All animals, including cats, must eat and drink regularly for a healthy and happy life.
Same as people, cats last longer when they are hungry than thirsty. They can go without eating for up to two weeks and survive without drinking for about three days.
If you notice that your cat doesn’t want to eat, visit your vet where they can identify why your cat refuses to eat. If your feline isn’t eating and drinking regularly, they will become weak and develop other health issues.
Additionally, cats stop eating because of underlying medical concerns.
In this article, I will discuss medical conditions that can make your cat sick and answer all your questions about cats and their appetite, so let’s dive right in.
How Long Can Cats Go Without Food?
Indoor cats can escape and fend for themselves for days, even weeks. They’re strong and adaptable animals that can live independently. Look at the strays and feral cats. They can survive on the streets all their lives.
However, most cats go without food for about 1-2 weeks, as long as they have water, as water is vital for digestion, circulation, and waste removal.
When a cat hasn’t had a meal for about 2-3 days, they will start to use fat reserves and become weak, unwell, and malnourished.
So, if you want your cat to be healthy, establish a regular feeding schedule and give your feline commercial cat food. Moreover, ensure your kitty always has fresh water, especially in summer.
Don’t just assume that if your cat is hungry, they will catch prey, as not all domestic cats have sharp hunting skills. Most domestic cats wait to be fed. And if they’re not, they don’t know how to find food.
When to See Your Vet?
To decide when to see your vet depends on your cat’s overall condition. If you think their health is in jeopardy, call your vet immediately.
Otherwise, monitor your cat’s behavior, and if you notice that your feline isn’t eating or drinking for more than 24 hours, you must visit your vet immediately.
Both young and older cats refuse food after vomiting caused by plant or hairball ingestion or other reasons. Moreover, felines with respiratory diseases might refuse food because of nasal congestion.
If your cat has these common conditions, you can wait longer to visit your vet clinic because when they disappear, your cat will start to eat again.
Reasons For Lack of Appetite in Cats
If your feline refuses food, they might be anorexic. Typically, anorexia is a sign that the cat has some illness or other problems. Reasons for lack of appetite in cats can be medical and psychological.
The medical reasons include infections, cancer, parasites, vaccination side effects, oral ulcers, kidney infection, liver disease, injury, digestive system disease, dental issues, and poison ingestion.
Lack of appetite can signify a serious issue, so take your cat to your local vet clinic and have your vet perform exams. It may be a serious condition, but it can also be a simple dental issue.
Side Effects After Vaccinations
Cats can also lose appetite as a side effect after vaccinations. However, this and other vaccination side effects aren’t permanent. They’re temporary and disappear after a while.
Poison Ingestion
Poison ingestion is a serious life-threatening condition that must be treated by a veterinarian because your cat’s organs can fail unless treated properly.
Psychological Reasons
The psychological reasons for your cat’s appetite include traveling to another place, a new pet or a baby in the family, moving to a new home, stress, change of diet, dislike of the new food, and others.
If you’re traveling with your cat and they start to eat less or completely stop eating, this can be caused by the change in their daily routine or motion sickness.
Cats don’t like to change habits and don’t like traveling by car or plane.
After your vet determines that your cat has no health issues, you can safely assume that the cause of lack of appetite is likely psychological.
Remember that most cats need time to adjust to new things.
The Dangers of Sudden Weight Loss in Cats
Some cats start eating less or stop eating and lose a good amount of weight.
Other reasons for losing weight include intestinal parasites, feline diabetes, cancer, stress, feline hyperthyroidism, feline kidney disease, viral diseases, depression, anxiety, or simply not getting enough food or food with low-calorie content.
Cats need proteins for energy in their body. They’re carnivores, so not eating for 2-3 days or eating less for a week or two can cause life-threatening conditions.
This condition is known as anorexia. It’s dangerous for cats because your feline can develop fatty liver syndrome, a life-threatening condition for cats.
The fatty liver syndrome occurs when cats stay hungry for too long, and their liver starts to process larger amounts of stored fats to provide energy for the body. So, the liver will be overloaded with fats, resulting in liver failure.
If you see that your cat isn’t eating or eating less, visit your vet immediately, so they can run specific tests and determine the reason behind their loss of appetite.
Dehydration Requires Immediate Medical Attention
Water is essential for all the processes in the body. If your cat isn’t drinking enough water, they will become dehydrated, which can cause serious health problems.
Dehydration isn’t easy to notice. And it can happen if your cat is vomiting or having diarrhea, diabetes, trauma, heat stroke, and fever.
Some signs that your cat is dehydrated include food refusal, losing energy, sunken eyes, dry gums, and panting.
If you notice any of these signs in your feline, visit the vet immediately. Otherwise, serious health problems can arise.
Lastly, always provide fresh water and electrolyte supplements to prevent your cat from becoming dehydrated.
Physical Signs of a Life-Threatening Emergency
Having a pet means you’re responsible for the life of another living being.
And if you have a cat as a pet, you should be familiar with some physical signs that need immediate veterinarian assistance because they’re life-threatening.
Signs of the most common life-threatening emergencies include:
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Refusing to drink water
- Seizures
- Heat stroke
- Unconsciousness
- Severe bleeding
- Blood from extremities
- Choking and difficulty breathing
- Inability to use the toilet
- Eye injury
- Eating poison
- Lameness and broken bones
- Pain and anxiety
If you see any of these symptoms in your cat, visit your vet immediately. Otherwise, you might lose your pet.
What Do You Do if Your Cat Won’t Eat?
If your cat refuses to eat or eats less than before, you can try several tricks to boost their appetite before visiting your vet.
Nowadays, you can find canned, dry, and wet cat food on the market for your cat. If you regularly purchase canned food, you can try other flavors or slightly warm the food before serving it to your furry friend. You can even make your own food and snacks.
You can also experiment with dry food in various sizes and shapes. Buy another dry food with a different shape and size and try to get your cat’s attention. Changing the kibble can also be helpful.
Additionally, change their food bowl in case they don’t like their current food bowl.
Call your vet immediately if nothing works, and your cat refuses dry and wet food and water and shows other symptoms.
They will test your feline and determine why they’re not eating.
Remember that if you’re keeping the cat hungry and dehydrated for longer, they will need more time to recover.
When a Cat Stops Eating, How Long Before They Die?
Your feline can stop eating for different reasons, but one of the most common is an underlying condition. However, if your cat stops eating, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will die.
If you have a healthy cat that stops eating and drinking suddenly, they will die from dehydration and starvation within three days.
However, if your sick cat stopped eating and drinking, they will die earlier than three days. That’s why you’re there to take care of the cat.
Don’t wait too long to take your feline to the vet. Otherwise, you might lose your pet.
Moreover, monitor the cat’s actions; if they haven’t eaten for a day, visit the local vet clinic immediately.
The sooner your vet identifies what’s behind their unusual behavior, the sooner your cat will get better.
Final words
All pet parents want healthy and happy cats, but to accomplish that, we need to care for our felines properly.
So, monitor your cat, and call your vet immediately if you notice unusual or strange behavior. The average cat that stops eating can survive about three days or less without water. However, most cats go without food for up to two weeks.
On the other hand, a sick cat has fewer chances of survival if they’re not eating and drinking because their body is already weak.
Check our blog to learn more about how long can a cat go without water.
*image by Stylish_Pics/depositphotos