How can I get my cat to eat?

[Simpo Two]

Furbag is a female tabby/white age about 15. Six months ago she was diagnosed (ultrasound) with multiple little tumours in/on her liver and I thought she'd be gone long ago. But a slow-acting steroid injection actually worked, and kept her going quite well for several weeks, and since the diagnosis she's had three such jabs.

The last one was on 26 August and it hasn't worked so well. They also detected a heart issue that apparently is symptomatic of a thyroid disorder. She's hungry, and wanting to eat, but I can't find anything she'll really eat. For while I could juggle different cat foods, but now she's not eating any of them. She won't drink milk any more, but will sip water. For a while she'd eat chicken - but went off that. Then a little minced beef - but no more. This morning she's hungry and I've tried fresh salmon and also sausage - but apart from a sniff and a tiny nibble, nothing. Her teeth are in good order.

I'm out of ideas and wondering what else I can try...

[Ste1987]

Sorry to hear about this. My mum's cat had cancer and, despite being her perky self, just couldn't eat anything. At most, it would be licking the jelly off wet food. Sadly, my mum decided to have her put to sleep as she felt it wasn't fair for her to starve. She was about 15 as well, so she's had a good run.

I know this won't help but, unfortanately, it may be something you'll have to consider if you've tried everything to get your cat to eat.

[counterofbeans]

Couple of ideas:-

1. tinned tuna (in spring water, not brine or oil)
2. frozen white fish fillets from the supermarket.

[LocoCoco]

The liquid on top of a tin of tuna was the only thing one of ours would eat when she was ill, we had to use a little syringe to squirt it in her mouth.

I wish you and your cat all the best.

[bexVN]

Unfortunately this was the biggest problem I had with my little girl cat a few yrs back. She seemed lively and generally herself but she started to pick at foods (she'd never been fussy) she had an intestinal tumour. She had poor response to steroids and when she started get the most horrendous diarrhoea I decided it was not fair to continue and made the call before her mental self being suffered too much (she was sleeping a lot more already).

Really all you can do is try strong smelling foods that are warm (both increase smell and palatability).
Sometimes pilchards in tomato sauce gets the appetite going but eating can cause discomfort abdominally due to the cancer and this will put them off wanting to eat aswell.

I'm sorry she is not well.

Edited by bexVN on Monday 12th September 14:55

[Simpo Two]

Thank you all for your ideas and kind words. I'll try the pilchards/tuna idea, and will keep a view on the 'quality of life' - but she's not ready to go quite yet.

[ali_kat]

. I'm sorry Furbag is going through this

In Sainsburys by me, they have a range called Gourmet Soup

It's kinda soupy fish & chicken - in small pouches

My cats go mad for it

Found it on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=g...

[Simpo Two]

Thanks Ali - there's no Sainsburys around here but it look sliek Tesco sell it so I'll try some.

I got tins of sardines and pilchards last night - inital reaction very good, lapped up all the sauce and ate some of the fish. This morning still likes the sauce but leaving the fish...

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 14th September 10:26

[MitchT]

How about using a blender to make a fish soup/smoothie? Might be solids that she's struggling with.

[bexVN]

MitchT said:

How about using a blender to make a fish soup/smoothie? Might be solids that she's struggling with.

This can work really well esp if it is then heated up for a few secs afterwards.

[ali_kat]

Yep, liquidising could help

Although I imagine she'd need some solids?

[bexVN]

ali_kat said:

Yep, liquidising could help

Although I imagine she'd need some solids?

Not necessarily, the calories and nutrients are most important, it won't be a problem whether she eats the food in a solid or liquidised form.

[Bellini]

Sorry for reading about your pussy woes.

Like you, we also have a 15 year-old cat and he's incredibly fussy with food and will only eat the small Sheba-in-gravy sachets.

Might be worth a try?

[Simpo Two]

The saga continues. I found the Gourmet 'soup' (90p for a 40g sachet!); she took a sniff and had some kind of convulsion! But she likes a similar product called Gourmet Mon Petit. Well she did yesterday. Last night the litle bugger tried to steal a sausage off my dinner plate! So she had most of a sausage for supper, and some more at 4am. This morning she won't eat anything.

Maybe back to (real) chicken and beef...