Opioids kill their appetite. We had a cat on CBD oil for arthritis instead.

our cat is slowly eating more after being very very sick and is still so thin. so difficult so i understand a bit of what you are going thru. We found a lot of help in giving her treats. Buy all sorts of them and see if they work. She really likes catnip flavored ones. Friskee party treats are favorites. Not healthy to eat but gets their appetite going i think. The fancy expensive ones were of no interest by the way - just try the ones at normal grocery store. You can mix them into dry food and wet food too.

Also something we refused to do at first (along with feeding tube) was subcutaneous fluids at home. It takes 3 of us to do it (a family effort!) but seems to help with hydration.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:Geez op. Just put the cat down.

Harsh post.

But OP, won't the cat eat when it's hungry. I can hardly imagine it starving itself to death.

Geez op. Just put the cat down.

Vet did thorough exam. Mild plaque on teeth, but that’s all they noticed. Opioid pain meds don’t change anything, and she also had a steroid injection. I feel like the combo of those two should help significantly with pain issues.

And cat is six years old.

How old is your cat, OP?

My senior cat loves chopped raw beef. I buy her organic grassfed to make it a little safer. This is her absolute favourite food, and we do spoil her quite a bit.

She was refusing all food last year, even though she would paw/nuzzle it. The vet eventually found this was due to a tooth issue.

Did your vet check her teeth for stomatitis, an inflammation of the mouth where they don't want to eat anything? They are in so much pain, they want to eat, but can't.

What I've done in the past is mash up some cat wet food, tuna juice, and human chicken/turkey baby food and syringe feed a bit of a time. Always with the go-ahead from the vet. The consistency of the baby food is very palatable. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Feed her whatever she likes.

We have an elderly cat that periodically will only eat anchovy butter. Obviously not a good long term diet, but once or twice a year, she will hunger strike for days and end up at the vet. Anchovy butter is what lures her back to eating. After a week, I start sneaking bits of chicken and other morsels in. Gradually I reduce the anchovy butter to a mere smear beside her canned food. The next day, nothing but her regular food.

Do you make the anchovy butter? How did you discover she likes it? I’m willing to give her anything!

She’d swiped it before and we were desperately trying anything she had a past affinity before.
We make our own without garlic for her.

What does your cat like to steal from your plate?

She doesn’t... she’s a super sweet cat, and has never tried to eat our food. Her brother has always tried to lick the tops from
vanilla yogurt, so I offered some of that. I also mixed butter with water from a can of tuna. No interest.

While I was on the phone with the vet just now, she ate about three mouthfuls of kitten food, so my hope is that we are moving in the right direction!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Feed her whatever she likes.

We have an elderly cat that periodically will only eat anchovy butter. Obviously not a good long term diet, but once or twice a year, she will hunger strike for days and end up at the vet. Anchovy butter is what lures her back to eating. After a week, I start sneaking bits of chicken and other morsels in. Gradually I reduce the anchovy butter to a mere smear beside her canned food. The next day, nothing but her regular food.

Do you make the anchovy butter? How did you discover she likes it? I’m willing to give her anything!

She’d swiped it before and we were desperately trying anything she had a past affinity before.
We make our own without garlic for her.

What does your cat like to steal from your plate?

I’d suggest you try bacon, whipped cream, butter, minced shrimp and crab meat.

The water from tuna cans.

In my sad experience though, this is an obvious sign that your cat is feeling extremely bad, and euthanasia, sooner rather than later, might be something you should think about.

Anonymous wrote:Feed her whatever she likes.

We have an elderly cat that periodically will only eat anchovy butter. Obviously not a good long term diet, but once or twice a year, she will hunger strike for days and end up at the vet. Anchovy butter is what lures her back to eating. After a week, I start sneaking bits of chicken and other morsels in. Gradually I reduce the anchovy butter to a mere smear beside her canned food. The next day, nothing but her regular food.

Do you make the anchovy butter? How did you discover she likes it? I’m willing to give her anything!

OK, syringe with water asap. Put it and squirt it in her mouth. Also, cats will not live as long as dogs without food. Also, try a syringe of some Pedialyte or similar. Put some food on your finger after she had some water and try to get her to lick it.
Good luck!

Feed her whatever she likes.

We have an elderly cat that periodically will only eat anchovy butter. Obviously not a good long term diet, but once or twice a year, she will hunger strike for days and end up at the vet. Anchovy butter is what lures her back to eating. After a week, I start sneaking bits of chicken and other morsels in. Gradually I reduce the anchovy butter to a mere smear beside her canned food. The next day, nothing but her regular food.

Cat stopped eating Sunday or Monday. Threw up bile Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
Vet on Wednesday. Gave her short acting steroid, IV fluids, pain meds, anti nausea, and appetite stimulant.

Still hasn’t eaten (Thursday morning). This happened a few months ago, and she ended up with a feeding tube for a few weeks.

This morning, I put out a spaced out smorgasbord of her favorite foods. She’ll approach and smell them, but no eating. I just put out the treats we only give her after we clip her nails. She smelled these immediately, pushed one around with her paw, mouthed a few of them, and I think ate a tiny crumb. Then she walked two feet away from them and sat and looked at me. Normally, she would gobble them all up.

The last round, when she got her feeding tube, bloodwork and an ultrasound gave us no answers. Vet is currently thinking IBD.

We need her to eat, because cats’ livers can develop big problems if they go too long without food.

Any tips/tricks/ideas? We have another cat, who tends to get aggressive with her, and we are keeping them separated.