Help with a Finicky Eating Cat

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SammyM

SammyM

Member Since 2014
My cat, Tootsie, is 18.5 weighs 5 lbs, and is in pretty good health except for being a little slower. I got her off dry only food and put her on canned because my other cat, Elvis, was diabetic at the time and doesn't like canned food, but will eat any hard food around and I couldn't take the chance of him sneaking some of her dry food. She transitioned to Fancy Feast classic with no trouble at all for about a year now, and what was a huge plus is that she stopped throwing up her food as she frequently did on dry.

But now all of a sudden and every once in awhile, she won't eat it. She whines that she's hungry and wants to eat, but when she goes to the bowl, she just smells it and takes a few licks, and then walks away whining.

I thought at first it was a flavor issue and she didn't like the chicken so I gave her beef, and she lapped it up like crazy for a few days. Since I had a variety pack I tried the turkey and she seemed to love that too, so I took the chickens to the store and exchanged them for more beef and turkey and tried a grilled feast; well I thought I hit a home run because she practically inhaled that one in two seconds.

Not so fast....Now for the last week no matter which can I open, she smells it, takes a lick or two, then walks away whining again; after several hours it gets hard and I have to throw it out.

There are no other discernible symptoms. She's doing her normal daily things, which at 18.5 is mostly sleeping, but she's acting no different than when she was eating better. There are no litter box issues and I believe she's urinating, etc. normally. On occasion I do find one or two small bowel remnants that are easy to pick up because they're hard, and it appears she may have just gotten a piece stuck on her hair and it dropped off outside the little box.

I can't afford to be throwing food out every day or being awakened at 5:00 am every day with her whining because she's hungry. I don't want to put her back on hard food for the two aforementioned reasons...Elvis, and I just paid a lot to have my carpets cleaned (all because of her puking before), and I can't go through that again. Anyone have any suggestions???????? I'm at the point of desperation.
 
She's nauseous and likely has pancreatitis as my first guess. Will your vet give you some cerenia to try? That is a pet med that works well for most cats. Pred the primer on pancreatitis and see if any of it applies to her. The vet can run a blood test to check for it, the Spec fPL.
 
Mine do the same thing, they just get bored with same ol stuff. One flavor that always brings back to the bowl is either FF Savory Salmon or Cod, Sole and Shrimp Classics. They'll eat it like crazy for a few days then get tired of it and crave the "normal" turkey, chicken and liver flavors. They'll stay on those flavors for a while then grow tired again and back to the seafood.
 
Yes that has happened....she did like the seafood ones, but then didn't eat those anymore too. I'm going to give that a try first, but the pancreatitis primer did raise an eyebrow for me as well. I notice also she's been urinating just outside of the litter box, in the walk tray meant to capture loose litter. Thank you for your input.
 
I had to go back and look. Elvis is 5 pounds? I have had issues with Shiloh peeing in the tray, but she is so big, she tends to just hang her butt outside the box. She has done it for years! With a 5 pound cat, I doubt that is the problem.
 
No, Tootsie is 5 lbs, Elvis is 14....maybe it is him doing it then; I'll have to watch every time he goes in there...never thought of that. His urine deposits are always in the lower from right corner and are very healthy amounts ...it's a rather deep littler box with a hood. Every day I dump at least 3-4 bricks of his, around 6" in diameter...her's are about 3".
 
Mine are both between 12 and 14 pounds. I have watched Shiloh. She climbs in, and it is almost always in the lower right corner. She gets about 2/3's of the way done, and as I saw a saying used in the last couple of days, does the "elevator butt" and starts standing up from her squat and the remains go outside.
 
I'm so sorry. Auto correct and I posted quickly because Max is too low. I meant the primer on pancreatitis.
 
No problem, Rhonda straightened me out. Thx again for your help. I'm praying this is not pancreatitis....my vet bills have me in a financial bind right now.
 
If the stomach is upset from too much acid, 1/4 of a Pepcid AC tablet (10 mg, 1 active ingredient), about 20 minutes before feeding may be helpful.
 
I'm back. IF It is pancreatitis it could be a one time thing. The way to control it is to control nausea and keep them eating. Some have pain but not all. Urinating outside of the box might be as simple as a UTI or just being lazy and not turning around. I had that happen with my angel Tiffany when she wasn't feeling well. As BJM said it could be stomach acid. Trying Pepcid first is a good idea. Just make sure it's the original Pepcid and not the stronger stuff.

Another thing, I hope you aren't feeding only fish flavors. An all fish diet isn't good for cats. Once in a while or temporarily can be okay.
 
If it turns out to be pancreatitis, get the opioid pain relief, the anti-nausea med, and the appetite stimulant asap. You may need to syringe feed and give subcutaneous fluids. Do not wait for her to get around to eating and drinking; that can be fatal after several days.
 
I'm back. IF It is pancreatitis it could be a one time thing. The way to control it is to control nausea and keep them eating. Some have pain but not all. Urinating outside of the box might be as simple as a UTI or just being lazy and not turning around. I had that happen with my angel Tiffany when she wasn't feeling well. As BJM said it could be stomach acid. Trying Pepcid first is a good idea. Just make sure it's the original Pepcid and not the stronger stuff.

