Cat not eating and being lethargic

[Tashanasha]

I don't know if I should take him to the vet immediately or wait and see. He's been fine last night, ate and behaved normally.

This morning he didn't want to eat. I tried giving him some dry food, because he really likes that, but he still refused. Tried it with tuna - nothing. He did eat some pate I offered him, but is still behaving weird. He's just sitting in the other room, being weirdly calm and lethargic.

What could it be? He's an indoor only cat, doesn't feel warm and has no visible injuries. Should I take him to the vet today or wait until tomorrow and see if it'll pass? He gets really stressed when he needs to go into the carrier and doesn't like the vet either, so I would like to spare him if possible.

 

[Maurey]

I'd probably take him to the vet, just to be safe. Could end up being nothing, but both lethargy and unusual lack of interest towards food are big red flags. IMO, better stress him a bit with a vet trip for potentially no reason than not take him when he does need it. Could be that he's just coming down with a bug, and feels unwell because of that, but better safe than sorry.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi! I guess I would base my decision, if I were you, on his age and whether he has had bouts like this before. The older he is, the more worrisome his behavior would be. If he is fairly young, it might OK to just keep a close eye on him today to see if he improves or other signs of an illness show up.

It also depends on whether he has been to see the vet in the recent past. The longer it has been, the more reason to get a check up done.

 

[Tashanasha]

He's 3 years old and this is the first time this happened. That's why it scared me. I called the vet and he told me to keep an eye on him for today and bring him in tomorrow morning if he doesn't get better. He's eaten a bit of food but is still very calm and sleeping a lot - but at least he's no longer hiding in the other room.

 

[di and bob]

Good, hiding is a sure sign of illness. As long as he is eating, even a little, drinking, and using the litter box, he may just have a kitty cold. I would get him some DMG on Amazon or any other per site, or another supplement to build up his immune system. I keep Hartz delectable Lickables around for times just like this, they often eat that when nothing else works. In the stew, at Target, Walmart, Dollar General, or Amazon. If he quits eating completely or hides and won't come out at all, then bring him in.

 

[Bruce_who_is_ownd_by_pets]

If you had presented this to me 8 months ago, I would just say, wait. Now? I say take him in if you can before it's worse and the vet can't get you in or it's too late.

At the time my three month old kitten slept for like 6 hours straight on a Saturday. Didn't think of anything wrong with it. next day. He stopped eating, but was drinking a little still if I gave him no salt chicken stock/tuna water. Ok, maybe he has a cold but he's not coughing or sneezing etc. I'll wait it out. Late Sunday night, he eventually stopped drinking, but still looked ok. Overnight he progressivily looked worse. I ended up using a long neck narrow eyedropper and was putting like 1/4 teaspoon of water in mouth, to get something in him. He looked terrible and was getting worse by the half hour.

8 a.m. on Monday, no vet including our own would see him because he was a new patient and just no open appointments. We had to drive 1.5 hours away to the nearest pet ER. By the time we got there he was pretty much unresponsive and the tech that came out the car was just about to tell us that he might be waiting another hour to be seen since it was first come/first serve, but the moment she picked him up and there was like no real response, they just took him right inside/back to been.

He had a major respiratory infection and probably would have died if we waited another hour or so. He reacted really quickly to the antibiotics and we were able to take him home the next day and he has been his cute awesomeness self since. Cost of care $1,500+ Standard vet visit may be $40–200..