Cat Refuses To Eat, But Still Gets Excited About Food?!

[simbasmama]

Hello,

I took my cat to the vet because she suddenly stopped eating, had diarrhea for a few days, was peeing in inappropriate places, and was vomiting and retching that morning. However, the vet said she's completely normal and didn't have any of those problems at the vet (I left her there for him to observe her overnight). He said she didn't have diarrhea, didn't vomit, didn't refuse to eat while she stayed there. His opinion is that it probably came from adverse reaction to inferior food.

It's so odd because she just magically turned okay when I took her to the vet. She was more stressed at the vet than she was here, definitely, because she probably thought she'd parted from me... (She's a needy baby.) I mentioned that I'd been feeding her good expensive food before I started including Fancy Feast in her feeding schedule once or twice a day just because she seemed to like it, and he said it was probably the problem and that he didn't want to do the X-ray because he didn't want to put her through unnecessary stress. I can understand that, but when she came back home, she stopped eating again. Her playing got back closer to normal (though not as active), and she’s more affectionate than usual but maybe it’s because she was stressed. She pees and poos in the litter box just fine and I don’t think she has diarrhea anymore, but the only problem is she still wouldn’t eat. As soon as I got her back home, she was really hungry and ate two pouches of her usual soft food, but after that she just wouldn’t eat at all. It’s so weird because she gets really excited whenever I go near the food storage and rubs on the food like she can’t wait to eat. And then she waits till I pour it onto her bowl, sniffs, and won’t eat it! She still eats treats but I don’t think it’s healthy for her to keep eating treats and nothing else.

 

[talkingpeanut]

How long has she been refusing food? How much do you feed per day?

 

[simbasmama]

She normally eats one pouch per meal, two meals per day, with treats in between. She'd refused to eat for about a day or two before I took her to the vet, and then when the vet said she was perfectly fine with no health issues at all, she came back yesterday and ate two pouches at once, and then she got back to not eating at all. This morning she didn't eat at all, so in the evening I gave her another flavor and she ate a little less than half a pouch...

 

[azshua]

I can't really offer any advice or ideas, but this sounds like what happened to my Sweety. She still isn't eating enough so I've been syringe feeding her. She hasn't eaten since yesterday but she had her teeth cleaned and several pulled today, so I'm not going to force anything on her until tomorrow after consulting the vet (if he recommends it, that is). I am curious about the Fancy Feast you gave your kitty, though. Was it a pate or a chunky kind? Sweety did fine on pates but she got sick from the chunky type (same brand), which is when the not wanting to eat issues began. The vet assumed it's an intolerance to something in that type of food. Everything was normal with Sweety's blood work except for the fact she had elevated globulin and white blood cells, which the vet is pretty sure it's from the swelling and infection in her mouth. Sweety has also been eating treats and cat food that isn't grain free. She turns her nose up at the grain free foods I've offered her. Like your kitty, she seems excited about the food but just sniffs it and leaves. Occasionally she'll nibble at it, but that's about it. It struck me as odd to read about someone else's cat doing the same as mine under similar circumstances. I've been assuming it was partly the food issue (vomiting, diarrhea, not eating) and her having bad teeth. Hmm.

 

[simbasmama]

I can't really offer any advice or ideas, but this sounds like what happened to my Sweety. She still isn't eating enough so I've been syringe feeding her. She hasn't eaten since yesterday but she had her teeth cleaned and several pulled today, so I'm not going to force anything on her until tomorrow after consulting the vet (if he recommends it, that is). I am curious about the Fancy Feast you gave your kitty, though. Was it a pate or a chunky kind? Sweety did fine on pates but she got sick from the chunky type (same brand), which is when the not wanting to eat issues began. The vet assumed it's an intolerance to something in that type of food. Everything was normal with Sweety's blood work except for the fact she had elevated globulin and white blood cells, which the vet is pretty sure it's from the swelling and infection in her mouth. Sweety has also been eating treats and cat food that isn't grain free. She turns her nose up at the grain free foods I've offered her. Like your kitty, she seems excited about the food but just sniffs it and leaves. Occasionally she'll nibble at it, but that's about it. It struck me as odd to read about someone else's cat doing the same as mine under similar circumstances. I've been assuming it was partly the food issue (vomiting, diarrhea, not eating) and her having bad teeth. Hmm.

It's EXACTLY what's happening to my kitty!!! Could it be that she's sort of addicted to Fancy Feast due to the high amount of sodium in it? I'm assuming that she thinks everything else tastes bland after eating FF. We're thinking it's like a withdrawal symptom. Or something like that... We gave her the Fancy Feast Seafood "Classic" that was being sold at Costco. The sniffing and leaving is exactly what's happened to her. Occasionally nibbling at it, too. I think she nibbles at it when she's too hungry to function. She goes wild when I give her treats. She keeps rubbing on me and my mother when she comes by (she was the one who gave her FF at first so I think she remembers) and takes us where the food is stored and looks at us expectantly like she's expecting us to give her FF. She also doesn't touch grain free food. Could I have spoiled her palate?

In any case, it is really odd that the exact same thing is happening to your Sweety! I hope she's okay now!

 

[azshua]

I'm not sure. I kinda wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that a type of wet food made her sick and maybe now she associates it with getting sick. She doesn't want any wet food I've offered, which includes the Fancy Feast pates and shredded meats in the little tubs, Bisque and Stew lickables, Sheba pates, Meow Mix shredded meats, and Blue Wilderness pates/chunky wet foods. She would eat a little dry food and treats, but I think her bad teeth caused her to not eat so much because it hurt her. She did fine with the dry foods I have her before all this happened. In fact, all my cats LOVE the duck kibble. At the moment, Sweety isn't eating anything (I can't give her treats or dry food because of the dental cleaning and tooth extractions), so I offered a Bisque that she used to love. No go. Tried warming up a Fancy Feast pate she also loved. Doesn't want it, either. I'm not sure how much of it has to do with her mouth issues at this time. I'm going to keep trying tomorrow and give the vet a call, see what he suggests. Sweety acts normal and is very loving, even does her little cute act of flopping onto her side and rolling around. Maybe we can figure this out together!