Older cat refuses to eat (sadness warning)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ziggy has lost probably 10 pounds in the last month. He’s 15 years old. He was always a big cat, he’s tall, used to be fat, now he weighs under ten pounds and is pathetically skin and bones.

I’ve taken him to the vet, they did several xrays, and bloodwork, kept him over night.

Xrays and bloodwork look normal.

Over $400 later, the vet’s diagnosis is feline asthma.

She gave him a shot of steroids, plus a couple prescriptions for Prednisolone, a steroid for his lungs, and Mirtazapine, an appetite stimulant.

He fights us tooth and nail (and I have the injuries to show for it) getting these medications down. The liquid is 1ML twice a day, the pill is once every 72 hours. Afterwards, he’s just a wreck with a five inch drool hanging from his mouth.

We’ve offered him pure liquid “lickable” cat treats, various “elder” formula dry foods, different and more expensive canned foods, grilled chicken breast pulled apart with forks, pure white albacore tuna… everything we can think of. I’ve also offered him catnip, which he used to love, in an effort to get him to eat. No dice.

The whole thing is horrible.

We’re willing to entertain any advice to get him to eat, or make it easier to get his medicine down.

I don’t think he’s going to make it. It sucks extra bad because he was super healthy just a month ago.

Thanks

2

Will he eat anything? My go to with cats is canned food. Find one he likes and put the medicine in that. It saves you both a lot of stress.

Tips: use a smaller amount of food to disguise the medicine, a couple of big spoonfuls say, mix it well in a small bowl, and offer it to him. You want to be sure it’s an amount he can finish quickly. When he’s done, you can feed him the rest of his serving.

No free feeding. You want to be sure he’ll be ready to eat when you’re putting the food down.

Use a pill crusher (buy them at CVS or Walgreen’s) or a spoon to smash his pill into a powder and mix that into wet food as well.

Another option: you can get pet medicine formulated in animal friendly flavors. I used to get various things for my cats changed to liquid “chicken”. I used a pharmacy in Arizona. Let me know if you’d like me to dig up the information.

Good luck.

3

On re-reading I can see that one issue is that he won’t eat.

Feline asthma is an area I know less about.

I’m going to do a little research.

Out of curiosity, what other symptoms did your cat have besides weight loss?

4

The only symptoms are loss of appetite, weight loss, and wheezing.

We’ve tried at least dozen kinds of foods, both wet and dry.

He used to be a catnip fiend. Now he just disregards it like everything else. I’ve tried both expensive “gourmet” and homegrown, though the homegrown hasn’t fully flowered yet.

The most traumatic ordeal is trying to give him his medicine. A pill 1mm x 1mm or less… it’s a tiny 1/4 size pill smaller than a BB. That’s only once every 72 hoursi. The 1MM liquid is twice a day.

It’s incredibly stressful for both him and us to try to administer these medications.
Thanks again

5

Euthanasia.

Looks like euthanasia is inevitable.

I don’t like it one bit. I hate it.
I’m crying right now. I love Ziggy.
Most people take their pet the veterinarian to put them “to sleep”.

I don’t want to subject him to that stress again.
I think the most humane way is a quick .22 bullet to the brain. That is my intention at this point.

It hurts. I will cry.
But I KNOW it will be the most humane way to euthanize my beloved kitty cat.

I can’t let him suffer much longer.

6

I agree that it’s time to let him go, to end his (and your) suffering. Have the vet put him to sleep. It can be done painlessly, without any stress, and you can hold him and talk to him the entire time . . . and sit with him a while afterward.

You and Ziggy are in my thoughts.

Damn it’s hard to type through all the tears.

7

Thank you panache45.

Tears are flowing here too.

I think he may have another day or two tops, I want my wife and daughter to give him extra love in the meantime.

Thank you for your kindness.

8

Roadrunners in Arizona may be able to do a liquid form of the pill.

And low dose Diazepam will make a cat hungry, usually.

