Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:
Our 16-year-old cat, Pebbles, started to get “picky” about her food a month ago and started to lose weight. We took her to the vet, and after a blood test that showed no health concern, the vet asked for poop sample to have it tested. The cat was isolated because we have three more cats, but she did not poop. The vet gave her an appetite stimulant, a worm infestation liquid to pour on her back and an antibiotic in case she had an infection. Pebbles did not accept the medicine and vomited it. The vet said that there was nothing else she could do but put her to sleep.
Until we can up our minds on putting her to sleep, we have her inside a mobile fence on our living room with good water, special food and treats, her bed, a paper bag and a litter box, so we can monitor her better. She is drinking some water and maybe eating very very little, but she pees a little. When I talk to her or pet her she purrs and also when I put her on the window so she can see outside, she shows she is enjoying it. Is there any hope she’ll get better?
~ Marcella
Siouxsie: Well, Marcella, this is a tough one. I’m a very old cat myself, so I can speak to some of the things that happen to elder kitties that make us feel yucky.
Thomas: You’ve already done the first thing we recommend when a kitty’s not acting like themselves — you took Pebbles to the vet.
Bella: We’re glad her blood test came back normal. What that says to us is that whatever’s going on isn’t a major disease. That in itself is cause for hope.
Siouxsie: Our best guess (and keep in mind that we’re not veterinarians here) is that Pebbles’ teeth are bothering her. When your teeth hurt, you don’t want to eat, which means that you’re going to lose weight.
Thomas: Did your vet examine Pebbles’ teeth at all? If not, you should ask her to do so.
Bella: Cats need regular dental care, just like people. That means we need to have our teeth cleaned whenever our vet recommends it, and then if we have bad teeth, the vet will pull them out so our mouths don’t hurt anymore.
Siouxsie: When I had my first teeth cleaning, I came out of it and found that my mouth had finally stopped hurting! The vet found four teeth with resorptive lesions (kitty cavities) and pulled them out. Suddenly I felt so much better and less grumpy …
Thomas: And Mama felt like such a bad kitty mom for not insisting that our previous vet give Siouxsie a teeth cleaning.
Bella: But we don’t blame her …
Siouxsie: And neither do I. How was she supposed to know I had a mouth full of sore teeth? It’s not like I was able to tell her that!
Thomas: So, long story short: We think it would be a good idea to go back to your vet and ask about Pebbles’ teeth. If all her lab work is normal, there’s no reason she should be unable to tolerate being put under anesthesia for her cleaning.
Bella: Meanwhile, we recommend giving Pebbles some soft food at room temperature or just a teensy bit warmer. Very cold or very warm foods will hurt her teeth if she’s got lesions, and soft food is easier to eat. You might even give her some liquids like the water in canned tuna or some “gravy” from canned cat food, just to get some nutrition into her.
Siouxsie: As Mama says, “What do you feed an old cat? Anything she’ll eat!”
Thomas: Please let us know how things turn out. We hope Pebbles will be able to be with you for at least a few more years.
Bella: What about you? What do you feed a cat that won’t eat? Have you had a situation like this with your cat — normal blood work but kitty refuses to eat? What did you do? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
JaneA Kelley is a punk rock cat mom and award-winning blogger. She is a regular columnist for Catster Magazine, and she and the Paws and Effect Gang share a home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
I did have some problems with my male cat. He stopped eating and drinking. And he hid behind my China cabinet where I couldn’t reach him.
I finally got him out with soft treats and took him to the vet. They kept him for two days to monitor him and do tests. Diagnosed with kidney disease!
They didn’t want to let him go home until he ate after he had all the fluids but finally did with an appetite stimulant and told me to give him ANYTHING he would eat to get him eating normally again.
That turned out to be a little chipped chopped ham! After that he ate like a champ!
You might want to try some chicken or turkey baby food in the little jars…when my one old cat who was in renal failure, stopped eating, this helped her a lot. Also little pieces of boiled chicken without skin. You might check with your vet first but that helped her eat.
