My Cat Is Not Eating/drinking!!

[tiramicchan]

Hi everyone,

I’m pretty desperate so I hope posting it here will help. I have a 2 years old Siamese, she’s FIV+, her name is Pickle. Recently my other cat has tapeworm, so I suspect Pickle would have it too, because they both haven’t been dewormed yet.

So I brought them both to the vet. Got them de-worm medicine, which the vet already gave to them at clinic, so I don’t have to give it to them at home. I thought everything would be ok after, but Pickle won’t eat her dinner that day. She sniffed the food and walked away. Sometimes she comes back because she’s definitely hungry, gave it a few licks but would not grab the food with her mouth. Only lick, so basically she didn’t eat anything. I always feed them both wet and dry mixed together. The other cat eats fine after the vet, so I don’t think it’s necessarily the medicine, but maybe stress.

Within the next two days, I tried to feed her some food, she ate very little, but still a little bit, with great effort. She eats treats fine, so I’m not sure if her mouth even hurts. BUT I did notice, after the vet trip, the treat would fall out of her mouth, and there would be some crumbs, and same with her food as well. She doesn’t go to the water fountain to drink, so I have to pour some water into the bottle cap, and have her lick it. Very little water, but at least it’s something.

We started freaking out and brought her to the vet 2 days after. They looked at her teeth (which they mentioned back then that she does have some gingivitis, but it’s very little and not serious yet). They said her teeth look normal, breathing is normal, she’s not greatly dehydrated. Oh and she licks her lips a LOT, meaning she has nausea, so they gave her a shot for antinausea. And some fluids for dehydration. Told us to monitor her for another day, and if it doesn’t improve then come back, because not eating can damage her liver.

So that night, she wouldn’t eat still. I spoon fed her, and she ate almost everything, almost. Pickle had always been a fat ass, she eats her food AND her sister’s food. Never says no to food. But we were glad she at least ate the food last night, like actual chewing, and not just licking. Food still falls out of her mouth sometimes, but it’s a lot better. We thought she would be back to normal in the morning, but this morning she refuses to eat as well.

So I’m frustrated. I’ve looked up this topic before and lots of people had their cats not eating, and they ended up having cancer or something real serious after spending thousands of dollars at the vet. I’m so worried, Pickle is my first ever cat, and not to mention FIV+. Both my cats are indoor. I just hope she’s only traumatized from the first vet visit (they gave her 1.5 pill for tapeworm, liquid med for general worm, and a dose of liquid med for diarrhea, AND ear flushing and ear medicine in that one vet visit). I hope she’s just being picky and psychological, and nothing real serious.

If you read this far, thanks so much! If there’s anything please let me know. Any replies would be greatly appreciated. If by tomorrow Pickle doesn’t improve, I’ll take her to the vet again to do blood works.

Hope everything will be okay. I can’t imagine life without Pickle, I’ve only had her for 6 months.

 

[Kieka]

That sounds like a whole lot of stress and frustration, for you and your cat. Since she is FIV+ and they can have medical reactions to stress it could definitely be related. Can you call your vet and see if they will give you an appitite stimulant without taking her in again? That may be able to help with the eating without adding additional stress of going back in.

I would probably give it a few days for her to decompress, as long as she is eating something each day. Try human meat baby food, a nurtition gel or the stinkiest cat foods you can find to see if you can encourage her to eat more. Some cats start eating less because they don't feel good and end up continuing to refuse food even once they are feeling good. You want to do liquid heavy foods since she isn't drinking. It can take a few days for everything to get back to normal but it does sound like she is eating something, even if it's being spoon fed.

Keep in contact with your vet and ask about indicators that could mean it is something more. She's young to have any of the major concerns, like cancer, you have with older cats. I would lean more towards the medicine made her feel bad and the stress at this point. With the hopes that a few quite days at home and meeting her feeding demands will get her back on track. If she's not improved by early next week or has other problems I would take her back in for a more thorough exam.

 

[Jem]

If she is still not feeling 100%, and even if she is feeling better, she may not want to eat her "old" food because she may associate her feeling of nausea with the food she has previously eaten. Get her a variety of different flavors and textures of canned food, and see how that goes. You could also add some tuna water, or some bits of tuna to her food or sprinkle some parm cheese on top to see if that entices her to eat more. You could also try to heat up her food so it smells even more (just a few seconds at a time, till a little warm). I've also heard of people having a lot of success with adding Fortiflora to the food to get them to eat better.
I agree with @Keika about the probability of meds and stress causing her refusal to eat. But as mentioned, if some of these tips don't help it improve, I would go back go back to the vet.

 

[Margret]

You might try her on some KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer), which you should be able to get at any pet supply store. It isn't ideal for adult cats, who really should be on solid food, but it's extremely high in calories (because kittens grow so quickly) and it should be comfort food for her. Even better might be goat's milk, especially raw goat's milk, which may contain a few antibodies she needs.

If you try to give her meat baby food, read the labels carefully. Make sure it contains no onion or garlic!!! These are poisonous to cats.

And welcome to The Cat Site! You've found the best, largest, and most supportive community of cat lovers on the internet, and we hope that you and your cats will be members of our community for many years to come.

Margret