Cat Eating Habits

Question
"We have a 7yr. old house cat. When he was younger he was not a  big fan of canned food.  (Would be great for short time and then didn't care for it.) Several years ago he had a problem with UTI's and the VET suggested Science Diet for UTI dry food.  He gained a lot of weight and was at 22lbs until a few months ago when we started feeding him Science Diet W/D canned food.  He loved the canned food up until the past couple of weeks. Now he sits and looks at it and cries for food.  We can open fresh cans - he either takes a few bits or won't eat at all, we've purchased other seemingly good choices for him like Wellness canned food and he still won't eat it.  He had begun to lose weight on the canned food and is looking really good and much more active/playful - but with him not eating more than a few bites of food - we don't know what to try.  Very worried about him.  Can you please help?"  

Answer
Donna,

I have a few questions for you so that I can get a better idea of what's happening with this kitty which will enable me to help you and your kitty through this more effectively. The questions are as follows:

- When was your cat's last check up with your vet?

- Have you tried offering super yummy kitty bribe foods like low sodium tuna or salmon packed in water, meat/broth baby food that's free of onions, garlic and other spices or even fresh cooked or raw chicken/turkey that's diced up finely?

At this point it's no longer important what the cat eats, so long as he does actually eat since he's not been eating normally for what I would guess has been awhile based on your brief history.
**It's important to try heating these foods to just about body temperature to help make them more appealing to your kitty. Cats really aren't designed to eat cold or room temperature food, all felines ranging from the largest "big" cats to the tiniest house cats are designed to eat freshly killed food which means that they're food is warm when they catch it for themselves.**

Please note: It's perfectly acceptable for a cat to eat raw muscle meat (I prefer organic chicken/turkey if at all possible) provided that it's properly handled and chopped up to a decent size. Please check out the following websites, they will provide you with down to earth, intelligent information about the unique nutritional needs of our pet carnivores:

~ catinfo.org
~ catnutrition.org
~ http://www.halopets.com/pet-education/pet-articles/pet_food_what_you_need_to_kno...

Another website that you may want to consider checking out is http://www.felinespride.com these folks manufacture a high quality raw cat food that they will ship frozen via courier throughout the US and Canada and this food - they guarantee that the food will arrive mostly frozen provided of course that you're home to receive the shipment. Feline's Pride provides a great alternative for pet parents who just can't see themselves spending an hour or slightly longer elbow deep into raw meat or poultry.

- Does this kitty have a history of dental problems?

- Does your kitty ever go outside unsupervised?

- Have you ever had issues with your cat refusing to eat prior to this particular incidence?

- Have you made any changes within your household that might be upsetting him?

Things like adding/subtracting a human/person from the family unit, renovations on your home, construction in your neighborhood, moving the furniture around, redecorating your home and among other things sensitive cats can also react badly to being moved into a new home.

- How is your kitty doing in terms of the litter box? Is he still urinating/defecating the same amount he would normally?

- Has your little man been vomiting?

- Is your vet following your fur kid's weight loss and watching him closely for any sign that he's losing weight too quickly or getting sick?

- When was the last full work up of blood tests done on this kitty?

- You mentioned that your kitty seems more active and playful than he did prior to losing the weight - is he still bright, alert, playful and active or has that changed with the decline in his appetite?

- As far as you know does this kitty have any chronic health problems like diabetes, thyroid issues, chronic renal failure, etc?

- Is this kitty free fed, by that I mean does he have food available to him 24/7?

Hopefully the answers to these questions will give me a better idea of what's actually happening with this guy and whether you should bother to try anything more at home or pack this kid up right away and take him to the veterinarian for assessment of his condition and treatment to stabilize him. In these rough economic times many people including loving pet parents are under strain when it comes to having the money to provide their pets with regular veterinary care since a visit to the vet is often quite expensive. In the even that you do happen to need a bit of assistance with the financial costs of getting this little guy to the vet and performing the tests that are necessary to diagnose his current health issue I do keep a binder of charities and organizations that may be willing to provide some degree of subsidy or even cover the entire cost of the veterinarian's fees depending on your financial situation. If you need a hand then all I ask of you is that you send me the name of the US state or Canadian province that you're living in and I will provide you with names of organizations in your area that might be willing to offer some financial help for your kitty's care. By providing me with the general area you're writing from I'm able to avoid wasting your time or mine typing pages and pages of information that you won't actually be able to make use of. If you have any further cat related questions or concerns please feel free to contact me again and I will do my absolute best to help you out. I look forward to hearing back from you soon so that we can get this kitty the help he needs to become his old self again.