Expert: Dear Tabbi - 1/30/2009

Question
I am fostering a young mother cat with 4 week old kittens.  She started sneezing after being with me 2 days.  Before the sneezing started she was eating and drinking.  Now she won't eat at all although she is drinking some water.  She has been to the vet twice.  Once they gave her sub-cu fluids for dehydration and she remains on antibiotics.  I have tried everything to get her to eat, including adding tuna and tuna juice to her food to make it extra smelly.  The kittens seem to be doing fine and are growing.  I'm just concerned for the mom because she is so skinny.  Since they are shelter animals I'm not getting a whole lot of attention from the shelter vets.  They think she'll be fine until the URI is gone.  I'm concerned for her.  Can you help?

Answer
Melody,

I'm sorry to have taken so long to answer your question about your poor mama kitty, but I am not a vet and have not had the experience with the problem that you are having with her. BUT, I know a terrific lady that works for the SPCA that DOES have the experience and knowledge, and is in fact going through the same thing now with 2 cats she is caring for. She was kind enough to answer my question about your cat. This is what she sent to forward to you:

"I'm not a vet, but I've found that you really have to force food to get them to eat. I think what happens is that when they have URI, they can't smell the food, so they don't eat. Once they stop eating, they lose their appetite (they get so hungry they start to not even feel like eating at all) and it becomes a vicious cycle. So I force them if it's more than 2 days.

I have a large syringe (with the needle gone, of course) and I liquify wet cat food to the point that it will come out of the syringe. Then I gently squirt it in the cat's mouth. Go slowly so as not to choke her--you don't want to shoot it down her throat. Just put it on her tongue. She probably won't like it, but eventually, the hunger breaks and they start eating again.

A less extreme method is to try to put wet cat food on her whiskers or paws. She might not want to eat, but will clean it off. Sometimes just the taste whets their appetite. There is some really sticky stuff pet stores sell that has lots of calories; I've forgotten what it's called, but it stays on their paws and they HATE it, so they lick it off. Pet Co should have it and a manager would know what it is.

Also, have her put a few drops of Karo syrup on a Q tip and rub it on the cat's gums. The sugery taste sometimes gets them eating again too, although I haven't had as much luck with that method. But it's worth a try.

This is quite common with URI. I've had a cat go as long as four days without eating (feral--so force feeding was out of the question)."

I hope this helps your kitty. Please keep me posted and let me know if you get her to eat.

Tabbi