Q: My cat has stopped eating and is dry heaving What is wrong with her?

Anorexia (when you don’t eat) and dry heaving are collateral damage.

They are just what visibly shows up to your eye when something else inside has gone wrong.

Anything can cause it. You name it, and I’ve seen a cat stop eating and dry heave.

  • Stress.
  • A cold virus.
  • Don’t like how that food tastes.
  • I ate a rotten mouse.
  • I’ve had IBD for 3 years and only now are the hens coming to roost.
  • My thyroid elevated.
  • I have a fever.
  • My kidneys are angry.
  • I ate something toxic.
  • My calcium is out of wack.
  • I fell down 12 feet and now I’m painful.
  • I’ve been on a medication forever and suddenly I don’t tolerate it anymore.
  • My anal gland got infected and exploded.
  • My liver is full of fat. I'm fat and now I'm diabetic. I'm just fat (no just kidding - no I’m not - they get perianal or perivulvar infections).
  • I have a urinary tract infection.
  • You went on vacation and didn't take me.
  • I'm actually not dry heaving human, I'm coughing and I'm really asthmatic.
  • My heart doesn't work anymore.
  • There is fluid in my chest.
  • I have a foreign body in my gut because I ate a chunk of garbage.
  • I have cancer.
  • I have nothing detectable wrong with me by modern science that is detectable, and with simple supportive therapy I will get better one my own.
  • I will just get better on my own in 1 day because anyone can have a bad day.

That’s the short list.

So stopping eating and dry heaving isn't something that tells you what is wrong with them. It tells you there is a process that you can use to eventually tell you what is wrong with them.

It's almost impossible to tell stuff by a picture, but your cat's hypaxial muscles (mid to lower back area) are looking a little thin to me. I call this skinny back. Read this post aboutskinny back: http://www.iwillhelpyourcat.com/dr-kris-qa/#/drkris-skinnyback/

Good luck,

Dr. Kris

P.S.  Don’t let them go without proper calories more than 3 days. On the fourth day, no matter how simple the underlying issue was to fix, if the liver gets really angry, it can get so much more complicated to make them better.