Cat not eating 2.5 days. Bloodwork normal. What to do?

[TSBLD]

I adopted my cat in 2014 (in my avatar), when she was around 1.5 yrs old from a rescue. She's around 9 to 10. She's never had any health problems aside from a "cold" in 2016. I work at a vet, and for the past 2 yrs all her bloodwork and whatnot has been normal. On Tuesday I noticed she hadn't eaten her lunch (drinking fine), and Weds morning I decided to take her to work. She got a b12 inj and Cerenia inj, and I took her home assuming she'd bounce back. The reason for that is because in Dec when I took her for vomiting, all her labs were good and she stopped vomiting after the visit. She threw up once last week, possibly from eating too fast as she barfed after eating. She hasn't thrown up in over a month. She is not a cat known for vomiting, and until Dec it was a very rare event.

On Thurs I decided to take her back because she still wasn't eating. We did full bloodwork and a pancreatitis test, with normal results. Bloodwork didn't indicate any risk of fatty liver from not eating. She got fluids and Mirataz for at home. I applied the Mirataz at work and 30 minutes later, she came home to immediately eat some wet food. Then before bed, I gave her half a 3oz packet of food and she ate that. This morning, she rejected the same wet food (microwaved to be warm), but ate some dry. I left food out for her, but when I came home from work, she hadn't eaten. I got some tuna cat food and she ignored it.

Keep in mind, she is very picky. She only likes chicken wet food, and it has to be chunks. She will also accept beef but mainly gets chicken. She won't eat pate. She happily eats dry food, but she's been mainly a wet food eater since I've had her. She does like most treats, but I don't have any right now since I don't feed them often. Her normal food is wet Nutro.

Her energy has seemed fine, maybe a little more clingy than usual. She has tried to play and she likes to look out the window and watch my hamsters and guinea pigs. She still drinks water, and prefers to drink from my dog's large water bowl instead of hers. No changes in the house, no stressors. She hasn't eaten much today and if she doesn't eat tomorrow, I would go back to work w/ her. The doctor would want to do radiographs and possibly hospitalize her.

I have lurked on this forum for years and it's very helpful. I have tried tricks here like smelly food and petting her while she eats, but nothing really helped. Any other advice for my cat?

 

[daftcat75]

Bloodwork only tells part of the story. It's not surprising that an answer wasn't revealed in the bloodwork alone. When was the last time she had a dental? I would start with a dental examination under anesthesia with X-rays. Some dental problems happen below the gum line and would not be visible in a "no anesthesia" exam without X-rays. The next thing I would explore if that doesn't yield anything is an ultrasound.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I don't have much to offer other than trying to feed her some human food to see if she will at least eat that - canned tuna in water (or chicken), deli turkey or chicken. Or go buy her some of the treats she likes as a test to see if she will even eat those. Baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut) can act as an enticer and most cats, even those who are sick, tend to like them. Any chance her food is bad? Have you tried another, or new, pouch/can of her 'normal' food since?

Eating after a vet visit can happen just on the virtue of the adrenalin build-up in the system from the excitement/anxiety, so maybe it wasn't actually the Mirataz that got her to eat. Has she had any more Mirataz?

I think getting radiographs, or an ultrasound, would seem to be the best next step since you have the means to accomplish this so quickly.

The only other thing that came to mind is something to do with the dog's water/water bowl and if anything could have changed about that. If it is a big dog s/he might not be as quick to be impacted by whatever might be wrong with it as a smaller sized pet would be. Or hairball related by chance?

 

[TSBLD]

It's not surprising that an answer wasn't revealed in the bloodwork alone. When was the last time she had a dental?

Her dental was just in December. She's never had dental rads. AFAIK she has all her teeth, and none are requiring extractions.

Any chance her food is bad? Have you tried another, or new, pouch/can of her 'normal' food since?

Since her food is starting to be out of stock, I'm having to grab it where I can. Usually I buy it at the pet store, but this last time I had to get it on Amazon. Her normal food is what she ate after coming home yesterday. I did also offer her Hills and Only Natural Pet. ONP she has liked in the past and wouldn't eat this time. Hills was what she ate last night but wouldn't eat this morning. I tried to give her tuna cat food, and she only took one bite. She's never really liked fish anyway.

I gave her some mirataz maybe an hour ago. I cleaned the wet food from her bowl and gave her some of her dry food. She came over to take a few bites once I set it down.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Did they check for constipation? This is also a reason for cats not eating. Since she normally eats wet food, it's probably NOT that, but just thought I'd bring it up. I actually keep a daily log of the goings on in the litter box so I know if anything is amiss. Luckily I can tell the difference in poops from my cats so I know who did what.

 

[TSBLD]

Did they check for constipation? This is also a reason for cats not eating. Since she normally eats wet food, it's probably NOT that, but just thought I'd bring it up. I actually keep a daily log of the goings on in the litter box so I know if anything is amiss. Luckily I can tell the difference in poops from my cats so I know who did what.

She did poop today. She's regular about 99% of the time.
I left dry food out overnight and she ate that, and then she had breakfast. Idk if it's the mirataz or if she's feeling better, but at least she's eating.

