Won't Eat - End Of My Rope

[Maelin]

?

Sorry...garbage in todays pet food standards...you know food that's supposedly not as good for them as the newer foods that are out now...mostly meats and less fillers. fancy Feast is supposedly not as good for them...funny that...as our last cat ate it for over 16 years. Our new little Furbaby is allergic to it so we had to go to one of the newer foods. When he was sick though...trying to get him to eat...we went back to it and guess what he at...the fancy Feast not the expensive stuff...go figure.

 

[Stinky15]

Stinky has been doing well and eating as long as he gets his Mirtazapine. I got some free samples of Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein and he likes it really well. While I do not like feeding kibble to a cat, he has kibble available outside his normal cat meat feedings. He started a 3 week regimen of Prednisolone so we will see what happens.

 

[Maelin]

Lord...I thought it was bad when our kitten wasn't eating or drinking...he became ill after his last kitten shot...all my prayers and healing thoughts are with you...I hope you and your vet can find something that works...and helps him back to normal health...I was so scared when our Tribble wasn't eating...have you tried FORTIFLORA ???...several of the members here mentioned it as all but full proof to get a cat to eat...we bought some on line...but we thankfully didn't have to use it...saving it for a later date...just in case. WHOLE HEARTED GOOD LUCK

 

[Jem]

I didn't read thru everything on this thread, but I just wanted to add that the only thing that seems to be working for me and my sick kitty, is keeping him on his prescription of Mirtazapine as well. He gets his dosage every three days, and I notice on day three he seems to be "picky" (well more than usual ) with whatever I put in front of him.
I have found there to be a bit of a pattern. Seems he will only eat a certain food for about a day and a half, before he starts to turn his nose at it, or not eat the whole serving. And that's with or without the mirtazapine.
I have 8 different (ongoing) canned foods and a variety of the "cheap stuff" on hand that I use as a topper if he rejects what I put in front of him that day. That seems to work on extending his interest for a meal or two. Let's face it, it's way too expensive to just keep throwing away a perfectly good meal every time he decides to be an......"!@#$%" (insert your own word ) We still love him dearly.

 

[Stinky15]

Lord...I thought it was bad when our kitten wasn't eating or drinking...he became ill after his last kitten shot...all my prayers and healing thoughts are with you...I hope you and your vet can find something that works...and helps him back to normal health...I was so scared when our Tribble wasn't eating...have you tried FORTIFLORA ???...several of the members here mentioned it as all but full proof to get a cat to eat...we bought some on line...but we thankfully didn't have to use it...saving it for a later date...just in case. WHOLE HEARTED GOOD LUCK

Maelin , Haven't tried Fortiflora, but I did try Advita once. He wouldn't touch food with it on it.
Jem , sounds very similar to my cat. Sometimes on the 3rd. day of the 3 day dose I may give him next dose 12 hrs. early or a half dose. Even when he won't touch canned meat he usually will eat a little kibble and he almost always will eat Ham lunch meat or chicken and his big thing now is pork. I just cook like boneless pork chop in a little butter and give as a "snack", but only if he has eaten some reg. cat food. I found a small bag of Orijen kibble on Ebay and he seems to like that pretty good and I contacted Dr. Elsey's and they send me 2 sample bags of their "cleanprotein" chicken kibble. He really seems to like that as well. Sometimes when he won;t eat canned meat I will give him kibble and set the canned meat dish next to eat. Once he gets started eating he sometimes will eat the meat too. Whatever he will eat is what he gets! Mirtazapine has been his savior. I tried one dose of cyproheptadine instead of Mirtazapine once and I thought I had hurt him. He was howling and laying around for about 8hrs., then he eventually got better. If I ever try that again it will be a half dose!. I told Vet. and he said he should have warned me about it. I had asked him about it when the Mirtazapine didn't seem to be working very well. Thanks for the support and help.

 

[Stinky15]

Stinky has been doing well and eating as long as he gets his Mirtazapine. I got some free samples of Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein and he likes it really well. While I do not like feeding kibble to a cat, he has kibble available outside his normal cat meat feedings. He started a 3 week regimen of Prednisolone so we will see what happens.

