Our Willow won't eat!

[marshab]

And she is losing weight!

My wife and I have Willow who is 6 years old and always been indoors.
She has always been a fussy eater and would only eat a mixture of dry cat food 5 or 6 times a day. Her bowl is always out. She was healthy and around 9 -10 lbs.

We took her to the vet for her annual check up. She had been peeing more often. The Vet thought it might be a bladder infection and diabetes. He gave us large antibiotic tablets for her twice a day for 10 days. And changed her food to a high protein kind. She started vomiting daily (we should have given her the tablets on a full stomach). She did not like the new food and ate very little.

After more blood tests came back, she was NOT diabetic. Whew! We went to a smaller antibiotic tablet for the bladder infection. This one went down easier. We went back to her old food. But she hardly ate any. We started trying different dry foods in different combinations. Some she nibbles. Some she won't touch.

We took her back to the vet. He can't find anything wrong. He gave us tablets to whet her appetite. She started vomiting again. (due to the tablets?)

She is now eating one type of dry food... barely. About 1/4 cup the last 24 hours. She has become very thin, and I can feel ribs and spine that I never felt before.
She walks to her bowl, stares at it and turns away. She seems listless.

She does go to the Treats cupboard and will sit in front of it several times a day. She never did that before. She will eat a few treat kibbles.

Any experience with this condition, or how to get Willow to eat? We are getting worried and very frustrated not knowing what to do. Thanks for any good advice.

 

[touro1979]

I would switch her back to her regular food right away. Sounds like your vets an idiot. He should have told you to slowly mix in the new food with the old so she gets used to the new food slowly. I would change vets/this borders on incompetance.

 

[joecool]

She may need to be forcefed, eating that little. Find a new vet!

 

[marshab]

Thanks for your replies.
We only have 1 vet in our small city.
Willow won't even eat her regular food.
How do you force feed a cat? How long can/do you force feed?

 

[touro1979]

Use an oral syringe. Here is a link where you can buy them online. Then you need to find a canned wet food that has a real soft Pureed texture/some of the science diet prescription canned foods are this consitency/ask your vet. You could also take regular wet food/add a lttile water and use food procceser to make it a better consistency. This will buidl your cats strength and when they feel better they will eat on their own. Good luck and I hope your kitty gets better.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

 

[touro1979]

one mor thing the trick is small amounts at a time. I reccomend a full syringe every couple of hours or so during the day and be careful not to shove too much in at one time this will make your cat vomit and defeat the purpose

 

[pat]

In my opinion, you need to be sure you have an accurate, and complete diagnosis. Did your vet say that of the bloodwork he did, all kidney values were normal? What antbiotic is she on?

I would do *anything* to get her to eat and asap. Try baby food meat, any canned food she will eat (don't worry about quality, just find one she'll eat). At this point, whatever is going on, you risk another health issue - Hepatic Lipidosis - here is an excellent article on this, written by TCS's Hissy.
click here

For force feeding, you can besides using a feeding syringe, take a ground consistency canned food, and roll into tiny pea sized pieces, pop one at a time gently into the side of her mouth, so she will have to chew it. Or you can place a small smear of the food into her mouth (but be careful, good way to get accidentally chomped on, trust me, I know!)

 

[semiferal]

You need to drive to the next city and see the vet there. I agree that your vet seems to be completely out to lunch here. Increased urination is a symptom of diabetes but diabetes does not cause any loss of appetite unless the blood sugar is critically high.

Her symptoms (increased urination, nausea, loss of appetite) are highly indicative of kidney disease. She is a little young for this but not too young. Take her to another vet and tell them to run a renal profile. This will tell you whether or not this is the problem. The good news is that kidney disease, while chronic and incurable, is manageable and cats can have normal quality of life for years with the condition.

 

[marshab]

She ate about a total of only 10 dried kibbels today. Then she walks away from her food bowl and goes and sits in front of the cupboard with the dried treats. We put 5 of those out and she ate them. Is there any harm in giving her more dried Whiskas treats?

If she wants to eat those, does that suggest she may just be off her main food, and it's NOT a digestion or chewing problem?

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Originally Posted by semiferal

You need to drive to the next city and see the vet there. I agree that your vet seems to be completely out to lunch here. Increased urination is a symptom of diabetes but diabetes does not cause any loss of appetite unless the blood sugar is critically high.

