Old story - fussy cat - advice on food?

[Cattymonster]

Hello all,

I know this is the same old story, but I just wonder whether anybody might have any suggestions.

My monster is about 12 now. He's a rescue but I've had him for about 8 years now.

He's always eaten dried food since I've had him. It used to be James Wellbeloved but I swapped to Royal Canin about six months ago. He does seem to enjoy it, but over the last let's say year I've found that some days he'll eat all of it and other days he'll leave quite a lot.

Over the last year he's been losing weight. He's prolly still not an unhealthily low weight, but his bones have become very prominent: his spine, and the bones at the tail end of his back. A couple of times I've heard his tummy rumbling, and although he's never shown any interest in human food (chicken, lamb etc) I've noticed him having a sniff at my plate a few times recently when I've put it down before clearing it away.

Two weeks ago I got in and heard his tummy making an awful rumbling sound. His dry food is down all day but he wasn't eating it. I went out and bought him some of those little Gourmet tins to try to tempt his appetite. I've resisted wet food for him in the past because I've always had cats, and I know how fussy they can get (licking off the gravy, leaving the meat, refusing to eat dried food any more etc). I felt I had to, though, because of his rumbling tummy and loss of weight.

Initially he loved it, but two weeks in he's doing the licking off the gravy thing, and with the pate ones he just eats a bit and then spends ages crying for something different.

We're seeing the vet next week for annual vaccinations, but they've never been able to come up with any suggestions when I've mentioned his weight loss over the last year, just pointing out that he's still in the healthy spectrum but seeming to miss the point that he's steadily losing weight.

Does anybody have any food suggestions? Is there anything I could try? Again, I know this is an old story with cats, but at the same time it's making me anxious and the cat doesn't seem very happy with the situation either. I'm still putting down some dried food for him, btw, and he generally eats that overnight and leaves the parts of the tins that no longer have gravy.

Why did you swap from the James Wellbeloved? I would try going back to that TBH.

Have you tried the wet foods like Thrive or Untamed? The ones that are shredded meat and look good enough for a human? Sometimes warming it up a bit can make it more attractive too.

My 13yo has become less flexible the older she gets, so I just stick to favourites now.

First of all I'd insist on the vet taking this seriously. Weight loss is often a sign of severe medical problems like cancer.

Your cat needs blood tests and a full examination.

If your vet won't do this, you need to change vet.

Thanks both.

I think I changed him from JW because he'd stopped eating it all. Some days he'll eat everything, and other days hardly anything at all. I researched the other brands and RC seemed to come out on top.

I've not seen Thrive or Untamed but I'll go and look them up now. Many thanks for the suggestion.

Yes, I absolutely agree about the vets needing to take it seriously if he's still losing weight. I expected him to have lost a considerable amount of weight last time he was weighed there (a few months ago) but according to their chart he hadn't lost as much as I'd expected. I was going by how bony he feels, and how light he felt on the odd occasion when he'd allowed me to pick him up. Next Weds they'll weigh him again, though, and if it's still going down I'll insist that they'll need to look into it. They're generally quite good, but I won't hesitate to move if I feel they're not taking it seriously.

In the meantime I'll look into those other foods, and thank you both again for taking the time to reply.

My fussy cat used to insist on Go Cat, despite how awful the ingredients are. When he started to get skinny I moved him onto wet food, but honestly the oBly one he ate all of was Butchers in jelly. The chunks are made of meat, no cereal or filler. Could you try that whilst you wait on tests?

Have you tried Felix Cat Soup?

I had two cats who loved it, and two cats who hated it.

Worth a try, maybe?

Or just give him bits of cooked chicken or ham? Tinned tuna?

Very basic dry food like Go Cat?

Or maybe the horribly expensive Encore?

Applaws is another shredded meat food that our cats love. It's not a complete food though so they need a complete dry food alongside it. Same with the felix soups.

Thanks very much for the further advice and suggestions. They're all very much appreciated 👍 I'll look into all of them.

A minor miracle occurred earlier, btw. I got hold of some Gourmet Perle sachets and monster ate a whole one (duck), meaty bits and all!

Thanks again, all ❤️

A dab of lick-e-lix seems to make everything taste good

Please ask for his thyroid to be checked. Bloods will show this or anything else, then you can go down the “what food” route.

