My cat will not eat

Question
I do not want a diagnosis or a medical opinion, just advice between cat lovers. My cat is 16. She is 5.5 pounds. In the past 2 years I have had all tests done on her. The last one 3 days ago because of weight loss in the past week. She was tested for diabetes, thyroid, leukemia, liver kidney, all the tests they had to offer. The only thing that came up was a elevated white blood cell count because of a small infection that was detected in her urine. She is on antibiotics as we speak. My problem is she wont eat now. She used to eat like a horse ( about 12-16 oz a day and weighed 8 lbs) and now nothing. I am not second guessing the Vet but this is the second one that has said she is healthy. She gave me some hill's prescription diet a/d. She ate the first can with no problem and now she is fighting me on the second can. She used to love chicken, turkey, fish, pounce. Now she just sniffs everything and walks away. I was just wondering if this has happened to any other cat you have had contact with. The Vet wants to put her on steroids to get her weight up. Is this a good idea??? Any advice is welcomed.

Answer
Hi Mike.  Anorexia can occur in cats for many reasons, and I've run into it a lot.  The steroids will probably be a temporary situation to help increase appetite, and this is generally considered a very safe situation, as long as there is no known heart disease.  There are two types of steroids often used to increase appetite - corticosteroids and anabolic steroids.  Corticosteroids include cortisone, which you are probably familiar with, prednisone and dexamethasone.  They are very well tolerated in cats, and prednisone and dexamethasone can be given orally at home.  Cortisone is an injection.  These will also help to reduce inflammation and discomfort she may be experiencing.  The anabolic steroid given most often is stanazolol, and this is the type of steroid associated with abuse for abnormal muscle development in humans.  When used under veterinary supervision, it's quite safe, and can increase appetite as well as cause the cat to feel stronger.  This is given by injection in the vet's office.  It's often given in conjunction with a B-12 shot to further improve the results.

You may want to ask your vet about an appetite stimulant.  Many vets are using one called mirtazapine right now, as only a tiny portion of a pill must be given, and it must only be given every few days.  At just 5.5 pounds, it may be difficult to split the pill to the correct size for her.  There are other choices, though, including cyproheptadine.  The drawback to this one is that it must be given 2-3 times daily and doesn't tend to be as powerful, but it's still a good medication.

I find a lot of my cats will eat chicken or turkey baby food when they won't eat a commercially prepared cat food, but if yours is turning down everything, I think you will need to begin force feeding her.  I have had a few cats who've needed force feeding for several days, and they've eventually come through it.  Unfortunately, the longer a cat goes without food, the more anorexic they become, and soon, they may not be eating just because they're not USED to eating, not because they're still sick.

In case you haven't had x-rays or ultrasounds done, you might want to consider those if she doesn't improve shortly.  Blood tests are a great place to start, but they are limited in diagnosing illnesses like cancer.  X-rays can detect definite masses and irregularities in tissues.  Ultrasounds are even more fine-tuned but are more expensive and not as widely available as x-rays.

Best of luck!

Jessica