At this point there are 3 things you can try:

1) Put Purina Fortiflora on the cats food/vets stock it, about $2 a package-serving

2) Get the vet to prescribe an appetite enhancer cream, wear gloves, put it in their ear

3) Steroid shot(makes them hungry)

How old is the cat?

My cat had a bad infection and stopped eating. If they don't eat for too long they become anorexic and won't eat. The vet was going to put in a feeding tube, and I said let me try something at home first. So I started force feeding the cat. I made a small ball of canned food, and shoved it in his mouth so he had to swallow. It took about a day or so and then his appetite returned and he started eating on his own again. We were delighted. And far better for the cat, and cheaper, than a feeding tube.

What a beautiful cat!

I don’t know if this is helpful at all, but my old Sunshine wasn’t doing very well a few years ago We switched to grain free That seemed to make her feel better She perked up and playedmore again.

I know your problem is getting him to eat in the first place.

The cat treats that come in those little tubes seem to be irresistible to some cats. That might be worth a shot You could feed it straight or put it on his food.

In any event good luck. 🤞

Try canned tuna (in water). Dump the can in a bowl, water and all (might need hydration too), and see if that works. Just went through a similar situation with mine, he refused to eat anything for a good 4-5 days (chicken, wet cat food, dry cat food, you name it) but he sucked down the tuna. He's back to normal diet now.

All the above are good things to try. My last cat had that problem, and he was only

about 6 when it happened. Vet found 2 bad teeth. It hurt him to eat, so he didn't eat.

Vet pulled them and I fed him Baby Food for a week or so, and pretty soon he was

eating his old diet and never feeling the lost of the teeth. Never had that problem

again..until about 2 days before he died...he was almost 16.

Hope Willy is soon back to eating and playing and loving that you rescued him!!!!

Sorry Willy isn't feeling well. We have used Mirataz over the years with both personal cats and fosters and have never had an issue. It always seemed to help.

Did the vet make sure there isn't a dental issue?

If it's his teeth, give him pate style food. Fancy Feast makes a few. My cats love Weruva Play Pate Tuna and Chicken. I even add water to it.

https://www.weruva.com/products/tuna-and-chicken-check-please-cat-can

I am a big fan of concentrated chicken broth. I make my own with no salt. Just boil some chicken parts in water, pour off the broth and keep it in the fridge. It should be strong enough to jell. Heat a little up and use a syringe and pipe it into the side of the mouth. It hydrates and there is protein. It gets them interested again.

Not saying that this is the case here, it's probably not, but worth noting a lot of issues with cats stem from bad nutrition. And bad nutrition often stems from mass disinformation from pet food corporations, combined with owner "convenience" aka laziness. Diabetes in cats should not be a thing. Cats, as obligate carnivores, have evolved to eat raw meat - birds, mice etc. That's what they should be fed, not dry pebbles or pates made from the worst scraps of leftover animal parts. A diet of raw meat - chicken, turkey, rabbit, with added organs and boney parts - fed at 3-4% of body mass per day contains all the nutrients necessary for a cat to not only survive, but thrive. It also turns out to be less expensive per portion than store bought pet foods.

I tend to agree, but dang they just don't get the opportunity to hunt those things! And I’m not killing things for them! Around here, they are coyote food if left outdoors. There is a great pet food store that I think sells frozen raw food for cats. I’m without cats now, mu much to my dismay, but if I had to do it over, I would probably feed a raw food diet. I don’t know if it’s true elsewhere, but here, all if our vets are being bought by large corporations. I wouldn’t be surprised if those don’t also produce the majority of pet foods. Feed your pets

our products until they get diabetes and/or kidney failure, then bring them to our outrageously prices vet clinics where we’ll sell you expensive treatments.

edited to fix a bunch of typos!

Pretty kitty, beautiful eyes. How's he doing now?

@Olychick as cynical as that sounds, I think you might be right. There's certainly some sort of tacit, mutually beneficial understanding between pet food producers and veterinarians.

It generally takes me 75 minutes to process 2 months worth of frozen, raw cat food using a mix of chicken breast, chicken liver, giblets and wing tips passed through a meat grinder. Figured if I can't be bothered to dedicate 75 minutes to my pet every 2 months, I probably shouldn't have a pet.

