Hi, My cat was taken into the vets on Fri and had to have an operation. I can not take her home until she starts eating. We went there today, took her all the things she usually likes, Chicken, boiled fish etc. But she is showing no signs of eating anything. The vet tried to force feed her, so she gets the taste for food. I am going there tomorrow again, I need to get her eating to get her home. I am not sure if leaving her there is doing her any good? or if I bring her home her appetite will come back. She still has a drip of glucose on her paw to stop her getting dehydrated. I dont want to bring her home and find a few hours later her being poorly. Any suggestions please. I hated seeing her in the vets and I have to do it again tomorrow or for who knows how long. Its heartbreaking.
My Frankie likes roast beef . I think that you should aim for something smelly and revolting - a premium cat food maybe.
Surely the vet can give you some suggestions.
I hope that it is not too long before she eats, then she will start feeling much better and get home. If it were me I would leave her there for the time being - dehydration is a major concern.
I once rescued a very poorly cat that would not eat. We gave it some stuff (can't remember what it was called) but it was a sort of liquid beef broth/paste type stuff that you give to invalids who cannot eat. Very smelly and all the cat had to do was to lick it out of the jar. (Bit like baby food in a jar).
Its funny lankeela mentioning baby food, but I once had a poorly cat who would not eat and I got baby food [chicken dinner] meal in jars>He ate them only trouble was it took me ages to get him back to his normal food,but at least he got better. hope things look up for you and you soon have your girl back with you.
It can be really hard to get cats to eat - they get anorexic in vet hospitals quite often! Trying to force the cat to eat can then cause a food aversion which compounds the problem.
Getting the owners in to feed the cat is a new way of looking at it - I can imagine it would work in some cases.
Ask your vet if he will try a nasogastric tube - we use them and they can save a lot of hassle trying to get the cat eating. They're not as difficult as they look!
A similar thing happened to my cat, i'm sure the vet gave her some kind of paste like lankeela mentioned. Can't remember exactly what it was, but surely the vet can help you.
I hope she gets her appetite back soon!