Advice on getting an elderly boy to eat please

[Milliways]

MilliCat is now 18 and recently had a scare (few months back) when he completely stopped eating and drinking. The vet gave him a huge dose of injected antibiotics and steroids which did the trick and got him going again. Vets have decided no point doing more tests and such due to his age but to treat palliatively now.

He does still graze on some prescription diet biscuits he likes, and Tuna in spring water used to be his treat, and then became the only wet food he would eat, but he got bored of that recently. He then polished off a few packets on random Purina and Asda own food we had in the cupboard, then stopped wanting those.

I have just microwaved him some tuna, and he has had a little but not much. He’s getting ever so thin again so would appreciate any other ideas of things to try. (He did like some scrambled egg the other day)

No doubt, whatever he likes will only be until I buy some more of it, but it’s worth a shot.

Actually, whilst typing this he has returned to the tuna, but only grazing a little.

Have attached a photo that shows his outline from above. Face on he looks fine, just feels bony when stroking his back.

bless him, its so hard as they get older. couple of suggestions we tried;

• tuna in a touch of sunflower oil variety (I think it smells stronger for them plus the oil gives a few extra calories).
• small amounts of grated mild cheese, sometimes on top of scrambled egg.
• finely chopped fresh chicken.
• baked white fish or cod
• small servings of warm pouch meat, ours liked Felix Agail or Whiskas casserole (sitting pouch in tepid water for 30 seconds or so). Not great quality but if thats what they'll eat its better than not eating.
• couple of treats crushed up on pouch meat/whatever they seem half interested in.
• If he'll try biscuits Royal Canin Exigent Aroma also smell strong to attract them too.

With our elderly girls, we had some success with Hugged suggestions, plus a smear of Shiphams on the food, as it has a strong smell. One was also fond of Ambrosia rice pudding and would still eat a little of that.

And ice cream. I know its not good for them but by that stage, its about just getting some nutrition into them.

Ah, adding grated cheese is a good idea as he still loves that (easy to get the worm tablets down) so will give that a go, thank you!

Ice cream- wow, he does try to steal magnums but we thought that was for the chocolate that people drop! Maybe will allow him a nibble.

Fish and chicken we do try occasionally, he seems to get excited just can’t be bothered to actually eat it when down. Maybe I need to get some prawns out again as he used to go nuts for those.

It’s odd, when he’s in the mood can still eat an entire pouch! We give him a bit to see if wanted, then more until he’s wolfed the lot. Next day however he will turn his nose up. It’s such a game but we want him to win!

Lik e Lix - smells foul but mine go mad for it, and someone I used to know had a cat having chemo & it was the only thing he could get him to eat.

Creamy smoked haddock soup, very slightly warmed up, is all my old girl would eat at one point.

Good for getting liquid into her, too.

We had the same problem with my cat earlier this year. She was 18 too and sadly died in February,. We kept her going with the little tins of Gourmet cat food pate. Easy for her to eat and as it is small tins not much wasted if they don’t eat it. She used to lick it rather that eat big bits. We used to sit her on the sofa next to us and hold a saucer of food under her chin for her to eat. When she got weaker and couldn’t walk we had her put to sleep.

Ah, he likes Lik-e-Lix but it has tended to make him sick if he has more than a tiny dot over a few days.
He hasn’t been sick recently but goes through stages of it. No real reason found when vet was looking, and they have decided no more blood tests now as he gets so distressed at the vets.

Ah Dodie, she is beautiful, so sorry for your loss x

Yes the Pate works sometimes, but rarely. He does tend to prefer licking gravy off stuff now if going for a sachet. When younger only liked Jelly foods and wouldn’t touch the gravy ones, it’s odd.

Freddolin, was that a cat soup or a real soup? Have tried some cat soups but he wasn’t keen, and DH only eats battered fish so I wouldn’t normally be making fish soup here.

Friend had a cat with hyper thyroidism. I would feed when friend was away.

I found a good way to get her kitty to eat more was to pet her. Just love her with nice strokes in favourite places up by the food bowl. She would eat more and for longer while being stroked.

Good luck. My old cat was not interested in food bowl the other morning. This was big first. He's on verge of getting too thin, too.

You can sprinkle dry catnip in their food, Tesco well it. It’s organic, natch.

Real soup! Covent Garden soup company, no less.

I'm sure it's not recommended, but it seemed to keep her going for a little while longer when she wasn't interested in any cat food.

Arden Grange tasty liver treat, just like liver pate. I mix it with my cat's food when he's being fussy, but it can be fed on it's own too.

of course, forgot about a bit of icecream! Agree with everyone above that its about getting 'something' in them half the time and also with lljkk too about making a fuss to get them eating. If our boy wasnt even bothering going to his dish I used to bring it to him and stroke and gently chat to him with it under his nose. Sometimes that would perk him up to eat a bit more (in his head he was probably thinking it was worth a few mouthfuls to make me shut up and go away!)

The current weather probably doesn't help with their appetitites either (and the UK week ahead forcast is looking very hot and humid ). But re the vet offering pallative care - if thats because he's just getting older rather than a specific illness, do press them if you feel something is 'off' more than the usual. We were fobbed off (with hindsight) when our old boy was losing weight but still eating with talk of just keeping him comfortable. Turned out there was something wrong but too late to try anything by the time we saw another vet in the practice. The outcome might likely have been the same but we wouldnt have let him quietly be suffering for his last months had we known it was more than old age creeping up. Sorry to bring the tone down but its a such huge regret for me.

He had an Echo at Christmas as had developed a heart murmur for the first time. They decided it was just an age degeneration but to avoid all anaesthetics now ( they managed to do the echo awake by wrapping him in a towel) but he gets so very stressed at anything there. Even at his weakest he put up a hell of a fight at any exam! He is the total opposite at home and just loves a cuddle and a fuss from anyone with a lap.
DH just fed him some cheese, then he got off DH to reinvestigate his bowl! We do pet him a lot with his food, and he gets a lot of Dreamies as an encouragement which is an improvement. In his last down faze he wouldn’t even touch them. He would sit next to his water bowl and cry so very glad the vets got him through that.
I trust our vet, she thought last time she him it was for his last visit but she suggested the steroids etc and they worked.

Thanks so much everyone for your ideas, have a few more things to try now :)

Oh, and actually he has been happy in the sun and taken to going outside to bake on the patio again, and has even been seen in the neighbours garden which surprised them as he didn’t leave the garden for months as he is stone deaf so got worried.

Have you tried the various cat soups?
I am currently having to supply Gourmet Crystal regularly (I hide meds in it) and other clear ones. They have bits of fish or chicken in.
Prior to this it was Felix soup which is like a small pouch of gravy with some rubbery bits, and Gravy Lovers food which also is rubbery bits with more gravy than the normal pouches of rubber. It isn't nutritionally great but it gets something in.

Gourmet mousse/pate, mashed up with water used to work with one of mine.

You could try chicken livers with the bits removed fried in butter then mashed. Or sardines (in tomato sauce, pilchards are the same thing) well-mashed with a bit of cream. Very good for them and nice and smelly.

Thanks everyone.
Cat soups haven’t been successful before (I think I bought some of everything going in a pet aisle one week), some of the gourmet mousse he has occasionally, until I buy more when he won’t touch it!
He wasn’t keen on pilchards in the past but I have some so will give them another go.
Just think maybe ringing the changes may help, and I have lots of good ideas here, so thanks again!