Appetite Stimulation - need ideas desperately

My sweet and precious 11 y/o feline companion has had a severe decline in appetite since a stressful event in early January. She has being seen by a vet multiple times (I work at a clinic), and I will be updating her (Dr. A) tomorrow on Nipo's condition. I want to make sure everyone is clear that my asking this board for tips is not in place of seeking professional veterinary care.

I will not be going into all the specific details of the past weeks just now because I am currently in a highly emotional state and frustrated to tears. However, if you want to ask questions about specifics, I will probably be able to answer them at a later time. She's had quite a few diagnostic tests run recently and there has been no conclusion of any underlying condition. My best guess is that the stressful event (a balloon in the house) scared her into not eating and it has snowballed from there.

My main hope is that I can get some further suggestions for appetite stimulation – foods, modes of preparation, herbals, anything. I will list below the things I have already tried.

*Cyproheptadine (antihistamine with side effect of appetite stimulation in cats) – 2 mg once daily for 7 days.

*Dry food- I have continued to leave out her normal portion of Chicken Soup Cat food.

*Canned food – Wellness (all the fish flavors), Merrick (2 different fish flavors), Wysong Geriatrix, Hill's A/D.
I have tried heating all of these to room temp or slightly above. Adding canned salmon, canned tuna, tuna juice, pate. Adding a liquid Fatty Acid Supplement (safflower oil, fish oil, borage seed oil blend). Adding canned pumpkin. Adding catnip.
After her yearly checkup, just prior to this bout of anorexia, I had just begun transitioning her to wet food – so she really was not used to eating it yet and has never eaten even a full tablespoon in the span of 24 hours. Basically she has been on dry food her entire life.

*Treats: Greenies, Grocery store treats (Safeway brand and Whiskas brand), Natural Purrz Salmon treats, Pacific Whitting bits for cats.

*Catsip.

*Tuna flavored Laxatone. (strange suggestion by my vet- to my knowledge that stuff is mostly lubricant)

The cypro seemed to work for a few days, but then it depressed her and made her tired. To prevent any (further) damage/stress to her liver I am force feeding Nutri-Cal for basic calorie maintenance. She will not eat it on her own so I attempt to get around 2 teaspoons into her daily – that is based on suggestions for animals "not consuming their full feed ration." She may eat a few kibbles on a given day or take 2-3 licks of the wet food. She is also eating some of the treats I offer her- most recently the soft little Safeway brand salmon flavored ones. I need to at least maintain her weight (8#4oz as of her last appt.), because she rapidly dropped somewhere between 1.5-1.8 lbs. (I'm not sure exactly how much she lost because prior to this she had some problems with constipation, so her initial weight was somewhat inflated due to excessive stool in her intestines.)

I will be asking Dr. A about two things – meds/supplements to control stomach acid (from what I read, after bouts of not eating, there can be discomfort from gastric juices which could make her feel nauseous and further deter her from eating) and the possibility of an acupuncture session to stimulate appetite. Dr. A is a great veterinary acupuncturist. I will also bring up force feeding and the possibility of administering sub-q fluids. :(

Thanks for reading. Also thanks in advance for any advice or support anyone can offer- as you can probably guess I am an absolute mess right now. :( :(

Nipo:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...o/9dcb2572.jpg

First I want to say I am so sorry that you have to go through this and I wish you the best of luck turning her around.

OK, now to wrack my brain for ideas.....

My first suggestion was to be nutrical, you are already there. GOOD!

The next thing is forcefeeding. Please DO ask about it because I have found that sometimes once a cat stops eating they don't ever start up on their own again. :( But once their tummy starts to feel satisfied again (via the force feeding) they WILL start to eat again.

The next step would be for your vet to insert a feeding tube. Extreme, yes, but at only 11 y.o. she should be able to spring back from this episode.

Other foods she might eat: Canned baby food, ckicken livers, dry dental diet food (for whatever reason, cats LOVE this stuff), meatloaf, kitten replacement milk, cooked chicken and rice.

Now for the behavior......if this started via a stress episode maybe we can make her feel more safe.
-Have you moved her food dish? If yes, maybe put it back, if no, maybe move it to a new location.
-Do you think if you confined her to 1 small room she might feel safer, more in control of her surroundings?

well, right now this is all I can think of. But if it were me, I would definitely go with the force feeding as the next step.

Keep us updated.

I'm so sorry to hear this :(.
I can't relate how stressful is for you and treatening for her life as I went through the same with Koxka.
Have you tried to give her "human food" like boiled chicken, turkey,etc...
Mines go nuts for raw Porck kidneys and salmon it worth a try.

