My Cat Stopped Eating

[Heaven02]

My 2.5 year old female stopped eating her raw chicken that I made with chicken course ground the way she likes it. I was using alnutrin with calcium since she won't eat food with any real bone but I recently tried Lisa Pierson's recipe (not cooked) with powdered calcium. She loved it for a few weeks, actually started to look a little heavy..then I went away for 10 days and I came back she looked skinny, and stopped eating it alltogether. (I am wondering if the stress of me leaving contributed). So I made a batch of chicken with the alnutrin which she used to love and she wouldn't eat that. I took her to our vet (homeopathic) we tried a remedy and got her eating a ground turkey made with alnutrin for a few days then she stopped eating that and anything. She doesn't like beef, venison, or rabbit. She will usually only eat chicken, turkey, or pork...but won't touch any of it. We took blood and did tests, everything is normal. Vet says it's an energetic issue and we gave a couple more remedies over the course of a few days...still has an aversion to eating. I have been trying different things... I cooked pork in butter small chunks..no....puréed it..no...I cooked duck gizzards and liver...no...puréed it...no...I have tried different canned foods, purveying, warming with water, etc nothing. I have been taking some of the puréed food and feeding her with a syringe, which she cooperates with and seems to feel better from getting something in her belly but I would like her to eat. I will be calling he vet again to try a different remedy but I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions. Btw she is not throwing up. Her health is fine...kidneys are fine, no ibs...I think I put something in the recipe from Lisa Pierson that she didn't like and now has turned her off...I used a different brand of b vitamin...or maybe it was the salt in the recipe...anyway I it's been about 2 weeks of this.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! I'm so sorry to hear this!
Take a look at some of these ideas;

Be sure to weigh your kitty on a regular basis.

What if you try a combination of things; there is music that might help - classical harp music, or there's an app called RelaxMyCat, and there's MusicForCats . com.

Also, try feeding in different locations - really, completely different, and utilize different heights. For example put a couple of books underneath the dish, next time use two thick phone books, or a small-ish box so the heights are varied....

Maybe there is something that might help here;

Sit with your cat and scoop some food on your finger or a spoon and hopefully your kitty will lick it. Or gently tuck some food inside the cheek.

(You might want to double-check with your vet just to be sure these things below are ok for your kitty).

Try some raw egg yolk. Egg white must always be cooked, and some people cook the white and make a slurry of sorts by adding in the raw yolk.

Also you could try some Nutri-cal or similar product.

Try making the Pedialyte here;
tent test for dehydration and home-made pedialyte recipe - The Daily Kitten

Also, try making one of these, or the KMR and kitten glop recipes that were posted above;
Kitten Glop Recipes - Supplementing Cats and Kittens with nutritious formula you make at home: presented by Bengal Cat breeder Foothill Felines. --This website has a number of kitten glop recipes, with ingredients that you may very well have in your house.

These can be used on their own or combined with food. Also, if you heat the food a little - stir it so there aren't any hot spots from the microwave.

Or you could heat some water, about a tablespoon, and add that to canned food. A small glass works to stir it all up.

• Chicken, beef or ham flavored (pureed) baby food such as Gerber Stage 2 - make sure there is no garlic or onions in the ingredients

• Tuna and/or the juice, a low mercury/low/no sodium brand is called SafeCatch

• Salmon, mackerel

• Sardines (make sure there are no bones)

• boiled cut up chicken or turkey with no seasonings

• canned kitten food any brand

• Try mixing in Kitten Milk Replacer - there are recipes on the internet or store bought

• Fish, tuna or BBQ flavored canned wet food (I personally have never seen BBQ flavors, but...)

• Lickable cat treats or pouch treat 'gravy' poured over the food

• kitten glop (recipes in website link above)
• Bonito flakes
• fortiflora
• fish oil
• green beans, or asparagus mushed up and also the liquid from canned vegetables
• whipped topping such as reddiwhip

• goat milk, or no lactose cow milk
• whole cooked eggs (the white must always be cooked) or raw egg yolk now and then
• broth with no salt and no garlic or onion or seasonings of any kind
• There are also commercial toppers, Applaws is a brand that can work well as a topper
  
• Some good treats would be freeze dried Purebites, Orijen, Meowtinis, Meowables, Only Natural Pet, Primal

• There are also Lickimats that you could spread types of soft food onto, even plain unflavored yogurt, and even freeze it. Licking something can help a cat to feel better emotionally The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats
• shredded cheddar cheese

 

[Kflowers]

You might try a different bowl. If she was eating and something startled her while eating she may associate that with the bowl. If you're using china switch to wood or if wood try china. If a bowl try a plate. Her whiskers may have gotten more sensitive with a change in the barometic pressure and brushing them against the bowl distressed her.

But the one thing I would definitely do is talk to whoever took care of her while you were gone. She obviously stopped or seriously slowed down eating while you were. Ask them about when they fed her, did they warm the food? Did they gave her treats? Put crumbled treats on top of her food? Reassure them you just need to know because she's starving herself now, you'll forgive them if they gave her something you didn't leave for her to have.

 

[Heaven02]

Thank you so much for the replies.
I know it’s been a couple of weeks. She still is eating very little but I did try feeding her upstairs in her bed, which is on my bed and that helped. I also still do some syringe feeding and I put some in the cheek of her mouth. She threw it all up yesterday though.
So then I tried some boiled chicken and liver. She ate a little of that on her own. I am going to try some of the kitten glop recipes today. I have a supplement from standard process for the immune system I can add to it. Or the Alnutrin without the calcium for some extra vitamins.
My vet sells raw milk, I think it’s goat milk, for cats. Do you think that can be substituted for the canned goat or evaporated milk in the kitten glop recipes?

 

[Furballsmom]

Definitely, goat's milk is good and could be substituted. All the best of luck, let us know how it goes !