CKD cat won’t eat with UTI

[BigBurgers]

TL;DR - Senior CKD cat is one day into her antibiotic treatment for UTI. Drinks on her own but doesn’t want to eat.

Full Story - My cat was diagnosed with CKD a little over a year ago and I've been able to manage it pretty well. A few weeks ago I took her for a 6 month kidney blood panel check which showed stable kidney function. Her SDMA dropped to normal but her CREA/BUN numbers were a bit more elevated. The vet wasn't overly concerned, but over the next week I noticed her eating less and being a bit more lethargic, she would play but didn't want to play, wanted to eat but didn't want to eat, etc. Last week we gave her a round of IV fluids which helped some, but something still seemed off so yesterday we did a urinalysis which discovered a UTI. The vet immediately gave her a round of antibiotics and sent us on our way. Her energy is good and she's drinking on her own, but she doesn't want to eat. I suspect it's just nausea from the UTI, but her weight loss and lack of eating concerns me. I want to encourage her to eat on her own before I put her on anti-nausea meds and/or syringe feed her. I also don't want to hit the panic button because her alertness and drinking tell me that she just needs to let the antibiotics kick in. Does anybody have any suggestions for getting her to eat? Thanks.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome -
Take a look at this thread;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[BigBurgers]

Thanks for the tip. I did give her some tuna juice and gravy from a canned food which she did lap at, but after awhile she stops and growls like she's in discomfort. I'm trying to determine if it's due to the pain and nausea from the UTI or if she may have another internal issue going on. I'll be talking with the vet again tomorrow.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I don't know the prevalence of nausea associated with UTIs. Feeby went through a bout of UTIs and it never bothered her appetite. It would seem more likely that it is either the antibiotics making her feel queasy or the CKD. Antibiotics if given via injection are less likely to cause inappetence, but they might - so you could ask your vet about possible side effects. If she is taking oral meds that can definitely play a factor.

If she is getting oral antibiotics, try giving them to her with baby food meat (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut) so that she has something in her stomach along with the meds. And, you might use the baby food meat to help get her back to eating - regardless of whether or not she is taking oral antibiotics. Most cats like it and will eat it when they are refusing other foods.

 

[BigBurgers]

She's on an antibiotic injection, about two days into the course. I've actually been noticing her appetite slipping a bit over the past couple of weeks. The weird thing though is that last week I switched her to a new type of renal dry food and she went crazy for it, so something is definitely bothering her. I'm not quick to blame the CKD just yet, only because her kidney labs the other week were stable.

She had a really bad UTI a couple years ago where it took her a good 2-3 days to start eating again. Today, I don't know how much of it is nausea versus just a general loss of appetite from the UTI. I've gotten her to eat a bit more today after mixing some A/D with lots of water, but after a bit she'll growl and walk away. The vet insists we give her some fluids first which I'm doing today, but when I'm there I'm going to insist that they check her mouth because something is definitely causing her discomfort.

The good news though is that her energy is still pretty high. She's attentive, walks around with her tail up, meows when I bring her food (she just doesn't want to eat it).