Senior cat is barely eating ... getting desperate

fionasmom

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A little weight loss can be a big deal – Mirataz

You probably found this site already. Remember to put gloves on. We had one member who experienced an increased appetite after applying it without gloves. The inner pinna might extend a little more than you thought without actually putting the medication into the ear as if he had an ear infection...which is way too deep.
 

daftcat75

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I’m also just realizing there’s a chance I may have been applying the Mirataz slightly wrong in his ear. The vet wasn’t able to show me (covid related restrictions) and instead just sent me on my way with it. I thought I’d been doing it right but I don’t think I went into his ear deep enough. I’m going to try and apply it differently tomorrow after watching some videos and see if I start to see better results.
It should not go deeply in his ear. You're looking for a hairless place for it to absorb and the pinna (inside top of the ear) is a great place that he's not likely to lick off either intentionally or while grooming. If you put it too deeply in his ear, you may not get proper absorption and he will almost certainly stick his foot in his ear trying to get it out.



The snapshot on this second video is misleading. They are cleaning his ear first here. The actual application does not go into the ear canal like this preview suggests.
 
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briannathecatmom

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Our experience when we got new 4-month-old; one of the others we already had for 3 years quit eating and was vomiting
bile. Vomiting bile is a sign of empty stomach. Cats graze their food all day and if not eating at all affects their
liver therefore vomit bile. Got over that; now after over year and half; no one is eating wet that they have always eaten (Fancy Feast). Have tried everything, barely eat dry even; only want treats. Have rarely give treats, ever. Now just to make sure they have
something in their tummies have give in to it. Even called Purina to see if they changed recipe; they checked and said no. Read that due to Pandemic; cat food ingredients are in short supply. We spend a lot of time searching for flavors they used to eat, only to throw out! They intensely "sniff" the food very strangely as tho' we are poisoning them. I still think there has been change in recipes. We have tried all types of other food to no avail. Would appreciate any ideas or experiences. Long time Cat Mom.
I noticed you said your older cat also stopped eating after a new kitten. Did the older cat just eventually start eating again on its own or did you do anything special to help?
 

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Hi all, this is going to be a fairly long post but I really could use some help. I have a 15 year old tuxedo male cat named Zinger. Recently as in about a week ago my husband and I brought home two 2 month old kittens. We have had in them in our spare bedroom basically sequestered since we brought them home. The first three days or so we'd occasionally and very slowly introduce the kittens to Zinger by having the kittens in a crate in the living room and letting him look at them or by holding a kitten in our arms a decent distance away. He was definitely not super happy about them (hissing, growling) but for the first three days he was still functioning normally and eating. However since last Wednesday, he's basically stopped eating. We've been giving him Hills K/D dry food since Jan 2021 after the vet told us his creatinine in his kidneys was getting high and he has enjoyed the food. However he downright refuses to eat it now. I took him to an emergency vet on Friday (7/30) after he had vomited white foam twice and they did blood work, his creatinine was on the higher end but the vet didn't think it was enough to cause major kidney disease yet. They gave him a Cerenia shot for nausea, some fluids under his skin and gave us Mirataz for appetite stimulant. I rubbed the Mirataz on his ear as directed and he ate like 3 or 4 treats but still wouldn't touch his Hills K/D. I tried to offer him some wet food on Friday and he really didn't want it. Then on Saturday, I got him to eat a very small amount of wet food in the morning but that was basically it. So yesterday (Sunday 8/1) my husband and I took him to a different emergency vet and they did another exam of him (no bloodwork this time) and an X-Ray and said basically everything seemed unremarkable aside from a slight fever of unknown origin. They offered us another appetite stimulant to try (Entyce). The weird thing was that while we were waiting in the car for the vet he was again eating a bunch of treats and when we got home from the vet after administering Entyce, he did salivate but then he ate a decent amount of Tiki Cat wet food. After that however he basically went into our home office and slept on the desk chair for hours. Last night, he looked super out of it and severely lethargic but as he's been doing the past few days still slept in bed with us as normal. This morning he vomited yellow bile outside of his litter box and to my knowledge he has not pooped since Friday morning and that was in my car while waiting for hours for the vet. Shortly after this, I offered him some of his treats and he again would eat those but when I offered him his Hills K/D he just sniffed it and wouldn't eat it. I gave him another dose of Entyce and some Mirataz on his ear but he wouldn't even touch any wet food this time and salivated/foamed even worse. I'm just at a loss for what to do now, I don't know if he's truly sick or just stressed out/depressed from the new kittens - though we've kept them in their room away from him since he's stopped eating to limit his stress. I don't know if the appetite stimulants are even worth it anymore as they don't seem to really help. I am going to buy some baby food and some cat nip treats today to try and help but honestly I feel like he just keeps getting nauseated over and over again and does not want to eat. The vet trips have cost us nearly 900 dollars in two days and while the money is not a real issues right now, it's just frustrating as it doesn't seem to be getting much better.
Is he drinking water at all! High Creatinine levels indicate dehydration so that could be his issue. It also causes nausea and weakness. I’m speaking from experience because I personally deal with that myself. He could just be weak from dehydration and not have an appetite? I sure hope he feels better soon. Poor baby. I have a 15 year old cat that I adore as well, so I know how worried you must be.
 

