foods.
She wouldn't even take any water.

She was meowing all of last night.

So my last resort was to let her out again.
She hooked up with her friend outside. A male tom, also neutered. They are now both outside investigating the new deck the neighbours are building.

She still hasn't eaten.

She called to the male for him to come and eat but she didn't eat.
She had a few sips of water and that was all.

If she starts to go down hill.... I'll have no way of paying for her vet fees.

The fees in Dubai are ridiculously high and the assc will only do a waiver of up to 200dhms.

And on top of that i am leaving on the 19th for a business trip to singapore!
 
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zazi

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She's sitting outside walkng around and meowing. It's almost as though she's looking or something.

It's like a very abrupt meow. She keeps coming to the window and meowing.

I just can't figure out what is wrong... Obviously something is not right.

No diarrhea. No vomiting.

What could it be?

The vet said that if in four days she is not improved to bring her in for bloodwork.

Like right now she's lookng at me and meowing... Just that one meow. No variation. And then she stops. When i go outside... She starts meowing again and then she sits down and stops.
 

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I wish i had answers for you. I would suggest if it's been that long that you try force feeding her some wet food, or a wet food/KMR gruel. When cats stop eating for too long they stop feeling hungry. I don't know if you have Wysong products there, but i just found something called PDG for Ernie. It is a dehydrated meal replacement that is a powder, and an ounce of it replaces a can of wet food for nutrients. I managed to get Ernie to have about 1/2oz of that yesterday.

Don't give up, i know it's stressful. Good vibes coming for you, you are doing everything you can!
 
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zazi

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called vet. vet said to bring her in. so she is in the study again. so am i.

I am armed with quail - blended.
Tuna - Blended.
Chicken - pieces.
A syringe and a pill popper.

I'm trying to give her about 10ml of a thick quail meat/bone/water ground up into a fine paste ever hour.

Luckily it is still relatively easy to syringe her the paste. I try to get it in inbetween head rubs and general hugs in the hope that she will be relaxed and at ease.

I'm not really sure if it is working.

She did use the litter tray though.

 
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zazi

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I chopped the tip off the syringe so that the chicken bits wold stop getting stuck.

Boiled up a chicken breast - one long half and blended it. will feed that to her over the course of today.

if i can get that into her i'll be very very happy.

she's meowing a little less - and i just heard her burb.

i hope she doesn't throw up. that hasn't happened yet, and there's no diarrhea but these things have a way of chaging pretty quick.

we're also on round 4 of the 5 set classical chill out cd collection.

i really wonder what she's got that has caused her to stop eating.
 
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