Elderly Bengal cat won’t eat

[Hotandbothered222]

Help! I’m at my wits end. My Bengal cat has been off her food for a while. The vet recommended a paste to encourage her to eat, I think it stimulates their appetite. But how am I meant to get it into her? She is VERY suspicious of anything added to her food.

I’ve tried:
smearing the stuff on chicken (she’s never refused chicken before).
mixing it with food that has gravy in (Sheba)
mixing it up with the lick-e-licks things

Any other ideas? I’m so worried about her.

My cat got very poorly after going off his food, apparently they can get liver damage after about 24 hours if they aren't eating at all.

My go-to now if he shows any sign of going off eating is raw chicken cut into tiny slivers (and hand fed to his lordship!)

From there we can usually go to him eating it from a bowl and then adding it as a topper to cooked chicken or wet cat food until he's back on track.

He has inflammatory bowel issues / stomatitis so gets flare ups from time to time which make his mouth and tummy sore and the weight just falls off him. Last time I was on holiday and OH didn't spot he wasn't eating (greedy #2 cat was eating his food). He lost 25% of his weight over about a week and ended up being tube fed for a few days, thankfully he pulled through or OH would have been exOH!! (bloody expensive though!).

What's the paste called? Only asking as theirs one that you smear on the ear but I don't know of an appetite stimulant that goes in food .

It’s a nightmare isn’t it. She is eating, just not enough (and does have some sort of liver issue, the vet put her on a drip to remove toxins and then recommended this paste as a follow up), but she’s too suspicious of anything added to her food. I need to fool her somehow…I just don’t know how!

This paste is Complivit. What’s the one for the ear?

How elderly is elderly?

Shes 14

What does the vet say,? Can your cat recover?

That's a nutritional supplement
Ask your vet about miritaz, it's a drug called mirtazipine, it actually stimulates the appetite. It's mildly anti nausea as well, I think it's used a lot in people.

Also if the paste you have is really sticky, you can try smearing it on her leg so she licks it off.that works for the hairball paste but it does need to be thick stuff.

Thank you, I’ll try that! Seems mad to give a cat a food supplement when the problem is that they won’t eat!

Have you tried warm food? Warm poached chicken or tuna warmed for a little bit in the microwave sometimes helps, the smell is attractive.

Oh, good idea re the smearing. I knew mumsnet would come through 🙏

My elderly bengal had a rally with Felix soup, both my elderly cats would eat that. Mind you the bengal was so clever, she'd pretend she'd swallowed a pill, and then 10 mins later would spit it out...good luck.

I have had success with smearing tablets crushed in thick cream on paws. I’ve also had cats walk around with a creamy paw quite happily until it was rubbed off on things.

I used to put a dollop on her front paw. She wasn't best pleased that I had disturbed her pristine fur so she licked it off and then as she had got used to the taste it became easier. Hope this helps.

While the website is aimed at people whose cats have kidney failure, the tips on how to get your cat to eat are really helpful - scroll down to Tempting your Cat to Eat

https://www.felinecrf.org/persuading_cat_to_eat.htm

I found raising the food bowl, putting the food bowl next to us and yes, pretending to eat the food ourselves all worked really well.

Thanks so much for all the advice. She’s licked it of her paw and I smeared a bit round her mouth for good measure. Now I just hope it works.

I’ll also try the microwaving and other suggestions, thank you all. Sorry you’ve all had to deal with this too, it’s a nightmare when you can’t explain to them that it’s for their own good! Even a toddler can sometimes be reasoned with!!

Ha @AnnaMagnani I've tried it all too - we used to have to pretend to drink in a very bad pantomime so our cat could 'steal' our water, and we could say 'oooh Daisy' and she'd get the hunting thrill.

My old cat was her own worst enemy so hard when you can't explain.

Thanks @Urghhhhhhh

I always had in the back of my head that I didn't want to push the cat too hard if this was the end of her life, as I know stopping eating is a normal thing humans do at the end of their life.

But a few very simple tricks I wouldn't have thought of myself and the cat was eating again and we had at least an extra year.

Oh yes, it did help too - if only it worked forever -
I just like the chance to talk about them really!

https://www.recoactiv.co.uk/products/recoactiv-immune-tonicum-cat - this worked for my previous elderly cat.
Edited to write that I am in Germany but the manufacturer writes on its UK website that they have a warehouse in the UK.

How old is she? Has her time come perhaps?

Does she have kidney disease? My 16-yr-old cat lost her appetite almost completely when she had end-stage kidney disease but this really worked to get her eating again: https://www.petscorner.co.uk/dog/fred-ginger-luxury-salmon-paste-dog-treat-75g/ There's a liver flavour too which she liked even more.

The appetite stimulant mirtazipine can work, as someone mentioned earlier. Just to mention, it turned one of my cats into a comatose zombie for 12 hours before she actually ate something, whereas my other cat was back eating within an hour when she had it.

A few other things that have worked for me are some of the 'complementary' treat foods in the 'Seriously Good' range at Pets at Home: https://www.petsathome.com/search?searchTerm=%27seriously+good%27+cats

There's chicken mousse, fish soup, chicken bone broth etc, which she might prefer as not much chewing required. How are her teeth?

Another thing I did was grind up some Dreamies in my coffee grinder (I know, gross!) and sprinkled the powder on her food as a topper - that worked quite well too.

Good luck - it's a stressful nightmare when they don't eat, and bloody expensive too! Hope she comes round.

Her kidneys are ok, luckily, but due to the liver problems (elevated liver enzymes, I think the vet said) she needs easy to digest food. I think she’d like the soup/broth type things but I don’t know if they’d be a bit rich?