Pickyness or just not hungry

[mewlittle]

I'm not sure if I should post this in health or nutrition due to I don't know if its pickyness or if its lack of an appetite for whatever reason

Before I start Soar has a vet appointment on December 4th Can't get one sooner, the one I had set in September they cancelled it out so I made one elsewhere ugh vets in my area I swear

My moms cat has always had a low appetite we summed it up from the previous abusive owner only feeding her salty human food and she doesn't know what what cat food is and her thinking she'll get salty Ramon if she doesn't eat the cat food, my mom has had her for 2 years now and her me and my siblings don't give her human food, we also think she has a form of PTSD I'll get to in a moment

Soar was originally getting friskies dry meow mix dry etc and bits n gravy friskies etc she would eat like 1/4-1/3 cup and or 1/4-1/2 can of 5.5oz can in A day even though we would give her a cup and a whole can and once in awhile not eat at all where all the other cats would eat all theirs and want more,
Not to long ago the friskies was causing all the cats to vomit and get diarrhea,
I switched all the cats including Soar to Blue Buffalo sensitive stomach dry and to pate wet which she still gets the bits n gravy (i accidentally bought non pate) on Nov 1 st and during the transition she would pick out the blue and leave the friskies and ate the wet like she usually does,since Nov 10th they haven't gotten the friskies dry on Nov 10th and 11th Soar ate almost 3/4 of the blue buffalo sensitive stomach and when she would go to eat it she would eat it like she loved it and ate almost all her wet i was thinking maybe we getting somewhere and she was even playing with Astrid which she never plays but since Nov 12 and today she barely ate any of the dry and no wet and has been avoiding Astrid and not playing she'll bug us for food but when we give her the wet (dry is out 24/7) she'll sniff it and go back to where she was laying ,yesterday morning 12th and today morning 13th she puked up white foam (stomach acid) ,earlier i caught her trying to eat plastic the way she tried to eat it remined me of a dog with a bone yes i got tje plastic away from her and she didnt ingest any and thats the first time that we know of that she did that i try to keep plastic picked up because she'll pee on it but not this time ,I really don't want to offer her any of the friskies dry because its not good at all , beside the 2 stomach acid pukes she had she didn't puke once since the blue switch and her stool straighted out but still stinks, all the other cats are acting just fine,
Also Soar is on the smaller size of cats due to growth stunt she is 6lbs and we can't get her to gain weight we can feel her spine and ribs she also has hair loss rough back fur and scabby skin ,she has no fleas, her skin color on her nose ears etc looks normal her eyes are clear no URI symptoms no urinary symptoms that I can tell, she even pulls her hair out when she gets what appears to look like anxiety and or a PTSD moment,Also anyti!e any of us open the fridge or cook she'll get all excited begging like a dog and one time about a month ago she stole about 1/3 of my moms hamburger Pattie (it was just meat no cheese no breed lightly salted no other seasoning) that my mom was actively eating the moment soar seen the mostly eaten Pattie going in my moms mouth she instantly ran to my mom took it out of her mouth with hers and attacked her with the pattie in her mouth ran off and inhaled it it went so fast we couldn't stop it, she reminded me of a feral starving cat in that moment ever since we haven't had hamburger patties because of that,my mom was even shocked about it because soar is usually always sweet and gentle, I'm literally stumped

I have tried all kinds of wet textures around d 5 different brands of wet friskies dry meow mix dry blue buffalo dry (currently) 9lives, diamond naturals ,purina natural various treats by themselves or as toppers and she will get it once or twice but will not really touch it again, I even tried whiskas cat milk as a food topper worked once,

Could this be caused by her previous abusive owner and if so what can we do to help her?
Could this be a medical issue possibly caused by abuse if so what you all think it could be so I can discuss it with the vet just in case they don't think of it?
Could this be plain pickyness bc she wants salty foods? If that's the case how do you get a cat that wants salt to eat food without adding salt?
If this ain't abuse related what do you all think so I can discuss with vet about it

Everything you guys suggest I'm discussing it with the vet I'm not self diagnosing her

Thank you here is Soar setting like a human

 

[moxiewild]

Unfortunately, your questions are impossible for us to answer.

Your mom’s cat sounds like she has a lot going on, and much of it - if not all - requires a competent vet evaluation and diagnostics.

