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- Aug 6, 2017
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I have a cat that goes outside during the day, but stays inside with us after dark. He's quite the hunter and catches mostly birds and mice. I have seen him bring home 3 birds in one day. He will eat the animals whole although I interrupt the process if I catch him. Anyhow, he normally chows down half a can of moist food every night and we leave out dry food and water for him during the day. Two nights ago was the last time that I saw him eat. Yesterday morning, he would not even eat a single kitty treat which he loves. He wanted to stay inside and not go outside which is also very unusual for him. He's usually wanting to go out as soon as the sun comes up. We took him to the vet today and after spending over 5 hours waiting in 2 waiting rooms at 2 vets and over $1000 total on x-rays, ultrasound, and medications (opiate pain-killer, appetite stimulant, anti-nausea, and some type of antibiotic), they still could not give me a definite answer on what is wrong with my cat. After ordering an x-ray, the first vet thought that there might be a blockage in his small intestine. Unfortunately, they could not do an ultrasound so they referred us to a vet hospital where we waited a very long time for not much. Although the ultrasound showed no blockage, they thought he might have irritation or infection in part of his digestion tract. They were hoping that the anti-nausea, appetite stimulant, and pain killers would encourage the cat to start eating and drinking again. They also hydrated him by injecting something (think it was kinda like saline / something to hydrate him) under his skin on his back. We opted to hold off on the blood work / urine until Monday hoping that he would regain his appetite and we kinda did not want to subject the cat to more trauma. Our half-shaven drugged-up cat has had a bad day. Since coming home from the vet, we bought him a small can of Gerber chicken baby food (read the ingredients, only chicken, food starch, and water), but still no appetite, not drinking water. What should we do? I plan to start syringe feeding him at least water. He was 12 pounds a year ago, 11 pounds today. More worried about keeping him hydrated than food intake, but will work on both.