Did your cat just suddenly become picky about food? Is it getting hard for you to make your cat eat the food you’re feeding it? Why is a cat not eating or drinking?
When a cat is not eating or drinking, it’s something that bothers the owner. There are plenty of reasons why cats are not eating or drinking. Some can be serious reasons while others are simple and can easily be remediated.
Why is my cat not eating or drinking?
Emotional Response
When a cat loses someone close to her, a cat friend, kitten, or a favorite human can cause her to lose their appetite.
Motion Sickness
When you keep from moving from one location to another location can cause anxiety to your beloved feline that may result of unwilling to eat.
The Bowls
Sometimes our cats are like human beings. They like their bowls to be clean and fresh before eating. Otherwise, they don’t like a plastic bowl because of your cat’s sensitive olfactory. Your cat can easily smell the remains of the scent of dishwashing soap in its bowl.
While other cats are just really picky about their bowls. Some cats don’t like having a very deep bowl or a very shallow bowl. The smushed-faced cats will not like to have a very deep bowl.
Physical Pain
When a cat is enduring physical pain, it’s normal that it’s out of the mood to eat or take its meal.
Overfeeding
It’s normal for cats to stop eating especially when they feel already full. However, make sure not to give them too many highly caloric supplements that make them feel over-saturated.
Make sure to tell your housemates not to feed your cat too much with treats that lead it to not eat its required food diet.
Lastly, make sure that your cat is not stealing or ransacking any food from the trash which results in feeling over-saturated. Otherwise, your cat’s health may become in danger too when you let it eat dirty food.
Aging
Older felines are unwilling to eat food. This is mostly because of the slowed metabolism, indigestion, and other health-related issues in aging.
Health issues
Loss of appetite is the most common symptom of much more serious health issues for your cat. If your cat loses its appetite observe keenly if he has other general symptoms. These general symptoms are lethargy, anxiety, or proper toilet issues. If there is, better to consult the veterinarian to ease the problem.
Dental Disease
Just like humans, our friendly feline also encounters toothache or dental problems. Gingivitis is common in cats. This is an inflammation of your cat’s gums build-up by plaque. In time this can lead to the destruction of the tooth root. In this case, chewing is hard for your cat. Symptoms are when your cat keeps on shaking its head and keeps on touching their face.
Gastrointestinal Disease
Some cats may have eaten something that upset their tummy, making them lose their appetite.
Weak Sense of Dehydration
Our felines lack the sense of dehydration which we humans can feel so thirsty. This is the main reason why most of our feline friends don’t like to drink; they don’t realize that they need or it’s time to hydrate.
Tips on how to make your cat eat and drink
Stimulating the appetite of our lovely feline may be challenging. It’s a responsibility that we really need to pay attention to. Our beloved feline’s health depends on their proper diet, and making them have the appetite to eat is essential. Here are some tips that you can try to do:
Make sure that your cat isn’t sick
Diagnosing whether your cat is showing signs or symptoms that s/he is sick. Once you confirm that your cat is sick, bring your cat to your vet.
Try changing the brands and flavors of your cat food.
You may play around with the flavors that you’re giving to your kitty. Otherwise, try other brands that offer the same health benefits your cat can get.
Warm up your cat’s food
The olfactory of your cat plays an important role in its appetite. If you’re keeping her food in your fridge or simply the cat won’t like to eat the food, warming it up in your oven for a few seconds can steam up the delicious smell of their food.
You may also try adding some warm broth soup to your cat’s meal to stimulate the smell of the food and entice your lovely kitty.
Keep your dishes and bowls clean.
Again your cat has a strong olfactory system that can smell anything. Once your cat doesn’t like the smell of the bowl, surely s/he will not eat on it.
Try changing the bowls
If your cat isn’t sick, your dishes are clean, and s/he has the best brand and scrumptious cat food, maybe it’s the bowl that you need to change. Change it to a new one maybe a lower version or a deeper version.
Try to add something tasty to your cat’s food.
Adding some special treats or cat vitamin powder to your cat’s food may help stimulate the appetite of your kitty.
Make use of water fountains
Some cats don’t like dipping their faces into bowls to drink water. They may prefer a water fountain to drink the water they need.
Provide a calm, safe, and stress-free environment
Our beloved felines are obsessed with solidarity. They like to enjoy their food with comfort. Letting them have a peaceful, safe, and stress-free environment while eating can help their appetite.
It’s a real struggle for cat parents to see their cat struggling to eat. It’s harder for our little fur body to feel hungry but cannot eat. Stimulating their appetite can help them grow healthier and stronger. Taking early action may not result in a health problem in the future.
How’s your cat lately? Is he eating well? Are you having a hard time feeding your fur buddy? Let us know your experience, and comment it down below!
