Cat not eating, upset stomach.

[Krienze]

So, if any of you were following my thread regarding the grain free food, you probably already know I've been having trouble getting my cats normal food + getting her to eat the grain free replacement food I've been giving her, and that I stopped feeding her fancy feast because she seemed to have an allergic reaction to it.

Before I go into detail, I'm going to try and call my vet tomorrow, however getting out to see him might be hard because of the lockdown. And we have absolutely no emergency vets close by. The closest is about four hours away. So... here is my current situation. Since Sunday, it has been a fight to get this cat to eat the Open Nature wet food that I bought for her (which I bought because it was the only grain free option and I thought, since she was doing okay on the dry when she had eaten it, that she'd be okay on the wet.) I'm FAIRLY sure that she doesn't like it, because she's eaten a whole can of fancy feast and 4health (what we had left over) -- the fancy feast I caved and gave her last night and she ate it all, but it was the LAST can I had. And I only gave it to her because she'd had diarrhea and I didn't want to force her to eat. This morning I gave her an Open Nature can again, which she ate less than half of, but she ate some of it so I didn't want to push my luck. I put what she didn't eat away and reheated it when she seemed to want to eat again.

Every time I go in to feed her, she seems excited for the food, looks at it and snubs it. So, since we made chicken soup tonight, I brought her in a few pieces of cooked chicken. I tore it up good so she could eat it, and she ate a few pieces before snubbing the rest. A few times, she tried to drag her butt on the floor (never saw a cat do that, only the dogs.) Walked around like she was restless, then puked up bile with the chicken pieces. I went and got her a plate of smaller pieces of chicken with some rice and chicken broth and left that for her for now.

She seems alert, but had climbed in her litter box. At first I thought she was peeing, but then she moved into a perch like she was going to take a poop. When she got out of the litter box, she had done neither. Because I had a cat almost die from a UTI, naturally that's right away where my mind went (I'm extremely paranoid over UTI's) but she doesn't seem to mind being handled about the stomach outside of a meow of complaint regarding being moved. Last night I even squeezed and poked her belly a bit and she didn't really react other than to look at me like I'd lost my mind.

My other cats have mostly been separate from her, so I know she -has- had some soft poop today, though.

So basically, symptoms are:
- Lack of appetite (but still nibbling on stuff)
- Restless
- Vomiting (just once)
- Diarrhea
- Her nose is warm

Note: Last night, she ate the whole can of fancy feast.
Sunday night, when the problems technically started and gradually got worse, is when we started giving her the new food.

I made sure she has access to fresh water, and left the chicken/rice/broth down for her in case she decides to eat (sometimes she'll wait until I leave the room to eat, so I figured I'd cut her a break from fawning over her to come post this and hope she eats a little)

So, I'm pretty sure it is NOT a UTI (But I'm going to talk to the vet first thing in the morning about it anyway) but I'm not sure what else it can be?

Is it possible Open Nature is making her sick? Both Mia and Jasper had a can and neither of them had a bad reaction. This whole thing started when I started giving her this food.
Mia, however, also had diarrhea a few nights ago, but she had NOT had the food at that point -- so I'm wondering if maybe she had a bug that Isabel picked up?
Is this Gastroenteritis possibly?

I know you guys aren't vets or anything but any info, suggestions, advice you have, I'd be so appreciative for. >.< I'm terrified I'm going to walk in there and find her gone. I don't know how well I can handle this after losing both CiCi and Jack in February and with this Corvid19 stuff, I feel so helpless knowing that rushing her to the vet is hard to do, and even if we can manage to get in, we wouldn't be able to go in WITH her.

P.S She let me snap this photo of her a few moments ago. Like, she LOOKS perfectly fine to just look at her. She doesn't -seem- distressed or in pain.

EDIT: She came to greet me when I went to check on her again, so I jiggled her belly. It's nice and soft, not bloated and she made no sounds of pain at all. And she's a vocal cat, so I would imagine if she was in pain, she'd yowl.

EDIT: One last edit, it's worth it to mention that she has been having different foods fairly frequently these past few weeks do to being unable to stably buy specific brands with the way hoarders have been hoarding stuff =(

EDIT: I lied, one more edit. She finally peed a small amount. No yowling or pained meows (I was keeping an ear out)

She seems to want food, but won't eat anything I put down.

 

[SlightlyIvy]

Cats can have an upset stomach/diarrhea when their food source is suddenly switched out for another-or at least that's what I've read. My Ivy isn't picky, but I wanted more moisture in her diet so her evening meal is an itty bit of wet food, mixed in with her dry food with some water over the top. It's always gone by morning. It's your call, but maybe mixing the new food you want to give her with some of her dry stuff would work? It might be less of a shock to her system and she might eat it all. Good luck! I hope she starts feeling better.

 

[kittenmittens84]

It sounds like she’s nauseous - cats who have nausea often go to their food and then turn away from it, or act hungry and eat a few bites and then stop. If I were you I’d try to get a vet appointment, emphasize that your cat isn’t eating normally (if cats stop eating it can be an emergency for sure) and maybe you can get in to see the vet.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If she is nauseated, she might show it by licking her lips when she gets near food. That's been my experience with my cats. Doesn't mean all cats react the same though.

I agree that maybe you could mix in some of her dry food, or try crushing some of it and sprinkle it on top. Or use something else as a topper. Parmesan cheese (from the green can) works, tuna water, any crushed cat treats, things like that. Also, sometimes if you try spreading out their food on a plate, for some reason that seems to help cats who are being finicky about eating. Don't ask me why this works, but sometimes it does.

 

[Krienze]

So, this morning she SCREAMED at me for food. She's back to her normal loving self after acting really off last night. I tried the dry in the wet last night but she snubbed it. This morning however, she GOBBLED down a whole can of the wet food.

I'm starting to think maybe it was a transitioning stomach bug, because she seems fine now after puking last night.

Was seriously worried it was something emergent but it seems to have passed today >.< Thank goodness. I was up all night with her worried =(

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I know what you mean. Whoever said cats are good for stress obviously didn't have any

 

[IndyJones]

You said she had a reaction to fancy feast before. It's possible that is part of why she had stomach upset. Same thing if you are switching her food alot. Scooting is actually not uncommon in cats. It either means their anal glands are blocked or their butt is irratated.

 

[Krienze]

You said she had a reaction to fancy feast before. It's possible that is part of why she had stomach upset. Same thing if you are switching her food alot. Scooting is actually not uncommon in cats. It either means their anal glands are blocked or their butt is irratated.

I had no idea about the scooting. It was the first time that I had ever seen her, or any cat honestly, do that.

Yeah though, her reaction to the fancy feast was more along the lines of her losing hair though and she'd been on it fine no problem for weeks otherwise =( the problem only seemed to start with her stomach when she was put on Open Nature.

Normally we don't switch her food a lot at all, but it's been like playing 'what can I grab' with the way people have been buying things lately. THANKFULLY they have her food in the TS in the town right next to us so we're going to order it for pick up tomorrow.