If there is really no way to get her to the vet sooner, then I will say this - if she will eat the Friskies, give her the Friskies. Give her whatever complete and balanced food she will actually eat and tolerate, because under-eating long term is extremely dangerous for cats - unlike humans, they did not evolve to fast, and they can develop a life threatening illness in short time over this.

So don’t worry about the quality of the food right now - feed her whatever she will eat.

If she rejects all food for more than a day or so, you need to take her to the ER if you can’t immediately get in with a regular vet. If her vomiting becomes severe (daily), or if she’s vomiting several times a week for a prolonged period, you also need to take her to the ER.

And if you have the means to take her up the ER now, I would do so regardless, as from your description it is difficult to determine how critical your cats condition actually might be right now.

Another thing I will leave you with as a behavioral consult - never attribute to behavior what has yet to be ruled out as medical in origin.

This includes pickiness or any possible PTSD. Your cats symptoms are severe enough that speculating on behavioral causes is dangerous until a vet has ruled out potential medical reasons that may explain what might be going on.

It can be very easy to mistake nausea and stomach acid for pickiness, or severe allergies or neurosis for a present response to past trauma. Only lab work can help you figure that out right now.

I know you said you aren’t self-diagnosing, and that’s good - but speculating at this stage will not be very helpful to your vet or your cat.

What you can do right now to really help your vet, is start a food log for kitty.

Write down the date, what food she was given at what time, how much she ate, when she ate, and then include any symptoms you might have observed - vomiting (and describe what kind), irregular poops, scratching/pulling out fur, activity level, etc and the time of those incidences. Do this every day until her appointment, as much as you possibly can. It could prove invaluable to your vet in helping you get to the bottom of this.

It’s very clear that you care deeply for your mom’s kitty. I hope you find out what’s going on with her soon

 

[Mamanyt1953]

A very, very wise person once told me, when I was frantically trying to wean my cat off of Friskies and onto SOMETHING "better," "The very best cat food is the one your cat will actually eat." The most balanced, nutritious cat food in the world does no good sitting in the dish while your cat begs for Friskies. And they aren't the worst food in the world.

 

[mewlittle]

Unfortunately, your questions are impossible for us to answer.

Your mom’s cat sounds like she has a lot going on, and much of it - if not all - requires a competent vet evaluation and diagnostics.

If there is really no way to get her to the vet sooner, then I will say this - if she will eat the Friskies, give her the Friskies. Give her whatever complete and balanced food she will actually eat and tolerate, because under-eating long term is extremely dangerous for cats - unlike humans, they did not evolve to fast, and they can develop a life threatening illness in short time over this.

So don’t worry about the quality of the food right now - feed her whatever she will eat.

If she rejects all food for more than a day or so, you need to take her to the ER if you can’t immediately get in with a regular vet. If her vomiting becomes severe (daily), or if she’s vomiting several times a week for a prolonged period, you also need to take her to the ER.

And if you have the means to take her up the ER now, I would do so regardless, as from your description it is difficult to determine how critical your cats condition actually might be right now.

Another thing I will leave you with as a behavioral consult - never attribute to behavior what has yet to be ruled out as medical in origin.

This includes pickiness or any possible PTSD. Your cats symptoms are severe enough that speculating on behavioral causes is dangerous until a vet has ruled out potential medical reasons that may explain what might be going on.

It can be very easy to mistake nausea and stomach acid for pickiness, or severe allergies or neurosis for a present response to past trauma. Only lab work can help you figure that out right now.

I know you said you aren’t self-diagnosing, and that’s good - but speculating at this stage will not be very helpful to your vet or your cat.

What you can do right now to really help your vet, is start a food log for kitty.

Write down the date, what food she was given at what time, how much she ate, when she ate, and then include any symptoms you might have observed - vomiting (and describe what kind), irregular poops, scratching/pulling out fur, activity level, etc and the time of those incidences. Do this every day until her appointment, as much as you possibly can. It could prove invaluable to your vet in helping you get to the bottom of this.