I started the Prednisolone Sunday morning and Stinky pretty much shut down eating Sunday afternoon. He would only eat a little kibble and some lunch meat. Monday morning he wouldn't eat again so I gave him a half dose of app. stim. He ate a little kibble, some lunch meat and baby chicken food. Won't touch canned meat (several varieties). I put a call into Vet. to see if maybe I could give him pepcid and he was to call me back. I went and got more different canned cat food and some fish flavored kibble. Stinky ate some of the kibble. Same thing Monday afternoon meal, no canned but ate kibble/baby food chicken. Vet called and he said it sounded like Prednisolone wasn't working. I told him I thought it was working because he is begging for food and he has been out hunting and running around. I mentioned that I thought maybe it was the Convenia injection he got last Thursday afternoon. The Vet. said ok to giving pepcid which I did. Vet. said the Internist that comes and teaches a continuing education class to his office is coming Thurs. night and he would try to get her to look at his info. He repeated again that he isn't good at begging. He mentioned something about me maybe going to her office 2hrs. away. I reiterated to him that I am agreeable to pay her a consultation fee and he said she was coming Thurs. night to teach again and that he would call me. I think my Vet. is getting frustrated because he doesn't know where to go with this. I don't mind making the trip to the Specialist (3hrs.) but if all she is going to do is order a bunch more expensive tests or procedures I'd rather just give Stinky his Mirtazapine and let him live his life out. I am over $3k into Vet. bills with this. There was an encouraging sign this morning, he ate his pork which I give him if he eats a little kibble or other food and he wouldn't touch it yesterday.

 

[Stinky15]

This afternoon about 2:30 he ate some canned Friskies and some kibble which is encouraging and this evening he ate more kibble, some treats and some white meat fried chicken. Maybe we can make it the 5 days with the prednisolone before we start tapering down. I didn't give him any Pepcid this evening as I don't think it did anything.

 

[Stinky15]

This afternoon about 2:30 he ate some canned Friskies and some kibble which is encouraging and this evening he ate more kibble, some treats and some white meat fried chicken. Maybe we can make it the 5 days with the prednisolone before we start tapering down. I didn't give him any Pepcid this evening as I don't think it did anything.

We made it the initial 2x a day for 5 days of the Prednisilone and started the taper of once a day for 5 days. He is still eating on the Mirtazapine but he never got that ravenous appetite from the Prednisilone. The Vet. called last night and the visiting Internist and he recommend an Echocardiogram. I told the Vet. I wanted to finish out the steroids and let Stinky clear out a few days then do a recheck of his blood work to see if his Cobalimin is still way too high. He agreed. Unfortunately me Vet. doesn't offer Echocardiograms. I can understand that inappetance can be a side effect of heart problems but I don't think the swollen lymph nodes would be explained by a heart problem. I will definitely have questions for the Vet. when I go back in a few weeks!

 

[Stinky15]

Just a quick update. Stinky started the final taper (every other day for 5x) on 9/19. Immediately the next day his appetite was better, but still on Mirtazapine. He started acting much better than he has in months. He has started coming in some nights and sleeping and he has gotten in my lap several times while I am watching TV. Before he barely would come in house and when he did it he would eat and right back out. He gained weight from more eating, in fact I started thinking he was either retaining water or something else bad, but it was just the weight gain. He was overdue his MIrtazapine and only ate about 1/3 of a can of cat meat (normal is almost 1 can). I gave him a 1/2 dose of the mirtazapine and he was begging for food again within 45 mins. After this next week we go back to the Vet.

