# What can I do for my depressed cat? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 4, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770 "2007-05-04T17:29:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/1 "2007-05-04T17:29:33Z")
Sorry, no pictures included. I’m a bad mommy that way. We adopted 2 cats recently to cheer up our older 10-year old cat, Jack. He’s a happy, playful, non-lap cat kind of guy. He was crying a lot for attention, and chewing at his fur, so we decided he was lonely and needed a friend. He has a friend, but she’s 21, mostly blind, deaf and arthritic, and these days she doesn’t want to do much of anything but sleep. Can you guess where this is going? So we’ve had the 8-month old kittens for almost 2 weeks. They’ve finally gotten mostly acclimated to the house and its inhabitants. They are not particularly hostile to Jack, although they occasionally throw a hiss in his direction, but they seem to co-exist pretty well most of the time. But now Jack is not eating. This is a cat who would knock you down the stairs in his rush to get to his food. This morning, out of desperation I put the food dish right in front of his face while the little girls were downstairs eating, and he walked away from it. Now I’m concerned. I’m hoping that it’s just early yet and he’ll get over it eventually, but he was here first, and we love him. We’re very fond of Lizzie and Anna-Banana (why, yes, my kids named them) but Jack’s our boy. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I just wait it our for a while longer? We’re giving him loads of attention, but not eating thing really worries me. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/2 "2007-05-04T17:34:36Z")
Sounds like a job for Confuse-A-Cat! (Sorry, I can’t be of any help. I’ve ever owned more than 1 cat at a time, and when my mom adopted 2 new cats, one of the old cats did more than sulk, it _ran away_ :eek: ) ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/3 "2007-05-04T18:49:17Z")
I would take him to a vet. He may not be depressed at all and has picked up one of the parasites that run rampant in shelter kitties. About two weeks after I introduced my older cat to the kitten _she_ stopped eating too. It was a parasite from the kitten and the vet treated her with flagyl and she got better in about a week. Regardless, it is serious for overweight housecats to stop eating: > **[College of Veterinary Medicine - Veterinary Medicine at Illinois](https://vetmed.illinois.edu/?id=445)** > > College of Veterinary Medicine is uniquely positioned to explore critical connections among animal and human health, the environment and ag. > [@](#): > > If a cat, especially an overweight cat, stops eating, it can suffer serious liver problems. According to Dr. Marcella Ridgway, veterinary internist at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana, cats are extremely dependent upon having protein in their diets. Unlike many species, cats cannot adequately synthesize their own protein from other building blocks. > > If a cat is not taking in enough protein, it will start breaking down proteins from its body, including important muscle and liver proteins. At the same time, the body is starving for energy, so it mobilizes fat stores for calories, and carries this fat to the liver for processing. > > Normally, the liver would metabolize these fats to use them for energy, store them, or secrete them through bile. If the liver is missing some of the proteins needed for fat metabolism, all a liver cell can do is store the fat. The fat builds up inside the cells, a condition called hepatic lipidosis, or "fatty liver,"and the cells swell, pinching off bile ducts. Bile, with all its waste products, cannot empty from the liver into the intestine as it normally does, and the cat becomes jaundiced. > > These changes in the liver occur within 36 hours of not eating. Since the liver cannot metabolize the fat for energy, the cat suffers further starvation, setting up a vicious cycle of fat mobilization and liver damage. Your cat will probably be just fine, but take him to a vet and monitor his eating. Try treats and wet food to see if you can get him to eat a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/4 "2007-05-04T18:55:15Z")
Yes definitely get him to the vet. If the vet says he’s ok then try some catnip. I have an old cat and she sleeps most of the time but if I throw a sock with catnip in it on the floor she is on-top of it is .00001 seconds and then she’s a 6 month old all over again. Well for about 20 minutes and then she is done and goes back to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/5 "2007-05-04T19:02:48Z")
Hmm. A vet friend did suggest, just as a general principle (before Jack stopped eating), that I should have all my cats dewormed. Checking for parasites sounds like a plan. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/6 "2007-05-04T19:04:41Z")
We got little Eddles to give Dewey something to do all day. For weeks after we introduced the kitten I was a _wreck_ because I was afraid we’d ruined Dewey’s life. He wouldn’t sleep in his bed behind the couch, he wouldn’t fetch his stick, etc. Then one day I came home to find them _both_ in the bed behind the couch and Dewey’s been a mommy to Eddles ever since. They’re always licking each other or playing with each other’s tails and such. It took a while, though. (And it’s weird, sometimes when one is licking the other the other will try to lick back, and the first cat will grab the second by the throat until he stops trying to lick back and the licking will continue. Nobody gets hurt so we figure it’s none of our business. Other times they both lick simultaneously.) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/7 "2007-05-04T19:06:27Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Sounds like a job for Confuse-A-Cat! (Sorry, I can’t be of any help. I’ve ever owned more than 1 cat at a time, and when my mom adopted 2 new cats, one of the old cats did more than sulk, it _ran away_ :eek: ) [/QUOTE] Damn you I was coming in here for that! But I got a [link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMCRru6JEo8) . Thhhppppttt!!! ---