It’s very clear that you care deeply for your mom’s kitty. I hope you find out what’s going on with her soon

Thank you for your response

This was actually helpful, I will start logging everything like you said I can't believe I didn't think of any of that,

As I'm typing this Soar is actually playing with Astrid the kitten And before that she ate about 1/4 of a 5.5oz can of wet yes I'm going to log that before she decided to eat while she was on the couch she looked over at the direction of her feeding area than soared off the couch onto my lap just to get a few pets then she jumped off of me and soared to her feeding area (on top of deep freezer) and that's when she decided to eat some of the wet and about 10 minutes after that she started to play with the kitten ,her hair pulling as of midnight has increased, another reason I'm putting all that on here so I don't loose it for when I log it in, and as an update to you all,

I was planning on asking the vet about blood work etc and depending on what the vet says is depending on if I'm going to ask about appetite stimulants on her off days and or anxiety meds and or nausea meds and so on it just depends on what the vet says, I do believe she does feels nausea sometimes due to the way she moves her mouth like we do when we get nauseous

The closest ER is over the River which is a different city and no taxis will transport animals out of the city and we have no other form of transportation

Besides her eating issues and random vomits (not as much since she hasnt gotten the friskies dry) and the diarrhea that was going on when she ate the friskies dry ,hair pulling she is acting fine for the most part ,as in she isn't having issues walking seeing hearing drinking water moving around etc, does that make sense?

I'm going to put some friskies dry on the blue not mixed to see if she'll eat it I'm just afraid it'll make her puke more and cause diarrhea like it was she even pulled her hair out more before the blue switch

And I do know how dangerous it is for cats on not eating after 24 hours that is why I get worried about Soar when she gets in the mode *I don't want it or I'm not eating* phase

As far as I can tell by looking at her poop I don't see worms but I know that don't mean anything due to not all worms show themselves

Due to my moms health issues preventing her from getting up I feed Soar etc along with my 4 cats

and Soar has never been outside

I hope this vet listens to me because the previous one didn't when I asked for blood work for Cali

Thank you again

 

[mewlittle]

A very, very wise person once told me, when I was frantically trying to wean my cat off of Friskies and onto SOMETHING "better," "The very best cat food is the one your cat will actually eat." The most balanced, nutritious cat food in the world does no good sitting in the dish while your cat begs for Friskies. And they aren't the worst food in the world.

She begs for the wet friskies but allot of times won't eat it or eats a little
In my reply to moxiewild I'm afraid she'll get diarrhea etc again if I give her the dry but I'll see if she'll eat it in hopes it don't and log it all

Thank you

 

[moxiewild]

Thank you for your response

This was actually helpful, I will start logging everything like you said I can't believe I didn't think of any of that,

As I'm typing this Soar is actually playing with Astrid the kitten And before that she ate about 1/4 of a 5.5oz can of wet yes I'm going to log that before she decided to eat while she was on the couch she looked over at the direction of her feeding area than soared off the couch onto my lap just to get a few pets then she jumped off of me and soared to her feeding area (on top of deep freezer) and that's when she decided to eat some of the wet and about 10 minutes after that she started to play with the kitten ,her hair pulling as of midnight has increased, another reason I'm putting all that on here so I don't loose it for when I log it in, and as an update to you all,

I was planning on asking the vet about blood work etc and depending on what the vet says is depending on if I'm going to ask about appetite stimulants on her off days and or anxiety meds and or nausea meds and so on it just depends on what the vet says, I do believe she does feels nausea sometimes due to the way she moves her mouth like we do when we get nauseous

The closest ER is over the River which is a different city and no taxis will transport animals out of the city and we have no other form of transportation

Besides her eating issues and random vomits (not as much since she hasnt gotten the friskies dry) and the diarrhea that was going on when she ate the friskies dry ,hair pulling she is acting fine for the most part ,as in she isn't having issues walking seeing hearing drinking water moving around etc, does that make sense?

I'm going to put some friskies dry on the blue not mixed to see if she'll eat it I'm just afraid it'll make her puke more and cause diarrhea like it was she even pulled her hair out more before the blue switch

And I do know how dangerous it is for cats on not eating after 24 hours that is why I get worried about Soar when she gets in the mode *I don't want it or I'm not eating* phase

As far as I can tell by looking at her poop I don't see worms but I know that don't mean anything due to not all worms show themselves

Due to my moms health issues preventing her from getting up I feed Soar etc along with my 4 cats

and Soar has never been outside

I hope this vet listens to me because the previous one didn't when I asked for blood work for Cali

Thank you again

Okay, I thought the vomiting was happening with one of the other foods, not the Friskies.

if Friskies makes the vomiting and diarrhea worse, then don’t feed that. You can try a little bit as a topper or mixer to see if it entices her to eat more. She might be able to tolerate smaller amounts of it better, so just monitor.

