Ten Year Old Cat Stopped Eating

[NewYork1303]

Back after a long time away to ask for help. My oldest cat Carrot, stopped eating Sunday night. I was able to get him into the vet today. They ran bloods which came back normal, did x-rays which showed inflammation but no blockage. Got cerenia and an appetite stimulant. I have tried feeding him his normal kibble, different kibble

 

[NewYork1303]

Sorry posted too soon. Normal kibble, different kibble, freeze dried, normal canned, rc canned food, boiled chicken, and even goats milk. He shows interest in food, but only eats a few bits at most. He also will not eat any treats. I don't know where to go from here! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Margot Lane]

assuming they checked his teeth?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Checking his teeth is a good idea! And ondansetron might be better than cerenia - the former works better for nausea, the latter for vomiting.

Until you can get this worked out try feeding him baby food meat (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut) - most cats, even those who are lacking an appetite, seem to like their taste.

 

[Alldara]

Did you get provide some recovery food? You can usually get a can or two from any vet.

Try blending his regular food with water until very runny and seeing if he will drink it in the meantime.

A very bland chicken and rice food would be best (or salmon and rice etc.) Anything basically that has less ingredients.

 

[NewYork1303]

assuming they checked his teeth?

Yes. Teeth are all apparently normal.

 

[NewYork1303]

Checking his teeth is a good idea! And ondansetron might be better than cerenia - the former works better for nausea, the latter for vomiting.

Until you can get this worked out try feeding him baby food meat (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut) - most cats, even those who are lacking an appetite, seem to like their taste.

I don't think he's actually having any nausea in any case. He's only thrown up once in the whole time. He is interested in food, but only eats a few bites. I will try the baby food.

 

[NewYork1303]

Did you get provide some recovery food? You can usually get a can or two from any vet.

Try blending his regular food with water until very runny and seeing if he will drink it in the meantime.

A very bland chicken and rice food would be best (or salmon and rice etc.) Anything basically that has less ingredients.

Yes. They gave us rc gastro. He is not really very into wet food, but will generally eat it. He turns his nose up at most runny food, but did have a few bites this morning. Nothing more.

 

[Alldara]

Yes. They gave us rc gastro. He is not really very into wet food, but will generally eat it. He turns his nose up at most runny food, but did have a few bites this morning. Nothing more.

RX gastro and Recovery are different formulas if you could get a can of Recovery, which is a very different texture and very smelly to see if he will eat it.

Feline & Canine Recovery™ Rs Canned Cat Food & Canned ...

Is he not allowed to have any of the dry food?

I would also recommend calling his former food company that he was originally eating and reporting the incident to quality control or customer service for them to investigate.

If you have some of his regular food and you don't think it was the food that upset him, will he refuse that also?

It *may* be important that he still has dry food to transition if he won't eat anything else. There are dry foods that are for sensitive tummies you could try offering: General PDP Template

i also took some tips from a dry food addict cat site: Transitioning Dry Food Addicts

Cats' noses are much more sensitive than ours are. They can smell the dry food in the cupboards. I suggest either putting it in the refrigerator or putting it in a tightly sealed container. If they can smell it, they will hold out for it.

Sprinkle a very small amount of tuna—or any other favorite treat (some cats do not like fish and would prefer cooked chicken)—on the top of the canned food and then once they are eating this, start pressing it into the top of the new food.

Make sure that any refrigerated canned food is warmed up a bit.

Try sprinkling some Parmesan cheese on the canned food

Try a product called FortiFlora. Most cats LOVE FortiFlora and this has recently become my favorite trick. This is a probiotic made by Purina but you are not going to use it for its probiotic properties. You are just going to use it as a flavor enhancer. The base ingredient in FortiFlora is animal digest—the very substance that makes dry food so very enticing to cats. You may only need ~1/4 of a package—with part mixed into the food and part sprinkled on top of the food just as you would use salt and pepper on your own food.


Try dipping some dry food pieces into the juice from the canned food. Some cats may refuse to eat it if the dry food even touches the canned food. But if he will eat it with a bit of canned juice on it, try the 'chip and dip' trick. Scoop up a tiny bit of canned food onto the piece of dry food. Put them on a separate plate from his small portion of dry food. Some cats will eat their small portion of dry and then investigate the dry food with a tiny bit of canned on it.

Try adding a few small pieces of the canned food to the small portion of dry food. Your cat may pick around the canned food but will get used to the smell—and texture—even if he does not eat any pieces of the new food.

Crush some dry food and sprinkle it on the top of the canned food.

 

[Alldara]

Pure Bites has some puree things that I also found helpful.

You could try things like Churus, Squeeze ups or similar.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I don't think he's actually having any nausea in any case. He's only thrown up once in the whole time.

Throwing up is not an absolute for determining nausea. My cat has nausea, but she never throws up.

 

[stephanietx]

I have a cat who has had inflamed intestines twice in his life. The last time landed him in the hospital for several days. Hill's a/d was the key to getting him eating, even if I knew it was going to cause him to have diarrhea. I knew how to handle the runs, I just needed him to eat. Since that time, he's not had any flares, but we've been very diligent with his diet.

 

[LTS3]

TCS has a thread with tips on how to get a cat to eat, whether just being picky or because of illness: Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

You can seek out a second vet opinion on your cat's sudden inappetenace.

Did the vet rule out gastrointestinal issues like IBD?

 

[NewYork1303]

Currently he is only willing to eat 10 or twelve kibbles once or twice a day. My best quess is that I switched proteins a week ago to rabbit from turkey and the rabbit didn't agree with him.

So hes not enough food, but something. Tried wet food and baby food heated up and room temp without any luck. He definitely seems interested in eating, but once he has a bite or two he stops and walks away. I will get some different types of food tomorrow on my way home to try.

I will call the vet tomorrow to schedule the ultrasound to better get a look at what's going on. He's definitely not feeling better. He wants to stay warm and is cuddling under blankets most of the day. He's sitting around like a cat loaf all day.

 

[Margot Lane]

Think ultrasound excellent idea. Please let us know.

 

[Alldara]

Currently he is only willing to eat 10 or twelve kibbles once or twice a day. My best quess is that I switched proteins a week ago to rabbit from turkey and the rabbit didn't agree with him.

So hes not enough food, but something. Tried wet food and baby food heated up and room temp without any luck. He definitely seems interested in eating, but once he has a bite or two he stops and walks away. I will get some different types of food tomorrow on my way home to try.

I will call the vet tomorrow to schedule the ultrasound to better get a look at what's going on. He's definitely not feeling better. He wants to stay warm and is cuddling under blankets most of the day. He's sitting around like a cat loaf all day.

Good luck with the ultrasound! Sounds like he is nauseated for sure, maybe just not enough to actually throw up.

Is his food dish elevated? That can encourage a bit more eating.

 

[stephanietx]

Did the vet give you anything to help the nausea? We had to give our guy a does of Pepcid every night for a few weeks to help with nausea. It takes some time for them to eat because they just feel so yucky. It took my Tumbles almost 4 days to finally eat the last time he had a flare up.

 

[NewYork1303]

After the ultrasound it's looking like it'll be some form of the beginning of IBD. So now on to research treating that. Last night we switched appetite stimulants and so he ate half his kibble and half of a tasty can of wet food. I have some kitten food for him to to get a few more calories and he loves that.

 

[Furballsmom]

I have some kitten food for him to to get a few more calories and he loves that.

Whew so glad to hear this!