9

Our cat isn’t that old but he went through 2 different bouts of loss of appetite, from different causes. Pretty sure he was on death’s door both times.We had to do force feedings for a week or so each time until the illness ran it’s course. Needleless syringe with a little wet cat food. Hold him and shoot it at the back of his mouth. Did it a few times a day. After a while he could actually be tempted by small pieces of ham, turkey, whatever.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

10

My cat was 12 and stopped eating suddenly. He drank water but refused all food. He lost so much weight I took him to the vet who told me his kidneys were failing and had maybe a few days left to live. He told me he was not in pain but was dying and would just not wake one of the next few days. I was miserable. That night I was rinsing off frozen tiger shrimp and my lethargic cat mewed. I figured what the heck… I was ready to try even raw shrimp if it meant he went happy and not starving himself. To my shock he inhaled it then yowled for more. He refused all other food so I bought more shrimp. Days turned in to weeks and my cat lived only on raw tiger shrimp. When I took him to the vet the vet said it was an impossible thing - his recovery… And that another lady had a female cat a year older with the exact same diagnosis and that cat also pulled through on raw shrimp. He wanted to do many tests to see what changed but at our expense. My cat lived 3 years longer with no recurrance and was back to cat food after about 3 weeks.

11

We went through something similar with our beloved 17 year old cat last year.

I encourage you to talk to the vet. The place that we took Fergus was wonderful to us. The whole process was as warm and caring as could be. We were able to hold him as they did it, and we were allowed to stay afterwards. And of course they handle the remains however you want.

Some vets will even come to your house to euthanize a pet.

I think that’s probably a much less traumatic way to handle this. I don’t think you want the memory of putting him down yourself.

Fergus always hated the car and the vet, but at the end, he was so weak he didn’t care, and there was no stress at all. My husband held him the whole trip. When it is time for them to go, the normal stress reaction is often gone.

12

You could try this.

It’s in a tube and they sell it at PetSmart. Cats like the taste, but if he doesn’t want to eat it, you can squirt it into the back of his mouth with a needle-less syringe. It’s much higher in calories than regular cat food.

13

Sorry to hear this. Hopefully you can get him to start eating again.

I recently had the euthanasia discussion with our vet regarding our 17-year-old cat, who has been declining in recent months (we’re currently waiting to see if some new medication helps). The vet said that they have a nice, comfortable room, and they give the cat some medication beforehand so the cat is happy and relaxed when the time comes. I was afraid the cat’s last moments at the vet would be of being scared and unhappy, but it seems that’s not the case, at least with our vet.

14

Thanks all. To my surprise, Ziggy is still kicking it. He’s a tough little guy.

I wanted to take him in this morning but my wife vetoed me, he came upstairs, jumped onto the bed, and purred while she petted him.

He ate today, maybe a tablespoon. She isn’t sure if she wants to keep him home, or have him put to sleep. She remains positive that a tablespoon will lead to more and he will recover.

Thanks to your posts I will not do it myself.

Thanks again

15

I have occasionally succeeded in giving a cat a pill. (applause here)

I recommend that you crouch over the cat on the floor. (He will try to exit out the back, block him with your feet). His head is sticking out between your knees; put a finger in the corner of his mouth so he will open up. Add pill fast and hold his mouth closed until he swallows. I hope that works for you.

I also used to have difficulty getting my sick cat to eat. What worked best was to stay with his usual canned food, and add a small amount of hot water to it. Then squish it up so it was warm and mushy.

I’m glad Ziggy’s still with you, best of luck!

16

This has worked for our elderly cat. If it’s a warm sloppy gross mess he’s much more interested.

17

Hugs for you and Ziggy both and the best vibes I can send.

18

Turkey baby food is my go-to for cats with no appetite.

I have to give my cat with a seizure disorder a pill every morning and evening. Thanks to LOTS of petting at pill time, she now jumps on the bed when I call her at pill time.

19

How much do you trust your vet? I’ve had two cats wrongly diagnosed with asthma. Does he fit this description? A second opinion might be in order.

Feline Asthma Symptoms

This is from felineasthma.org:

http://www.felineasthma.org/links/gunn-moore.htm

Mirtazipine also induces anxiety and isn’t a very good choice for cats (or humans, in my case!). It may be part of why his behavior is so bad. Cyproheptadine is a much better choice. You might ask the vet about it, then start with only half the standard dosage as the one typically prescribed also induces anxiety. However, it’s not usually a problem at lower doses and is still effective as an appetite stimulant.

I wonder if meds would go down better if you mixed them with baby food and syringed them?

20

Ask the vet if their office does house calls for euthanasia. (Ours does, bless their hearts, so for our last two cats that died, their last experience didn’t involve the trauma of a trip to the vet.) If they don’t, ask if they know of any vets in the area that do.