Last summer my healthy, energetic 6 year old cat stopped eating, became lethargic. A trip to the vet turned into a trip to emergency where he spent a day and a half. The dx was hepatic lipidosis – or at least that’s what was happening to him due to something else. He got better. Didn’t return to previous weight (which was okay – he was a couple pounds overweight at the time) but he was back to his happy self.

A couple of months ago, he dropped a bunch of weight, but was still eating. Off to the vet for a blood draw. Low RBC. A trip to the emergency, where he got a transfusion, an ultrasound, and a huge variety of in-depth blood tests to find out what was happening. My vet thought cancer, but the results weren’t showing cancer. The results weren’t showing much of anything. I had no diagnosis. He was placed on prenisolone and an antibiotic. He went for weekly bloodwork. No significant change – and then it was going down again (RBC). Off the antibiotic since it wasn’t doing anything.

We were going to start him on B12 (cobalquin) and then he took a turn for the worse. Hiding away, no eating, no moving. I used a syringe to feed him and still gave him his steroid. He hid in his cat condo, peed in there but wouldn’t move. I set up a temp litter box and feeding area by the condo, and slept on the floor with him. I didn’t expect him to live through the night. In the middle of the night he came out and sat on me. The next day he moved more. And then – he got better. Moving, eating, jumping. Except for being too thin, he was acting just like his normal self.

That was about a month ago and I have been working to give him calories to have him gain weight. A week ago – we’re slowing down again. Sleeping a lot, not eating at the food bowl. So, I have begun using syringe feeding with kitten food (for higher calories) and a calorie/vitamin supplement. He gets B12 and the prednisolone daily. I’m assuming he’s going through the lipidosis issue again, but now that I recognize it I can catch it early and get feedings going.

My questions – how often should I be syringe feeding? I know my cat will only tolerate so much before he gets irritated and walks away, but I can get 10-20 ml in him at one time. I understand a feeding tube would probably be easier, but this cat has been through a lot and I’m trying to make him comfortable and happy and relaxed.

What could be causing this? My vet has been great at trying to find solutions, the specialist/internist didn’t really have any other suggestions, and I’ve been trying to find anything online about illnesses that could cause this drop in health so quickly. (This is an indoor cat, and my other cat is fine.)

Thanks for any help!