 

[Stinky15]

Stinky took his last Prednisolone last Fri. and has been doing well other than his usual not eating except when given Mirtazapine. We went back to Vet today and did blood work. As usual all is well. Vet. tried to examine him but he growled at him. we decided to do blood test to check Cobalamin which requires a larger blood draw. Vet came back in and said Stinky wouldn't let him shave him to do blood draw. We decided to knock him out so they could get blood. They got the blood okay and we decided while he was out to go ahead and do teeth cleaning which Vet has mentioned a couple of times before. I had to kill and hour and when I picked him up he was still out. He woke up on way home and was kind of making this moaning meow noise for a a bit. After we got home I let him out of carrier but he was very wobbly and disoriented. He slept for about 10 mins.and decided to let himself out and go to his refuge (my garage). Its been nearly 3 hrs. and all he is doing is laying in his bed in garage pretty unresponsive. I tempted him with some pork chop but not interested. I hope it wears off! Poor baby. We should know results in a few days to a week.
He was given Dexdomitor/Torbutrol and Sevoflurane.

 

[Stinky15]

He's still in his bed in garage but much more alert. Not interested in me bringing him in house. He did eat several pieces of Ham and 1 piece of pork chop but the pork chop required too much chewing. If I had known it was going to be this big of a deal I wouldn't have put him through it just as he was starting to get back to "normal". Hopefully he will eat Cat food in the morning and is more ambulatory.

 

[Stinky15]

He ate a little Ham early a.m. and tried to eat one of his favorite cat meats which is shredded but only ate 1 bight. 2-3 hrs. later I gave him some Fancy Feast Chicken/Cheddar which is small pieces and he gobbled up the whole can. He still isn't interested in me touching him though. I think he will be okay.

 

[Stinky15]

Well, He was doing fine yesterday. He didn't eat last night and he wouldn't eat this morning even after I gave him an app. stim. I noticed he seemed sensitive toward his stomach when I picked him up and he growled a little. Decided I better go back to Vet late this a.m. He did an XRAY and found nothing other than he needs to poop, but no enough for an enema. Vet determined he was sore on his lower back and either injured himself or possibly got clawed and it hasn't showed up yet. He sent me home with some ONSIOR. He was nice enough to not charge me for the Xray or the exam! Some day Stinky and I are gonna catch a break!

 

[Stinky15]

Well, He was doing fine yesterday. He didn't eat last night and he wouldn't eat this morning even after I gave him an app. stim. I noticed he seemed sensitive toward his stomach when I picked him up and he growled a little. Decided I better go back to Vet late this a.m. He did an XRAY and found nothing other than he needs to poop, but no enough for an enema. Vet determined he was sore on his lower back and either injured himself or possibly got clawed and it hasn't showed up yet. He sent me home with some ONSIOR. He was nice enough to not charge me for the Xray or the exam! Some day Stinky and I are gonna catch a break!

He came got in bed with me about 3 this morning and didn't seem sore anywhere. we slept about an hour and got up. He went out without eating but he had eaten kibble overnight. Maybe he is better. I'll feel better when he eats canned food.

 

[Stinky15]

He came got in bed with me about 3 this morning and didn't seem sore anywhere. we slept about an hour and got up. He went out without eating but he had eaten kibble overnight. Maybe he is better. I'll feel better when he eats canned food.

Still not eating a lot but he is eating some and I'm pushing food in between meals. I do believe he may have been in a fight as I can feel a lump back where he was sore, but not much of one. I think maybe he may have something going on with his head/ear as sometimes his right down and he shakes his head. I have looked several times and can't find anything.

 

[Stinky15]

Yesterday the lump was pretty large yesterday and I thought it might be an abcess but it was smaller today. He's a little less reclusive (hiding in garage) and he is getting out. He barely ate this morning and almost nothing this afternoon. I gave him 1/2 an app. stim. and he ate a little. It has turned cooler (mid 60's) and he came in about an hour ago and wanted to sit in my lap, or he may have wanted me to get out of his computer chair! He hasn't done that in a while, but he seems to be very cold natured now.

The Vet. called, his Cobalamin is not off the charts any more but a few hundred points high. I would assume this is good but who knows. The suggestion of the Vet and his consulting internist was to get a echocardiogram. I don;t think a heart problem could cause this and I'm sure the Vet. doesn't either. I am going to call the Vet. back in a few weeks and proceed with this. The Internist is a couple hrs. away and only takes patients 2 days a week.

