Cat adopted strange eating habit
Discussion
Our cat (female, 14 y/o approx) has never really had any sort of unusual eating behaviour until recently. Lately though, she'll often shout for food then when some is put down in front of her we'll have to point to it to get her to start eating. if we walk away she'll then often stop and walk away so we have to stand or sit with her to get her to eat.
Two things have happened recently, first was that she lost her older brother a few months ago. When that happened, for a while she wouldn't eat at all unless there were two bowls of food put down. The other was that she got diagnosed with an overactive Thyroid. We've known this was coming for a while (she's had a few blood tests due to being quite sicky the past few months) but the thyroxin level is now over the threshold which the vet will then recommend medication for that. We now have the medication which the vet advised we add to her food, but her taking the medication then depends on eating said food
May or may not be related but until about the same sort of time as above, if a door she wanted to get through was ajar she'd happily push or pull it open to get past but that stopped overnight; now she simply sits and yells at the door until someone opens it for her.
Could the thyroid condition cause behavioural changes like these or should we look into something else?
Two things have happened recently, first was that she lost her older brother a few months ago. When that happened, for a while she wouldn't eat at all unless there were two bowls of food put down. The other was that she got diagnosed with an overactive Thyroid. We've known this was coming for a while (she's had a few blood tests due to being quite sicky the past few months) but the thyroxin level is now over the threshold which the vet will then recommend medication for that. We now have the medication which the vet advised we add to her food, but her taking the medication then depends on eating said food
May or may not be related but until about the same sort of time as above, if a door she wanted to get through was ajar she'd happily push or pull it open to get past but that stopped overnight; now she simply sits and yells at the door until someone opens it for her.
Could the thyroid condition cause behavioural changes like these or should we look into something else?
vaud said:
Could also be feline dementia.
I'm wondering if one of my cats (15.5 y/o) has or is getting this. Eating habits not really changed, but he yowls, sometimes very loudly, for no reason. And I also wonder about the thyroid thing too.
I do need to get him to the vet I think. Slight thread hijack, sorry.
UTH said:
I'm wondering if one of my cats (15.5 y/o) has or is getting this.
Eating habits not really changed, but he yowls, sometimes very loudly, for no reason. And I also wonder about the thyroid thing too.
I do need to get him to the vet I think. Slight thread hijack, sorry.
Happened to my last cat at about 16. Yowling for now reason, sometimes confused, missing litter tray. Was thyroid and dementia. RIP.Eating habits not really changed, but he yowls, sometimes very loudly, for no reason. And I also wonder about the thyroid thing too.
I do need to get him to the vet I think. Slight thread hijack, sorry.
vaud said:
UTH said:
I'm wondering if one of my cats (15.5 y/o) has or is getting this.
Eating habits not really changed, but he yowls, sometimes very loudly, for no reason. And I also wonder about the thyroid thing too.
I do need to get him to the vet I think. Slight thread hijack, sorry.
Happened to my last cat at about 16. Yowling for now reason, sometimes confused, missing litter tray. Was thyroid and dementia. RIP.Eating habits not really changed, but he yowls, sometimes very loudly, for no reason. And I also wonder about the thyroid thing too.
I do need to get him to the vet I think. Slight thread hijack, sorry.
Yowling: tick
Confused: At the same time he's yowling, yes he does look a little confused.
He still uses the cat flap, so no evidence of going to the toilet any differently and pretty much everything else seems normal, but the yowling and confusion can't be a good sign.
UTH said:
I've probably been trying to deny to myself this is what's happening
Yowling: tick
Confused: At the same time he's yowling, yes he does look a little confused.
He still uses the cat flap, so no evidence of going to the toilet any differently and pretty much everything else seems normal, but the yowling and confusion can't be a good sign.
If it's any consolation the drugs gave mine an extra 2 years of life and the thryroid condition stabilised.Yowling: tick
Confused: At the same time he's yowling, yes he does look a little confused.
He still uses the cat flap, so no evidence of going to the toilet any differently and pretty much everything else seems normal, but the yowling and confusion can't be a good sign.
vaud said:
UTH said:
I've probably been trying to deny to myself this is what's happening
Yowling: tick
Confused: At the same time he's yowling, yes he does look a little confused.
He still uses the cat flap, so no evidence of going to the toilet any differently and pretty much everything else seems normal, but the yowling and confusion can't be a good sign.
If it's any consolation the drugs gave mine an extra 2 years of life and the thryroid condition stabilised.Yowling: tick
Confused: At the same time he's yowling, yes he does look a little confused.
