My cat hasn't been eating much (if at all) since yesterday

CozyBreakfast

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Sometimes she'd not eat meals, she's fussy. She'll want it on her own time, or different places (the bed, the dresser, wherever). She's 16, almost seventeen, and she's only a few pounds. A petite little girl. I tried getting her to eat a few times today, but I don't want to bother her too much. She's been drinking water more than usual and walking around resting in different places. I went to the store to get fresh grass for her. She seemed interested in it, and looked like she took a couple or so bites, but walked away. Then I took a little piece and tried to feed her it with me holding it. She tried several times to chew on it, but I don't think she ate any of it. Maybe it's her teeth? The vet a couple of years ago said she needed work done, but we were afraid to give her anesthesia and something could go wrong. Her brother passed away a in 2018 after he got some teeth removed. The vet said that didn't happen since I think 2003 I think. She's also not moving as smoothly, maybe because of weakness from lack of food.

She's Siamese and Persian if that helps. Regardless if she starts eating today or tomorrow morning we're taking her to the vet, unless you think we should take her to the emergency room. She loves Shop Rite rotisserie chicken which we get almost every week for her. Eats it right out of the container a lot (we break up the pieces sometimes unless she just chews away without us around). Recently she was eating what my mom had her on plate, mainly or just butter, so got her her own sticks of grass-fed butter. Today I found out those had sea salt though. Is that ok? I tried giving her regular butter today, but she didn't have that either. She also had eggs recently. She likes hamburgers sometimes. We also get a lot of canned food too, but when we had a house after she was born up until 2007 she used to hunt, so even though she hasn't hunted in a long time and even when we took her to our friends' house she didn't hunt, maybe she still has that need for that kind of freshness.

Maybe try essential oils? Give her tea?

Any help would be appreciated and you can ask me more questions if it helps.
 

fionasmom

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I am not a vet, but I do think that you need to err on the side of caution and get her to one. As you said, you are doing this tomorrow, which is good. This may be her age, or not anything in particular, or a cluster of symptoms which could be the beginning of something. As for today, can you entice her with some of the chicken she likes or try Gerber's baby food meats, stage 2 sitter? The hamburger she likes? Hartz makes a Lickable Stew type treat/topper which is very popular with most cats. A number of companies have these kinds of products, so you might find others that she likes.

While I think that you mean that she has only stopped eating for a day, I am not sure. If it was that recently, you are probably okay until tomorrow to see the vet. It is important that she keep drinking water. However, if this time frame becomes more flexible and the vet cannot see you tomorrow or if she has been refusing food for longer, you might need the ER.

Essential Oils and Cats | Pet Poison Helpline

I don't think that essential oils are the answer here, and I would avoid them as too many are toxic to cats.

Some people do give their cats German camomile tea in very small amounts, like a couple of teaspoons. Not a blended or English tea though, only pure camomile. Again, I don't think that is the answer and I don't think that her past experience with hunting are probably playing much of a role.
 
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CozyBreakfast

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I am not a vet, but I do think that you need to err on the side of caution and get her to one. As you said, you are doing this tomorrow, which is good. This may be her age, or not anything in particular, or a cluster of symptoms which could be the beginning of something. As for today, can you entice her with some of the chicken she likes or try Gerber's baby food meats, stage 2 sitter? The hamburger she likes? Hartz makes a Lickable Stew type treat/topper which is very popular with most cats. A number of companies have these kinds of products, so you might find others that she likes.

While I think that you mean that she has only stopped eating for a day, I am not sure. If it was that recently, you are probably okay until tomorrow to see the vet. It is important that she keep drinking water. However, if this time frame becomes more flexible and the vet cannot see you tomorrow or if she has been refusing food for longer, you might need the ER.

Essential Oils and Cats | Pet Poison Helpline

I don't think that essential oils are the answer here, and I would avoid them as too many are toxic to cats.

