Why is my cat not eating anymore?
My female cat (Abby) who is almost eight years old used to weigh about 13 pounds, and lately I’ve noticed she hasn’t been eating very much anymore. I weighed her and she only weighs 10 pounds now.
Her food is unlimited, and on the top of our drier, so normally she just jumps right up and eats it, but I haven’t seen her up there in a long time. When I pick her up and put her up there she will start to eat.
What’s going on?
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31 Answers
Why is the food on top of the dryer in the first place?
Maybe she’s getting too old to actually jump up there and get to the food herself..
For her sake, put her food on the ground where she can reach it.
But if she’s lost that much weight, I’d definitely take her to the vet and see if there is a deeper problem besides just not being able to reach her food.
Take her to the vet. Cats are prone to several diseases that will cause them not to eat. Most are treatable with special diets. The sooner you know what it is the easier it will be to treat.
She may have teeth problems and it hurts to chew.
Weight loss can also be a sign of thyroid disease but normally in that case they are extra hungry as the weight drops.
I’d have her checked.
I would strongly recommend that you get her in to your vet and have some bloodwork done. There are several metabolic diseases that could be causing weight loss, and all of them are easier to manage if caught early.
I’m thinking that 13 pounds is awfully heavy for a cat…...is she getting on her own eating schedule? Also, how long has she been doing this? Maybe you’re fretting over nothing much? I guess I’ve never monitored how much my cats, or dogs, or even my kids ate.
@rangerr Our cats food is on top of a tall dresser next to our dryer to keep the food away from the dogs. They have no problem jumping from the floor to the dryer, then to the dresser. Even my 14 year old cat has no problem.
@Val123 Depends on the cat. We had an old tom that was all of 20 lbs and the Dr thought he was a little on the skinny side.
@WestRiverrat Hmmm. I could be wrong. I have never, ever in my life thought to weigh any of my pets!! Why would anyone do that?
One long haired cat my brother owned developed a bowel obstruction and quit eating. It could be many things.
Since you have put the food up high, many things might make jumping up and down from the height painful. Perhaps she has a sprained paw or aching joints. I highly recommend trying canned food, in the floor. Consider she may have hairballs in her stomach too. I would definitely take her in to the vet.
@escapedone7 Cats are designed to jump….again, I wonder how long it’s been since she apparently quit eating.
An unknown injury or infection somewhere could make jumping painful. Cats are designed to eat, too. My own cat quit eating AND jumping, due to pancreatitis.
TAKE HER TO THE VET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She has a stash of mice and she’s bulemic.
@Val123 I’m just piecing it together by this statement:
normally she just jumps right up and eats it, but I haven’t seen her up there in a long time. When I pick her up and put her up there she will start to eat.
@Val123 When you do pick her up to eat, does she just eat a couple bites to please you or does she eat the until the dish is empty.
@WestRiverrat Ummmm…I don’t think you were talking to me. I wasn’t the OP. But that was a good question.
Maybe the cat is getting lazy and doesn’t want jump anymore. I know I wouldn’t want to jump up a distance 4x my height to eat every meal.
vets weigh pets immediately….it is important. Go get her checked out. it could be something serious.
@justn That’s cause you can’t jump that high. Just like you can’t carry something that is 10 to 50X your body weight, like an ant can.
GET HER TO THE VET!!! And get back to us because I’m not going to be able to sleep a wink worrying about her…although, it does occur to me that it looks like my cats start losing weight when it starts warming up this time of year and they get more active. But I don’t actually weigh them so I don’t know.
I would move her food to a more convenient place. Perhaps the smell of dryer sheets interferes with her sense of smell and she doesn’t associate the top of the dryer with eating. Pick a more convenient spot, and see if that doesn’t help first.
I would take her to the vet to be sure she’s OK. Cats, unlike dogs, do not eat when there is something wrong with them.
Vet definitely. Regular vet visits are just as important to inside cats as any other loved pet.
If it was just matter of the cat having trouble jumping up, you would have noticed the cat seemed hungry – heck, my cats will wake me up patting my cheek in the morning so I’ll put food in the bowl.
For several reasons, I don’t free feed my 2 cats (or my dog.) The bowls go down twice a day & they get picked up again. My vet says this is just fine. (So you could put a bowl down without worrying about the dogs.)
I hope your cat is ok.
Maybe she has a problem that means she can’t jump up there any more. Keep her food on the floor. And take her to a vet.
Whiskas Cat Milk is fine. Try some wafer thin turkey or chicken slices, or tinned tuna in tiny pieces to peak his interest. Put a little butter on his top lip, anything to make him taste something nice.
Everyone is right, he needs to see a vet as soon as possible. Little organs start to shut down without food and 3 days is way too long. If he won’t take the thin meats, mash up a little wet food with warm water and try to force feed him, the same way you would administer medication, or syringe it in with a turkey baster or similar implement. You’ll get really messy and he’ll end up wearing most of it, but it’s a good idea to try. He may find his appetite himself, but if not, at least get a little bit in his mouth and try to get him to swallow it. Whilst your in his mouth, check his teeth and gums, so many feeding problems are due to mouth pain, does he have bad breath? If so it’s a good indication his teeth are the problem and he can’t face chewing.
Go straight to the vet in the morning, he’ll see a cat that hasn’t eaten for 3 days straight way as it is life threatening.
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One very important thing for you and all cat owners to know is that cats are experts at hiding signs of illness.
This is a deeply ingrained instinctive behavior from their days in the wild when illness connoted weakness and they would be quickly eliminated.
By the time a dimwitted human realizes that something is off kilter, the cat is already SERIOUSLY ILL.
Get her to a vet without delay. This is impossible to diagnose over the Internet but every cat owner reading this knows that something is seriously wrong with your kitty.
GO TO THE VET ASAP.
I think you should take your cat to the vet a.s.a.p, When cats are getting old they could stop eating, you really need to let her check,otherwise she can die probably for stopping eating.
because your cat hates you.
cats suck.
they offer nothing in the personality department.
cats dont love you.
stop wasting your money on cat food and buy a dog.
@fullOFuselessINFO
No but wait cats crap in the house, scratch the furniture, run and hide when you come into a room, stare like maniacs, scratch your face at random and leave you dead birds on the doorstep. Good times~
Well, we took her to the vet. Her liver is failing and we have to put her down today.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
I also lost a cat to liver failure and there really was nothing that could have been done and she just kept getting more yellow.
I feel for you.
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