Cat won't eat.

Bandgirl30 · New member Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 5

My husband and I just got a new 1 year old cat. When we got her they told us that she had a upper resp. infection and that we needed to take her to the vet. We took her that day and got her some medicine. She had eaten the first day we brought her home, not much but enough for us to know that she is eating. She ate some of the moist food that we gave her and then we tried to give her the rest of it later but she wouldnt eat it so we gave her some dry food that we give to our other cat and she ate that. But now its been 2 days and she hasnt eaten anything. She drinks water every-now-and-then but only about once in the morning. She doesnt get up to move on her own much so we just let her sleep on our bed with the food and water beside her. We kind of thought that maybe its the medicine that is making her not want to eat but she has to eat with one of the meds that she is taking, and she had eaten the first day. She was very thin to begin with from where she had just got out of the shelter so I really would hate to see her loose even more weight. Anyone have any ideas that might help.

Mary_NH · Posted: Mon May 03, 2004 2:34 pm Post subject:

it could be the upper respiratory infection - is her nose really stuffy? If cats can't smell their food they don't eat. Get some really stinky cat food see if she'll eat that.

You might also want to consult your vet for a complete physical for her.

lucidity03 · Posted: Mon May 03, 2004 6:07 pm Post subject:

My cat had an upper respiratory infection. We gave her Clavamox (if I remember right) and she was allergic to the medicine and went anorexic!!!
We took her to the vet after she stopped eating and they switched medicines. They said in very rare instances, cats become anorexic on this medicine.

Ask your vet!!!

I don't know if it is the same thing, but it sounds exactly like what happened to us. Our cat ate the first day she was home, went on the medicine, and she wouldn't look at the food.

After we switched her medicine, we had to teach her how to eat. The vet claimed that if cats don't eat after a certain amount of time, they 'forget' how to eat and could starve themselves.

We had to get really smelly food (and tried tuna fish) to get her to smell the food through her stuffed nose. We had to force some food down her. We took a plunger (what people use to give cats liquid medicine) and forced tuna juice and soft food into her mouth. After she got a taste for it (and was on different mediciation) she started to eat again.

It was very scary.

I would ask a vet about this asap. If the cat is sick and fragile, it needs to eat and get nourishment. I would ask the vet about the medicine the cat is on.

Please keep us posted and good luck.

Bandgirl30 · New member Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 5

She is on Clavamax. I'm glad that you knew that about this medicine. I went out and bought some baby food, (I had saw that someone did that for a cat that wouldnt eat) and she ate that. So thats a start, and maybe we can move up with that. So thanks for all the replys I'll let you all know how she does.

Chessmind · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 6:13 am Post subject:

Hi.

Is it too soon for me to ask if she's doing any better? I'm glad Lucidity03 gave you some info on their experience with Clavamox. If she's not already better, I hope she gets better very soon. Keep us posted.

Bandgirl30 · New member Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 5

She's doing much better than before. She started eating the baby food and we are starting to mix soft food with a little bit of baby food and shes eating it. We can already see a big difference in the way she acted and looked when we first got her. She seems to be more happy now that she's full =P. Shes still having problems with her respiratory infection but since she has been eating its starting to clear up much better. We just need to get her off of baby food and get it down to just cat food.

And again I will keep posting on how she does. Smile

Bandgirl30 · New member Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 5

YAY!!!! Shes eating just moist cat food now, working on trying to get her to actually eat it instead of just licking it but shes doing good. She's even got out of the bed and is walking around the house and doing things on her own. Our other cat has gotten the resp infection so we will be taking him to the vet today so we can get it fixed before it gets to bad and they bounce the infection back and forth. But other than that all seems to be well.

lucidity03 · Posted: Thu May 06, 2004 7:59 pm Post subject:

It's good to hear that things are going well. Apparently, the upper respiratory infections are very contageous. My cats also got it from my kitten when she had it. Luckily, they were adults so they bounced back very quickly and never got real sick.

I'm glad you new cat is doing well!

Bandgirl30 · New member Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 5

Both cats are doing better now. We had another problem with her not eating again, but we took her to the vet and she was only 5.1 lbs and was 7.0 lbs when we got her. She had lost 2 lbs. in 2 weeks. So they gave her some food that would help her gain weight that we first had to force her to eat but now shes eating it on her own. Her while blood cell count was high but they had given us meds that would help with that. So we hope that everything starts working and becomes the wonderful healthy kitty we know she is. Psycho, our other cat still has the infection also but is doing well with his meds and has no problems eating, he loves his food. So everything's not over yet but everything seems to be getting better. Very Happy