Another thing, I hope you aren't feeding only fish flavors. An all fish diet isn't good for cats. Once in a while or temporarily can be ok
 
There are many things that can cause inappetance/nausea in a senior kitty besides pancreatitis. Most cats who are fortunate enough to reach 18 years are going to have some degree of kidney issues which can cause nausea. Pepcid (famotidine) and sub-q fluids can help with that. Another possibility is bad teeth that are painful and make a cat reluctant to eat. One of my 19 yr. old cats recently had a dental with 6 extractions and is eating much better.

Regarding urinating outside of the box, it may just be harder for her to get into it due to age, maybe some arthritis. One with a lower entrance should help.

Sometimes old cats are just fussier about food. I have several geriatric cats and frequently have to resort to all sorts of tricks to get enough calories into them. One of them needs cyproheptadine regularly but vitamins work fine for the others to perk up their appetites. Pet Tinic or Pet Tabs Plus (both liquids, easy to mix in food) are good but shouldn't be used for diabetics. It's common for older cats to be deficient in vitamin B-12 and to benefit from B-12 injections which also can boost appetite.

If it hasn't been done lately, suggest you get Tootsie in for an exam and senior blood panel.
 
I agree that a blood panel would be a good idea if you haven't had one in a while. Older kitties are prone to kidney disease and Fancy Feast is higher in phosphorus which can be hard on the kidneys. I try to not give my old lady FF as much as some of the other wet food brands (of course the last 2 days that is what she's wanted).

I use Stella & Chewy's Tum Ticklin' Turkey crumbled over the top of food dishes to get cats to eat.
 
Deborah & Muffy(GA) & Wendall said:
One of them needs cyproheptadine regularly
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I'm going to pick some of this up tomorrow (I hope). The first pharmacy I checked told me that they didn't carry this any more and indicated most pharmacies don't. I phoned another pharmacy and was told they do carry it, but don't have any at the moment. That pharmacist has given it to her cat and recommended the compounding pharmacy as they carry a lot of veterinary related drugs and I might be able to get it faster than if her store ordered me some. She also indicated it didn't taste very good and getting it compounded might be an idea. The compounding pharmacy isn't open on the weekend, however, so I haven't checked into it yet. So just curious - how do you administer cyproheptadine to your cat?
 
the dosage is usually 1 mg.... so request 4 mg tablets...
in my cat, a little goes a long way.... I usually give 1/8. I give that 30 minutes after ondansetron for nausea.....
you don't want to give a nauseous cat an appy stimulant if there is nausea, that just makes them feel worse.

did you get the link for the primer on pancreatitis
 
Yes, my vet wrote 4 mg and to give her half a tablet. Sounds like I could get away with giving her less. Maybe I can hide a crumb in a tiny piece of cheese - she would probably not refuse a forbidden food. I stopped giving Bailey cerenia because she went off anything that is put in her food after cyclosporine made her sick. The reason to get her on cerenia was to hopefully prevent cyclosporine from making her sick, but since that didn't work, it seemed pointless to continue with it. She was still eating food with compounded prednisolone in it because that was a much smaller amount and could be disguised better by the food (I assume). But she eventually went completely off food, so in desperation I got the dry DM food on Friday, and now she won't touch the wet at all. She licks up some of the sauce though (since I'm using the "savoury" Purina DM) so I hope she's getting some of her pred. Things are tough enough with the return of her pancreatitis symptoms. I'm thinking of getting the pred. in a different flavour in case she is associating the chicken flavour with what made her sick, but I will wait until I see the specialist - for all I know she may recommend something other than prednisolone. In the meantime, if I can get her to take cyproheptadine, it might be easier to get her to take her pred., plus maybe she will stop getting so thin. At least she is eating the dry food, so I am back to being able to give her insulin. And she has no problem with eating the cooked chicken I give her to associate the injection with a treat. It is only the wet food that she flat out refuses, although she took to it at first. Sigh. Cats - they are an enigma.
 
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There are other wet products out there...but each cat is unique. My cat eats either Fancy Feast or Friskies wet. Sheba she likes but her blood sugar soars to the 300's within hours of eating it. It is sort of a trial and error thing. Try looking in the environment as well. I live in a very warm-hot climate. I also prefer fresh air to air-conditioning. My cat does not. She is very intolerant of the heat. So use of the air-conditioner is more frequent. Also, are you feeding at scheduled times or random with the feedings? Sometimes a schedule keeps things a bit more on line. Sometimes it's the little things that throw things off. Good luck from Jane and Stewey
 
Elvis said:
I can't afford to be throwing food out every day or being awakened at 5:00 am every day with her whining because she's hungry. I don't want to put her back on hard food for the two aforementioned reasons...Elvis, and I just paid a lot to have my carpets cleaned (all because of her puking before), and I can't go through that again. Anyone have any suggestions???????? I'm at the point of desperation.
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I have been experiencing much the same thing. I couldn't believe Bailey even took to the wet food - over the years, even before she developed health issues I tried lots of different ones and it was no go. Only dry food. I can only assume that the diabetes made her so hungry that she put up with eating it. I don't think it is a coincidence that I started treating her with insulin and she went off wet food. As she had already lost a lot of weight, out of desperation I opted to go to a DM dry food last Friday and she is back to eating again. I know that wet food is better, but for this situation, there was no alternative. Besides, Bailey does have pancreatitis and her medication is going to make managing the disease difficult. Since that was going to be the case anyway, the complication of going with dry food rather than wet was a no brainer for me. I don't recommend dry food lightly and I hope to transition Bailey back onto wet, possibly with the help of an appetite stimulant, but it may be an option for you to consider if you can't find a solution soon. And I really hope that Tootsie doesn't have pancreatitis.
 
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