Helping a cat start eating again after a feeding tube

[doricgirl80]

My lovely boy was hit by a car this week and although he's made a miraculous recovery from touch and go to actually being home he's not eating or drinking.

The main trauma was to his face and he had a feeding tube at the vet as his face was so swollen. The swelling is better but he came home with the tube which he then managed to cough out!!

The vet recommended to try overnight seeing if eats rather than put it back in. He's pawing at food but not willing to eat. His breathing is still snuffly which the vet said is probably compromising his smell and that might be why.

Any tips on getting him to eat to avoid the tube going back in?

Try something nice and soft and tasty like lick-e-lix. Poor baby.
My cat was seriously off her food last year after a bout of sickness and this tempted her back to eating.

I was just about to suggest this. It was the only thing that my old boy ate for a week after he had teeth removed.

There is even a Dreamies version 😍

I wonder if cat soup will help, no chewing needed. Felix do it.

Your poor cat. Glad they're on the mend

Your poor cat, glad he has pulled through the last few days. I don't have any experience of your specific situation but a few years ago when my cat was very ill and ended up in cat ITU for a week, he went off his food completely. The vet gave him a tablet called mirtazepine which in humans is an antidepressant but in cats it's used to give them an appetite! It was a one-off tablet and for my cat it worked really well. I also gave mine lik-e-lix as mentioned above and I bought some rotisserie hot roast chicken for him which he did eat bits of from my hand, this may have been recommended on here at the time I can't remember? If he's able to eat more solid food, the hot roast chicken might be worth a try as
the smell of it definitely caught his attention

I realised that my cat wasn't eating because I was filling her up with feed. Stopped it and she started eating again. Though she had not had facial trauma. She did have Mirtazipine but it made no difference.

My girl had a feeding tube for 2 months, then pulled it out. We got the gourmet gold pate and sprinkled cat nip on it! And she finally responded.