Next time you go to the grocery store, just look at some of the junkiest food you can find. Cats will often eat junk, and it’ll be fine for now.

For wet food, a lot of cats like Fancy Feast, so you may want to try that too if you haven’t already.

She’s definitely not eating enough from the sounds of it, so keep trying different foods until you can hopefully find one she likes better and can keep down.

Appetite stimulants are usually for emergencies. You want to treat the underlying reason she won’t eat first. You might see a huge change in her appetite from addressing her nausea and/or stomach acid alone.

Speaking of nausea, some signs to look out for are lip licking (especially when around food or after sniffing it), sniffing food but not eating, acting hungry but not eating, and eating only a few bites at a time. If you see those behaviors, log them.

Stomach acid is typically in the morning and produces bile (which I think you already know from your post).

It would be a good idea the day of her appointment or the night before to try and collect a sample of fresh poop so that you can take it to the vet for a PCR test to check for parasites. Put the poop in a plastic baggie and immediately put it in the fridge - not the freezer.

Definitely press the vet for blood work, skin scraping, etc.

Remember, you are the client and they work for you. These are noninvasive procedures and you are well within your rights to tell your vet you want them done!

 

[mewlittle]

Okay, I thought the vomiting was happening with one of the other foods, not the Friskies.

if Friskies makes the vomiting and diarrhea worse, then don’t feed that. You can try a little bit as a topper or mixer to see if it entices her to eat more. She might be able to tolerate smaller amounts of it better, so just monitor.

Next time you go to the grocery store, just look at some of the junkiest food you can find. Cats will often eat junk, and it’ll be fine for now.

For wet food, a lot of cats like Fancy Feast, so you may want to try that too if you haven’t already.

She’s definitely not eating enough from the sounds of it, so keep trying different foods until you can hopefully find one she likes better and can keep down.

Appetite stimulants are usually for emergencies. You want to treat the underlying reason she won’t eat first. You might see a huge change in her appetite from addressing her nausea and/or stomach acid alone.

Speaking of nausea, some signs to look out for are lip licking (especially when around food or after sniffing it), sniffing food but not eating, acting hungry but not eating, and eating only a few bites at a time. If you see those behaviors, log them.

Stomach acid is typically in the morning and produces bile (which I think you already know from your post).

It would be a good idea the day of her appointment or the night before to try and collect a sample of fresh poop so that you can take it to the vet for a PCR test to check for parasites. Put the poop in a plastic baggie and immediately put it in the fridge - not the freezer.

Definitely press the vet for blood work, skin scraping, etc.

Remember, you are the client and they work for you. These are noninvasive procedures and you are well within your rights to tell your vet you want them done!

As I was reading you're response she actually ate a few bites of the blue dry and before that she ate some wet which i stated in my last reply to you,

How do I log the dry? Do I measure her 1 cup worth mark time down when I gave it and before replenishing the dry measure out the remaining and put that in? Like example on November 15th 9pm gave 1 cup blue buffalo sensitive stomach dry and 1/2 cup was eating from 9pm 15th to 9pm the 16th ?

Resuming typing this, Soar was bugging me for pets again which she was enjoying and at random her mood change in A middle of a pet and then she made her mad squeak sound and lightly bit my arm like a warning bite and gave me a look like *don't you dare * like a cat would when they would get abused so I'm wondering if she had a flash back, all I did was freeze my arm and looked at her and I said " what was that for? I was giving you lovins you alright" I didn't get mad at her and I didn't make any moves to indicate that I was going to hurt her after she did that, right before I walked away I told her "I'm not going to hurt you ill leave you be" and now she is on the back of the couch grooming herself

Back to my original response
9pm is when I put down the dry food,

And how do I log the wet food?

