Anxiety or Sick??

Hi! I really don't know what's going on with my cat, Norman. Norman usually LOVES to eat... purrs like a maniac... and comes running when I walk into the house (like a dog). I've been out of town for a few days, and I came home to my fiancÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] telling me that Norman hasn't been eating. So I attempted to feed him, and he wouldn't come near me. In fact, he's been sleeping in the sun around the house all day... moving when the sun moves. He hasn't eaten hardly anything today... and he's not eating dinner. I'm not sure if this is some kind of attention thing cats do, like an anxiety disorder or something, but its kind of worrying me. I don't know if I should take him to the vet or not. Oh yeah, and he's really jumpy, and walking with his head down like he did something wrong. I've never seen him like this... could he be sick, or angry that I left for 2 days?

We do have another cat, but Mr. Tibbs is just normal Mr. Tibbs today, trying to get my attention because Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not petting him at the moment. I've just separated them for a few minutes to watch Norman alone... but he is just laying with his head down on the floor, chin between his paws. I don't know what's going on... any advice?? Maybe I'll go get some wet food from the store, maybe he'll eat it? I call his name and he's acting like he's hearing impaired. Any advice at all?? Sick? Anxiety?

Nope, everything is the same... same food, same amount. Only thing different was that I wasn't home for 2 days... but Jay, my fiance, fed him and took care of them, and saw them 2 times a day...

He's finally started purring again! I rubbed his belly and he purred like a car engine! He's coming around! But I still can't help wondering if he's sick... where could I find cat vitamins, pets mart or something like that?

I'll give him some tuna tonight! I've got to go to the store... I'll see how it works... in the mean time, vitamins, where at?

thanks for the advice! i'm going to give it a whirl!

A cat can become very sick from not eating for several days. Try some tuna, some baby food chicken or turkey (with no onion or garlic), or even Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I think he is probably sick. Unless he eats tonight, call your vet.

Yep, I'm calling the vet in the morning. I think he's sick too. He's just not "normal norman". He drank some of the tuna water, but didn't bother eating the fish part. Then he walked away and hid under our dish hutch. (cool dark place). Norman never hids, never walks slow, always purrs, and always wants to be the center of attention. Thanks for the advice. I know cats need to eat at least every few days, or things go bad... thanks again!

Some times a cat will get upset if you leave him/her for a few days .I know when me and my husband would go on vacation and i would call to check up on my girls my mom would tell me no they aren't eatting and they just being depressed when i would come back home they would still be mad at me but in time they start acting normal ..You can try to put him in the bathroom with some food and a litter box and see if he eats he could be at night and you would never know if you have another cat I'd try that before you rush him to the vet

My cat had the same problem last summer. He would hide under the bed or lie in the grass and wouldn't eat anything. After about 3-4 days, I went to the vet and he said that a cat can't go for too long without eating, even if he's big. They supposedly have a weak liver.

They sent me home with some cans that cats can't resist. But, after another day of him not eating, I went back to the vet. This time he prescribed me pills that stimulate his intestine (pms-cyproheptadine half a pill twice a day). He started eating again after taking his first half of a pill.

Good luck
JK

It sounds like he is ill. The hiding under the Hutch which you say he never does do makes me lean more towards him being ill. Cats do go off and hide when they aren't feeling well. I would have him checked out if hes the same tommorow.

You all are so great! Thank you for the great advice!! Here's the update... I took him to the vet the next morning like I said I'd probably do, and I had to drop him off because the vet was busy... a few hours later, I was told the following... that he was hissing at them, so they needed to gas him. That told me I was in for a treat because that it's self is 45 dollars. They wanted to run a complete health profile, complete with testing for FIV and Feline Leukemia. He has already been tested for it, so I didn't understand why they wanted to run everything again other than charging me 132 dollars. They gave him fluids... in the shoulder, ... after it started to drain, his elbow looked like he had elephantitis! Anyway, the fluids consisted of mineral oil, I guess... because I was told, "He's all lubed up, and he’ll poop a big one tonight!" Err... thanks... was my comment to that...

So what I gathered was that I paid 293 dollars to discover that my cat does not have FIV or Feline Leukemia, which I had already known from a previous visit, does not have anything wrong with this kidney, liver or stools... no parasites in the stools... hum... I can't remember what else. The vet took a free ex-ray because he felt a large mass in his stomach, but after reviewing the ex-ray it was just a bunch of bowel! HAHAHA... I feel like I paid almost 300 dollars for my vet to tell me that Norman needed to poop. So last night he "pooped a big one", so I think it's funny that JimboKing described almost exactly what was going on with Norman... with the visit to the vet. Except they didn't give me any direction as to what to feed him to promote more eating and regular bowel movements again... in fact, they haven't given a complete diagnosis yet because the rest of the blood work isn't in yet. Ugh.

Oh well. He's back to his normal Norman self. He jumped on my lap and purrrrrred and "made muffins" on my thigh. They think he could have had... but aren't sure yet… Acute Gastritis..., which is a rapid onset of inflammation of the stomach. A common cause is eating spoiled food, garbage, dead fish, or animals, bones, plastic, wood, chemicals, drugs, toxic plants. Other causes of acute gastritis include viral or bacterial infections. OR it could be constipation, or it could be enteritis, which I guess is an inflammation of the intestines. Not sure yet... don't even know if the blood work will say... but at least he's acting normal again. I'm going to clean out his box and separate him again tonight, because he actually ate dinner tonight, so I should be able to further monitor his bowel frequencies.

Again. 300 dollars tells me so far he could have just been constipated, or could have an inflammation of the stomach or intestines. I'll find out in 2 days I guess, since all of he blood work isn't back yet... has anyone ever dealt with these things before? Any ideas to insure proper eating and digestion of food? Hum... I really don't know what he could have eaten to cause this, but if he was constipated... it says here... that any of these things could have been caused by "emotional disturbances" ... me going out of town? Perhaps!!

Thank you again, all of you for your advise. Next time I'll write a much shorter update, I promise... I write a lot... sorry... Side note... they shaved a little patch under/around his neck... which is a shame, because he has a cute little white "bib" which finally just finished growing back in after his seasonal itching allergies last year. He had scratched off all his neck hair! So what was with the neck shaving? I didn't notice it until recently when I took his collar off. Was that where they could have taken blood?

To help keep his bowels moving, try feeding him some canned pumpkin (the plain stuff, not the pumpkin pie filling stuff) each day...about 1 or so teaspoons.

Ok. Well it was more serious than constipation... He had a low indicance of FCV! Feline Corona Virus!! Does anyone know anything about FCV and not to be confused with FIP?? What causes FCV? I could look these questions up on the internet, and I have... but I keep reading about FIP but that's not what he has... I know FCV can mutate into FIP but he doesn't have that at this point... so info on FCV would be great. Thank you!

It IS FIP, and is caused by feline corona virus.