12 yr old cat quit eating, and gags at food

[Kritter292]

My 12 yr old cat has all of a sudden quit eating and gags at the smell of food. She was eating food 2 days ago and all of a sudden has stopped. She still loves attention and purrs but has been hiding under my desk the past few days. We have to take her food to try to get her to eat. She’s indoors so she hasn’t eaten anything she isn’t supposed to. She does randomly move from under the desk to the dining room chairs and living room chairs. She does have a different smell to her and has been very tired the past few weeks. Can someone please help me with some answers?

 

[Maurey]

This is an urgent vet trip.

 

[daftcat75]

These symptoms are common to many conditions. Too many to even guess what might be going on here. Please take this cat to the vet to have her checked out. It could be simple or it could be serious. But none of us can or should diagnose your cat from an Internet post. Time is of the essence here. When cats stop eating, the longer they go without eating, the less likely they will eat again without some kind of medical or pharmaceutical intervention.

 

[FeebysOwner]

All of the above! I am probably going to give you the most obvious answers/questions. When was she last seen by a vet? She is now considered a senior, heading toward geriatric status. Vet visits with a full blood work and a urinalysis are the typical parts of a senior vet visit, and at your cat's age should be happening twice a year.

Gagging at food and hiding are good indications of some sort of illness. Given her age, you don't fool around with this stuff. She needs a full check up and anything else the vet thinks is appropriate when given the description of her behavior.

 

[Kritter292]

Ok thank you guys. I am definitely gonna get her in. She was eating purée lunch meat and hot dogs as she quit eating her hard cat food

 

[daftcat75]

Neither of those are good for her. Meat alone is not a nutritionally balanced or complete diet. But processed meat like lunch meat and hot dogs is even worse. Processed meat is often too high in sodium. You can offer meat-only baby food in a pinch for about a week. But I would skip this now. She needs real cat food. Go to the grocery store and pick up a few different brands of canned cat food. Popular brands are popular with cats. They would not be on those shelves otherwise.

But this cat still needs to see a vet ASAP. I would ask for a senior screen plus the pancreatitis test. It's not a standard test. It's better to ask for it now than to wait for the first results to come back. She should also have her urine checked.