Our cat won't eat

Mitzi29

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Hello. our cat is a 7 years old indoor cat.
about a week ago he started vomiting, then he stopped vomiting but also stopped eating.
we tried to offer him every food possible, he seemed interested but as soon as he tried to eat he would immediately leave it.

The vet said she will have to sedate him to check him, since he's very anxious and won't let her check him thoroughly otherwise.
but I remembered that the last time he had to be sedated it took him about 2 days to get back to normal, so we just took him back home.
she gave us some paste that suppose to help with hairballs, in case it's some hair that's stuck in his bowls, and some new wet food to try.
we waited 2 more days without him touching food, other than licking it a bit then leaving it. then took him for blood tests and body x-ray.

The blood tests came out good, and the x-ray showed that there's something in his small bowels, but it wasn't too clear.
she gave him a wake up shot with B12 that supposed to make him eat and sent us home.
for the first hour of being home he was indeed very hungry and ate quite a bit. then the shot effect decayed, and he stopped eating again.
as expected, it took him more than 24 hours to overcome the sedation, and he still is very "not himself" to this moment (3 days later).
when we got back from the vet he had (healthy looking) feces once, and he peed a couple of times.

After he still refused to eat today, we called the vet. she gave us Cerenia to help with his appetite, and Onsior in case he's in pain.
he took the Onsior, and after the Cerenia he started drooling so much it was scary,
so we called the vet but she said it's probably because the medicine touched his taste buds.
he also started to go to the litter box and do nothing, then exit (we're checking after every time he goes in).

He didn't eat anything yet, and it's been nearly 5 hours since he got both meds. we offered everything we could.
he did show a bit more interest when we offered him some grass (which he goes crazy for, on a regular day), but even then he wouldn't really eat it.
at one point he smelled some of the food and started drooling again, then ran away from it.

I thought maybe we should puree his food and mix it with water then feed him with a syringe?
We just don't know what to do anymore and would love any type of advice.
 

LTS3

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Cerenia only helps with nausea and vomiting. It's best given about half an hour before a meal. If the cat needs an appetite stimulant, mirtzapine is the most commonly prescribed medicine.

Dry pilling can cause drooling afterwards. So can nasty tasting medicine. Use one of these pilling tips:

Pilling Cats: Must-know Tips For Hiding Pills – Cat Articles
The Best Pill-taking Secret I Know...
Pilling Cats and Dogs Safely
How We Give Our Pill Hating Cat A Pill
Getting Cat To Take Pills... Post Tips Here.

If the vet is just throwing out band aid treatments and has no idea what is wrong, you should take your cat to another vet for a second opnion. Bring copies of your cat's medical records with you so the new vet can see what has already been done.
 
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Mitzi29

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Cerenia only helps with nausea and vomiting. It's best given about half an hour before a meal. If the cat needs an appetite stimulant, mirtzapine is the most commonly prescribed medicine.

Dry pilling can cause drooling afterwards. So can nasty tasting medicine. Use one of these pilling tips:

Pilling Cats: Must-know Tips For Hiding Pills – Cat Articles
The Best Pill-taking Secret I Know...
Pilling Cats and Dogs Safely
How We Give Our Pill Hating Cat A Pill
Getting Cat To Take Pills... Post Tips Here.

If the vet is just throwing out band aid treatments and has no idea what is wrong, you should take your cat to another vet for a second opnion. Bring copies of your cat's medical records with you so the new vet can see what has already been done.
Cerenia only helps with nausea and vomiting. It's best given about half an hour before a meal. If the cat needs an appetite stimulant, mirtzapine is the most commonly prescribed medicine.

Dry pilling can cause drooling afterwards. So can nasty tasting medicine. Use one of these pilling tips:

Pilling Cats: Must-know Tips For Hiding Pills – Cat Articles
The Best Pill-taking Secret I Know...
Pilling Cats and Dogs Safely
How We Give Our Pill Hating Cat A Pill
Getting Cat To Take Pills... Post Tips Here.

If the vet is just throwing out band aid treatments and has no idea what is wrong, you should take your cat to another vet for a second opnion. Bring copies of your cat's medical records with you so the new vet can see what has already been done.

Thank you for your reply.
I think she gave him Cerenia because he was vomiting before he stopped eating.
but I'm reading about Mirtazapine now. seems like it only takes effect 1-2 days after it's given?
it also seems to have lots of common side effects. but I will ask the vet about it, so thank you for mentioning it.

as for the links, in all of them the advice is to wrap it in food, but our cat refuse to eat anything,
so it won't help in our case, unfortunately.
I think I just should have made sure the syringe is deep enough not to touch his taste buds. but it's difficult when he moves.

we talked with the vet again, and she said that we should try feeding him with the syringe,
and if he'll throw up we must bring him to an ultrasound, which might lead to a surgery.
I'm just so scared.

