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ncaralph

Cat won't eat - My successful experience

ncaralph
16 years ago

Our 13 year old cat stopped eating after getting a distemper shot and simultaneously a course of antibiotics for a respiratory infection. The vet found nothing specific wrong except some slight change in liver enzymes, and slightly elevated white blood count.

What we did was to feed him kitten food mixed 2:1 with water with a pet syringe (from the pet store) by hand. After a couple of days, he accepted this very well and was eating about 5 oz of food a day and slowly gaining back lost weight. The key was to be gentle with him and when he had had enough stop. Feeding 2 or 3 times a day worked very well and he seemed to welcome the food and handling.

This went on for 8 weeks! He had regained about half the weight he lost and was getting more active and generally seemed to be feeling better. Then we noticed him sniffing at the food put out for his brother, so we tried feeding him by hand (from a finger). It took some encouragement such as putting a finger down into the food bowl so he felt we were still helping, but after a day, he started chowing down on his own.

The bottom line seems to be that in at least some cases, a lot of patience pays off. If you can syringe feed your anorexic cat and he maintains his weight or gains, just keep at it. At least it worked for us.

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