I agree totally about the issues discussed already by other kitty lovers. I would like to add however that a second opinion would be wise. Try and find a holistic veterinarian.
I am amazed and stunned that your ver didn’t recommend lactulose or Miralax to help your kitty start pooping. There are many safe medications designed just for this purpose. If a cat is constipated badly they will have poor appetites and often will vomit.
Constipation is common in our geriatric kitties. That problem must be resolved. Your kitty may need an enema to get things moving followed by prudent medication until things return to normal.
I am not a vet. However I am the guardian to two geriatric kitties with similar problems at this time. Hope this helps.
Best of luck,
Jo
when m elderkitty went off his food, (he had a number of problems) i gave him ‘pate’ cat food … he liked that because he didnt need to use his teeth at all, it was soft enough to just lick up and swallow :) he put a little bit of weight back on after switching to that,
however his ‘issues’ got the better of him and i had to say goodbye :,(
i personally would NOT put my cat down just because of what you say the problem is, and i think that the vet you saw was insensitive for even suggesting it !! its like they were saying ‘meh, too much trouble, put it to sleep’ and i get the feeling that you arent that kind of person to just ‘give up’ on your cat like that !!
good luck xxx
GET A NEW VET!!! That’s the old stand by, basically meaning – she doesn’t know!!! SHAME on her for advising to kill your cat!
When our geriatric cat Fudge (she was 17 at the time) stopped eating I tried the baby food meats and she did eat those. That seemed to perk her up and she started eating regular cat food again. She had been my daughter’s cat (who had gone to college and then moved away) and we decided that Fudge was waiting until Thanksgiving when her first “mommy” would be back home. She was happy to see our daughter but then hung in several more months. We did finally reach the point where she was just out of energy and uncomfortable and so we let her leave us.
First, when a vet suggests putting your pet to sleep — YOU GET A SECOND OPINION! The suggestion to check the cat’s teeth was a great idea. I’ve had a situation where one vet said one pill and only one pill existed to help my cat. When that didn’t work, I went to another vet, who prescribed a liquid. It’s been a year and my cat is thriving with the liquid. Don’t give up while your pet had a good quality of life. Hope all goes well.
I am disappointed that a vet would suggest to euthanize for only those reasons, and surprised he/she didn’t think to check the teeth (get a new vet, IMHO). As Siouxsie said, feed her whatever she’ll eat. Jarred baby food, as someone else suggested, often entices picky cats. Human-grade chicken, whatever (you can blend it too). Adding Nutrical or other nutritional supplement may help too.
Even if she doesn’t recover from this, I most certainly do NOT think she should be euthanized at this time while she is comfortable and happy.
I agree with the baby food recommendation. I had a cat stop eating because of a loss of a furry sibling. The vet said he went into liver failure due to the prolonged fasting. They wanted to keep him and give him food by IV, but I took him home and with a large syringe I gently force fed him small amounts of baby chicken food until he was willing to eat on his own. It took a few days for his depression to lessen, but our love and strong encouragement for him to stay with us brought him back. He was only 5 at the time, but I have also done this since with my older kitties on hospice. As long as there is no identifiable suffering, food coaxing is more humane than watching them starve to death.
When my cat was 23 (!), we had these same issues. FOOD+ He ate Gerber’s baby food ( #2 – in glass jar) the turkey. and this became a favourite. You want to be SURE there’s no sugar in what you feed your cat. I found the most consistently good advice to be one by Anitra Frazer (Frazzier?) and another one i can’t remember. I went into a big bookstore and sat on the flor and read relevant parts of several books. I also remember some holistic, simple meds…do the research, you’ll find good advice in several books, unfortunately not always the least expensive…I remember one rather big book on cat health which was a
lot of help, can’t remember the name. Don’t Give up…KEEP READING…make sure there’s plenty of water, and DO NOT GIVE DRY KIBBLE. Even some vets do not remember that cats evolved in desert climates, and therefore got most if not all their requirements for water from plants,- WET FOOD…which if it’s a brand like Innova, for instance, has the finer which is also so important. I believe the major factor here is WET FOOD – (a good quality one), not necessarily the least expensive or most popular one. And vary the flavour…turkey, chicken, there’s one I wouldn’t recommend, but can’t remember; I’ve unfortunately been carless for a couple years. Best wishes.
