Cat refusing food. Vet stumped :(

[Catnipples]

Hi,

My cat, PudPud (11) has been pretty much refusing all food for the last week. She is normally very greedy and eats anything & everything, so this is completely out of character. She's definitely not getting food elsewhere.

For the last 8 weeks or so, she has been coughing every now & then; we thought she was trying to bring up a hairball but nothing ever came out. She will be fine, but if we pet her and she's purring, it's almost like something 'catches' and the coughing starts.

We took her to the vet last week as she has lost 1kg in the last month. They ran bloods, said everything was normal. We then took her back & they did an ultrasound of her belly, looked down her throat, at her teeth etc, again everything normal. The vet said she's been practicing for 40 years & her and her colleagues are stumped. She's suggested steroids or a referral to a specialist centre for MRIs.

I'm not really sure why I'm posting! I'm just so worried. She's really quiet and has been hiding down the bottom of the garden all day. She sniffs food & seems interested (we have tried literally everything); she'll take a lick or a mouthful, then turn away. She's making a snoring sound when she's breathing. She seems alert but just disinterested.

We will call the vets tomorrow to discuss next steps. Does it seem odd that they haven't suggested antibiotics? Would all infections come up in the blood tests?

Wouldn't it be so much easier if they could talk?

Any thoughts appreciated. I love her so much :(

Oh my this is heartbreaking for you….

but my Tortie did exactly this ( nearly twenty years ago so take into account re vets) vet couldn’t find anything immediately blood tests, scans etc etc…. But it wasn’t until I provided a stool sample from her ( she was VERY disgusted, refused to go near me until it was deposited with the vet) they found an infection in the stomach which didn’t show on the bloods…. Injections and then tablets ( they were such fun to get into her) … this was nearly twenty years ago but might be worth discussing with your vet ( I’ve also sometimes found it worth getting a second opinion with my animals) ….

I hope she’s not in pain, they are such wonderful pets so sorry you and her are going through this ….. I really hope the vets crack this and soon.

I've just been through the very same thing with one of my fosters. Suddenly she stopped eating. All the tests under the sun could find nothing. She was admitted, put on a drip and fed through a nasal tube. Two weeks later she was eating again and fine. No one is still any the wiser about what caused it.

We had this a few months ago with my elderly but kitten-like cat!
He loves food, and play fighting! But one afternoon he didn't come in which was very unusual. I finally found him asleep in a neighbours garden. Managed to get him
In but he didn't want food- again really unusual, but assumed he'd killed something so wasn't hungry.
Next morning still didn't want to eat which was when I got concerned. Tried all day but he didn't want to eat, just wanted to sleep.

I took him to the vets who gave me some special food to try but again not interested.

Returned a few times over a week period, had blood tests but all came back perfect.

Suddenly he just started eating again, play fighting again and wanted to go out again.

We still never got to the bottom of it, but do think he'd eaten something when out which made him really poorly, or possible some form of poison via a bird or mouse? But maybe had left his system before the blood tests, I don't know.

It was an awful time as he was not himself at all and it was really sad.

Fingers crossed for you x

Mirtazapine stimulates appetites, it’s a human anti depressant.

When my old girl lost her appetite after surgery and wouldn't eat for days the vet prescribed mirtazipine - one tablet and an hour later she was wolfing food down and asking for more. Worked a real treat :)

Have they thought about giving her something for nausea?

When my kitten was sick and refusing food, they gave him an injection to stop him feeling nauseous (I forget the name of it) and he was back to his old self 24h later.

I don’t like the sound of the snoring sound your cat is making. That happened to one of mine and it turned out to be lymphoma (mass was in his throat). This was only picked up on a scan - our vet couldn’t find anything wrong and I had to go to a specialist to get the scan done. Can you do that? My cat was also 11. Lymphomas often occur around the age of 11 or 12.

I agree. My young cat suddenly started behaving didn't differently and when I described it to the vet, they x-rayed her and sadly found a mass in her lungs.

I presume you’ve tried stinky sardines?

I wonder if covid in cats gives a loss of taste/smell? Perhaps that would explain mild respiratory symptoms and going off food?

Thanks all for your replies.

@Want2beme & @whirlyhead, yes the snoring sound is my main concern. I'm sorry to hear they found masses in yours 😞

Spoke to the vet this morning & they're going to do a chest X-ray tomorrow. Am annoyed they didn't do that in the first place given her symptoms. Anyway, we'll see what they come up with.

@SheWoreYellow I wondered the same thing re Covid! It's very odd.

Thanks again everyone x