Antihistamics have also a sedative effect don't think is good if she is already appatic. There are drugs out there to stimulate appetite, your vet should know.

What a beautiful girl she is! Loves being on a lap.

If this is the aftereffects of stress...she might still be reacting to that.

I know how I would feel if one of my boys were like this, so I am not being hard hearted - but first, try to calm yourself when you can. Nipo may be picking up some vibes. This is not to assign blame, Kater - just trying to think of other factors that might help.

I don't know if you are the praying type - if so, something I do is say "it's out of my hands". That means I still DO things - I just turn the situation over to a Higher Power (HP's gonna be up all night anyway! ;) ) Maybe a daily reading book - and even posting here, you will get support and THAT may help.

Lots of physical and calming attention for Nipo - intensive care!

Failing all else - a mild sedative? In case her nerves are still a little frayed. If this gets her eating again, then the med could be discontinued.

I know you will check all this with your vet. Good luck! Prayers coming your way.

hugs!
Catty1

The only thing that I can think of is to try something like Tuna Fish or some Deli Meat to see if that will stimulate her appetite.
Or maybe Some Baby Food,Meat Varities.
We are praying For Your Cat.

My first thought after what you described is to make sure Nipo knows she is in a safe environment first. As someone already mentioned, what about secluding her to one safe small area or room? What about adding something calming like Bach's Rescue Remedies or a Feliway diffuser? Modifing the behaviour will be one step in helping your cat to get back to a regular routine.
Remember also, that cats are very sensitive creatures. So if you are frustrated to tears your cat will pick up on these vibes from you as well.

It seems you are doing everything in your power to make the changes that are needed, please keep us updated on what your vet suggests. Sending calming vibes to the both of you.

I also recommend the Feliway diffuser.

It really helped my babies when they were mourning the loss of Beans (relieved stress and soothed).

I've been through this also and I know how your life becomes utterly focused on getting your beloved cat to eat. I agree with Jen that moving to a more aggressive treatment of force feeding may well kick-start Nipo into eating by herself. This could take 4-5 days, a week, perhaps two. I use A/D and try to get down one can a day. This takes about 3 feedings of 50-60cc a day depending on how fluid you want to make the mix. I've done this several times and it's always worked for me, even when it's taken a couple of weeks of feeding and I was near despair. Have you checked her liver values? A depressed appetite can lead to a fatty liver and then it's really hard to get a cat to start eating again.

A friend of mine always uses baby food and swears by it though it's never worked for me. I also heard of a cat that was brought back to eating by being given cheesecake, the only thing it would eat. All the rules about what a cat should and shouldn't eat go out of the window when you are faced with one who is starving itself.

As others have suggested, can you put her in a room by herself with a variety of foods, something I've also done with success. If she likes being in your bedroom, can you shut her in there during the day with several dishes of food? Using this method also stops you from hovering over her, watching every morsel she eats and may reduce the stress on both of you.

I sincerely hope you can pull Nipo out of this. She's very beautiful and reminds me of my Shahdee.
Good luck!

My little RB Quasar lost interest in eating, too. Finally resorted to Winstrol, a type of steroid. The vet initially gave a shot of some type of steroid and then I put the Winstrol in her food for the rest of her life, I think about six years, until I lost her to kidney failure. These days, the vets have better ideas about why cats don't feel like eating, but back then they didn't. They just treated the symptoms. But it did work.

Good luck to you.

Nipo will have a "squeezed in" appt. later this afternoon. (Dr. A is booked solid as one of our vets is currently out of town.) Thanks for all your responses – I have compiled some notes with my ideas, your ideas and other ideas I found online. You have all given me lots of great suggestions! I will try to respond individually later.
I hope to have a positive update posted soon! *feeling more hopeful* :)
Kater

I don't have a cat (wish I did), so don't have any first hand experience. But with my ferret (hurting from the loss of his life buddy almost 1 month ago) Sebastian I'm giving him "duck soup". He has gone completely off of his ferret kibble, treats, etc. He will however eat the "duck soup". This consists of one jar of chicken broth baby food, one can of vanilla ensure and one cup of whipping cream, not whipped. I also add ferret vitamins to help keep him healthy. He loves this stuff and cannot say no to it. Perhaps this mix might be sweet and rich enough to entice your sweet baby to try some. I'm sorry, I cannot offer more than this but I send prayers for you both.

Some of mine have liked cream of chicken soup... Often something with a strong scent will interest them.... good luck.

Hve you tried BUTTER??? Good luck, you are dong all you can do nd will be sending prayers your way!