Will not eat

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JessiLee

JessiLee

Member Since 2020
Hello all.

Beau (14) was diagnosed back in June when he was my foster cat. From there, we decided to adopt him so he could live out his days in a home environment.

He's been doing well for 14 and is generally more active than my two other younger boys. Normally, he would try to steal the sandwich from your hand and is always starving.

Late Wednesday night, he started acting a little different (slightly lethargic). I had given him a small portion of ground beef when we ate dinner (he has gotten this before with no issue) so I thought maybe he was a little nauseous from that. Early on Thursday he threw up some bile and didn't eat any breakfast so I skipped his insulin dose. I was able to coax him with some freeze dried salmon treats, but he threw those up a little while later as well.

Thursday afternoon I started to get a little nervous as he was still not really eating, drinking, or grooming himself. He had used the litter box a couple of times throughout the day but with small amounts of urine. Throughout the day I had tested him multiple times with the Alpha trak 2 and gotten results in the 300s (pretty normal number for no insulin). I was able to get him to eat dinner on Thursday by giving him some chicken so he got another shot. I tested him around his normal low point and he was in the 200s, so I was pretty sure hypoglycemia wasn't the issue.

We decided to take him to the vet after not eating again Friday morning. They did blood work and a urine analysis testing for everything from ketones to pancreatitis to urine crystals. Everything came back negative. The vet essentially said "he's old", gave him some fluids, and sent us home with some pain medicine and an anti-nausea medication.

It is now Saturday night and he still won't eat. I've tried a bunch of stinky foods, more chicken heated up, and parmesan cheese with no results. He seems to want to eat and will eagerly run to his bowl only to sniff it and walk away. I'm at my wit's end here, though. Should I try to wait it out? I was able to get him to eat some dry food this morning and gave a shot, but tonight all he would eat was a few treats so I skipped the insulin again.

At this point, I prefer the little beast that wouldn't let me eat without an attempted paw in my meal.
 
I'm no expert in this, but I do know that not eating for as little as a few days can cause fatty liver disease in cats -- which can quickly become serious. If he's not eating tomorrow, I would try to take him back in. Also even though his numbers aren't horrible, the combo of not enough calories and not enough insulin can lead to DKA. Again, like I said I'm not an expert here, so I really hope someone else can chime in with more concrete suggestions. Best of luck to you -- I hope you can get him to eat a little for you.
 
Karen is correct. I would not leave Beau without food.. if he’s running to the food and won’t eat....that’s nausea.
I would ask the vet for some more antinausea meds such as cerenia and ondansetron ASAP. I would also check daily for ketones in the urine using Ketostix...that is very important. Ketones can develop quickly.
Being old would not suddenly make him stop eating, especially if nothing was found but he vet. you may need to consider syringe feeding him if he wouldn’t eat..
Here is a link how to stimulate a kitty’s appetite, but if he’s nauseated, he really needs antinausea meds.
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/suggestions-on-how-to-stimulate-kittys-appetite.130770/

Are you giving him his insulin doses?.....skipping doses and not eating Increases the risk of ketones which can progress to DKA if not treated immediately.
 
Thank you both for your help.

I'll definitely be purchasing some ketone test strips today. I have skipped two shots since this all started because he didn't eat any food. He is currently getting a half pill of gabapentin a day for nausea. Could he still be nauseous even on that medication? He will most likely be making a trip back to the vet for some x-rays or an ultrasound if nothing improves today.
 
Gabapentin is not an antinausea medication. It is given for chronic pain, anxiety and is also for seizures. The gabapentin will not be doing anything for the nausea.
You need cerenia and ondansetron for the nausea. You need to get those medication today. If he’s not eating don’t leave it past today because not eating and skipping doses of insulin is very risky for diabetic cats.
 
JessiLee said:
My mistake. You're right. When I went back to look, I mixed up the labels. Cerenia is what they gave us for his nausea. He's received two doses of that so far.
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Are you giving it every 24 hours? If it is not helping with the nausea ask for some ondansetron as it works on a different pathway and often helps when cerenia doesn’t. It can also be giving at the same times as cerenia without any issue.
 
I second what Bron said. Cerenia does nothing for Minnie but ondansetron is a miracle! You can also ask for an apetite stimulant but the anti-nausea is key! I’m not crazy about the vet’s attitude btw. He’s just old is not a sound diagnosis
As for food, I’d try baby food to see if he’ll eat that. Gerber’s meat ones like chicken or turkey. Minnie would always still eat that even when she wouldn’t touch anything else. Have you tried tuna also? Some Parmesan cheese and or Bonita flakes may also help!
 
I completely agree with the vet comment. His regular vet has been great about helping me manage Beau's diabetes, but he saw the emergency vet this time who definitely wasn't as helpful. I specifically asked him to run a bloodtblood for pancreatitis -she wasn't planning on doing so.
I tried parmesan cheese with no results. I had planned on trying some baby food, but I couldn't find any at the store. I'm going to have to go back out and try again.
He had some diarrhea this morning. I think that may be my fault for basically trying to get him to eat literally anything I could (wet food, dry food, treats, etc). Is Cerenia supposed to do anything to help diarrhea? To me, the fact that he has loose stool shows he's obviously having stomach troubles.
I ended up force feeding this morning with a syringe and spoon so I could give him his shot. He definitely seems interested in eating and came running when I opened the can. I'll be calling the vet shortly to discuss the lack of progress since his appointment on Friday.
 
