cat with no appetite

[molly]

Over the past few months, my cat (nearly 18) gradually lost her appetite. She was eating less and less until over Christmas, she had almost starved herself to death. She was incredibly thin and listless. I put it down to her old age and was preparing myself for the worst. I tried coaxing her with all sorts of treats mostly to no avail. About a fortnight ago she tried some lightly poached salmon (well I was trying anything), and she hasn't looked back. She's had a complete turn around. She's started to put weight on. Her coat's looking glossy and her eyes are bright and alert. in short she's the picture of health and she's always ravenous. My question is this can anyone offer an explanation to what was wrong with her?

[Ember]

My cat used to go through periods as above, and then it would recover like yours, but it turned out to have kidney trouble and because I had been fooled by its seeming recovery they were damaged too much and he had to be put to sleep. Smell your cat's breath if it's really bad you should enquire about her kidneys.

[molly]

Thanks for that. I will keep a close eye on her and take her to the vet if she starts looking off colour. At the moment she's looking better than she's been for ages. Her breath seems no worse than usual. I'm beginning to wonder if she has been pining for her brother who had to be put down last autumn, that coupled with her being terribly fussy with her food. I know cats tend to loose their sense of taste and smell as they get older and can loose their appetite because of that.

[savik2]

When our cat loses his appetite, first thing I do is check his teeth - and I usually find there's a sharp lump of plaque that's making his cheek or gum sore. The vet usually manages to sort it out without recourse to anaesthetic. But any change in appetite or weight-loss should be referred to a vet anyway, regardless of the age of the cat.

[dustybin]

Definately get the vet to check her teeth - don't put it off: when an animal loses its appetite it's very often teeth related: an abscess that you can't see making it painful for her to eat, for example. That may explain why she wolfed down the salmon: because it was the right consistency and she was unable to eat her normal food. She is ravenous now because she has been literally starving.