Ever since Thanksgiving my cat, Thomas Jefferson, hasn’t been eating as much food as he used to, and he has been less active.
My mother and I took him to the vet for a check up. The vet said that he’s dehydrated but can’t determine the cause without further blood tests. The tests would cost around $340, and my mother would rather wait a while longer to see if Thomas recovers rather than pay for the tests.
Is it a good idea to force him to eat food? I asked the vet how to do this and he suggested I get an oral syringe, fill it with a mixture of baby food and water, and then squirt it into the cat’s mouth.
I know most of you aren’t veterinarians, but I would like your advice anyway. What do you think?
I don’t know anything about force feeding but I do know that it’s extremely bad if a cat doesn’t eat regularly. Fucks their liver all up, and then you’ll be looking at thousands, not hundreds.
Whatever you do, don’t wait too long to get it seriously checked out.
Did the vet hydrate your cat? Hydrating will often stimulate appetite in a cat. The vet can give you the whole setup to do at home, or he/she will do it for you (recommended). Also, try a can of Royal Canin Recovery RS cat food. Even our very sick cat would at least try to eat that stuff.
Try some really smelly tunafish in oil, and see if he’ll lap that up.
If you’re worried mostly about hydration, see if you can get the vet to send you home with a subcutaneous hydration kit - basically, you get a saline bag, a tube, and a teeny needle, and the vet shows you where to stick kitty for a few minutes at a time to pump some liquids into his system. Some cats truly don’t mind this, and some cats act like you’re torturing them slowly to death.
If you’re worried about fatty liver (if kitty was overweight before he stopped eating, you need to be worried) then you do really need to keep him eating. People food, treats, oily stuff, anything you can try to get him to eat something is good. The smellier the better for cats.
Forcefeeding is really the last resort - if he truly won’t eat ANYTHING (and I’m serious - try everything from meat in gravy to sardines to sprinkling catnip on his favorite treats. Food is food for the purposes of emergency eating.) then you can try it, but a lot of cats will be stressed out, and immediately throw up what you just fed them because of the stress.
That’s bad in two ways - first, the throw-up could damage his throat. Second, he’s now associating food with stress and throwing up, which is not good psychologically.
TL:dr - Try ***really ***hard to find stinky foods that kitty will eat on his own. Worry less about nutritional value and just getting him eating something. If hydration is a concern, check out a saline IV from the vet.
Time for bloodwork, see if the vet can just run a basic panel. I’m surprised at the $300+ quote though it shouldn’t be that much. At 14 I’d be concerned about kidney failure, which is treatable for a while, but makes them feel like crap when they get dehydrated. If you are comfortable with needles and such, it’s not that hard to do subcutaneous fluids a couple times a week.
In the meantime, get as much soft food and liquids in as you can. If there’s a particular kind of canned food he likes, feed him that in several small meals a day, and add some warm water to it. Tuna juice is good too to get them interested in food.
My beagle quit eating in the last stages of cancer. Him not eating is how we discovered he was in the final stages of cancer. We put him to sleep very shortly thereafter.
I, personally, wouldn’t force feed him. Nor would I pursue testing on a 14 year old cat. I’d let the old guy do what he needs to do, then if he seems to be in distress, I’d put him to sleep.
Have you called different vets to see if one will do bloodwork for less? I know you’re in NYC which I assume is going to be much more expensive than here in the Midwest…around here a blood panel will be about $35-45. Plus the office visit and maybe urinalysis - but even with all that, $340 sounds high.
A 14-year-old cat not eating, probably isn’t going to get better on his own. Kidney failure is common, could be struivite crystals, could be a lot of things I guess. Some easily treatable, some not.
I’d do the testing to at least know what you’re dealing with. If he’s not eating very much and dehydrated, he’s certainly not feeling very good as it is. Not fair to let him go on feeling poorly. Fourteen isn’t really THAT old for a cat.
In the meantime, very palatable moist food or gruel, tuna, cooked meat, whatever he’ll eat that also gets fluids into him. There’s stuff you can get at pet stores - high calorie, very palatable paste that you smear on a cat’s forelegs if they won’t eat so they’re forced to lick it off…won’t cure what’s ailing him and may not do any good but may perk his appetite a little. It’s inexpensive.
I’ve never had luck putting it on them, if they feel cruddy they generally aren’t grooming either. What I do is to put a dab on my finger and then quickly stick my finger in the cat’s mouth and scrape the stuff off on their top teeth.