Willy seems to be improving today eating his wet fancy feast and some dry Purina ONE. Since he got a clean bill of health with the blood work and no obstruction shown in the radiography, and his teeth are fine as he is only 18 months old ,the reason behind this isn't clear. He had started to munch a little before I gave him the Mirataz so I'm not giving any tonight. Reading the small print scares me as in some cases it alters their personalities. This cat is the sweetest friendliest cat I have ever had. When found under the shed with his backbones sticking out, I just had to save him since the shelters were overflowing as are the feral colonies. I was not looking but it was the cat distribution system that got me. I do feed him people food some times in the form of roasted chicken or turkey meatballs but not every day.

Olychick , you are right about the giant corporations taking over practices. I don't feel I get the care I used to have at this vet. The small-time vet practices are getting to be a thing of the past., just like our health plans are taken over by big corporations.

Nausea is a common reason for a cat to refuse to eat. Ask the vet to try an antiemetic. In case the issue is nausea caused by kidney disease, Cerenia is a better choice because it isn't processed by the kidneys. Once a cat has experienced nausea with a food, it can be hard to get kitty to try it again. An all meat baby food can work as a bribe food. Raw beef might work as well. (Never use raw ground meat from the store. A thin piece of round steak is relatively inexpensive. Freezing it will kill any parasites. Chop in tiny pieces. Immediately refrigerator or freeze whatever kitty doesn't eat. Let kitty's portion come to room temperature.)

I feed my cat's homemade food - some cooked and some raw - without any problems.

Vet should do bloodwork to check for kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, and diabetes.

Moxie///The vet did give him Cerenia on Tuesday. I had to google what it was. I have already spent $800 on this episode. Isn't a cat who is just over kittenhood kinda young for diabetes, kidney disease, or hyperthyroidism? I thought those diseases developed over the years. I never realized how lucky I was with the health of all the cats I have had over the years. Only one had cancer.

Isn't a cat who is just over kittenhood kinda young for diabetes, kidney disease, or hyperthyroidism?

given the condition you found him in, it's very possible his immune system was trashed from an extended lack of nutrition. a couple of my rescued great danes were skin and bones when they came to me. i remember one, just 2.5 years old whose liver enzymes were off the charts. a specific liver supplement and good food and he was right as rain in a couple of months, fat and sassy and liver values back to normal.

glad willy is improving!

Nina, yes he was starving but that was in April. All the good food he's gotten since has plumped him up and his fur is so silky and his eyes are clear. And he just refused food again , so I guess another treatment tonight.

I'm glad he's better too. If he goes full circle all the way back to normal, there just may be no explaining it. If they could only TELL US clearly what they are feeling.....instead of hiding a disability or pain, illness as best they can.

I've been seeing a fresh food for cats commercial on late night TV lately. My guess is, delivered, it's really expensive. I have a young friend with two larger dogs who subscribes to a similar program and it costs so much! But he has a great job, is still single, and those two shepherds are his family.

This isn't your first cat, you'll get it right in an affordable way and have him fit and well again soon, I'm sure of it. I'm sorry he's worried you.

OT - but my sister and her husband made food (deeply researched) for their two german shepherds once a month and froze it. It wasn't raw, and by the time they'd prepped all the ingredients, packaged the food, it took about half a day every month. They lost the male to cancer and the female to twisted stomach/bloat (GDV) - death can occur within about an hour with that and they weren't close enough distance to an emergency vet middle of the night to save her. Both approx 10 yrs old.

Let us know how kitty does through the weekend. I don't have a cat right now but mine would respond to plain low salt chicken broth or half a plain scrambled egg slightly warm.

I ended up not giving another dose. But I was eating a Panera Fuji apple chicken salad take-home. Their chicken is good and organic and it was too large to eat it all there so I brought it home. Willy jumped on my lap and nabbed a piece of chicken which he wolfed down and came back for more. They were small tender pieces but not much later he vomited it all up. He had never done that in the eight months I've had him but I did read it was a side effect of the Mirataz. So I was prepared to dose him when a little later he ate some Purina One dry food and when we gave Bernie his insulin with Fancy feast, Willy ate almost all of the 1/3 of the can. Then he plonked down on my lap as I watched TV. That is not usual either. It's a wait-and-see game.

Sounds like a digestive system issue like irritable bowl, but in a cat. He may have food allergies. Some cats need special cat food for that so I would try vet food designed for cats with food allergies and track his diet.

Water is important…is he drinking? Thinning food with water can help…warming it slightly can help.