Some people do give their cats German camomile tea in very small amounts, like a couple of teaspoons. Not a blended or English tea though, only pure camomile. Again, I don't think that is the answer and I don't think that her past experience with hunting are probably playing much of a role.
She hasn't eaten yesterday or today (unless it was a tiny amount). My mom put a little bit of eggs in her mouth a little bit ago, which maybe wasn't the best move, but maybe she got some of it down her. She did start licking herself after that and jumped up to the lay by the window.
 
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CozyBreakfast

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We have animalEO essential oils, but I don't where my diffuser is and she didn't like when I put it on her in the past (ran away from me when I did), so I might not try that right now unless I find the diffuser.
 

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In addition to the food options already listed, there are lots of puree sort of treats (Churu, Nulo) that your sweet old kitty might enjoy. They aren't meant to be a sole diet but they can definitely help get some calories in her.
 

Joelle and the kittens

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Essential oils have almost zero robust evidence of efficacy in veterinary practice (and very little in people). I could not find many studies even involving EOs for inappetence, let alone those marketed by Animal EO, and what I did find was published in junky CAM journals. Animal EO also seems to support homeopathy, which is an automatic fail in my book as it's basically an admission of being anti-science. I would not trust them at all for either safety or efficacy.
 
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CozyBreakfast

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Thanks for the replies everybody. This morning she nibbled on a tiny amount, but it's something. She purrs a lot when I pet her. She has an appointment with the vet today.
 
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CozyBreakfast

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She got IV fluid because she was very dehydrated despite drinking a lot more and she also got a B12 shot. The vet said her teeth her fine, but it was a quick visit since it was an emergency. The last vet we took her to in 2019 wanted to do work on her teeth so we'll see. We'll get the blood results tomorrow. She has a lot more energy since the doctor visit and ate a tiny amount of canned food in the cat. Before that though she was struggling to eat grass in my friend's backyard. I bought baby food and soft cat food in the supermarket.

My mom noticed while we were walking her home from the car she has a swollen paw now, but she seems to be walking fine (she still isn't at full strength because of maybe lack of food). The vet is closed and the emergency animal hospital said it'd be a thirty minute wait on the phone. Could this be a reaction from one of the shots?
 

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They gave her a shot at the vet's? If it is really swollen, I would wait for the answer from the ER. Thank you for posting what happened so far.
 
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CozyBreakfast

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They gave her a shot at the vet's? If it is really swollen, I would wait for the answer from the ER. Thank you for posting what happened so far.
They took the blood from the jugular, maybe on the opposite side of her left paw, and IV and B12 on the side.
 
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CozyBreakfast

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Nope! Not noticeably anyway.

My mom cleaned her paws today though because the kitty litter sticks to our cats' paws. Such a pain litter is Lol.
 
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CozyBreakfast

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The vet just called and he suspects she has a chronic kidney failure from the blood test results. He needs to do more evaluation though. He said her only nibbling when she eats and if there is something going on with her teeth it could be related to her kidneys. I'm still wondering if it could be the other way around though, the teeth effecting the kidneys. I might take her to her vet prior to this tomorrow or as a soon as possible.
 
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CozyBreakfast

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My mom just said she ate a ton of her chicken!
 
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CozyBreakfast

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The vet said last night that her enzyme levels were way up at 4.2. I'm gonna look more into that.
 

fionasmom

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Cats with dental disease have a higher risk of kidney and bladder conditions. You and your vet might be talking about the same thing and it would be good to follow up on her care. Good news about the paw and the chicken dinner though. Which enzyme was he talking about?
 
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CozyBreakfast

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We had the results printed out for us yesterday from the tests on Monday. Here is what she is high in:

Urea Nitrogen: 86 and the range is suppose to be 14-36 mg/dL

Creatinine: 3.7 and supposed to be 0.6-2.4 mg/dL

Phosphorus: 8.7 and supposed to be 2.4-8.2 mg/dL (close to the normal range)

If anyone wants a picture of those results you can PM and ask me if that helps.
 
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