StarrCL

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Hi all, this is going to be a fairly long post but I really could use some help. I have a 15 year old tuxedo male cat named Zinger. Recently as in about a week ago my husband and I brought home two 2 month old kittens. We have had in them in our spare bedroom basically sequestered since we brought them home. The first three days or so we'd occasionally and very slowly introduce the kittens to Zinger by having the kittens in a crate in the living room and letting him look at them or by holding a kitten in our arms a decent distance away. He was definitely not super happy about them (hissing, growling) but for the first three days he was still functioning normally and eating. However since last Wednesday, he's basically stopped eating. We've been giving him Hills K/D dry food since Jan 2021 after the vet told us his creatinine in his kidneys was getting high and he has enjoyed the food. However he downright refuses to eat it now. I took him to an emergency vet on Friday (7/30) after he had vomited white foam twice and they did blood work, his creatinine was on the higher end but the vet didn't think it was enough to cause major kidney disease yet. They gave him a Cerenia shot for nausea, some fluids under his skin and gave us Mirataz for appetite stimulant. I rubbed the Mirataz on his ear as directed and he ate like 3 or 4 treats but still wouldn't touch his Hills K/D. I tried to offer him some wet food on Friday and he really didn't want it. Then on Saturday, I got him to eat a very small amount of wet food in the morning but that was basically it. So yesterday (Sunday 8/1) my husband and I took him to a different emergency vet and they did another exam of him (no bloodwork this time) and an X-Ray and said basically everything seemed unremarkable aside from a slight fever of unknown origin. They offered us another appetite stimulant to try (Entyce). The weird thing was that while we were waiting in the car for the vet he was again eating a bunch of treats and when we got home from the vet after administering Entyce, he did salivate but then he ate a decent amount of Tiki Cat wet food. After that however he basically went into our home office and slept on the desk chair for hours. Last night, he looked super out of it and severely lethargic but as he's been doing the past few days still slept in bed with us as normal. This morning he vomited yellow bile outside of his litter box and to my knowledge he has not pooped since Friday morning and that was in my car while waiting for hours for the vet. Shortly after this, I offered him some of his treats and he again would eat those but when I offered him his Hills K/D he just sniffed it and wouldn't eat it. I gave him another dose of Entyce and some Mirataz on his ear but he wouldn't even touch any wet food this time and salivated/foamed even worse. I'm just at a loss for what to do now, I don't know if he's truly sick or just stressed out/depressed from the new kittens - though we've kept them in their room away from him since he's stopped eating to limit his stress. I don't know if the appetite stimulants are even worth it anymore as they don't seem to really help. I am going to buy some baby food and some cat nip treats today to try and help but honestly I feel like he just keeps getting nauseated over and over again and does not want to eat. The vet trips have cost us nearly 900 dollars in two days and while the money is not a real issues right now, it's just frustrating as it doesn't seem to be getting much better.
Oh, and another thing you may have luck with is the cat yogurt treat tubes. I’m a pet sitter and if I get a cat that won’t eat due to stress, they will usually go for one of those! Just cut the tip off the tube and slowly squeeze the yogurt out of the top and most of the time they will lick it right up! At least he’d be getting something in his little belly. ☺ Certainly worth a try!
 