I realize this won’t work for all cats - too big a risk of being flayed, but I make sure all my guys are used to having every part of them handled whether they like it or not. YMMV, of course.
Also, the stuff gets pretty liquid if it’s warmed, so you might be able to mix it w/ a little warm water, then soak a syringe of it in hot water to warm it up a bit more. Messy and sticky, but good stuff.
Good luck, I hope Olde Catte is just temporarily under the weather and bounces back soon. FWIW, most of my guys have lived to 18 or 19 before things (kidneys, heart, liver) starting giving out. Your old guy could have several good years yet if this is just something transient.
When a cat doesn’t eat for too long, it can get feline hepatic lipidosis, also known as “fatty liver syndrome”. It isn’t a good thing, although some can recover.
When my cat went off her feed, I was able to tempt her with fresh KFC with the coating & skin off, until she felt better enough to eat canned food. Wouldn’t be nutritionally complete for very long, but was better than letting her risk FHL.
Veterinarian here. Your cat needs to have a metabolic panel done, if at all possible, to at least evaluate kidney and liver function. I am surprised by the price quote, as I can run a CBC, chemistry panel and thyroid function testing on a cat for about $100.
At the least, ask about mirtazapine–an appetite stimulant. You give it every 2-3 days, and the cat will literally start eating within 30 minutes of the dose. If not, then there is a really serious problem. Ideally, you would do the blood work and get an abdominal x-ray. But I will tell you what we would be looking for: kidney failure or cancer.
Kidney failure is VERY treatable for quite a long time, and cancer is not. So there is benefit to knowing what is going on. Those are the two big reasons your cat might decrease his eating.
Just letting “nature take its course” is kind of cruel, in my opinion. So if you really cannot afford ANY testing, then I would suggest giving the mirtazapine a try. If that does not work, I would treat as if the cat has kidney disease–and have a blood pressure checked, too, btw. If the cat won’t respond to appetite stimulants and diet/med changes for kidney failure, and subq fluids given at home, then I would think cancer is likely and I would not let the cat linger.
My cat recently had a pretty complete panel of “senior wellness” blood tests (including but not limited to the metabolic panel that Frilly Nettles mentioned) for a fraction of the price you mentioned, so I am wondering if that really high price your vet quoted was for a lot of different tests to cover every possible base.
Maybe you should ask the vet what he would be looking for with the blood tests. Perhaps you could get a few tests to look for the most common problems more cheaply instead of getting the deluxe workup. Or maybe try a different vet who might be cheaper.
It’s time to get that bloodwork done; the expense will be a lot more if you wait. Plus, an early diagnosis and treatment could make the difference in the cat’s longevity. He is telling you there’s something wrong, and you should listen.
A 14 year old cat who has drastically reduced their food intake needs a senior screening, as everyone else has said. My 12 year old cat just got one, and we discovered a very early stage hyperthyroidism problem, which we are now treating. Our 15 year old cat got one a couple of years ago, and she is now being treated (very successfully) for arthritis. Pet ownership includes their medical care.
Humane societies and cat rescue groups might be able to point you in the direction of lower-cost veterinarians, or clinics. Some might have funds to help people in need with vet costs, too. If finances are a concern.
Also since nobody’s mentioned it yet - if you qualify, CARE Credit can be a great resource for unexpected vet bills.
I called our vet to ask him about the tests that he would like to run. He said he would like to do a CBC, thyroid test, pancreas test, liver test, and urine analysis. I called other hospitals in my area and they charge around the same amount.
I’ve convinced my parents to pay for the treatment and I’m taking the cat to his appointment tomorrow. He’s been without food for a week so I hope he hasn’t done any substantial damage to his liver.
At 14, if the cat was overweight, I’d suspect Diabetes. The vet can do a dip stick test in the cat’s urine for a quick screening.
I’ll second the recommendation for you to check with the local Humane Society. Sometimes even the HS has low cost clinics. They will also know of vets who charge less.
We had an elderly kitty develop kidney disease. She had several hospitalizations, was on antibiotics for a long time, and we finally just acknowledged it was time for her to go to Rainbow Bridge. She had a great life with our family, and kidney disease was making her miserable.
~VOW
Excellent, good for you.
Cats are so good at hiding pain and illness, a lot of people don’t realise how sick they are.
I hope the cat will be OK and has many good years left.
I’m glad to hear that, Lakai. Fingers crossed it will be something simple and easily treated, but if not, you and your parents can make an informed decision in the cat’s best interests.