Toothache can make them lose interest in eating.

My cat was the same , the vet exam established she had many decayed teeth bless her . Lots of teeth had to come out

Honestly I’d change vets, losing weight without trying is a major red flag in any animal (incl humans).

Ive had 7 cats, never met one yet who didn’t love gourmet.

Thanks again for further suggestions. Am checking out the lick-e-lix. Sounds amazing!

Thyroid - I'll ask about that next week. It's been in my mind. Cat has started some manic episodes of tail chasing in the last couple of months, which he hasn't done before. I think I've read that thyroid issues can cause this kind of behaviour.

Toothache - another thing I'm going to bring up, thanks. I've mentioned to the vet(s) several times in the past that DCat does a weird 'chewing' motion sometimes when he eats, head on one side and making an exaggerated chewing motion as though he's got something stuck. They've said his teeth look fine and have been unwilling to check his throat because he'd need sedation/anaesthetic. However, I saw him do exactly the same thing last week when eating the new wet food. I actually dreamed overnight that he had a throat cancer and needed a tube poked down his throat as a check 😳

I'm grateful to all of you for suggestions here. Vet told me last time we were in that 'cat not eating' is like the needle in the haystack in diagnostic terms. It's good that they don't want to to embark upon a raft of uncomfortable tests that might not be necessary, but obvs it's a matter of striking correct balance. Sometimes it's necessary to start. I've asked to see one of the more experienced vets next week.

My experience is that generally vets aren't concerned as long as they're eating something - even if it's only small amounts.

Our older boy is getting a bit fussier with wet food in his old age, though he still loves his dry. I suspect it's quite common. All the elderly cats I care for have a variety of food left out for them and are notoriously picky about whether they'll eat it or not

Our old boy has become super fussy. We’ve found that he likes raw chicken drumsticks to be precise in addition to his regular food.

He used to be fine with a bit of raw chicken when I was cooking dinner, but this has progressed to a raw chicken leg every day. If it’s not a drumstick he sulks and then finally gives in and has a go. We also put a bit of animal CBD oil on it as it seems to help his arthritis.

I know some people worry about raw chicken and the bones, but he’s always been a hunter and chicken is probably safer than wild birds or mice.

I discovered lik -e- liks when I needed to crush up antibiotics for my nearly 10 year old little rescue girl. She licks them off the top of her wet food, but tends to leave the rest of the food. I changed her from whiskas jelly 7+ to purina gourmet, and am now trying Felix Duo pouches. Ihave also done the whole tuna spring water etc but most of the time she has a couple of mouthfuls then does the loaf-just sits next to her bowl, looks at me then back at her bowl again. I'm currently offering different wet foods to see what she likes, but she's lost a little bit of weight too. I can take her back to the vet for blood tests next week. One thing I've noticed is that when she's crying for food (even though fresh wet food is in her bowl) if i crinkle a packet and pretend to add more wet food, she'll start eating a few mouthfuls from the bowl.

Hello all. I thought I'd give a quick update. Cat saw a good experienced vet this afternoon. As I thought, he is still losing weight. I explained about him not eating properly, his slightly manic tail-chasing episodes, the odd chewing movement etc. Vet wonders whether it could be thyroid. She's taken blood and is testing kidney and liver function and thyroid (I think that's the T4 one). She expects to ring me tomorrow morning with the results. I'll let you know how it goes 👍

Thyroid issues in older cats are common.
Two of ours had them and the treatment was easy.

Cats gained weight well after treatment, too.

Thanks @TheShellBeach. I've just spoken to the vet, and it's a thyroid problem. She told me max levels should be 60 but cat's are at 167. Sounds like surgery is the most likely option. Going to speak to the vet who will prolly do it on Monday.

Medication is a further option, but with the levels being so high they're thinking of surgery. A third option was some kind of radiotherapy but that would require admission to a specialist unit for about a fortnight and it's difficult for cats who are not very calm. Mine isn't. Let's see what comes on Monday.

Thanks again all for your input.

Well at least you know what it is now, OP, and you and the vet can make plans for treatment.

I think it'll be okay once your cat's levels are back to normal.

BTW you haven't paid the Cat Tax (posting a picture of your cat on the thread).

😁 Here is the little monster 😁

Aw. Gorgeous cat!