Not familiar with the meds you posted but fortiflora is benign just a digestive probiotic and I recommend it.

There is an issue…the vet just didn’t find it. Tracking diet and behaviour may help you sort it out. Been through this…I know it is tough.

Also, note litter box BM info…that can give you clues.

I've been checking in everyday. I can't wait until this all turns around for the better.

I've been feeding my cats "Churu", catfood in a squeeze tube. They're ALL excited about it. It's easy on the tummy for my regurgitator Ivan, he eats too fast and won't eat out of a puzzle dish...and Aspen thinks it's a treat. You might try it.

Willie is beautiful.

I’ve had a few cats in my lifetime and I was really bonded with them. They knew me and I knew them super well. They would come and get me when they wanted me to go to bed even though they were free to go where they wanted to they wanted to come and get me to be with them . They like to have company when they eat and they will come and get me and lead me to their dinner bowl.

Do you think Willie would like company while he eats? Have you tried eating with him making that lip smacking noise and putting your bowl down next to his Well almost?

Did you look in his mouth to see if there’s anything going on in there such as bad teeth or a bad odor to his mouth and or oral cavity? Any signs of sores?

Have you tried various types of purées and use springwater not chlorinated tapwater for now?

What happens if you put a little bit of porridge or liquid food on his paw and hang around with him don’t just walk away? Does he lick it off? I have not had cats recently, but in the back of my mind, it seems like I had to resort to that, it’s almost like getting a cat started again – jumpstartIng them.

Do you think that any other animals are interfering with willies feeling comfortable at the food dish or the other animals and sneaking his food or does he feel intimidated by other animals?

Do you think he has a fever?

Can you put him in a room with you? A room that is warm and cozy and has a bed or a place is comfortable for him to hang out and you can look at him and tell him to show you. I know that sounds funny, but if you say to a cat or the dog that you’re really well connected into with, if you say “show me “you might be surprised at what they will communicate back to you.

I imagine that you were very experienced with cats and other pets so you probably understand all of this bonding and connecting and subtext.

Have you tried poaching chicken and trying to get Willy to eat the broth? Or a little bit of the chicken meat in a broth solution? Have you tried taking one of those big syringes that they sell at pet stores, filling it with a tasty solution of chicken and broth without any pepper and putting some into his mouth?

I hope you can figure out what’s going on with Willie without him waiting too long or without you emptying your bank account on expensive veterinarians with no answers.

PS please excuse typos, speakos

Willy update. He appears to be almost back to normal. He's munching dry food, ate some fancy feast, and is sleeping beside Bernie now. But I'm still on guard and worried because it was such an unexplained anomaly.

Lily, he might’ve eaten something that upset his digestive tract. And then it took its way through. If he’s eating normally what it means is that it’s not something like bowel cancer or an obstruction that is just going to get worse. It was a intestinal flareup which could’ve been caused by any number of different things, including something that he licked off his fur. I’d be watching pretty closely what he eats and I’d avoid human food as much as possible. I’d also be aware of any chemicals that you use around the house or plants that he might’ve gotten into. I don’t know your household situation but anything they get on their fur can be an issue.

And I’m really happy that he is doing better.❤️

I've seen him leap and catch a big fly mid-air. All four litter boxes are in the basement of this 185-year-old house with a rock foundation so who knows what might be lurking. He has occasionally killed a mouse but never ate one.

Your cat is very sick it needs medical attention by a vet! He needs help now don't wait another day!

Your kitty is very young - my cat is 18.5 years old. Our vet has my sweet older lady on a limited ingredient moist food diet which was working well until the company changed the formula of the food (I think the company was bought out and the change might have been to save $$ but who knows). Anyway, the new formula was an immediate turn off BUT I found a product which my vet has approved and I mix it in with her moist food every feeding. It's a gravy which has very small pieces of meat - turkey and chicken only - in it. I heat the food (barely) in the microwave before serving. Your kitty would not need the limited ingredient diet at its young age but adding this to your cat's moist food might entice it to eat. Here's the gravy product:

Hey, happyleg... My cat saw the vet a week ago and I spent almost $800 on him. I am relieved to say, he appears back to normal although it's a mystery to this day. jayapple>>>I'll try those Delectables.

Great!

They can be picky. My cat has skin cancer.

Any updates? Thinking of y'all❣️

Thanks rob. He seems to be back to normal.