Cat Suddenly Won't Eat Dry Food

My cat is 11. He's never had any major health problems. He has always gotten 2 meals a day, 1 dry 1 wet. All of a sudden, he won't touch his dry food. I tried "waiting it out", but to no avail. I finally gave in and made both meals wet. Now, however, his stools are all semi-diarrhea.. And for the first time ever, he is "missing the target" when relieving himself, so a lot of messy cleaning up of his litter box His general health, though, seems excellent. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Is he having any teeth problems? Maybe try a smaller kibble. Do you have any canned cat food with rice in it? Rice seems to help firm up my cats' poop when they have diarrhea.

Hi - along with maggiedemi's suggestion, you could also boil up some unseasoned chicken and rice - vets suggest that for upset tummies. And speaking of, has your furbaby been in to the vet lately?
How To Choose The Best Dry Cat Food?

Wet is good for cats. However with the symptoms you describe, and the age i would also suggest a vet visit.

Which dry food is it?

It is good that he hasn't had any problems before, but at this age it is the starting of problems for him. I have a suggestion, put a little bit of wet food in his dry food and mix it up, he might then eat it. Then the next day see if he will eat his dry food plain. Please tell us if it works out. I wish you the best of luck.

A trip to the vet is the first thing you need to do. Senior age cats can stop eating for any number of reasons and the vet needs to look into that. Make sure the vet does a senior panel blood work and checks the teeth, although many vets don't have a clue about dental health because it's not taught in depth in vet school.

Thanks for the feedback. I did try mixing the dry with wet, but he just ate the wet and left the dry. I will try the rice suggestion.

Maybe try mixing the dry with some KMR to soften the kibble?

Hi Welcome to TCS. I also think it would be a good idea to do a vet exam to rule out any health issues.

I would also suggest doing some research on the dry food he was eating. You could try contacting the manufacturer to see if there were any recent changes to the formula for his food. I was feeding a high quality dry food to my cats for years that all 4 of them loved. One of them suddenly started eating less of it. He had just recovered from a urinary blockage and all his blood work was normal before he was released. This happened the day after he came home. I did some research and found out that the production of this food was moved out of the U.S. by reading online reviews. People also mentioned their cats reacting the same. Some people mentioned their cats having sudden urinary issues after this change. I immediately started looking for a new dry food. I have an independent pet food store in my area. They recommended a new food and gave me samples of it to try. My cats all seem to like the new food much better. The one who was eating less has resumed normal eating habits again. The new food is also grain free and is a different protein source. My cats go through the new food slower. It is higher in protein and lower in carbs. My cat's urinary blockage was caused by a UTI and not crystals so I was told by the vet he did not need to be on a prescription diet.

He was eating Blue Buffalo for years, then I switched him to BB Senior. He was eating that for awhile, then just stopped. I thought it might be a bad bag, so I got Wellness Senior, but he won't touch that as well.

I don't know if the diarrhea is related to the change in eating, now that he's getting 2 cans of wet food instead of 1.

Canned food doesn’t cause diarrhea. Canned food will actually make cats poop less and have less stinky poops because there are fewer carbs that bulk up the poo.

It sounds to me that your cat may have a UTI or some other digestive issues. Please take your cat to the vet.

Just an update on Mickey. I took him to the vet, where they did a senior blood panel on him. The vet said there were no problems with his kidney or liver. Her only concern was that he was 14 lbs last year, and 11 this year.

I’m assuming they checked t4 levels too? I was thinking of possible hypothyroidism.

Were B12 levels checked? Low levels can cause malabsorption of nutrients which leads to weight loss. B12 is a separate test from regular blood work.

IBD and other gastrointestinal issues can cause weight loss and diarrhea. Ask your vet to check. An ultrasound is often helpful. IBD is confirmed by biopsy which some people opt not to do because of the cost or not wanting to put a senior cat under anesthesia.

An update on Mickey. Things got worse when he stopped eating wet food as well. He would meow like he wanted food, but then would only sniff the bowl and walk away. When I took to the vet again, he had dropped to 9.5 lbs. The vet did another series of tests, then gave me 3 medicines: something for his apetite ( mirz-something), cerenia and prednisolone. Then she suggested I change his diet to something he rarely eats, like duck or rabbit. No change the first day or two, but then his appetite came back! He started eating both meals completely each day. The vet said I could stop the appetite pill, and the cerenia was only for 5 days, leaving only the pred (2 pills every morning).

The vet called today, and said that more tests came back. He said I need to give Mickey B-12. This could be done by a shot every week for a month, followed by a shot every month. Or I could crush it up in his food. I've already spent about $700 on everything, and the expense is beginning to be an issue. Does anyone know what the B-12 treatment costs? Also, how long does he have to be on pred? It's a trial every morning to get him to take it.

Last question: I'd like to try dry food again. Any Rabbit foods that fill the bill?

We are going through this right now. The B-12 we do ourselves at home to save money. I think the shots plus the Vet tech giving us a 20 min lesson cost us $60 for 6 doses. I think it is much less with no lesson, and that’s good for the first four weekly shots and then two monthly. This is a necessary step, and our boy Trin instantly had no diarrhea after the first shot.

As for food, we are feeding Instinct LID rabbit dry food. Eventually I want to mix their wet food in but one step st a time. They seem to like it, although the Vet confirmed that rabbit food tends to produce dark poops, FYI. We started worrying after the color changed so drastically!

KarenKat, thanks for the tip on the food. I've ordered the Instinct LID rabbit, and he loves it. So now he gets that in the morning, and wet at night (duck or rabbit). As for the B12, the vet gave me pills, so now he takes 1 prednisolone (down from 2) and 1 B12 every morning.
So now that his appetite is back and everything seems fine, he wet back for his regular check-up and guess what? The vet said he might have a heart murmur! I brought him in today for a cardiac ultrasound and chest radiographs. No results yet, but today alone cost over $500. I wonder if he really needed it...