I do want to try another vet, but our cat is so traumatized from those vet visits, I don't know what to do.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. I don't know if he would be interested in the lickable treats for his meds, but it might be worth a try. I have used Tiki Cat Stix, Vitakraft, Wholehearted, Applaw, Inaba Churu for Feeby's meds. Even Tiki Cat Mousse (which is actually a complete meal source) is another thing to try.

Another 'trick' that often works with cats who don't want to eat is baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut).
 

daftcat75

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Syringe feeding by mouth is not sustainable. Most cats will fight you for every bite making it nearly impossible to feed them enough this way. Even if your cat is an angel about this, to get the food to squirt through a syringe it has to be diluted. It takes a lot of syringes over many feeding sessions to get enough calories this way.

Given the circumstances, I think mirtazapine is worth a try. The side effects do not outweigh the benefit. With my Krista, it would kick in within an hour or two. She would come find my lap and happy meow and purr her head off for half an hour like someone spiked her drink. Then when the surge had passed, she would eat everything in sight and let me know if she wanted more. 😋😻 I think the surges would be more alarming if I didn’t know to expect them and if I didn’t sit with her through them and instead let her anxious meow her head off without me.

Mirtazapine can be a great reset button or a bridge to recovery. But you still need to figure out why he’s not eating. You’ll have to set aside his (or yours?) vet anxiety and seek answers. An ultrasound doesn’t have to lead to surgery. But you won’t know that until they’ve had a look. And often, many cat owners will skip the biopsy and opt to try one option first and then the other.

If it were my cat, I would schedule the ultrasound and ask for the mirtazapine. The mirtazapine should get him eating until you can figure out what’s really going on and address that.
 

daftcat75

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He needs to eat to poop. I wouldn’t make much of his empty bathroom trips if he’s not eating. Unless he’s also not peeing. That can be a sign of a dangerous blockage and should be treated like an emergency.
 
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Mitzi29

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Hi. I don't know if he would be interested in the lickable treats for his meds, but it might be worth a try. I have used Tiki Cat Stix, Vitakraft, Wholehearted, Applaw, Inaba Churu for Feeby's meds. Even Tiki Cat Mousse (which is actually a complete meal source) is another thing to try.

Another 'trick' that often works with cats who don't want to eat is baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut).
Thank you.
I've searched and it doesn't seem to be available where we live.
but it did give me an idea of some other food we haven't tried yet
not sure it's gonna work tho, but we'll try.

Syringe feeding by mouth is not sustainable. Most cats will fight you for every bite making it nearly impossible to feed them enough this way. Even if your cat is an angel about this, to get the food to squirt through a syringe it has to be diluted. It takes a lot of syringes over many feeding sessions to get enough calories this way.

Given the circumstances, I think mirtazapine is worth a try. The side effects do not outweigh the benefit. With my Krista, it would kick in within an hour or two. She would come find my lap and happy meow and purr her head off for half an hour like someone spiked her drink. Then when the surge had passed, she would eat everything in sight and let me know if she wanted more. 😋😻 I think the surges would be more alarming if I didn’t know to expect them and if I didn’t sit with her through them and instead let her anxious meow her head off without me.

Mirtazapine can be a great reset button or a bridge to recovery. But you still need to figure out why he’s not eating. You’ll have to set aside his (or yours?) vet anxiety and seek answers. An ultrasound doesn’t have to lead to surgery. But you won’t know that until they’ve had a look. And often, many cat owners will skip the biopsy and opt to try one option first and then the other.

If it were my cat, I would schedule the ultrasound and ask for the mirtazapine. The mirtazapine should get him eating until you can figure out what’s really going on and address that.

He needs to eat to poop. I wouldn’t make much of his empty bathroom trips if he’s not eating. Unless he’s also not peeing. That can be a sign of a dangerous blockage and should be treated like an emergency.
Thank you for the reply.
we will probably try the Mirtazapine tomorrow. I don't think we're left with any other choice.
and will probably go through the ultrasound as well.

He's drinking a bit and peeing too.
he had feces the day we went to the vet after he ate quite a bit because of the shot she gave him.
but I thought the weird bathroom trips (which stopped since) had something to do with the Cerenia.
 
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