Lack of appetite due to Anal Glands Issue

[ImaRobot]

Monday my newest adoptee had to be taken to the vet which because of discharge from her anal glands and lack of eating and vomiting, possibly swelling/pain/infected. She was noticeably lethargic all day Sunday and wouldnt eat any of her kibble, but would eat a Churu stick with no problem, tested it as a last resort to at least get something inside her. Before our vet appointment on Monday, I set some wet food out for her and she did lick it a bit, and took two very small bites, but seemingly ignored it the rest of the day. She did take on another Churu stick later Monday so at least it seemed like shes not in a total loss of appetite.

She had her glands expressed and cleaned, and was given an antibiotic shot. Shes now doing fine and has all her energy back, shes playing and purring, drinking water and everything, even waking me up early for attention, but she still seemingly does not have an appetite for wet food or kibble. After the vet I did put some kibble out for her and while I was running some errands it did seem like she attempted to eat some of it as I found crumbs around the bowl, but it was still mostly full. Yesterday I tried mixing in some Churu into a fresh bowl and she was more willing to give it a shot this time, but she mostly just ignored the kibble. Even today I put wet food out which also had a bit of gravy and she didnt outright ignore it, but she didnt seem that interested either. I'll check when I get home to see if she took any of it in, but is this normal after having such a loss of appetite all day Sunday due to her vomiting and likely pain/discomfort? Just wondering how long it'll take for her to get her appetite back up, and if there's anything I can try? Wondering if she's just getting picky with her food since she's been living off Churu for the past few days, but don't want to rule anything out.

Was gonna give the doc a call when they open but that wont be for a bit, but they did tell me that they have an appetite booster before our visit was over.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. It could be the antibiotics that are bothering her stomach, even if they were administered via an injection vs. orally. I suspect the antibiotic was Covenia and a number of cats lose their appetite and/or become lethargic while it lasts in their system, which can be for weeks. It could also be her correlating her food with when she was vomiting, and for now it is has lost its appeal. I would try other foods, including things like baby food meat, to see if that might jumpstart her eating again (article link with ideas included below).

I don't know what appetite booster they gave her during the vet visit, but the odds are whatever it was is not something that lasts more than 24 or so hours. It may have been more like an anti-nausea med, such as Cerenia, and that truly does not last long.

However, I am curious about the vomiting and whether or not it was part of the anal gland issue. Did the vet offer any information about the connection between the two? Or was it just from stomach acid build up due to her not eating enough?
How To Get Your Cat To Start Eating Again - TheCatSite

 

[ImaRobot]

Hi. It could be the antibiotics that are bothering her stomach, even if they were administered via an injection vs. orally. I suspect the antibiotic was Covenia and a number of cats lose their appetite and/or become lethargic while it lasts in their system, which can be for weeks. It could also be her correlating her food with when she was vomiting, and for now it is has lost its appeal. I would try other foods, including things like baby food meat, to see if that might jumpstart her eating again (article link with ideas included below).

I don't know what appetite booster they gave her during the vet visit, but the odds are whatever it was is not something that lasts more than 24 or so hours. It may have been more like an anti-nausea med, such as Cerenia, and that truly does not last long.

However, I am curious about the vomiting and whether or not it was part of the anal gland issue. Did the vet offer any information about the connection between the two? Or was it just from stomach acid build up due to her not eating enough?
How To Get Your Cat To Start Eating Again - TheCatSite

Covenia was it I'm thinking, the name looks very familiar from the invoice, and via injection I believe. Didn't realize it can cause a lack of appetite though. However, she isn't lethargic surprisingly, just wont eat anything besides Churu(will see how the wet food I put out looks when I get home.) When I did mix the Churu into the kibble she managed to clean off the churu from it all and left behind the Kibble, so there's at least something shes interested in at the very least.

They actually didnt give her an appetite booster, they said it is available but to monitor how shes doing in the coming days as I noted she only seems to want to take on the Churu.

It was all just bile which was attributed to the lack of taking in any food like you mention. They didn't really mention anything on it however, and it hasn't happened again since the initial day I noticed her change in behavior(Sunday, the day before the vet) and also stopped midway through the day or so, basically once I started giving her Churu.

Thanks for the link! I plan to hit the store later so I'll see if I can take on any of the tips.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Not all cats are negatively affected by Covenia, but it seems there are enough of them that I thought it was worth mentioning. Let us know if any of the food ideas work!