**Author:** ![AHoosierMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@AHoosierMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHoosierMama)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/8 "2007-05-04T19:52:01Z")
Puddy Prozac? ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/9 "2007-05-04T22:29:00Z")
[QUOTE=AHoosierMama] Puddy Prozac? [/QUOTE] Nah, Valium. A very small dose of diazepam helps with anxiety, and is an appetite stimulant as well. I use it daily (and prescribe it as well:D). ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/10 "2007-05-05T06:46:42Z")
two words… Laser Pointer if a cat doesn’t chase a laser dot all over thr room… then the cat is dead FML ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/11 "2007-05-06T04:01:04Z")
Maybe he just needs some [discipline](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkAM_31SU0U). 😃 Seriously, how the hell do you figure out that your cat likes that kind of stuff. Probably hard to find a gimp suit and ball gag at PetSmart. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/12 "2007-05-06T06:27:23Z")
Explain to the cat that it’s a freaking CAT and has no responsibilities. Tell it, in no uncertain terms that, if the simple jobs of being aloof and ignoring/biting the hand that feeds it are becoming tedious, then it can pick out its own marinade. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Carson\_O\_Genic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Carson\_O\_Genic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carson_O_Genic)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/13 "2007-05-06T10:38:43Z")
Robin Williams joke: Depressed cat meOW…meOW cat on Prozac Me…Me ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/14 "2007-05-06T21:07:47Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus] if a cat doesn’t chase a laser dot all over thr room.. then the cat is deadFML [/QUOTE] I’ll be damned, I’ve got two dead cats running around the house even now. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/15 "2007-05-07T18:30:55Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Scrappy Hero Pup] Explain to the cat that it’s a freaking CAT and has no responsibilities. Tell it, in no uncertain terms that, if the simple jobs of being aloof and ignoring/biting the hand that feeds it are becoming tedious, then it can pick out its own marinade. 😉 [/QUOTE] I like this suggestion. I’m thinking now he’s not depressed but he’s sick. We watched him this weekend, and he’s hanging out near the new kitties and doing his usual Jack things (mostly involving sleeping, purring, and licking in hard-to-reach places) but he sniffs at his food and walks away. We’re taking him to the vet first thing tomorrow morning, after the usual chase-with-towel-but-still-end-up-with-scratches-all-over-us drama that we always go through with him, although we’re sort of hoping he’s too weak to do too much damage. If he’s full of parasites, we’ll get to take the other 3 in later in the week. Thanks for all the serious suggestions, and the not-so-serious ones that cheered me up. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/16 "2007-05-07T19:12:24Z")
Poor little swoggums! Let us know what the vet says. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/17 "2007-05-07T19:19:20Z")
Yeah, I hope Jack gets better. It’s good that you’re taking him to the vet. Maybe you could take a sample of faeces with you, so as to avoid a second trip. Keep us posted. ---
**Author:** ![Tabula\_Rasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@Tabula\_Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabula_Rasa)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/18 "2007-05-08T02:01:13Z")
The _cat’s_ faeces. Just to be clear. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/19 "2007-05-08T14:55:02Z")
[QUOTE=Tabula Rasa] The _cat’s_ faeces. Just to be clear. [/QUOTE] Damn. And I sent them already. 🙂 Jack had his visit this morning, cat’s feces included. They took blood too and we’ll have the results tomorrow. The doc said that it wouldn’t be unusual for a cat who was biting off his fur because he was unhappy to stop eating when new cats are introduced. (How stupid can he be! We got them for him! Stupid cat.) So now he has to get over the trauma of going to the vet in addition to the trauma of dealing with new kitties in his house. Poor guy. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-for-my-depressed-cat/402770/20 "2007-05-09T19:42:54Z")
Just an update: all the medical tests came back negative. He’s just anxious/depressed. The good news is that he ate last night and this morning, just like his old self. _And_ he and the little girls are hanging out near each other without much hissing or obnoxious behavior, so it looks like they’re all getting used to each other. The doc had some ideas about getting him to eat–feed him separately, which we were doing anway, tempt him with gourmet food, like Fancy Feast, and if all fails, they could give him an appetite stimulation drug. He seems to be eating well now though. Thanks for all the advice and commiseration.