 

[TSBLD]

Kate has been doing well and eating on her own. Now we have a new "problem". She is ravenous!!! All she wants is food. Yesterday while I was at work, she tore into a ziploc bag that held a bag of chicken treats I use for my hamsters (yes hams can eat chicken!). I got some different brands and she now eats them as if I starve her.

She did lose a little weight (went from 8.4lb to 8.18 over the days she didn't eat), but I doubt it's related.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Are you giving her the MIrataz, and if so, how much? A too high dosage can make a cat feel as if they are starving.

 

[TSBLD]

She hasn't had Mirataz since Saturday.

She gets fed on a schedule and knows the feeding times.

 

[FeebysOwner]

B12 can stimulate appetite too - perhaps that injection is kicking in? And/or, new/different food?

 

[TSBLD]

Surprised I never updated this. Kate started eating after a few days after all the vet visits back in Feb.

She threw up a hairball today and yesterday. She's been having hairball and vomiting trouble since last Dec. I switched her food from Nutro to Pro Plan wet hairball, and it really helped decrease the amount of vomit. For a while I fed her a few cans of Nutro again, and she threw that all up. Her vomit today and yesterday was brown with hair, but no food. At my old job/vet, we did plenty of rads, bloodwork, etc and the vet thinks she just has hairballs. We tried Laxatone, but she hates it. I'm starting to wonder if I need to bring her to our new vet. She's perfectly fine in every other way, but the vomiting is concerning. I've had her since 2014 and she never started to vomit consequentially til last December. I'm about to start a new job, so idk how much I could spend on her right now - especially if "it's just hairballs".

 

[FeebysOwner]

Good that she is doing better overall! I probably have touted hairball remedies here, or if not here other threads. Try butter/margarine - a dab from your finger or on her paw for her to lick. If not that, add a couple of drops of olive oil to her food. Other members say egg lecithin helps for hairball passing. Daily brushings are always helpful as well.

 

[daftcat75]

I thought it was "just hairballs" with Betty and she continued to turn herself inside out every week or two. "Just a hairball" meant one hairball and several more acid spit ups until she got down to pink spits (irritated esophagus.) When she had pink spits, I took her to the ER. After her second ER trip, I got her scheduled with an internal medicine specialist. We argued for a few more months while all the diagnostics pointed to IBD. But all I ever saw were "just hairballs." After a particularly nasty one, I decided to give in and try steroids. She hasn't had a hairball since and we've been able to taper twice. She's now taking half the initial dose. The specialist said she can remain here for awhile while I explore other health concerns that got sidetracked by all of this. I adopted her in January and we had her scheduled for a dental in February. But that didn't happen because of her "hairballs." All this time lost because I stubbornly believed that not vomiting food and not having poop issues meant it couldn't be IBD. So, if you can save up for a vet visit, I highly encourage an ultrasound for Kate.

In the meantime, you can see if she likes egg yolk. Egg yolk can be used instead of laxatone. If she likes it, you can get egg yolk powder from Food Fur Life. This will be far easier than dealing with fresh yolk.
EZ Egg Yolk

Shoot! It's currently sold out. But they have a recipe for how to make your own egg yolk powder on this page.
How Best to Manage Hairballs

You may also consider egg yolk lecithin which you can dose in smaller amounts if she doesn't like egg yolk itself.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OCAZTM/?tag=thecatsite

 

[Mighty Orange]

You might also try brushing the cat daily to try and cut back the hair she swallows.

 

[TSBLD]

I thought it was "just hairballs" with Betty and she continued to turn herself inside out every week or two. "Just a hairball" meant one hairball and several more acid spit ups until she got down to pink spits (irritated esophagus.) When she had pink spits, I took her to the ER. After her second ER trip, I got her scheduled with an internal medicine specialist. We argued for a few more months while all the diagnostics pointed to IBD. But all I ever saw were "just hairballs." After a particularly nasty one, I decided to give in and try steroids. She hasn't had a hairball since and we've been able to taper twice. She's now taking half the initial dose. The specialist said she can remain here for awhile while I explore other health concerns that got sidetracked by all of this. I adopted her in January and we had her scheduled for a dental in February. But that didn't happen because of her "hairballs." All this time lost because I stubbornly believed that not vomiting food and not having poop issues meant it couldn't be IBD. So, if you can save up for a vet visit, I highly encourage an ultrasound for Kate.

In the meantime, you can see if she likes egg yolk. Egg yolk can be used instead of laxatone. If she likes it, you can get egg yolk powder from Food Fur Life. This will be far easier than dealing with fresh yolk.
EZ Egg Yolk

Shoot! It's currently sold out. But they have a recipe for how to make your own egg yolk powder on this page.
How Best to Manage Hairballs

You may also consider egg yolk lecithin which you can dose in smaller amounts if she doesn't like egg yolk itself.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OCAZTM/?tag=thecatsite

Thanks for the suggaestions. I'm starting a new job and they have pet insurance as a benefit, so I'd really like to get her on that first...but I absolutely will take her to the vet if she vomits again or gets worse. Money isn't a major issue but I would like to avoid spending a few hundred for a few weeks. I am in an area where we have lots of specialists, so if something is found, then we won't have a problem with getting treatment.

You might also try brushing the cat daily to try and cut back the hair she swallows.

I am also going to do that. She is a shorthair. I brushed her yesterday and didn't get an excessive amount out but it was something. She's never really been a heavy shedder.