And I know what the signs of the nausea but couldn't think of the term *lip smacking * for it thank you for the list

Unfortunately we currently don't have any money to even get a can of fancy feast or anything else To try on her again me and my mom and brother are on SSI and we get paid once a month which makes it hard , and we don't know anyone that would loan anything

All the wet she ever has gotten has been the junkiest brands like friskies, 9lives ,meow mix cups, etc, she used to love even though she rarely finished it is anything Turkey chicken and or with cheese which we have but she is now sniffing and walking away from it ,I'm thinking she is either bored of it now or its a stomach issue, I have tried fancy feast a couple times with her a month ago and she wasn't having it I know shocker

When she does it most the time she keeps it down when she vomits its usually white foamy and only time I seen food come up is when she puked from the friskies dry

I wish I had a pet scale so I could log her weight ugh
And I'll contacts the vets a few days before the appointment to find out how much the blood stool sample tests costs due to us on SSI and I need to plan around the estimated vet costs

Thank you

Fyi it took me 45 minutes to write this response

 

[Mamanyt1953]

IF you have a human scale. weight yourself, then immediately weigh yourself holding Soar. Subtract the first from the second, and you'll have a general idea of what she weighs.

Do you know how to syringe feed her, if it became necessary?

 

[moxiewild]

As I was reading you're response she actually ate a few bites of the blue dry and before that she ate some wet which i stated in my last reply to you,

How do I log the dry? Do I measure her 1 cup worth mark time down when I gave it and before replenishing the dry measure out the remaining and put that in? Like example on November 15th 9pm gave 1 cup blue buffalo sensitive stomach dry and 1/2 cup was eating from 9pm 15th to 9pm the 16th ?

Resuming typing this, Soar was bugging me for pets again which she was enjoying and at random her mood change in A middle of a pet and then she made her mad squeak sound and lightly bit my arm like a warning bite and gave me a look like *don't you dare * like a cat would when they would get abused so I'm wondering if she had a flash back, all I did was freeze my arm and looked at her and I said " what was that for? I was giving you lovins you alright" I didn't get mad at her and I didn't make any moves to indicate that I was going to hurt her after she did that, right before I walked away I told her "I'm not going to hurt you ill leave you be" and now she is on the back of the couch grooming herself

Back to my original response
9pm is when I put down the dry food,

And how do I log the wet food?

And I know what the signs of the nausea but couldn't think of the term *lip smacking * for it thank you for the list

Unfortunately we currently don't have any money to even get a can of fancy feast or anything else To try on her again me and my mom and brother are on SSI and we get paid once a month which makes it hard , and we don't know anyone that would loan anything

All the wet she ever has gotten has been the junkiest brands like friskies, 9lives ,meow mix cups, etc, she used to love even though she rarely finished it is anything Turkey chicken and or with cheese which we have but she is now sniffing and walking away from it ,I'm thinking she is either bored of it now or its a stomach issue, I have tried fancy feast a couple times with her a month ago and she wasn't having it I know shocker

When she does it most the time she keeps it down when she vomits its usually white foamy and only time I seen food come up is when she puked from the friskies dry

I wish I had a pet scale so I could log her weight ugh
And I'll contacts the vets a few days before the appointment to find out how much the blood stool sample tests costs due to us on SSI and I need to plan around the estimated vet costs

Thank you

Fyi it took me 45 minutes to write this response

it sounds like that might have been a “love bite” from overstimulation from petting. Look into it and see if that’s what you think was going on.

Log the dry by measuring out what you give her. Then you can either measure what’s left after she eats, or eyeball and approximate (ex - she ate 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4 etc).

Similar with wet, although more difficult to measure. Write however many ounces are listed on the can that you give her (so, less if you only give her half a can), and then just approximate how much she’s eaten. If it looks like only a few bites, then write that. Otherwise try and stick with fractions.

At some point after the vet this might help, but it may be helpful to ask your local food pantries, municipal shelters, and rescues whether they have a pet food bank. Many human food banks do. That might be a way you can afford to try to find something your cat likes and tolerates.

Also - email pet food manufacturers and ask if they offer free samples or coupons. Many do. I know Purina (they own brands like Friskies and Fancy Feast) will give you a lot of coupons.

Fecal PCR is usually around $30.

What country are you in, by the way?

I also want to echo what Mamanyt1953 asked, because it is very important - do know how to syringe feed, and do you have a syringe to do it?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

A medicine dropper will work in a pinch.