Her symptoms (increased urination, nausea, loss of appetite) are highly indicative of kidney disease. She is a little young for this but not too young. Take her to another vet and tell them to run a renal profile. This will tell you whether or not this is the problem. The good news is that kidney disease, while chronic and incurable, is manageable and cats can have normal quality of life for years with the condition.

 

[marshab]

We will try different soft canned foods tomorrow. And report back. Please stay tuned. Thank you! :-)

 

[pat]

Originally Posted by MarshaB

She ate about a total of only 10 dried kibbels today. Then she walks away from her food bowl and goes and sits in front of the cupboard with the dried treats. We put 5 of those out and she ate them. Is there any harm in giving her more dried Whiskas treats?

If she wants to eat those, does that suggest she may just be off her main food, and it's NOT a digestion or chewing problem?

Did you read the article link I gave you?? Your cat can not get by on a few pieces of treats and dry kibble, it isn't enough. You must address getting nutrition into her, and need to discuss what the kidney values were, as I asked, with your vet or go get the appropriate blood work to check kidney function...or get a second opinion completely.

Please read the article, and get canned food as I suggested...get her eating.

 

[scamperfarms]

You need to go with the advice you have been given here. Canned food..baby food. even tuna..

when my little ares was so sick..i force fed him baby food....and he came around..

 

[marshab]

This morning looked better. She ate about 5 regular kibbels and 5 dried treat kibbels.
It was a start. I brought different foods home at lunch - she licked mushy tuna.
But didn't touch baby food, pate, canned pumpkin.

This evening she vomited what little is in her tummy.
Now she is sitting over her tuna dish and just looking at it.
We WILL take her to the vet in the morning.
It's all very frustating and stressful!!

 

[marshab]

ScamperFarms,
As I said, we've tried that today with little results.
How do you force feed?
What do you give?
How often?
I just need to know, please. :-)

(Don't know why it says KITTEN under my name. Willow is 6 years old!)

 

[touro1979]

Originally Posted by MarshaB

ScamperFarms,
As I said, we've tried that today with little results.
How do you force feed?
What do you give?
How often?
I just need to know, please. :-)

(Don't know why it says KITTEN under my name. Willow is 6 years old!)

As I mentioned above:

Use an oral syringe. Here is a link where you can buy them online. Then you need to find a canned wet food that has a real soft Pureed texture/some of the science diet prescription canned foods are this consitency/ask your vet. You could also take regular wet food/add a lttile water and use food procceser to make it a better consistency. This will buidl your cats strength and when they feel better they will eat on their own. Good luck and I hope your kitty gets better.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

Look I dont mean to be blunt but you need to stop procrastinating and take your cat to a reputable Vet before your cat dies. Cats can become Ill and waste away VERY quickly and procrastination is NOT prudent. If you have work, call in, kids to take care of, take them with you. Whatever you are doing I gurantee you it is not more important then your cats health so take some time and go to the VET!!!!

 

[pat]

Originally Posted by MarshaB

We WILL take her to the vet in the morning.
It's all very frustating and stressful!!

I am glad to hear it, it is time. Once you have a diagnosis, it will help you know what needs to be done to help her recover.

For tonight, you've been given good directions on how to syringe feed, and I gave you my best suggestion on how to handfeed canned food. Try to feed her at least once if not twice before you go to bed tonight (not sure what time zone you are in) - just to get something into her. If you do the baby food, try for the entire 2 oz. , if canned, try for 2-3 oz.

best wishes, I hope this will be nothing serious.

 

[bikeman]

Did the vet look at Willow's teeth and gums?

 

[beckiboo]

It says kitten under your name because you are new to this site, you (not Willow) are a kitten here.

A person can get an upset tummy from antibiotics, and it could cause them to stop eating. Maybe this is what happened to Willow. But as others have posted, just the lack of eating can cause a severe, even fatal problem.

Willow is not eating, and is vomiting what she has eaten. She needs a vet as soon as possible, while whatever is bothering her can still be treated.

Best of luck for this sweet baby. Sometimes people on these boards seem to come on too strong, but in your case it is out of sheer fear for Willow's health. Please get her to a good vet as soon as you can, and let us know how she does.

 

[cloud_shade]

Did the vet run a full panel of bloodwork? If so, can you post the values? In addition to kidney problems, hyperthyroidism is a possibility. When Spot decided not to eat, I found that putting some Catsip (lactose-free milk for cats) on his kibbles encouraged him to eat on his own. It might be worth trying.