I forgot…(above) also go online and research cat foods. and cat diets, Phone couple other resources, vets, vet schools., etc. and DO CHECK TEETH>..that can be so painful, some cats will almost starve, especially if they’re being fed crummy(dry) food. Remember, cats evolved eating mice, insects, snakes, etc.They got their calcium from bones of their prey, also. If I remember anything else, I’ll post here. Feel free to email me. I’ll see if I can contact my old vet and ask her if she still has my former cat’s records.
I agree you should definitely het a second opinion – sorry to say this but IMO your vet sounds lazy. Fancy telling you to have your furrbaby put to sleep when apparently she is still healthy! If she was sick, that (obviously) is another matter. I agree with Siouxie – get Pebbles’ teeth checked. Meantime, as for food, may I suggest some tinned sardines, mashed. They are soft and easy to eat sand my cats like them. Perhaps also a beaten egg from time to time? If you have a food processor or a blender, maybe you could whirr her food in that to make it soft and easier to eat.
To play devil’s advocate for a moment, when a cat stops eating, especially older ones, they do tend to go downhill very fast. It’s possible the vet has seen one too many cases of that. But I do agree with everyone that it’s time to check the teeth and for constipation, and to try the foods suggested. Sometimes it seems the smellier the food, the more cats like it.
I want to share something with anyone who reads this.. I hope that this helps you as it did me. I must put a disclaimer here though.. I am not a certified vet, and if you really want professional help, please seek your local vet, or try hard to work along with them to problem solve for your kitty situation.If you want a natural solution that gave my cat a 100% recovery, please read on. I had a cat that I raised since it was a tiny baby (think bottle fed). The cat was a rescue, and when I tried to take it home, they warned me that he had health issues. I had to feed him a paste that boosted him immune system, and after about 6 months of feeding him this stuff his health skyrocketed. Fast forward 2 years later he randomly started throwing up his food, and upon being brought to the vet, they told me that he had some stomach issues, and that I had to switch him to Hills I.D (Gastro food). He was fine after that, and remained healthy for another 3 more years. Recently he started getting sick again and could never keep anything down. This was extremely worrying to me because I already made a switch to a cat food that specifically dealt with cats that had sensitive stomachs. Anyway, after $650 on blood work, X-rays, medicine. We ruled out an external object, and the test from blood work showed liver levels that were high. They gave me some anti nausea medicine and they hydrated him, as well as giving me an appetite stimulant. After about 2 more weeks my cat just simply stopped eating. I tried everything, but in the end he stopped pooping too. Another trip to the vet and they told me that he was slightly yellow, and that his live was shutting down. Quality of life at this point was brought up , and talk of euthanization was on the table. I asked for some time, and here is what I did to completely recover my cat. If anything I have done can give someone some chance of hope, I hope I can be this person for you.
*
First thing I did was get an electrical blanket and kept the cat in it. He actually liked it so much he was always jumping into it. Just remember to keep it on the lowest setting. The purpose of this is to make it so your cat isn’t using up as much energy, and that this body isn’t using him as food. If he isn’t eating he needs all the help he can get. Secondly you may end up having to hand feed him with a syringe with a plastic long tip. I was given Hills Prescription Diet (Urgent Care) A/D with chicken wet food. They say a can a day, but I only needed to give him half a can, since he was also eating treats. Third, I also started to give him (Pepcid A/C Acid control) tablets. The vet suggested 0.5 mg to help with his upset tummy before he eats. Fourth, this was the most important of them all.. After tons of research and tons of reading online through reputable websites, I read the Milk Thistle can help reverse liver issues in cats. Most people said 200 mg to 500 mg daily. It really all depends on the size of your cat and how it reacts to it. For me 250 mg seemed to work. I can’t tell you how crazy the results have been. My cat started slowly drinking water on his own again, then started eating on his own, and within 2 weeks his yellow tinge has completely disappeared. You can get drops, but I used pills, and I just put them in pill pockets.
