Cat won't eat, vet doesn't know whats wrong

ingrid15

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My 14 year old cat just started picking at her food about 3 months ago.  She would normally gobble up her food, but I started noticing that she would eat very little, if anything at all.  I brought her to the vet, and she couldn't find anything wrong.  Her blood tests, urine tests, and x-rays all came back fine, and the vet couldn't see any issues.  The vet  thought maybe she just needed a boost, so she gave me a few appetite simulator pills to help jump start her to eating again.  That did work for a little while, but as soon as I ran out of the pills, my cat stopped eating again.  I've also tried different brands and flavors of food but that didn't help at all.  The only thing she'll eat is a few nibbles of dry food in the morning and at night.  She does drink water.  If I open a can, she will either take one or two licks of it or run away.  I brought her back to the vet again, as she had lost more weight.  The vet gave her a fluid shot as she was dehydrated, and gave me a syringe and some food to giver her but syringe feeding her is next to impossible as she will clamp her mouth down so I can hardly get any food in her.  My cat's behavior has also changed, she will hide under the bed, and sit in the closet facing the wall.  When I google her symptoms, they seem to be that of kidney failure, but the vet told me her blood tests were ok.  I don't know what else to do at this point.  Every day its a struggle to get her to eat just a few grains of food.  Has anyone ever had a similar experience and what could be wrong with my cat?  I love her so much but don't know what to do anymore.  
 

puck

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My 14 year old cat just started picking at her food about 3 months ago.  She would normally gobble up her food, but I started noticing that she would eat very little, if anything at all.  I brought her to the vet, and she couldn't find anything wrong.  Her blood tests, urine tests, and x-rays all came back fine, and the vet couldn't see any issues.  The vet  thought maybe she just needed a boost, so she gave me a few appetite simulator pills to help jump start her to eating again.  That did work for a little while, but as soon as I ran out of the pills, my cat stopped eating again.  I've also tried different brands and flavors of food but that didn't help at all.  The only thing she'll eat is a few nibbles of dry food in the morning and at night.  She does drink water.  If I open a can, she will either take one or two licks of it or run away.  I brought her back to the vet again, as she had lost more weight.  The vet gave her a fluid shot as she was dehydrated, and gave me a syringe and some food to giver her but syringe feeding her is next to impossible as she will clamp her mouth down so I can hardly get any food in her.  My cat's behavior has also changed, she will hide under the bed, and sit in the closet facing the wall.  When I google her symptoms, they seem to be that of kidney failure, but the vet told me her blood tests were ok.  I don't know what else to do at this point.  Every day its a struggle to get her to eat just a few grains of food.  Has anyone ever had a similar experience and what could be wrong with my cat?  I love her so much but don't know what to do anymore.  
Firstly, a cat with cancer or early renal disease can have normal bloodwork. Including red and white blood cells, BUN/CREA, and PCV/TS. I've had some with normal BUN?CREA the first year, and the next year, they have non-regenerative anemia, then high BUN/CREA, high phorphorus, and calcium. I've had a splenic hemangiosarc patient present 5 days after normal routine blood chem, lytes, and CBC.

 By the time changes are evident in blood, their disease process has usually progressed a great deal.

Second, palpating the abdomen for obvious enlargement or diminished kidneys or abdominal mass can help the DVM determine disease, but again, often progressed by the time changes are palpable.

The ever important chest and abdomen ultrasound by a board certified radiologist gives them more info, and CT/MRI the most. Xrays are very limited, especially to the eye of a regular family vet, rather than a radiologist, but even then this flat 2D imaging is limited for diagnosing any disease, condition, or change in anatomy.

Not wanting to eat indicates either pain, lethargy, fever, GI ulceration, or combination there in, symptoms of a serious disease process occurring.
 

denice

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Although I certainly agree with Puck that this could be CRF or cancer especially in an older kitty but it could also be IBD.  I found out with my IBD kitty that they do not always present with the usual symptom of diarrhea or even vomiting.  An ultrasound is needed to get a look at what is going on inside. 
 
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