 

[Stinky15]

Not much has changed. His lump on hos lower abdomen/leg has gone away. He seems to be acting more and more like his old self and actually played some yesterday. It was cold/rainy all week and he pretty much stayed in the house except when he needed to go potty. I leave a litter box out but he prefers to go outside. My prior cat was the same way. He is still getting his Mirtazapine. I had thought it wasn't working so well but it did yesterday when I gave it. I had considered giving him the Cyproheptadine I have at a lower dose as it seemed like he was becoming resistant to the Mirtazapine. I decided against it since the Mirt. worked well yesterday. I tried giving him a dose of Pepcid the other day when he wasn't eating well and I couldn't tell it did anything.

 

[Stinky15]

Not much has changed. His lump on hos lower abdomen/leg has gone away. He seems to be acting more and more like his old self and actually played some yesterday. It was cold/rainy all week and he pretty much stayed in the house except when he needed to go potty. I leave a litter box out but he prefers to go outside. My prior cat was the same way. He is still getting his Mirtazapine. I had thought it wasn't working so well but it did yesterday when I gave it. I had considered giving him the Cyproheptadine I have at a lower dose as it seemed like he was becoming resistant to the Mirtazapine. I decided against it since the Mirt. worked well yesterday. I tried giving him a dose of Pepcid the other day when he wasn't eating well and I couldn't tell it did anything.

I should have been a little more specific when I posted that "nothing much has changed". What I meant was nothing much has changed with his inappetance. A lot has changed in the last week or so. He no longer hides in the garage, he has been staying more in the house and he lays in my lap a lot. He is much more like his old self. I was hoping maybe this was because he was getting better but after I considered everything I think it's because he hasn't been taking any Vet. trips, no shots, no antibiotics etc. He tolerates me giving him his Mirtazapine very 3 days like it is nothing. He is pretty much back to eating his old Grain Free Purina True Nature Chicken he has eaten for nearly 2+ yrs. Hopefully this continues. I am still pondering having the Echocardiogram done.

 

[Stinky15]

Stinky showed up yesterday morning with his tail hanging down. I tried to examine him but when I touched his tail about an inch or 2 from his rear end he started growling and hissing....Naturally he wouldn't eat anything. I finally got him to eat about a 1/2 jar of Chicken baby food and a little later on some cooked pork. I decided not to take him to Vet. and let him got for the day. This morning he wouldn't eat again so I took him to Vet. Vet. had to give him shots to sedate him enough to shave the area and exam. It was a bite and he said he didn't think he needed an Xray. He got Antibiotics & Onsior shots. I start him on Antibiotics & Onsior tomorrow and I have Nystatin Neomycin ointment for 2x a day. He ate a little when we got home and an hour or so after we got back he started moving his tail some. Later this afternoon he seemed to be doing even better but still a little off from the sedative and other stuff. Maybe he will stay out of trouble for a while! Vet. said he must be a lover not a fighter since he was bitten on the tail. He said most cats get wounds on the head/face. I think he is right. I'm still undecided about him getting an Echocardiogram.

 

[doomsdave]

Stinky showed up yesterday morning with his tail hanging down. I tried to examine him but when I touched his tail about an inch or 2 from his rear end he started growling and hissing....Naturally he wouldn't eat anything. I finally got him to eat about a 1/2 jar of Chicken baby food and a little later on some cooked pork. I decided not to take him to Vet. and let him got for the day. This morning he wouldn't eat again so I took him to Vet. Vet. had to give him shots to sedate him enough to shave the area and exam. It was a bite and he said he didn't think he needed an Xray. He got Antibiotics & Onsior shots. I start him on Antibiotics & Onsior tomorrow and I have Nystatin Neomycin ointment for 2x a day. He ate a little when we got home and an hour or so after we got back he started moving his tail some. Later this afternoon he seemed to be doing even better but still a little off from the sedative and other stuff. Maybe he will stay out of trouble for a while! Vet. said he must be a lover not a fighter since he was bitten on the tail. He said most cats get wounds on the head/face. I think he is right. I'm still undecided about him getting an Echocardiogram.

Egad, that looks nasty.

Hope the kitty gets better!