How to Get Your Sick Cat to Eat

A cat eats its food based on the smell. If the cat cannot smell the food he will not eat it. It is important that your cat eats something by the end of two days otherwise your pet may be in danger. Therefore, never let your cat go more than two days without eating. There are ways to get your sick cat to eat.

Things You'll Need

  • veterinarian
  • canned cat food/chicken
  • some water
  • small syringe
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Instructions

  1. How to Get Your Sick Cat to Eat

    • 1

      Check with your veterinarian to make sure your cat is not eating due to an illness such as an upper respiratory infection and not something a little more serious. Be sure that it is okay to proceed with helping your pet eat.

    • 2

      Purchase Science Diet AD can food. Take an eighth of the can and mix it with a teaspoon of water. If your cat continues to ignore eating, you will need to go to the next step.

    • 3

      Get a small syringe. You will want to add more water to the canned AD food in order to squeeze it into the syringe. You do not want to make it too thick since it will be difficult to get it into your pet's mouth and hard for him to eat.

    • 4

      Use the syringe with the food inside of it and carefully open your cat's mouth and very slowly squeeze some food from the syringe into your pet's mouth. Let him taste, eat, and swallow before continuing. This can be a slow and time consuming process.

    • 5

      Try something else: If your cat is not receiving the AD can food very well then try any canned cat food with a strong smell. Also try tuna cans. If you have given canned food on a daily basis already your cat should be used to the sound of the can opener and know that you are preparing something delicious for him. The smell from tuna cans may be strong enough to affect your cat's sense of smell.

    • 6

      Provide your cat with fried chicken when all else fails. This shouldn't be something you do three times a day. Only use chicken once every other day to make sure they eat. Your cat will smell the chicken more than any other food. Therefore, when all else fails, use the chicken. Make sure it is warm. Do not give them the skin of the chicken and do not give them big chunks of meat since they could choke. Break the chicken meat up into little pieces and only give them a handful.