He still uses the cat flap, so no evidence of going to the toilet any differently and pretty much everything else seems normal, but the yowling and confusion can't be a good sign.
8bit said:
Could the thyroid condition cause behavioural changes like these or should we look into something else?
My cat (13-14) has the same condition as yours and has been on thyronorm (put on food) for about a year. Apart from the fact that she goes out less and sleeps more, which is probably just due to age, I haven't seen the effects you describe. Appetite is about normal for the age. So I think in your cat's case it's behavioural not physiological.vaud said:
Happened to my last cat at about 16. Yowling for now reason, sometimes confused, missing litter tray. Was thyroid and dementia. RIP.
Really hope it's not that, we lost her brother to gastric lymphoma only a few months ago, not ready to think about losing her yet. Saying that though, she's not showing any of the other signs, she's never once missed her litter tray or gone in a random place (other than the day she got shut in the nursery for about 9 hours while we were out at work), she never seems confused really and she's just pulled the door to my office open and left the room as normal again.vaud said:
If it's any consolation the drugs gave mine an extra 2 years of life and the thryroid condition stabilised.
What drugs did yours get?Simpo Two said:
My cat (13-14) has the same condition as yours and has been on thyronorm (put on food) for about a year. Apart from the fact that she goes out less and sleeps more, which is probably just due to age, I haven't seen the effects you describe. Appetite is about normal for the age. So I think in your cat's case it's behavioural not physiological.
Thanks. It's Thyronorm we got, the vet said it was OK to put on food (despite the leaflet advising to the contrary), but this obviously is contingent upon the cat eating all of said food We tried simply holding her and squirting the stuff directly into her mouth the other night - she's usually highly adverse to being manhandled at all (won't even let us brush her) and that first time she was fine but since then she's resisted strongly to say the least so it looks like 'with food' is our only option.vaud said:
8bit said:
vaud said:
If it's any consolation the drugs gave mine an extra 2 years of life and the thryroid condition stabilised.
What drugs did yours get? Was it for the thyroid condition or the dementia, can you remember?UTH said:
vaud said:
UTH said:
I've probably been trying to deny to myself this is what's happening
Yowling: tick
Confused: At the same time he's yowling, yes he does look a little confused.
He still uses the cat flap, so no evidence of going to the toilet any differently and pretty much everything else seems normal, but the yowling and confusion can't be a good sign.
If it's any consolation the drugs gave mine an extra 2 years of life and the thryroid condition stabilised.Yowling: tick
Confused: At the same time he's yowling, yes he does look a little confused.
He still uses the cat flap, so no evidence of going to the toilet any differently and pretty much everything else seems normal, but the yowling and confusion can't be a good sign.
Seems Steve (my cat) is losing a bit of weight despite us adding in one extra meal during the day since his last vet visit.
So losing weight despite eating, drinking a lot of water and being more vocal are all signs of hyper thyroidism or whatever it's called, so they've taken bloods and will call in a day or two.
I'll actually be a relief if this is diagnosed and can be treated, especially if this is what's causing his yowling as well!
UTH said:
Sorry to jump back on your thread, thought I'd update.
Seems Steve (my cat) is losing a bit of weight despite us adding in one extra meal during the day since his last vet visit.
So losing weight despite eating, drinking a lot of water and being more vocal are all signs of hyper thyroidism or whatever it's called, so they've taken bloods and will call in a day or two.
I'll actually be a relief if this is diagnosed and can be treated, especially if this is what's causing his yowling as well!
Not at all, no worries Seems Steve (my cat) is losing a bit of weight despite us adding in one extra meal during the day since his last vet visit.
So losing weight despite eating, drinking a lot of water and being more vocal are all signs of hyper thyroidism or whatever it's called, so they've taken bloods and will call in a day or two.
I'll actually be a relief if this is diagnosed and can be treated, especially if this is what's causing his yowling as well!
Our eldest (male, now departed) started showing similar symptoms back in late 2019/early 2020 which turned out to be related to his kidneys. We ended up treating him wit Semintra for the remainder of his days (he sadly passed earlier this year) which perked him up significantly.
8bit said:
UTH said:
Sorry to jump back on your thread, thought I'd update.
Seems Steve (my cat) is losing a bit of weight despite us adding in one extra meal during the day since his last vet visit.
So losing weight despite eating, drinking a lot of water and being more vocal are all signs of hyper thyroidism or whatever it's called, so they've taken bloods and will call in a day or two.
I'll actually be a relief if this is diagnosed and can be treated, especially if this is what's causing his yowling as well!