I really hope that this will save someone else’s cat, and of course you should always ask you local vet if your treatment plan is okay. For me, the Milk thistle idea is just an herbal remedy, but I didn’t give up on my guy, and now he’s healthy again. Fingers crossed, and good luck.
I want to share something with anyone who reads this.. I hope that this helps you as it did me. I must put a disclaimer here though.. I am not a certified vet, and if you really want professional help, please seek your local vet, or try hard to work along with them to problem solve for your kitty situation. If you want a natural solution and an alternative that gave my cat a 100% recovery, please read on. I had a cat that I raised since it was a tiny baby (think bottle fed). The cat was a rescue, and when I tried to take it home, they warned me that he had health issues. I had to feed him a paste that boosted him immune system, and after about 6 months of feeding him this stuff his health skyrocketed. Fast forward 2 years later he randomly started throwing up his food, and upon being brought to the vet, they told me that he had some stomach issues, and that I had to switch him to Hills I.D (Gastro food). He was fine after that, and remained healthy for another 3 more years. Recently he started getting sick again and could never keep anything down. This was extremely worrying to me because I already made a switch to a cat food that specifically dealt with cats that had sensitive stomachs. Anyway, after $650 on blood work, X-rays, medicine. We ruled out an external object, and the test from blood work showed liver levels that were high. They gave me some anti nausea medicine and they hydrated him, as well as giving me an appetite stimulant. After about 2 more weeks my cat just simply stopped eating. I tried everything, but in the end he stopped pooping too. Another trip to the vet and they told me that he was slightly yellow, and that his liver was shutting down. Quality of life at this point was brought up , and talk of euthanization was on the table. I asked for some time, and here is what I did to completely recover my cat. If anything I have done can give someone some chance of hope, I hope I can be this person for you.
*
First thing I did was get an electrical blanket and kept the cat in it. He actually liked it so much he was always jumping into it. Just remember to keep it on the lowest setting. The purpose of this is to make it so your cat isn’t using up as much energy, and that this body isn’t using him as food. If he isn’t eating he needs all the help he can get. Secondly you may end up having to hand feed him with a syringe with a plastic long tip. I was given Hills Prescription Diet (Urgent Care) A/D with chicken wet food. They say a can a day, but I only needed to give him half a can, since he was also eating treats. Third, I also started to give him (Pepcid A/C Acid control) tablets. The vet suggested 0.5 mg to help with his upset tummy before he eats. Fourth, this was the most important of them all.. After tons of research and tons of reading online through reputable websites, I read the Milk Thistle can help reverse liver issues in cats. Most people said 200 mg to 500 mg daily. It really all depends on the size of your cat and how it reacts to it. For me 250 mg seemed to work. I can’t tell you how crazy the results have been. My cat started slowly drinking water on his own again, then started eating on his own, and within 2 weeks his yellow tinge has completely disappeared. You can get drops, but I used pills, and I just put them in pill pockets.
I really hope that this will save someone else’s cat, and of course you should always ask you local vet if your treatment plan is okay. For me, the Milk thistle idea is just an herbal remedy, but I didn’t give up on my guy, and now he’s healthy again. Fingers crossed, and good luck.
Hello my female cat is an older cat who would not eat because of some soreness in her gums. Got to the point she would not eat. Then found out she had a bad urine infection. She has been to the vets quite alot. Despite the pills to stimulate eating, which she does then ok, after worn off, she is reluctant to eat, otherwise ok.
I have tried everything but she does not want to eat. Now some three weeks. I think it is her mouth but I am at my wits end. Does anyone know what I can do to get my poor old girl to start eating again please???????????????