Why has my cat stopped eating and is wasting away in front of my eyes?

Your cat is 15 years OLD. Its the natural life process. I'm sorry. At least it has been living a good and comfy life

I agree with the first two comments to take them to the vet and say politly that there is something wrong.
I was given this same problem years ago to a cat who was 17 maybe a little older I was young when this happened. He stopped eating, loved attention and took long walks outside. I don't want to upset you but one day he just kinda laid out in the sun and passed on. Our vet told us that he was very old and he knew his time was up.

His 9th life is up

Our beloved jet black Bombay cat, Buzzy who is now at least 21 and has weighed 20 plus pounds all of his adult life has just stopped eating and drinking in the last week and is down to 17 pounds. He wanders around as if lost and gets underfoot. He can no longer jump up on the bed to sleep with us, but will sit and doze happily on our laps. A similar scenario occurred with Maya, our 21-year-old Snowshoe kitty several years ago. She was wasting away and crawling and howling. Took her to the vets several times but they just said she was old. We couldn't stand to see her in pain and after a week called a vet who did house calls to ease her passing. Seems that this stopping eating and drinking could be a common precursor to checking out. This time, as Buzzy does not seem to be suffering, we will probably just choose to spend extra time with him and hope he goes peacefully. took him to the vets a few months ago and he checked out remarkably perfect, so....

There are no dates on the post or comments so I have no idea if anything I say will help. Firstly, I'm so sorry to read about your cat, I found this doing a search for the same reason. It's so painful to watch them so suddenly decline.

Our almost 16 year old cat has had great test results, thryroid, liver, kidneys etc all great for his age, I took him in after he was hardly moving, lost weight in 3 weeks, from 13.8 to 10 lbs, he does however have osteoarthritis in both hips that was diagnosed when I brought him in. . He's on .2 buprenorphine for the pain from a cats crouching style to eat and also diazepam to stimulate appetite but at first it worked and now even that isn't working. I've been syringe feeding him, to just keep the liver from going. He has the best soft foods available, I rotate flavors and brands as well, i stirvthem, warm them, he will be interested in a bite or two then turns his head away.

It's just so odd because he seems so interested, has a lick or two of the top then turns his head away. His sense of smell and eyesight are fine. Excellent going to litter box, still cuddles and purrs, but the not eating will kill him. It's so hard to even think of euthanasia when he's with it in all ways but the eating thing. We wonder is he telling us he wants to go? We will not subject him to exploratory surgery , an expensive option our vet discourages, we love her because she shoots straight and never tries to overdo or upsell. She's agreed if he won't eat of his own volition, it's time to think of the Big Decision.

I'm sorry I did not help with the original question, I just wanted the poster to know they weren't alone. This is so distressing. My other cats have had things like kidney failure with no cure and the decision was so much simpler. (Never easy)

Thanks for this outlet, it's cathartic just writing about it. Thabks to the compassionate and realistic posters above.

Everyone pay attention to what's in your cat food, Meow Mix is crap, and many others are close to crap. Some cats are picky, mine, I've tried a dozen different brands and flavors of soft food and they barely touch it, yet they need it. We need a freaking cat food and drug admin. to get junk foods off the market. Sorry, I am venting due to the upcoming loss of a pet.

my cat was only 6 1/2 a big fat cat I love her so much
she wasn't old but she stopped eating 95% drank a tiny bit of water and has wasted away to nothing. Damn vets;
I took her to two, same thing $1,000 in needless blood
work; thyroid you know it always comes back normal! unless a big infection, then a cbc will be high.they do x-rays sonogram and want to torture the sick cat.
rotton bunch of crooks

Well my TINY I love so much wiLL be dead w/I The week.

Sounds like my cat but she's only going to be 12. She purrs and purrs and loves to be held even though she never liked being held before. Petted but not held. I don't feel so bad knowing that this happens.