Not at all, no worries Seems Steve (my cat) is losing a bit of weight despite us adding in one extra meal during the day since his last vet visit.
So losing weight despite eating, drinking a lot of water and being more vocal are all signs of hyper thyroidism or whatever it's called, so they've taken bloods and will call in a day or two.
I'll actually be a relief if this is diagnosed and can be treated, especially if this is what's causing his yowling as well!
Our eldest (male, now departed) started showing similar symptoms back in late 2019/early 2020 which turned out to be related to his kidneys. We ended up treating him wit Semintra for the remainder of his days (he sadly passed earlier this year) which perked him up significantly.
UTH said:
8bit said:
UTH said:
Sorry to jump back on your thread, thought I'd update.
Seems Steve (my cat) is losing a bit of weight despite us adding in one extra meal during the day since his last vet visit.
So losing weight despite eating, drinking a lot of water and being more vocal are all signs of hyper thyroidism or whatever it's called, so they've taken bloods and will call in a day or two.
I'll actually be a relief if this is diagnosed and can be treated, especially if this is what's causing his yowling as well!
Not at all, no worries Seems Steve (my cat) is losing a bit of weight despite us adding in one extra meal during the day since his last vet visit.
So losing weight despite eating, drinking a lot of water and being more vocal are all signs of hyper thyroidism or whatever it's called, so they've taken bloods and will call in a day or two.
I'll actually be a relief if this is diagnosed and can be treated, especially if this is what's causing his yowling as well!
Our eldest (male, now departed) started showing similar symptoms back in late 2019/early 2020 which turned out to be related to his kidneys. We ended up treating him wit Semintra for the remainder of his days (he sadly passed earlier this year) which perked him up significantly.
The bloodwork should show up potential kidney or liver issues, chances are the vet will be checking for as many possible indicators as they can. Beyond blood tests, for Snowy we had to provide urine samples from time to time and he had a couple of ultrasound scans. When our youngest got bloods done last week that confirmed her hyperthyroidism and ruled out kidney or liver dysfunction.
Ours has been on Thyronorm for around 18 months now. She has a very low dose twice a day (0.75ml or 4 drops), after some chajllenges in getting the right dose for her condition. In the morning, she has it on a small amount of poached salmon (which guarantees it goes in). In the evening it goes on a small amount of her normal wet food, with the rest of the pouch going into her dish when we go up to bed. She often doesn't eat much during the day, but will usually scoff all her food overnight.
She's very deaf, so the yowling thing is quite prevalent and she also has anemia, arthritis and suffers badly with furballs. Apart from that, she's fine!
She's very deaf, so the yowling thing is quite prevalent and she also has anemia, arthritis and suffers badly with furballs. Apart from that, she's fine!
Update from my end: bloods came back absolutely fine "surprisingly good for a 15 year old"
Although I must say I'm not actually relieved, because I was hoping to have an actual diagnosis for the weight loss and yowling that he does.
He has had a slight heart murmur for a long time so they'll want to do a scan to check for a few things, as they said there can be heart related things that cause the yowling/weight loss.
Although I must say I'm not actually relieved, because I was hoping to have an actual diagnosis for the weight loss and yowling that he does.
He has had a slight heart murmur for a long time so they'll want to do a scan to check for a few things, as they said there can be heart related things that cause the yowling/weight loss.
Glad to hear it's nothing serious, OP - probably just getting grumpy with age (aren't we all?!)
On the subject of overactive thyroid, though, our 10 year old cat exhibited all the above signs of becoming incredibly vocal, manic eating and drastically over-grooming before being diagnosed with over-active thyroid (Maximum figure for the blood level should be 60 - hers was 238!!).
She was on Thyronorm for a while which helped but as all her other tests showed that she was in excellent health, we decided to go for radioactive iodine treatment to hopefully effect a permanent cure.
Six weeks on from it she's eating normally, is back to her old, quieter self, all her fur is growing back and her blood thyroid level is around 20.
On the subject of overactive thyroid, though, our 10 year old cat exhibited all the above signs of becoming incredibly vocal, manic eating and drastically over-grooming before being diagnosed with over-active thyroid (Maximum figure for the blood level should be 60 - hers was 238!!).
She was on Thyronorm for a while which helped but as all her other tests showed that she was in excellent health, we decided to go for radioactive iodine treatment to hopefully effect a permanent cure.
Six weeks on from it she's eating normally, is back to her old, quieter self, all her fur is growing back and her blood thyroid level is around 20.
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