Espy not eating

He doesn't eat a whole lot anyway but this morning he wouldn't eat his
normal ProlPlan Salmon and Rice (wet). Nor would he eat his favoirte
dry food (Royal Canin #26 I think). Worse, he wouldn't eat the yellow
Temptations - everyone's favorite.

I was going to post this morning but instead I took him to the
emergency vet. The vet poked and felt around and said that it doesn't
feel like there was any obstruction and that his teeth looked good.
Temperature was normal but no chems or cbc was run. I was to monitor
his behavior and bring him in again if anything happened.

Nothing happened. If it wasn't for not eating I wouldn't suspect any
problem because he has been acting pretty much normal. Still, it's
dinner time and he ate nothing again. Not a surprise since he wouldn't
eat hamburger or fish.

I noticed one of the cats has thrown up a bit, so perhaps he has a
hairball that's bothering him. But if he doesn't eat tomorrow morning,
then we go off to the regular vet.

On Jun 28, 7:42*pm, dgk wrote:
He doesn't eat a whole lot anyway but this morning he wouldn't eat his
normal ProlPlan Salmon and Rice (wet). Nor would he eat his favoirte
dry food (Royal Canin #26 I think). Worse, he wouldn't eat the yellow
Temptations - everyone's favorite.

I was going to post this morning but instead I took him to the
emergency vet. The vet poked and felt around and said that it doesn't
feel like there was any obstruction and that his teeth looked good.
Temperature was normal but no chems or cbc was run. I was to monitor
his behavior and bring him in again if anything happened.

Nothing happened. If it wasn't for not eating I wouldn't suspect any
problem because he has been acting pretty much normal. Still, it's
dinner time and he ate nothing again. Not a surprise since he wouldn't
eat hamburger or fish.

I noticed one of the cats has thrown up a bit, so perhaps he has a
hairball that's bothering him. But if he doesn't eat tomorrow morning,
then we go off to the regular vet.

I lost a cat last week, my oldest (12 1/2), who had been eating
less, though she never ate much compared to my other cats.
For a week or so she had been showing up to meals, but not
eating much. Late on the night she died I had made sure
she ate and drank water when the cats had late night snacks,
so I wasn't worried. But then she didn't show up for breakfast
and I found her body in the wooded area where she liked to hang
out. I guess the moral is that any decrease in eating is something
to be very concerned about. But then sometimes I've taken a
cat to the vet after not eating two meals, and the vet found
nothing wrong. It's really hard to know how to react to a slight
change in eating habits.

Get s CBC & T4. If all comes back normal which btw very well could and
still be disease then get an xray & ultrasound/aspirate if mass found.

I just went thhu w/ my cat and she had a pancreatic adenocarnioma, a
very silent and deadly cancer. Shockingly, the only symptom was lack of
appetite and difficulty eating as she wasted away.

I'm not trying to alarm you but I learned that when a cat doesn't eat,
it's either something really simple or obvious like a tooth, to the
extreme like something pushing on the stomach or other organs lpossibly
within the digestive path like a mass. Initially when her eating was
declining gradually but unnoticeably we found some increasing vomit
trails, assuming like you it was hairballs and not knowing which cat in
our milticat household. When her eating really declined so did the vomit
because there was nothing left to come out. Now looking back at her
records, there was real slight but gradual weight loss over 6 mths to a
year that wasn't significant enough to raise a red flag, but these are
also warning signs not to be overlooked. We also had her on a weight
loss program over the past two years using hills WD dry food, so the
weight loss cause was even more difficult to pinpoint.

Important thing is to get a diagnosis real quick to not lose tiMe and
your options for cure.

dgk wrote:
He doesn't eat a whole lot anyway but this morning he wouldn't eat his
normal ProlPlan Salmon and Rice (wet). Nor would he eat his favoirte
dry food (Royal Canin #26 I think). Worse, he wouldn't eat the yellow
Temptations - everyone's favorite.

I was going to post this morning but instead I took him to the
emergency vet. The vet poked and felt around and said that it doesn't
feel like there was any obstruction and that his teeth looked good.
Temperature was normal but no chems or cbc was run. I was to monitor
his behavior and bring him in again if anything happened.

Nothing happened. If it wasn't for not eating I wouldn't suspect any
problem because he has been acting pretty much normal. Still, it's
dinner time and he ate nothing again. Not a surprise since he wouldn't
eat hamburger or fish.

I noticed one of the cats has thrown up a bit, so perhaps he has a
hairball that's bothering him. But if he doesn't eat tomorrow morning,
then we go off to the regular vet.

"dgk" wrote in message
...
He doesn't eat a whole lot anyway but this morning he wouldn't eat his
normal ProlPlan Salmon and Rice (wet).

Hope he is better soon. Bless you for taking him to the vet before you
posted ... pretty unusual around here. You let him out, right? Another thing
to think of, is that he may have gotten something he should not have. Fenced
yard or not, it's the chance you take.

I would treat him for hair balls. Try Temptations.