Hi
Yeah same here,my cat is 15 and she has lost 20% of her body weight in 4 weeks. Been to the vet,had teeth out,bloods good and no thyroid problem. She is now just skin and bone almost but purrs and like her cuddles. The vet says the next step is exploritery surgery which I'm not putting her through. She just won't eat anymore no matter what I feed her. It's sad to see but this is what being a pet owner comes down to,making tough decisions. At the end of the day it's zico that comes first not me. I'll miss her and next week I'm going to have to make that awful phone call to the vets that I'm dreading.

Im sitting here crying my heart out, because Joettas down stairs laying in the kitchen with all that you say is going on is! Shes been to the vet regularly and to the emergency care this past weekend. she was constipated and they gave enemas to clear that up. Im force feeding her with baby food trhu a syringe and her hyperthyroid meds crushed up. Please help me stop Crying .... I cant help it anymore ... Please Please Please!

Sorry you had to put your cat down, it really sucks to lose a good old friend. But when cats purr, it doesn't necessarily mean they're happy/content, they can purr when they're sad, mad, in pain, and for almost anything else, but hopefully he was purring with love lol! :)

Your cat is old. That's it.

Cats (mercifully) don't starve to death. After a long enough period of time with no food, their livers begin to produce a serotoxin that, in essence, puts them to sleep.

You say your cat is fifteen, and that's a nice, long life for a cat. You can either put him down yourself or wait for nature to take its course, but it sounds like he knows it's time to go home.

I'm so sorry.

And sadly there is nothing you can do.

It reminds me of feline leukemia. The same thing happened to my cat Bonnie.

I'm sorry to hear about your cat. I have one that's 18 years old. Skin and bones. Even with thyroid medicine. She can't see very well. Doesn't clean her fur anymore and doesn't have teeth. She eats constantly. I know you must have cherished your cat every day. I do mine. I'm not looking forward to the day that you just had.
Peace

I'm sorry to hear that. I bet he lived a happy life. RIP Slobodan

Let him go bro he's tryin to do it himself

I had to put Slobodan down today; turns out he had a liver tumor. I guess given his age, it wasn't much of a surprise.
Anyway, thanks for all the answers (the ones that weren't smartassed anyway.)

If you switched food brand switch back

if the cat is 15 years old it could just be losing its appetite quickly, and the stumbling can be from less eating or the old age. once an animal starts to feel old it shows it rather quickly and more frequently as time goes by. as Sherry said she gave her cat soft food, if your not doing that yet give it a shot. it just might help

I put her on science diet hairball control. Chicken.

My cat was losing tons of weight. I changed her to soft food. Science Diet. She started eating again, is playful and has gained weight . She is 17.

Ok I didn't read the story but if ur cat isn't eating and is trowing up and some of it may look like blood it could liver fatty disease. It puts the cat in a lot of pain and my cat had that. The vets never realized what it was until my cat was sock for almost a month. It took the vets three visits to find out what it was. They kept on saying it was hairballs. But my babygirl kitty named Snickers was my best friend and half of her face was brown and half was black and it was split exactly down the middle of her face. So maybe it's liver fatty.

Thanks for all the comments. I've got some diazepam from the vet (appetite stimulant in cats) so maybe "Slobodan the cat" will start eating again soon. If not, maybe I'll ask again about the thyroid (though the vet says it came up normal in the blood work.)

My cat was 16 exact same story. He had gingavitous, I don't think that's why he quite eating because he had had it for a few years but my cat was wasting away, still pretty much a happy guy when my parents got rid of him behind my back... Don't give up on yours, I still feel sick to my stomach thinking there had to be something I couldve done if I had had another chance.

Try a second opinion (vet) wise. Although I must say, he simply might be dying of old age :( Also did you try a new kind of cat food?

Go back to the vet. But if you've brought the cat in for regular check ups the vets will notice the change that has occured.
I really hate to say this but your cat is older and his time maybe coming to an end. So hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

The same thing happened to my cat and ,not to make you feel bad, she died. I would suggest bringing her to the vet once more to see if anything can be done, and spend as much time as possible with her.

Something very slightly similar happened to my cat although the circumstances were different. All I can say though is take him back to vets and insist politely that something is the matter with your cat.

Also explain you've done everything as instructed such as the antibiotics and see what happens. But definitely back to the vets.

But your cat is also getting quite old, just as an observation.