Stressed Foster Cat Not Eating - 24h

[AriSocks]

Hiya,
I hope this belongs in the 'nutrition' forum, its a food/behaviour question! I have a temporary foster cat in my spare room (well away from my two resident kitties.)
She is very, very stressed from the changes. She seemed quite bright and curious when her owner dropped her off as they have a strong bond, but as soon as he left she retreated... i'm offering her the exact same food she had at home but she's sniffing it without eating. I fed her at the same times as she's used to.
My questions are - i'm accepting that shes still adjusting and that shes not hungry right now, its only been about 24h but how long do you think I should wait before I start worrying about her?
And does anyone have any tips on how to encourage her to eat?! Have tried offering her treats and little bits of human food like tuna and chicken and she's not interested

 

[happilyretired]

I had a problem recently with my newly adopted cat who is hiding. She didn't eat for about 36 hours, and my vet told me that was fairly normal but to be concerned at 48 hours. My girl also rejected treats and even tuna water (which all my cats have loved) until she was ready to eat. I kept fresh (wet) food available to her throughout (along with the same dry she'd been fed at the shelter), even though I had to throw out the stale food.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

AriSocks, has your foster starting eating yet? If not, then it's time to force feed. That might get her interested in food, once she tastes some. Or you could try some meat only baby food, perhaps warming up some of the stinkiest cat food you can find. Hopefully you won't need to do anything different because she's now eating

 

[AriSocks]

AriSocks, has your foster starting eating yet? If not, then it's time to force feed. That might get her interested in food, once she tastes some. Or you could try some meat only baby food, perhaps warming up some of the stinkiest cat food you can find. Hopefully you won't need to do anything different because she's now eating

Hello, thanks for your replies!
She'll eat one or two treats and then a few little bits of her dry food straight after if I put them in front of her (almost like while she can still taste the treat), but that's it. So her tummy isn't completely empty but she can't go on much longer, we're nearly at the 4 day mark!!! I've offered her normal wet and dry foods, my kittens dry food(which she nibbles but won't eat more than a bite of), tuna, tuna water, chicken, and a couple of different cans of wet food and she'll only either take tiny nibbles or nothing at all.
She's calming down and has actually become very cuddly, sitting on my lap and purring for cuddles. So I don't understand why she still won't eat. It seems too coincidental that a cat will have her breakfast, move home, then develop another underlying health problem in that time.
Force feeding... is that something I can try or would you recommend I take her to the vet at this point? She's been making such good small steps in all other ways that I've put it off to avoid more stress But I'm getting desperate now, poor girl

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Yes, you can try force feeding her yourself. Get canned food and puree it with water until it's a liquid enough consistency to be able to draw up into a needleless syringe. Then syringe it into her mouth. Here's a video of someone doing it: (post #7 of this thread) Syringe Feeding Lucky Video/If your Cat is not eating

 

[himawari]

Hiya! I'm sorry to hear that your foster cat hasn't been eating. I would recommend setting up an appointment with your trusted vet asap AND to force feed her. Today would be almost the third day of her not eating properly (if I'm counting right), and so she really needs to be fed before causing major liver damage.

Now I've never force-fed my cat but I imagine it's going to be similar to giving them medicine orally. Get a syringe or a tube dropper (honestly the latter is better in my opinion). In order to avoid getting scratched up, I suggest placing her on a towel & wrapping her (like how you would with a baby) before using one hand to pry her lips open & squeezing a slurry of wet food into her mouth little by little.

 

[AriSocks]

Thank you for your replies everyone!
Little Robin update - after seeing your replies I bought a little kitten feeding syringe and drive home from work feeling sick about feeding her. I got her vets number and planned to call when they reopen after siesta (I live in spain). I opened up her safe room door armed with what id need and she had demolished a every portion of all the types of food I got for her. She went backwards a little the next day and ate a bit less but had been improving ever since! I tried rubbing some food on her lips and teeth with my finger before work that day and if I had to guess I would say that that got her interest in it so if anyone suffering a similar situation finds this thread is recommend giving that a try. I'm watching her extremely carefully to see if she shows any signs of being sick from her hunger strike but I really think she's mending here she is looking stunning this morning: