Sadly, many of us have faced a situation where a kitty loses his/her appetite. This usually happens when they suffer from a disease that makes them feel nauseous, or sick in some way. It is very common for cats with Chronic Renal Failure (CRF), to not want to eat. With some cats, there is no way they will tolerate force-feeding so they may need a stomach tube. However, if your cat will tolerate force-feeding, it sometimes will stimulate his/her appetite enough to want to eat on his/her own. It's akin to "priming the pump" because they really are hungry but just don't feel well enough to eat, so once they taste food, they realize it is something they like. Or maybe they get tired of humans shoving food down their throats, and decide it's best to just eat on their own.
Note: Please do not let your cat go more than 48 hours without any sort of food. The reason being that cats can develop hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease) from not eating. Obese cats are especially susceptible to developing this problem.
Here is the technique my husband and I used (very successfully) with our CRF cat. We force-fed him for close to a year and wish we had started sooner. He lived for 20 months after his diagnosis of CRF and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (read Booey's Story here).
Force-feeding procedure
Equipment needed:
1. Blend some cooked or raw homemade food in a blender. Alternatively, you can use Hills AD, which is very smooth and easy to administer via syringe. Then, add some supplements (optional) - digestive enzymes, acidophilus, apple cider vinegar and liquid amino acids.2. We fed Boo Boo 4 syringes each meal (morning and night). He was about 7.5 - 8 lbs. in weight at the time of force-feeding. Draw up the food into the syringes before you go in to feed your kitty.
3. Extricate your cat from under the bed (poor baby!) with some sweet talk and petting. Put a 3-6 mo. infant-sized bib around his (her) handsome (pretty) furry neck.
4. Straddle your cat so that s/he faces away from you, and cannot back away from the feeding.
5. Gently press down on both sides of the mouth to open. Press down gently on syringe plunger. With Booey we found it worked best to not squirt it from the side; instead we would lift his chin a bit and squirt down at an angle but from the front of his mouth. Be careful because kitty can gag or choke if you try to squirt the liquid straight down his throat. Some cats do better if you come at them from the side.
6. Give kitty time to swallow the food, then squirt again. We squirted each tiny syringe 3 times or so, with breaks in between. During breaks, if you spot any food on kitty's lips or mouth, dip the washcloth in water, and wipe away. Dry, so as to not make kitty any more uncomfortable than s/he already is.
7. Give your kitty his/her favorite treat(s), and lots and lots of pets and cuddles. Boo liked being combed so we had a petting session afterwards, and he purred for us.
That's it! Ha, how easy I made that sound! And to tell
the truth, it was easy as could be because we were dealing with a special,
darling fluffy black kitty. I doubt it would be this easy with his
naughty sisters. But if I ever have to save them from the brink of
death, better believe I'll try force-feeding again!
Force-feeding gave Boo Boo an extra year of life. And he did not seem to mind the inconvenience. He was getting herbs and supplements twice a day anyway, so we tried to make the process as seamless as possible.
Good luck, and feel free to email me if you have any questions!:)