 

[ImaRobot]

Not all cats are negatively affected by Covenia, but it seems there are enough of them that I thought it was worth mentioning. Let us know if any of the food ideas work!

To be honest, she's extremely resilient to gabapentin I've noticed, so I wonder if its just a similar situation with the adverse sideaffects of the Covenia as well. Doc recommended to nearly double the recommended amount of the gabapentin I give her for the vet visit because it seemingly wasn't doing much in the past, and even then, she was still very aware, but she was calm at least.

Regardless, seeing how lifeless with the lack of energy she had on Sunday compared to the day of the Vet after she got all fixed up, it's like nothing ever happened. I was so glad. Just gotta sort out this appetite situation now, but if worst comes to worst she'll just get extra Churu treats while I figure it out.

 

[ImaRobot]

Not all cats are negatively affected by Covenia, but it seems there are enough of them that I thought it was worth mentioning. Let us know if any of the food ideas work!

So I went over that article and most of it doesnt apply here as the food is still good cus the boys still eat it, its not behavioral due to the other cats as shes segregated in her own room cus shes a new addition to the family. The Chicken baby food suggestion didnt work either, I tried to trick her by putting Churu on top of it and while she did lick the baby food a bit, she went for the Churu and left everything else. Still have beef so will try that when I get home. I'm going to call my vet today as I didnt get time yesterday, and see about that Hills Prescription Canned Food.

Considering her lack of eating, she is not lacking energy or spunk whatsoever. Even today she had some extreme zoomies and was climbing, jumping and scratching all over. Either way, shes currently living just off Churu sticks so far, a handful a day, and because of this I'm going to have to at least stock up on that until I can figure something out. One thing that is bothering me more though is shes not really taking in too much of her water, I'm barely seeing any loss in her bowl as I come home from work.

I'm also going to see if I can stop by the store and pick up some chicken or turkey and cook it up for her. My boys go crazy for that more than Churu so hopefully that works.

I've been checking her litter daily as well, and shes seemingly still going pee and poop regardless of this. Ive found one full clump and a few broken up clumps in the litter. Her poop, while not a lot, seemed solid too.

 

[ImaRobot]

So the vet does have the Hills Prescription Diet and they are going to give me free samples. I noted the lack of water intake and they told me I can see if shes dehydrated by checking her gums, and if they're sticky then she likely is and she wants me to bring her in - Good news is that I've been finding pee clumps daily so I'm hoping its something positive in regard. The unfortunate part of that is if I stop by my apartment first I wont even make it to the vet in time. So I think I'll check her tonight after I pick up the food, and if anything is worrying I'll get her an appointment tomorrow. I bet work is def going to be hating me this week due to this, but honestly that thought does not occupy my mind right now as this is way more important.

 

[ImaRobot]

I picked up the Hill Prescription Canned Food last night on my way home from work, but just incase that didnt work I went back to Petsmart to pick up some back up Churu. While in the same section I saw these small containers of Tuna chunk snacks in broth and decided to pick up two for now just to see.

I check her food when I get home and see she still hasn't touched the baby food, so I take her bowl to clean it out. I decided to try out this little tuna chunks before the Hills, and as soon as I poured it out she immediately reacted to it, walked over, started licking it, then to my amazement, actually started eating it! I finally have something substantial that she can eat. I have one more that I gave her this morning and she was swiping at my hand as I was putting down the bowl, she was ready to eat again and was excited for it. There was no hesitation. I'm so damn relieved. I still have the Hills Prescription that I'm going to try out today as I ran out of the Tuna, but if that doesnt work I atleast have something to fall back on.

Her water intake is still bothering me but her skin elasticity seems fine and her gums moist, but I feel they can be more. Luckily, the broth in that tuna chunk container should give her a little bit more for the time being. I also saw two clumps of pee in her litter, and some poo though it wasn't formed, but I imagine its because shes been on a pure Churu diet for at least 4-5 days now. I've been so damn stressed with all this, and couldnt get the Convenia horror stories out of my head, so this takes a massive burden off my shoulders for now.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Vita Kitty Appetizer is not a complete cat food, but it could be a good start to getting her back to eating again!

 

[ImaRobot]

Vita Kitty Appetizer is not a complete cat food, but it could be a good start to getting her back to eating again!