JessiLee said:
I completely agree with the vet comment. His regular vet has been great about helping me manage Beau's diabetes, but he saw the emergency vet this time who definitely wasn't as helpful. I specifically asked him to run a bloodtblood for pancreatitis -she wasn't planning on doing so.
I tried parmesan cheese with no results. I had planned on trying some baby food, but I couldn't find any at the store. I'm going to have to go back out and try again.
He had some diarrhea this morning. I think that may be my fault for basically trying to get him to eat literally anything I could (wet food, dry food, treats, etc). Is Cerenia supposed to do anything to help diarrhea? To me, the fact that he has loose stool shows he's obviously having stomach troubles.
I ended up force feeding this morning with a syringe and spoon so I could give him his shot. He definitely seems interested in eating and came running when I opened the can. I'll be calling the vet shortly to discuss the lack of progress since his appointment on Friday.
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Does he smell the food and doesn’t want to eat then? Or lick his lips? That definitely sounds like nausea. Neither Cerenia or ondansetron help with lose stools/diarrhea but ask about metronidazole, which is a mild antibiotic that does help with that if it’s bacteria related. Long term, a lot of us here use S Boulardii probiotics which helps regulate them, but it takes a week or two to start to work. I’d push for the metronidazole which works much faster. Is he on any probiotics now? I think it helps regardless. Minnie is on visbiome which is a great human probiotic for the GI tract and issues like colitis and IBD. It sounds a little like Minnie’s IBD symptoms but you can’t confirm IBD without an endoscopy and biopsy. Not sure if you want to consider that at his age, but it’s a possibility if pancreatitis came back negative. So, I’d ask the regular vet about IBD because if you won’t do the procedures to confirm it, you can get him started on budesonide, which is a GI tract localized steroid. Shouldn’t affect the diabetes since it’s localized. I’d discuss with the vet. Tagging @Wendy&Neko who helped me through Minnie’s symptoms and later IBD diagnosis.

last thing, I’d see if they’d give you a prescription for both the Cerenia and the ondansetron so you have a back up if one doesn’t work. And don’t forget the apetite stimulant. I have Mistazapine. It makes Minnie ravenous for about 24 hours. Keep us posted!!
 
If bowel motions are a bit fluffy/marshmallowy in texture (steatorrhea - fatty stool) and/or if the bowel motions (solid or runny) really stink that can sometimes point to pancreatic issues.

Useful info:

IDEXX Guidelines for Treatment of Feline Pancreatitis

Regardless of the cause, the IDEXX info on nausea treatment is very good in general. And a good document upon which to base discussions with a vet.


Mogs
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Once Beau is less nauseated, you may want an appetite stimulant (mirtazepine or cyproheptadine). You don't want to give an appetite stimulant if he's still nauseated, though. Also, ondansatron is very bitter. If you can get some blank, kitty sized gel caps, that will prevent the drooling from a bitter drug. It's the same with the Cerenia.-- it's bitter.

If your vet has the Snap fPL, it's the in office test for pancreatitis, please get your kitty re-tested. If it's too early in the process, you can get a false negative test. Did the vet give you a copy of the labs? This sounded a lot like ketones to me. Was there an elevated WBC (white blood count)?

What kind of insulin are you using and what's the dose?
 
I want to thank everyone for their help. Beau is back to normal...ish. He ate on his own this morning (dry food unfortunately, but better than nothing) and is back to running around and begging for food.

He's on Prozinc and normally receiving 2 units twice daily. I did skip his insulin last night since he was at 165 when I tested prior to feeding. Then this morning he was around 350 which is a little lower than normal so I went down to one unit. When I tested at his usual low point, he was at 225 and I was ok with that for now. I'm going to continue to pretest and test at him around +6 hours until he's back to eating his normal food.

I'm going to request the lab results today to see exactly what they tested for. I have been using the ketone urine sticks and haven't seen any alarming colors.
 
JessiLee said:
I want to thank everyone for their help. Beau is back to normal...ish. He ate on his own this morning (dry food unfortunately, but better than nothing) and is back to running around and begging for food.

He's on Prozinc and normally receiving 2 units twice daily. I did skip his insulin last night since he was at 165 when I tested prior to feeding. Then this morning he was around 350 which is a little lower than normal so I went down to one unit. When I tested at his usual low point, he was at 225 and I was ok with that for now. I'm going to continue to pretest and test at him around +6 hours until he's back to eating his normal food.

I'm going to request the lab results today to see exactly what they tested for. I have been using the ketone urine sticks and haven't seen any alarming colors.
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great news!! :bighug::bighug::bighug:

how is the stool?

I’d still give probiotics and baby food a try just in case. The great thing about baby food is that it has very little carbs. Just stay away from anything with onions or seasoning. Gerber is my go to
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Neither Cerenia or ondansetron help with lose stools
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For future reference, ondansetron can be constipating. Also, some generic versions of the drug can be more constipating than others. Adding a very small amount of canned pure pumpkin or psyllium husk to the cat's food can help keep the cat regular.

Very glad to hear your kitty's eating again, and that all seems quiet on the ketone front (and long may that continue!). :)


Mogs
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Critter Mom said:
For future reference, ondansetron can be constipating. Also, some generic versions of the drug can be more constipating than others. Adding a very small amount of canned pure pumpkin or psyllium husk to the cat's food can help keep the cat regular.

Very glad to hear your kitty's eating again, and that all seems quiet on the ketone front (and long may that continue!). :)


Mogs
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I had the opposite issue. Minnie has lose stool even while taking ondansetron twice a day every day :nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting:
 
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