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briannathecatmom

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Is he drinking water at all! High Creatinine levels indicate dehydration so that could be his issue. It also causes nausea and weakness. I’m speaking from experience because I personally deal with that myself. He could just be weak from dehydration and not have an appetite? I sure hope he feels better soon. Poor baby. I have a 15 year old cat that I adore as well, so I know how worried you must be.
He is still drinking water — how much, I’m not sure of. We have a cat fountain so it’s difficult to see how much he’s drank in a day but I and my husband have seen him drinking water a few times a day, it’s really the only thing he’ll do on his own. And he’s still peeing in the litter box.
 
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briannathecatmom

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Just an update — last night we put out the kittens food and this morning my husband saw him eating and currently I am watching him eat again! Still not totally sure if this will last (I did give him some Mirataz this morning) but it feels so good to see him eat some food on his own again. I also realized that his current K/D food we’ve had since May(we had accidentally ordered two bags) and now I’m wondering if it might be stale and that’s why he was reluctant to eat it. We have a new bag coming in again today so we’ll see if he will start eating the k/d again but either way I feel slightly better.
 

daftcat75

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Is the kitten food wet food? If so, I'd continue feeding the kitten food because the moisture alone is likely better for him than whatever is in the K/D kibble.
 
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briannathecatmom

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Is the kitten food wet food? If so, I'd continue feeding the kitten food because the moisture alone is likely better for him than whatever is in the K/D kibble.
No it's dry kitten food also by Hills. Zinger's always been fairly finicky with wet food even before all this happened but we try to give him some every so often for the benefits of it being more hydrating, it's usually just a matter of finding the right one he'll actually eat. Since the kittens are still so young we are going to try and give them a mixture of both wet/dry food so they're more used to it.
 

daftcat75

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No it's dry kitten food also by Hills. Zinger's always been fairly finicky with wet food even before all this happened but we try to give him some every so often for the benefits of it being more hydrating, it's usually just a matter of finding the right one he'll actually eat. Since the kittens are still so young we are going to try and give them a mixture of both wet/dry food so they're more used to it.
At this point, it probably couldn't hurt to pick up some kitten wet food to see if he likes that as well.

Cats are weird. He probably did smell the kitten food and thought you were holding out on him. Hopefully, he'll eat from the new bag of K/D. But if he doesn't, as long as he's eating, that's always better than not eating. Fancy Feast Classic pates in the non-fish flavors are not a bad food and tend to be very popular with most cats; even the picky senior cats.
 
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briannathecatmom

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At this point, it probably couldn't hurt to pick up some kitten wet food to see if he likes that as well.

Cats are weird. He probably did smell the kitten food and thought you were holding out on him. Hopefully, he'll eat from the new bag of K/D. But if he doesn't, as long as he's eating, that's always better than not eating. Fancy Feast Classic pates in the non-fish flavors are not a bad food and tend to be very popular with most cats; even the picky senior cats.
Yes they are so weird and they stress me out but I love them haha. But yeah I think we may pick some kitten wet food up to try as well both for him and the little ones. Thanks for the recommendation!
 

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I object, cats are not weird, they are a touch insecure. Remember when you were a kid and your sibling got something you didn't?
 
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briannathecatmom

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I object, cats are not weird, they are a touch insecure. Remember when you were a kid and your sibling got something you didn't?
That’s true! And in Zinger’s defense since his sister died in Dec, he’s been all by himself for 7 months and has been so spoiled so I can only imagine what an adjustment this has been. And overall he’s such a sweet cat all the time even when he’s been sick, so we’re very lucky.
 
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