Tempting cat to eat

mel.b

I was at the vets yesterday with Puss. He ate half his dinner on Tues night, and essentially has had nothing since. The vet can't see why he isn't eating - temp is normal, mouth fine, no masses or war wounds from fights. There has been no change in his environment either. The vet gave him a shot of antiobiotics just in case and predinsolone tablets for the next three days to try and stimulate his appetite. Last night he ate a tiny bit of tuna but not this morning. I've tried roast chicken, cheese and his cat treats all things he loves and he's just not interested. It's not that he's getting fed elsewhere either. We're to go back Monday if no improvement. Any ideas?

Ken.

mel.b wrote: »

I was at the vets yesterday with Puss. He ate half his dinner on Tues night, and essentially has had nothing since. The vet can't see why he isn't eating - temp is normal, mouth fine, no masses or war wounds from fights. There has been no change in his environment either. The vet gave him a shot of antiobiotics just in case and predinsolone tablets for the next three days to try and stimulate his appetite. Last night he ate a tiny bit of tuna but not this morning. I've tried roast chicken, cheese and his cat treats all things he loves and he's just not interested. It's not that he's getting fed elsewhere either. We're to go back Monday if no improvement. Any ideas?

Could there be any females in heat nearby you. My brothers intact tom cat goes foodless when the neighbours cat is in heat.

mel.b

He's neutered, so that's not it . Not overweight either although he is a big cat

morgana

Warm up his food a little in the microwave so it smells stronger.

We also crushed those whiskas Crunchy treats and sprinkled them over the food.
Very worrying when a cat stops eating. We had a similar problem with one of ours which turned out to be pancreatitis.
Is he still drinking?
We had to syringe feed to keep him ticking over and he was in the vets for 5 days on a drip to rehydrate him and get a diagnosis. He only started eating the day we got him back home

Macavity.

When I saw the thread title I briefly thought you meant you were tempted to eat a cat! :pac:

mel.b

morgana wrote: »

Warm up his food a little in the microwave so it smells stronger.

We also crushed those whiskas Crunchy treats and sprinkled them over the food.
Very worrying when a cat stops eating. We had a similar problem with one of ours which turned out to be pancreatitis.
Is he still drinking?
We had to syringe feed to keep him ticking over and he was in the vets for 5 days on a drip to rehydrate him and get a diagnosis. He only started eating the day we got him back home

I'll try the microwave trick, thanks. Not sure about drinking. His water bowl doesn't look touched but the neighbours have a bird bath that i've seen him drink out. The vet didn't say anything about him being dehydrated.

mel.b

Puss has been up & outside for the past couple of hours - good to see him feeling brighter. Just tried to tempt him with kitten milk and tuna and still no interest

percy212

Sardines or raw shrimp. They go nuts for either.

Pumpkinseeds

As a last resort we leave some of the brine from tuna in with the tuna when we put it in the food bowl, red salmon with the juice works well for us too. I know it's not healthy but as a short term thing it's OK. The stinkier the better really. Hope puss is alright, it's always very worrying when they're off form.

mel.b

Thanks. Just tried the sardines (even heated them up) - no go:( I can't get raw shrimp but I'll try adding a bit of brine to his tuna later and see if that tempts him.

mel.b

I've managed to get Puss to drink a little bit of cat milk by putting it on my fingers and up to his mouth & basically rubbing it and then he started to lick my fingers. After doing this a few times he followed my finger down to the bowl and took a little bit more milk from the bowl. I then tried the same strategy with the tuna and that also worked to a degree - he was trying to lick it from the bowl rather than eat it, but when I put it right up to his mouth he would lick and then try to eat it more normally. Tried the sardines in the same way but not interested in those. All up though he probably only had a couple of teaspoons of milk and less than a tablespoon of tuna but at least it something.

tk123

Did the vet take bloods or a urine sample? Not to freak you out but when my cat stopped eating it was because he had kidney failure

Whosthis

.

mel.b

tk123 wrote: »

Did the vet take bloods or a urine sample? Not to freak you out but when my cat stopped eating it was because he had kidney failure

No he didn't. We're to go back on Monday if there is no improvement and I'd hope he does that then.

tk123

Sick cats are much harder to deal with than dogs imo! If you want them to eat they start asking questions and get suspicious lol..where (most) dogs will just eat and be grateful!

kenmccarthy

The title was definitely misleading.....my immediate reaction was 'pussy galore'

percy212

Make sure the vet does a full dental checkup.

mel.b wrote: »

No he didn't. We're to go back on Monday if there is no improvement and I'd hope he does that then.

Pumpkinseeds

percy212 wrote: »

Make sure the vet does a full dental checkup.

I'd forgotten about this. A few years ago one of our cats had been off his food for a bit and when he stopped eating we took him to the vet. Turned out he needed a few teeth removed, and of course cats are so good at hiding pain until it gets very bad. Fingers crossed puss is well in no time.

mel.b

Puss spontaneously ate a little bit of chicken this morning which is progress from yesterday when I was holding it right up to his mouth. I don't think he's eaten anything else though today. The vet did look in his mouth and couldn't see anything and his teeth are pretty good (gets a chicken drumstick on occasion), however I will ask him again.

twomonkeys

tk123 wrote: »

Did the vet take bloods or a urine sample? Not to freak you out but when my cat stopped eating it was because he had kidney failure

Definitely insist on bloods today at the vet. Unfortunately I've had the same experience as tk123 in the past.

Pumpkinseeds

Any news on puss?

mel.b

I spoke to the vet this morning and had to bring him in for bloods. He said he expected more improvement and the little bit that he has eaten is just because of the tablets, not because he was getting better. So he ran bloods and they were all essentially normal except for slightly elevated white blood cells and leucocytes which the vet is putting down to stress. So he's in overnight to try and get a urine sample.

To top it all off, Cooper (the malamute) ate half a cooked chicken carcass tonight that was on the footpath next to someones bin. I managed to get the other half off him, so now I have something else to stress about for the next few days What signs should I look out there for incase a chicken bone splits in his stomach?

miezekatze

Hope he will be OK! My girl was a very picky eater for a short while and the only way I could get her to eat was to put a bit of grated parmesan or other cheese on top of her food. She was back to normal within 2 weeks or so, not sure what caused it.

morgana

Any news on puss?

mel.b

He's home, blood & urine normal and is eating again so we are none the wiser as to what was wrong but happy he is eating again!

twomonkeys

Lol! Thats cats for you!! So glad all is well with him.

morgana

LOl. Glad to hear it