Help! My cat won’t eat

Anytime your cat stops eating is cause for concern. Here are a few tips to help diagnose the cause of Kitty’s poor appetite.

Cats are capricious by nature and there are numerous reasons why your furry friend might refuse to eat. While some are serious and potentially life threatening, others can be harmless hitches to Kitty’s daily schedule. To get your pet back in balance and address any potential threats to his health, you must first to understand what’s driving his decreased appetite.

The first step to solving your cat’s loss of appetite is to rule out any issues with the food itself. Ask yourself whether you’ve switched brands recently or moved your pet’s food bowl to a new location. Cats sometime refuse to eat when their dishes are too dirty or too close together in multi-cat households, so be sure to make your pet’s feeding station inviting if he’s refusing to eat. Other issues that can affect your cat’s appetite include feeding him food that’s past its expiration date or newly opened food from a defective batch. Try tempting your cat with canned meat that has been warmed to body temperature to see if he’s simply refusing to eat due to the quality of his cuisine. If none of these tactics triumph over Kitty’s hunger strike, it’s time to take him to the veterinarian. A physical examination can help your vet diagnose the cause of your cat’s poor appetite. Be sure to note how long he’s refused to eat and make an appointment as soon as possible if your pet has been fasting for two or more days. One common physical ailment that prevents pets from eating properly is indigestion, which can be caused by eating something difficult to digest or even a hairball. Feeding your pet too many treats can also upset his stomach, so be sure to avoid overindulging Kitty. More serious physical ailments causing loss of appetite include toothaches, abscesses, tapeworms, infections, complications from diabetes, and some types of cancer. Kidney failure is another a common concern in pets that are refusing to eat—especially if they are older cats. An unexpected pregnancy can also lead to a pet’s hungry strike, so be sure to your vet marks this off the list for female cats. In addition, there are some cases where a mental, rather than physical, ailment can cause Kitty to stop eating. Try to minimize stress and anxiety by limited changes in your pet’s environment, and give him plenty of affection plus a daily dose of playtime to boost his mood and reduce separation anxiety.

It’s important to note that cats’ bodies are designed to eat many small meals eat day to match their hunting lifestyle in the wild. Without these meals, your cat’s body will eventually start sending fat from its stores to the liver, where it is metabolized to produce energy. If this continues, fat can overwhelm the liver’s ability to process it, which can caused a condition known as called hepatic lipidosis that can be fatal if not corrected. For these reasons, it’s important to get to the bottom of your pet’s loss of appetite promptly to ensure he lives a long and healthy life.