Churu even less so! I just needed something that wasn't a puree, but I'm just hoping this is the start of things normalizing. Even with this terrible food intake shes been on shes had absolutely no lack of energy. Tonight will be the first try of the Hills Prescription food, so I'm hoping for similar luck with it. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try mixing that Vita Kitty Appetizer with some kibble and see how that goes.

Is there any recommended kibble brands I can pick up from the store that might seem more enticing to cats? Right now I'm using the Purina Pro Plan for my 3, in between the Indoor Health and the Weight Management one for my oldest boy.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I haven't fed my cat kibble as in ever - other than years ago when she was eating urinary care food. I don't know what the texture of Vita Kitty is like, but since she likes Churu, I wonder what she would think of the Tiki Cat Mousse products, which are nutritionally complete but are a similar consistency to most any of the lickable treats? What is the Hill's prescription food - the urgent care one that is high in calories?

 

[ImaRobot]

I haven't fed my cat kibble as in ever - other than years ago when she was eating urinary care food. I don't know what the texture of Vita Kitty is like, but since she likes Churu, I wonder what she would think of the Tiki Cat Mousse products, which are nutritionally complete but are a similar consistency to most any of the lickable treats? What is the Hill's prescription food - the urgent care one that is high in calories?

The texture of the Vita was essentially how we see tuna in a can from the grocery store, shredded chunks in some light broth. Essentially the total opposite of the Churu she wasn't minding. I'll check out the Tiki Mousse on my next go if this Hills doesn't work.

The Hills is the exact one recommended in the article you posted actually, so yeah I think its that one. There was another one they gave me too, it had different letter designations but I cant remember off the top of my head, I think something like A B? I'll have to see when I get home.

As an aside, I dont entirely mind even switching the whole household over to some sort of wet food. I'm sure that would be better for them in general right? I just never knew where to start.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Wet food has more moisture, and generally less carbs than dry food. Sometimes, depending on the brand/type, they usually have less fillers.

I transitioned Feeby off of urinary care food (both dry and wet) when she stopped really wanting to eat them. I started with Fancy Feast Pates because she was used to pates in the wet urinary care food, and because they only had (and still do) one gum for a binder, and no fillers. That was years ago, and she still will eat most of the FF pates (no fish, she hates fish), but she is so picky I had to add other brands to her diet. She now has a rotation including some of the Purina Pro & One versions, Merrick, Arcana, and Orijen. They also do not have a lot of fillers or gums in them. She also used to eat some Blue Wilderness and Tiki Cat - but all the ones she likes have been discontinues or changed enough that she doesn't care for them anymore.

 

[ImaRobot]

Wet food has more moisture, and generally less carbs than dry food. Sometimes, depending on the brand/type, they usually have less fillers.

I transitioned Feeby off of urinary care food (both dry and wet) when she stopped really wanting to eat them. I started with Fancy Feast Pates because she was used to pates in the wet urinary care food, and because they only had (and still do) one gum for a binder, and no fillers. That was years ago, and she still will eat most of the FF pates (no fish, she hates fish), but she is so picky I had to add other brands to her diet. She now has a rotation including some of the Purina Pro & One versions, Merrick, Arcana, and Orijen. They also do not have a lot of fillers or gums in them. She also used to eat some Blue Wilderness and Tiki Cat - but all the ones she likes have been discontinues or changed enough that she doesn't care for them anymore.

The other one the vet gave me was the I/D, so I got one can of A/D and I/B. This weekend I saw some great progress with Litto. She was more than willing to eat the Hills Prescription food, even more so than the small tuna snack I gave her. All weekend she would eat both breakfast and dinner, and would eat it all as well. Her water intake still wasn't enough for my liking so I started mixing in a few ounces of water in each of her meals, which she gladly licked up first before actually eating the food, so I was glad to see that.

I let her out of the room for the first time since last Sunday because I didn't want the boys to bother her in any way while she was going through this, and she even went and ate some of their dry kibble, so it looks like shes more willing to eat as a whole. Also very late last night she finally started drinking the water in her bowls as well. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of licking and saw her hovering over her water bowl, I was relieved. I inspected it this morning and just in the one night I've seen the water levels lower more than it has in the whole last week combined. I think we're back to normality now, finally. What a stressful ride this has been.