My cat won't eat anything but baby food right now

[stiv]

Hi all,
My younger cat, Moxie, seems to have a stomach issue, my roommate says she's thrown up and she hasn't touched her food all day yesterday or today. She's turning 4 this spring and has never had any issues with eating before, she is normally highly food motivated. Out of desperation and worry I have tried baby food and freshpet. She lapped up some of the baby food, but lost interest when I mixed in cat food. Since it's Sunday, only emergency vets are open, and I don't have easy access to transportation to take her, and may not until Tuesday. I'm wondering if it's safe for her to eat baby food until then or if I should try to figure out how to take her to the ER today. I know baby food doesn't have all the nutrients cats need so I am concerned about issues re: anorexia and malnutrition if she continues to not eat.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
See if you can get something else into her, this thread may have ideas to help;

Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

There are many times when a cat refuse to eat due to change of food, due to health reasons, being fussy or gotten sick of what they have been eating and we try to get them to eat a new food and have problems getting them to eat. I see that there are many threads past and recent on how members...

thecatsite.com

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Were you gone for a while and she is reacting to your absence? I just got the sense of that because it was your roommate who told you Moxie wasn't eating and had thrown up. At any rate, if she will eat the baby food and isn't throwing it up, that is a bit less worrisome than if she refuses to eat at all or is throwing up the baby food meats too.

You might want to check out some of the calorie-intensive gels you can get at most pet stores to help tide her over, if she will eat them along with the baby food meats. The gels provide necessary fats, vitamins, and proteins for sick or finicky cats. Or, the list of items in the article that Furballsmom just provided.

How is she acting otherwise? Drinking, using the litterbox? Is she lethargic or sleeping a lot? How urgent it is to get her to a vet depends on all the factors of her current behavior, and if she worsens any I would probably go ahead and get her to an ER vet.

 

[stiv]

Hi!
See if you can get something else into her, this thread may have ideas to help;

http://[URL]https://thecatsite.com/...-get-your-cats-to-eat-share-them-here.396694/

[/URL]

Thank you so much. When I opened the jar of baby food she did sniff it, but didn't try licking it until i rubbed some on her mouth. she's easily agitated and didn't like that very much, but it did get her to eat a little. I'll give her some more baby food w/o mixing it w cat food at her normal feeding time. I also rubbed a little cat food on her paws to see if she'd regain her taste for it after licking it off; a vet at a clinic I used to work at gave me that tip for my older kitty who has IC.
I tried a few different cat foods; fancy feast shredded, FF pate, royal canin S/O dry, and freshpet. Touched none of them. I may have a can or two of purina rx urinary food somewhere too, its salmon so it's very stinky and runny. It's just highly unusual behavior for her because she's usually food aggressive and she's completely indifferent. I am heading home soon after running some errands so I'll read through these threads more carefully when I do.

 

[stiv]

Hi. Were you gone for a while and she is reacting to your absence? I just got the sense of that because it was your roommate who told you Moxie wasn't eating and had thrown up. At any rate, if she will eat the baby food and isn't throwing it up, that is a bit less worrisome than if she refuses to eat at all or is throwing up the baby food meats too.

You might want to check out some of the calorie-intensive gels you can get at most pet stores to help tide her over, if she will eat them along with the baby food meats. The gels provide necessary fats, vitamins, and proteins for sick or finicky cats. Or, the list of items in the article that Furballsmom just provided.

How is she acting otherwise? Drinking, using the litterbox? Is she lethargic or sleeping a lot? How urgent it is to get her to a vet depends on all the factors of her current behavior, and if she worsens any I would probably go ahead and get her to an ER vet.

I actually was in the hospital recently, and I have been away often since I got out because I'm playing catch-up. I should be returning to my normal schedule tomorrow. I was the one who noticed she didn't touch her food, while my roommate reported she threw up.
Shes been sleeping and hiding a little more than usual, but shes extremely independent in general and mostly spends time by herself or with my other cat and comes to get me to feed her; so the main difference is that she isn't coming to get me for meals and isn't eating them. Since she's avoidant in general it can be hard to track what she's doing. When she needed a stool sample for a check-up recently she was impossible, and she was completely healthy at the time, but I will keep a close eye on her tonight. The litter box looked as if both were using it based on use when I scooped it today.

 

[stiv]

I got her to eat about half a jar of baby food. She wouldn't touch the kibble mixed into it. She also approached my other cat's food and smelled it, but walked away. She used the litter box afterwards. She's acting feisty but that's pretty normal for her. I'll continue monitoring her. I get off work early tomorrow so I'll have a lot of time to keep an eye on her.