On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:15:06 -0400, "cybercat"
wrote:


"dgk" wrote in message
.. .
He doesn't eat a whole lot anyway but this morning he wouldn't eat his
normal ProlPlan Salmon and Rice (wet).

Hope he is better soon. Bless you for taking him to the vet before you
posted ... pretty unusual around here. You let him out, right? Another thing
to think of, is that he may have gotten something he should not have. Fenced
yard or not, it's the chance you take.

The vet was concerned that he might have eaten some bulb plants,
apparently they can be hazardous to cats. I do have some of those but
I've never seen any of the cats care about them They just eat the
grass and of course I don't put down anything harmful - crappy lawn
but (usually) healthy cats.

The vet thinks that one kidney feels harder than the other but he
isn't sure what that means yet. Blood work and an X-Ray are underway
so I had to leave him there. He told me that I can be concerned but
not worried yet. Too late for that advice. I'm into panic mode. Nipsy
and Marlo are good cats, but Espy (like Nico before him) is special to
me. Just so smart and weird.

I hardly slept last night -every time I awoke I had to go check on
him.

Dong worry until you get a diagnosis, but do keep us posted. I think
kidney disease, hypothyroidism and other things can cause the appetite
issue to. Has the cat been lethargic, increased peeing & thirst? How old
is the cat??????

Please let us know what the xrays and bloodwork discover....

dgk wrote:
On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:15:06 -0400, "cybercat"
wrote:


"dgk" wrote in message
.. .
He doesn't eat a whole lot anyway but this morning he wouldn't eat
his
normal ProlPlan Salmon and Rice (wet).

Hope he is better soon. Bless you for taking him to the vet before
you
posted ... pretty unusual around here. You let him out, right?
Another thing
to think of, is that he may have gotten something he should not have.
Fenced
yard or not, it's the chance you take.

The vet was concerned that he might have eaten some bulb plants,
apparently they can be hazardous to cats. I do have some of those but
I've never seen any of the cats care about them They just eat the
grass and of course I don't put down anything harmful - crappy lawn
but (usually) healthy cats.

The vet thinks that one kidney feels harder than the other but he
isn't sure what that means yet. Blood work and an X-Ray are underway
so I had to leave him there. He told me that I can be concerned but
not worried yet. Too late for that advice. I'm into panic mode. Nipsy
and Marlo are good cats, but Espy (like Nico before him) is special to
me. Just so smart and weird.

I hardly slept last night -every time I awoke I had to go check on
him.

"dgk" wrote

I'm into panic mode.

I know. You're in my thoughts.

On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:52:51 +0000 (UTC), Billy
wrote:

Dong worry until you get a diagnosis, but do keep us posted. I think
kidney disease, hypothyroidism and other things can cause the appetite
issue to. Has the cat been lethargic, increased peeing & thirst? How old
is the cat??????

Please let us know what the xrays and bloodwork discover....

Espy is apparently seven. (Espy stands for Salt and Pepper). He's the
only cat I know that has an award named after him.

I thought he was five or so but the fiirst vet visit was 2003. He
wasn't noticeably lethargic until yesterday and even then he was
walking around investigating things just like always. But he did lie
back in an empty box like sick cats do during the evening.

While he turned down food, he did hit the water fountain fairly often
so I was wondering about diabetes. He was also spending a lot of time
licking his butt and I noticed liquid under him when I picked him up
out of the box. I thought that he might be drooling after eating
something foul like some bug- I've had cats do that.

Blood work won't be back until tomorrow, but the Xray showed that the
immediate cause of his problem was that his uretha was blocked -
something worse than a mucous plug. The bladder was twice normal size
and was impinging on the intestines preventing him from pooping. With
three cats it's almost impossible to notice this stuff. I might catch
one peeing or pooping but it's tough to notice one is failing to
pee/poop.

The vet expressed the bladder and Espy is apparently feeling better.
The vet said that he was eating although he just turned down his wet
food - he has apparently eaten recently. He did eat a few Temptations
which I am happy about.

As for the underlying cause, there is definitely something going on in
one kidney. The vet did not feel that CRF is in the immediate future
although his guess is that reduced kidney functioning is the cause of
the blockage.

Well, $400 in lab tests will get us the big picture tomorrow. I don't
think there is a test that was left out. Hmm. I don't recall seeing
Ova and Parasites but that was probably in there also.

Thanks for the concern, I'll let you all known when I know.

"dgk" wrote

Blood work won't be back until tomorrow, but the Xray showed that the
immediate cause of his problem was that his uretha was blocked -
something worse than a mucous plug. The bladder was twice normal size
and was impinging on the intestines preventing him from pooping. With
three cats it's almost impossible to notice this stuff. I might catch
one peeing or pooping but it's tough to notice one is failing to
pee/poop.

The vet expressed the bladder and Espy is apparently feeling better.
The vet said that he was eating although he just turned down his wet
food - he has apparently eaten recently. He did eat a few Temptations
which I am happy about.

As for the underlying cause, there is definitely something going on in
one kidney.

Oh, I was hoping it was just a simple blockage like males get so often. Hope
it can be fixed.