Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Bad teeth or other dental disease is affecting the cat's ability
to eat.
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Liver or other gastrointestinal disease is causing nausea.
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The cat is dehydrated and too weak to eat.
How to Make Your Cat Eat
Sick cats do not eat well, so it is important to encourage them. Offer
yummy foods, such as canned cat food, tuna fish, deli meat or meat baby
food. Lightly warming the food for a few seconds in a microwave oven
can help build a cat's appetite by increasing the food's aroma. Hand-
feeding, talking gently and petting the cat can stimulate eating, too.You
can hand-feed your cat by offering him some soft food on a spoon or
on your finger and encouraging him to lick it off. If a cat seems unin-
terested in eating, do not leave food sitting out for more than an hour.
Pick it up and reintroduce it a few hours later.
When none of these suggestions proves successful, a trip to the vet-
erinarian is warranted.Veterinarians may use prescription appetite stimu-
lants or may even force-feed an anorexic cat. Force-feeding is typically
done using a syringe without a needle and squirting some type of strained
diet into a cat's mouth. For cats who are difficult or too sick to orally
force-feed, feeding tubes can be placed into the esophagus or stomach.
What About Water?
Water intake is extremely important. If a cat (or any animal) cannot
keep water down, he should be taken to a veterinarian immediately.
This can be a sign of an intestinal obstruction.
A cat who does not eat or drink can become seriously dehydrated
within a day.Vomiting and diarrhea can contribute to water loss lead-
ing to dehydration. If your cat is not drinking, you can give him some
water with a syringe (minus the needle) or an eyedropper, but it is
almost impossible to get enough water into a cat this way.
Veterinarians can rehydrate cats by injecting a sterile, balanced elec-
trolyte solution under the animal's skin. This practice is called
subcuta-
neous administration
. Fluids can also be directly injected into the body
through a vein using an intravenous catheter, commonly known as an
IV
. Intravenous treatment requires hospitalization but is necessary for
more seriously dehydrated patients.
