Advice needed - cat refusing change of diet!

[shovetheholly]

My lovely 17 year old male cat was recently diagnosed as hyperthyroid. He's a bit of a pampered beast, and normally has a wide range of foods. However, we decided to try him on an iodine-free diet initially (Hills y/d), because he's a house cat who doesn't really want to venture outside and because we are occasionally away for work and it will be easy for the neighbours to 'treat' him if the medication is a diet. However, there is an alternative treatment available in the shape of a gel that gets rubbed onto the cat's ears (also, pills as a third alternative).

We started the diet 2 days ago. He was VERY keen on the first bowl of crunchies and first can of wet food and scoffed the lot. However, yesterday he decided he'd gone off them and is refusing to eat anything.

There is an element of protest here because he's very used to getting his own way, particularly with food. I feel terrible that he's not eating with his usual gusto! How long do I continue this battle of wills? When should I become concerned that he's not feeding properly?

I realise I sound like the worst kind of pfb parent here!

Unless he seems frail now (but you seem to be describing a portly not skinny cat!), I would go tough & only offer the food he's trying to sneer at. For at least 3 days. Much nicer than the other treatments!!

Tapering into the right diet over a few weeks is also probably reasonable, does the vet say tapering would be bad and change must be immediate?

Please dont leave your dcat for more than one day without food. Cats are VERY BAD, metabolically, without refular food and can very quickly into starvation mode and become completely unable to eat and then just starve yet feel too sick to eat.

I would try to alternate days of food at least halving the iodine intake by switching between one and another and to see how that goes?

Then slowly phase out the iodin food.

Then as you say there's the ear gel which if your neighbours take the time to pet your dcat during the visit and see how it progresses to applying gel or just not do it for those days.

Bit rough earlier comments ... just decline and die if he's happy enough and clearly he used to playing this battleof wills! So life as usual. Lovely that you saved him and kept him well to such a good age!

That's weird, though. With big cats (in zoos) they often have 1 or 2 days a week of no food. The day off is good for their system.

And you hear stories about housecats being shut in walls or somewhere weird for many days, even a few weeks, with no food, and recovering fine.

I'd ask the vet what's safe.

Big cats eat carcasses that are bigger than them. Anyway I am guessing they must have completely different systems because its very ill-advised to let a domestic moggie go without food.

...and my ddogs I would happily let go a day without food or two without worry if upset tums but dcats a different matter.

With domestic cats it's the big ones (overweight) that are at far greater risk of serious liver damage - often fatal - when they go without food for any significant length of time. Google "feline hepatic lipidosis"...