Adopted Cat won't eat

tufterween

Hi everyone,

I know this has probably been posted a million times but I'm so worried. I adopted an 8 year old cat yesterday and she will not eat. I have given her wet food, dried food and tuna and she has no interest in it.

She is in a separate room by herself (we do have another cat who is being kept separate for the moment) with food, water, scratching post, litter tray and bed. She seems very calm and is happy to come over for gentle strokes, the only problem is that she just won't eat.

If anyone has any suggestions or tips that might help they would be really, really welcome right now, I'm starting to get very worried.

Thanks guys,
Tufty

morgana

Give her some time to settle, she's just been with you a day. Leave her be and put some tasty morsels near her. Maybe some cooked chicken, etc. Cat milk may also be tempting. Hopefully she will eat when she feels a bit more secure.
I presume she was eating where she was before you got her?

tufterween

morgana wrote: »

Give her some time to settle, she's just been with you a day. Leave her be and put some tasty morsels near her. Maybe some cooked chicken, etc. Cat milk may also be tempting. Hopefully she will eat when she feels a bit more secure.
I presume she was eating where she was before you got her?

Hi Morgana, thanks for the reply.

Yes, she is a decent sized cat so she was obviously eating before she came here. I'm not sure that she's drinking now either though, there was one small wet patch in her litter tray last night and there has been nothing since.

I'm not sure about cat milk, I know it gives my current cat a sick tummy so the last thing I want is to make her sick as well as nervous. I heard that putting a bit of rescue remedy into cat's water dishes can make them calmer and feel more comfortable to eat. I might try this. Does anyone have any experience with this?

sillysmiles

Where did you get her?
Can you ask who had her previously what she ate? (I had a cat years ago, who when he was cold loved warm milk and white bread - not something anyone would guess. Prepared in a particular way too)

Other than that, can you just leave her with food and water and ignore* her and let her settle.

*by this I mean monitor her but not offer her food constantly.

If she is a rescue, has she recently been neutered or anything?

Alun

Also if she's recently had any vaccinations, our two go off their food a little bit afterwards but it's fine again the next day.

My guess though is that she's just a bit nervous.

kiffer

A lot of animals feel vulnerable while eating. Put the food in a spot that the cat can feel secure while eating and leave her alone to settle?

tufterween

sillysmiles wrote: »

Where did you get her?
Can you ask who had her previously what she ate? (I had a cat years ago, who when he was cold loved warm milk and white bread - not something anyone would guess. Prepared in a particular way too)

Other than that, can you just leave her with food and water and ignore* her and let her settle.

*by this I mean monitor her but not offer her food constantly.

If she is a rescue, has she recently been neutered or anything?

I was given a bag of the dry food from her previous owner which is apparently what she normally eats although she doesn't seem to be interested in it at all. She is spayed but it was years ago so I don't think it would be anything to do with that, she's in very good health.

I have been leaving her alone to do her thing and just checking up every now and again to see whether she's eaten so I haven't been hassling her with food.

I'll give her a few more days I suppose and see how she is then. Thanks for the help guys. If anyone else has any more tips and suggestions they're still very welcome

Pumpkinseeds

When we got our foster kitten I used to sit on the floor with her for a little while with dangly toys to try to get her interested, sometimes just sitting on the floor quietly with a look is good too, it lets her get a look at you and suss you out. She came around in her own time.

If you put yourself in her shoes, she's in a strange place with strange people and she can probably smell the other cats. She doesn't know if you're friend or foe and everything in her new home is alien to her. So it's a case of making her feel safe and building her trust.

I've always found that you can't go wrong with cooked chicken pieces:) Our 4 love tinned red salmon from Lidl, tuna in brine and the odd sardine in sunflower oil.

zef

As the others have said i'd say it's anxiety over her move into your home. With another cat there, smells etc, she would feel vunerable for a little while. I find it takes a fortnight approx to integrate a new cat into the family.
I have heard of rescue remedy but i've never tried it on cats, I tried feliway before and found it good, it's quite expensive - 40-50e for a dispenser. Also have heard of a tablet called 'zyclene' (spelling?) which is for very stressed cats/dogs.
Have you tried her with treats? Aldi do cat treat meat sticks for e1.39 and my cats love them. My cats go mad for the 'gourmet Gold' small tins of cat food- dunnrs/ dealz sells these.
Good luck with her, she sounds lovely!

Pumpkinseeds

zef wrote: »

As the others have said i'd say it's anxiety over her move into your home. With another cat there, smells etc, she would feel vunerable for a little while. I find it takes a fortnight approx to integrate a new cat into the family.
I have heard of rescue remedy but i've never tried it on cats, I tried feliway before and found it good, it's quite expensive - 40-50e for a dispenser. Also have heard of a tablet called 'zyclene' (spelling?) which is for very stressed cats/dogs.
Have you tried her with treats? Aldi do cat treat meat sticks for e1.39 and my cats love them. My cats go mad for the 'gourmet Gold' small tins of cat food- dunnrs/ dealz sells these.
Good luck with her, she sounds lovely!

Zylkene:) it is very good and non addictive plus it doesn't make them groggy. We initially got it from our vet and it's available without prescription from Vet Uk and Vio vet usually cheaper than the vet if you use it long term.

Tabitharose

rescue remedy can work well, I've fostered numerous cats & kittens over the years, and it can help them settle, also, with the wet food, it can help to stick it in the microwave for a couple of seconds, as it will smell stronger & may tempt her more - good luck

tufterween

Thank you all so much for your advice, you've really made me feel a lot calmer about the whole situation.

Thanks a millions guys x

tufterween

Bit the bullet and bought some cat milk and put a little rescue remedy in it. She had a little slurp which is a start.

Can cats tell the difference between men and women because she's much calmer around me (f) than my partner (m). As in she will come over and rub up against me but will only do that to my boyfriend when I'm in the room.

Pumpkinseeds

Cats choose their human, the one that they will bond with the most. One of my cats just adores my husband and will sit on his lap and knead him and reverse up his chest purring and drooling. He very rarely sits on my lap, even though I'm the one that feeds him.

We have a chap that was a feral kitten and I think he's only sat on my husbands lap about 3 times in the 5 years that he's been with us, I'm his human.

The other 2 have been with us less than a year and 1of them will only let me pick him up, he runs if my husband tries to pick him up. Our female cat has only been here about 6 months or so and I think she's just closer to me because she was abandoned in an apartment complex and I was feeding her every day until we could get her in a crate and get her back to our house. But it took a few months to build her trust and catch her.

kjbsrah1

Best of luck with your cat. I adopted at 6.5 year old female 9 days ago and have found that she does not eat as much as i am used to seeing cats eat. I have put it down to her settling in though. She seems to love regular milk and although she eats some nuts, she has not been eating too much of them. But, i would expect that she won't starve herself. She has the run of the house (its just me here) as she is used to being an indoors cat with access to outside, and after not looking at me at all during her first day with me, she came scratching on my bedroom door during her first night here and has slept on the bottom of my bed every night since. She used to sleep in a 'cat hotel' which came with her when i got her, but i presume she is staying near me for comfort. She is my first cat of my own although i grew up with cats in my parents home so am well used to them, but i've never had one want to sleep at the end of my bed. I can't even have a shower or use the toilet without her trying to get in to me!!! Its probably all a settling in period. Good luck with yours

tufterween

Thanks everyone, she ate some tuna and a bit of dried food last night while we were asleep so I'm feeling much better about the whole thing now.

Of course you were all right and she just needed tine to settle in, so thanks everyone so much, you've really put my mind at ease.