Management of Anorexia in the Cat

Appetite Stimulation
Appetite stimulation should include consideration of ways to minimise stress. This may be particularly important in a hospitalized cat and consideration should be given to various aspects of the environment including noise, temperature, ability to hide (eg, cardboard box in cage), pain relief, the use of pheromone sprays such as ‘Felifriend’ and petting/stroking to encourage the cat to eat. With persistent moderate inappetence, if there is no physical impediment to prehension and ingestion of food, and if circumstances allow, attempts at appetite stimulation may be appropriate. A number of factors may increase the palatability of food or the desire to eat including:

• Feed the normal home diet - cats often develop strong preferences linked to familiarity

• Provide wide, shallow food bowls (no interference with whiskers)

• Offer small amounts of fresh food frequently

• Feed moist rather than semi-moist or dry food

• Feed warm food (80-100°F)

• Feed a high fat, high protein diet

• Feed foods with strong (especially meat, fish or cheese) odours

• Provide a comfortable, quiet environment

• Provide physical encouragement (petting and stroking)

• Clean encrustations from the nose if present

• Provide adequate analgesia if pain is present

In addition to manipulating the diet, with persistent anorexia pharmacological stimulation of appetite may be employed prior to considering tube feeding. Some of the agents available and commonly used are listed below. The side-effects associated with glucocorticoids and progestagens generally preclude their use as specific appetite stimulants, while anabolic steroids are not potent agents and are of little or no value in the short- term management of anorexia. [...]