Please HELP MY Cat is Not eating and having trouble swallowing

[HepLovesJade]

My cat Jade is 4, and a male. 4 days ago, he was very weak, and almost fell over a few times while walking. He is having a hard time swallowing as well. I took him to the vet, and they ran an iv through him, kept him overnight, did and xray, bloodwork, ect.. his xray showed nothing. they were unable to tell us what was wrong. They said he might have a resperitory infection. The bill was extremely high, so we were unable to keep him there longer. They gave us some medicine for him. He is walking better, but still having a hard time swallowing. He will not eat anything. He has not done #2 for a few days, although he is peeing. He drinks water. I am so worried. Can anyone help me? I am scared he will die. My other indoor cat is okay. Thanks for any help or advice.

[PatchO'Pits]

I'd take him back to the vet or get another vets opinion. He may have an obstruction or infection I don't know

I hope you get answers soon

[blueberrybun]

I would take him to another vet like Patch suggested. They did xrays and saw nothing abnormal?? You would think that if he cannot defecate that they would have seen the build-up of feces in his colon. That is easily seen on an xray. Did they look down his throat at all? Maybe there is something stuck? Is he an outdoor cat? They can get insects or animal bones (from their prizes) stuck sometimes. Please go to another vet. It just seems too unlikely that they found nothing.

[jojoalexis]

hopefully the antibiotics are already working - a URI (Upper resp. infection) would come along wiht congestion, sneezing, runny eyes and nose, everything we see and feel when sick. Maybe the vet is right but you would see improvements on meds within two days. How is he now? it wouldn't hurt to call another vet for advice

[HepLovesJade]

thanks everyone. we force fed him tonight. he still can't meow, he is an indoor cat. still making some weezing sounds too. he has perked up a little, but still doesn't want to eat.. thanks for replies, i appreciate it very much.

[HepLovesJade]

I think we will try to take him somewhere else if he doens't get well. The vet bill was outrageous. They said the x-rays were fine.?? They did look down his throat too, and said everything seemed to be okay.. I was surprised when the said they thought it could be resperitory infection (but they didn't know for sure) because he hasn't had a runny nose, or sneezing ect.. its just that he can't swallow, or meow?? Well, anyways, thanks again, I appreciate the replies, and concern.

[Decker87]

My old cat Frisky did the same thing before he died. Don't make the same mistake we did - our vet said everything was fine and kept giving the old "well we'll just see if he gets any better". Only about a month later, my mom ran into one of her old friends from high school who happened to become a vetrinarian (they were all farm girls, so it was a popular profession) - my mother desricbed the symptoms and her old friend said that she knew exactly how to fix that.

[Magnum]

I hope you find out what is going on. Sending good thoughts for a speedy recovery.;)

[akacsj]

did you ever find out what was wrong with your cat? i have a stray cat about 4 months old that is having the same exact problem weakness first couple of days, now more energy but can't swallow

[akacsj]

My cat Jade is 4, and a male. 4 days ago, he was very weak, and almost fell over a few times while walking. He is having a hard time swallowing as well. I took him to the vet, and they ran an iv through him, kept him overnight, did and xray, bloodwork, ect.. his xray showed nothing. they were unable to tell us what was wrong. They said he might have a resperitory infection. The bill was extremely high, so we were unable to keep him there longer. They gave us some medicine for him. He is walking better, but still having a hard time swallowing. He will not eat anything. He has not done #2 for a few days, although he is peeing. He drinks water. I am so worried. Can anyone help me? I am scared he will die. My other indoor cat is okay. Thanks for any help or advice.
did you ever find out what was wrong with your cat? i have a stray cat about 4 months old that is having the same exact problem weakness first couple of days, now more energy but can't swallow

[siamese]

Hi, am an emergency room nurse when I'm not taking care of my 3 cats...
Trouble swallowing and walking screams STROKE to me... stroke does not show up on xrays (sometimes it doesn't even show up on CT scan). If the cat is getting better with balance/walking, could've been a TIA (transient ischemic attack - in layman's terms - that's a ministroke that a person or animal recovers from). Trouble swallowing is definitely a nervous system problem unless there's a tumor in the neck that physically stops swallowing. You should find a cat specialist vet ASAP - if the cat can't eat, he'll eventually starve without intervention. Also, when a cat stops eating for long enough they can go into liver failure (am not sure why but one of my cats didn't eat for 2 weeks due to a new cat in the house & the vet was very concerned about liver failure).
Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings.
Hope your Jade gets better soon!
Angela

[special]

Hi, am an emergency room nurse when I'm not taking care of my 3 cats...
Trouble swallowing and walking screams STROKE to me... stroke does not show up on xrays (sometimes it doesn't even show up on CT scan). If the cat is getting better with balance/walking, could've been a TIA (transient ischemic attack - in layman's terms - that's a ministroke that a person or animal recovers from). Trouble swallowing is definitely a nervous system problem unless there's a tumor in the neck that physically stops swallowing. You should find a cat specialist vet ASAP - if the cat can't eat, he'll eventually starve without intervention. Also, when a cat stops eating for long enough they can go into liver failure (am not sure why but one of my cats didn't eat for 2 weeks due to a new cat in the house & the vet was very concerned about liver failure).
Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings.
Hope your Jade gets better soon!
Angela

Hi Angela. This is good information. My senior lady cat had a mini stroke last summer, which she has recovered completely from.

However the original post is 3 years old. The poster never came back to update.

That's the one problem with these forums. many times we never hear the outcome, and I, for one, am often haunted for months wondering what happened to the furbaby.

[darcy23]

Someone said his or her vet was worried about a cat not eating for two weeks and that this could result in liver failure but the poster did not understand why. This is called fatty lipidosis. My Maine Coon 8 year old male had this twice. 50% of the time it results in death. The cat stops eating and somehow this causes the cells to turn against themselves or the liver to start failing, the cat rapidly loses weight, and the cat's eyes, ears, lips, and tongue turn yellow. If you have a lot of cats you might not even realize it happened. The treatment is time-consuming and costly and overwhelming. If any cat stops eating, don't wait until it turns yellow! In the early stages, the cat can be enticed to eat; in the later stages it's intensive care and feeding tubes.