10 year old not eating but hungry.......help

Hello all,
our 10 year old male has stopped eating. He has been fed James well beloved dry food (with plenty of water) since he was very young but has recently gone off it, we have tried all the other major brands of dry food with no successso had to try wet food as a last resort. He eats all of the jelly & some ofthe meat but leaves the rest. He then follows us around the kitchen trying toeat everything we do but never really finishing anything. We have left dry foodout but if he eats this he throws it up about an hour later. He’s been to thevet twice, had bloods done (all clear), wormed, all vaccinations are up todate, his teeth & mouth are ok, he’s regularly groomed and no indication ofhair balls. Generally speaking he seems fine but he is losing weight, 10% of his body weight over the last 4 months, and we’reunsure what to do. I’d be grateful for any advice.........

Thanks.

Has he had a thorough internal examination (X-ray, ultrasound, etc.) to rule out any obstructions?

Well you seemed to have anwsered all the questions that one would ask in your posting ..... Xray could be a way to go but if he can keep fluids & wet food down that really rules out an obstruction but could hilight any other problems. Do you think he has lost that weight because of not being able to keep dry food down now,its surprising what weight that can pack on & we always advice clients with overweight cats to stop all dry food & just wet feed them anyway so that alone could count for weight loss. There is nothing wrong with feeding just wet food thats what mine are mostly fed on,at the moment I would try & find a cheap & cheerful mostly jelly tinned food & leave that down in small amounts around the house & just see if he will pick at it enough to fill himself up & feel more contented but would also be worth just speaking to your vet to see if "internal examination" as suggested by Antonia would be worth doing for peace of mind as much as anything else. You could also try him on some vitamin tablets which might make you feel better if you think he isn't going to get the goodness out of wet food that you would like....
Hopefully someone will come on with more suggestions for you & please keep us updated,all fingers & paws crossed in this house that he will soon be a happier pusscat...x

Thanks for the reply's

Clyde gets outdoors, as a result he's always been quite lean, he's been around 7kg for years, unless he goes into the cattery where he puts weight on, this melts off quickly when he comes home and gets back chasing rabbits, other cats & most dogs.
He's now sitting at ~ 6.2kg (vet's figures), we were wondering if its all down to his age but he's not showing any signs of slowing down. We'll try the little and often feeding approach and see if that helps.

I should have mentioned he'll eat a whole tin of Tuna & keep that down, but he cant live on that alone.

Thanks again all.

Hi Bruce - so sorry to hear of your problems ... just a thought, has your vet checked Clyde's bloods for hyperthyroidie? I don't know whether vets in the UK check for that as standard, but here a separate sample has to be taken and that is then sent off to a specialist lab. I only ask as our little Tigger was diagnosed with it some months ago ... he was permanently hungry and never finished off his food either. He also lost quite a bit of weight.
Fingers and paws crossed for you over here too

I'll ask the vet about the thyroid check.........Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Bruce

I'll ask the vet about the thyroid check.........Thanks.

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Our vets would have this checked as a matter of course with a cat of that age & is run through the same lab here,plus the heartbeat is normally more rapid too but yet another good avenue to find out about. If he is loveing tuna & will eat a whole tin of that & keep down could you perhaps get him some of the more "expensive" tuna cat food & see if you can mix it in with the human one gradually upping the amount or is he wise ole boy who would cotton on....? Think while he is eating only that I would deff.get some extra vitamins to give him. My boy "Bruce's" [sorry about the name] normal weight is around that mark or very slightly heavier but not a lot.....
Another thought on the hyperthyroid side is over activity too & you reckon he is flying around still,sometimes you can actually feel the gland swollen in the throat especially on a lean cat,just run your fingers over slightly & see if you can feel any abnormality..

I don't have any experience of the specific issues you're having and I'm glad that there are others providing advice for you.

In the beginning Felix was all my guys would eat and latterly, as you described, sometimes the jelly would be licked off and the residue left - I would hesitate to call it 'meat'....

Now (after trying almost everything on the market) the big favourite is Applaws tuna and prawn (they don't like the other varieties). They have several different types of kibble available to free feed. I now find with Max that - although he is still enthusiastic about the Felix jelly - there is sometimes blood in his poo when he eats this and so it is no longer on the menu. He is healthier and heavier with Applaws. The girls are both gannets and neither of them seems to have any dietary sensitivities at all.

whilst it isnt an "answer" It is far better for him to eat tuna than nothing .

Checked his blood results, his thyroid levels were checked and "normal"
Had a good feel around Clyde and nothing felt out of the ordinary, muscle tone feels good as does his coat, there's just a bit less of him......maybe it is just his age, my Dad's nearly 70 and he's a fussy bugger too!

Thanks again folks, great to get some other opinions and advice.