Cat Does Not Eat After Worming – the Most Common Causes (5 Tips To Help)

Your cat does not eat after a worming treatment or eats worse at first? This is normal, but can become a concern in a short time.

Cats should never remain completely sober for more than 24 hours. A worming treatment is nevertheless important to avoid problems caused by the parasites.

Our guide shows you what to look out for after administering the remedy and why cats often no longer want to eat.

In this article you will learn why a worming treatment in cats can lead to loss of appetite and how you should react to it. Especially with very young, older or weakened animals it is important that they quickly take up food again. We tell you tricks and tips for this.

Cat does not eat after worming – Causes

Worming in the form of tablets or pastes – i.e. orally administered agents – can stress the digestive tract.

They often affect cats’ stomachs, causing nausea, loss of appetite and reluctance to eat.

Stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea are also possible after administration.

When the effect begins about 24 to 72 hours after treatment, the worms are killed and excreted.

This can stress the intestinal flora. Due to the diarrhea, much fluid and nutrients are lost.

This in turn leads to a weakening of the entire organism.

Your cat would then need an appropriate supply of high-quality and easily digestible food to compensate for the loss.
Are there alternatives to worming as tablets and paste?

Yes, there are. Your cat can also be dewormed with an injection or spot-on preparations.

This is useful if she reacts strongly to tablets or paste and feeding afterwards is difficult.

Cat does not eat through worming – what to do?

If even the favorite food is left by your velvet paw, this is alarming and can worry you.

However, there are several tips and tricks you can use to stimulate the appetite again.

Read on to learn more.

Tip 1: Liquid food

If the appetite is not too big, many cats still lick some sauce or broth. Solid pieces, on the other hand, they do not want.

Therefore, it is best if you already have cat drinks ready, cook some fresh meat broth or choose food with a lot of sauce.

In the meantime, you can also find special smoothies for cats or soups for cats.

If your cat leaves even these light treats, you should start feeding.

Offer the liquid food more often or wet your cat’s mouth with it a little so that he has to lick the food.
Tip 2: Flavored water

Hydration is just as important as food intake. In addition, water can be made palatable by some additives, which in turn stimulates the appetite.

Well suited are for example:

Liver sausage
Natural yogurt
Fish juice
Salmon oil

You can also offer a cat fountain. Through this, the animals often drink more often and longer.

Tip 3: Pastes and spreadable sausage

High-calorie and appetite-stimulating pastes are available for weakened or sick animals.

These are usually well accepted and even small amounts are enough to provide your cat with important nutrients.

If you don’t have any paste on hand, you can also use liver sausage or another spreadable sausage.
Tip 4: Feeding

Whether it’s food, paste, sauce, soup or sausage, some cats have trouble starting to eat on their own.

This is especially true if the stomach and intestines have been stressed and the animals feel unwell.

This is where you come in!

Offer your cat small pieces or small blobs of paste from your hand. Does she not take it?

Then you need to be a little more insistent.

You can put paste directly on the tongue or in the mouth. Be careful and protect yourself from bites and scratches.

Liquids, such as broth or sauce, can also be given into the side of the mouth with a syringe – without a needle.

It is important that your cat first has the taste of the food on his tongue.

After that, if necessary, it will lick up liquids itself or even eat pieces.

For many animals, this variation works well as long as you are not rough with them or create pain.

However, you will often need to repeat the process several times a day and before each meal.
Tip 5: Let them hunt

Apart from the lack of appetite, is your cat fit, curious and interested?

Then let them playfully chase their food.

Roll individual pieces of dry food across the floor, use small treats, cubes of cheese, pieces of sausage for food toys or to throw.

Your cat will be tricked by this. Because being rewarded for hunting success, animals often won’t let you take it from them and will at least chew on the food.

Thus, they feed themselves and hopefully also let themselves enjoy the food following the game unit.

When do I have to take my cat to the doctor if it doesn’t eat after worming?

If your cat stops eating for a few days, it is not surprising.

However, if she does not eat or drink water within 24 hours, you should see a veterinarian immediately.

An IV and an injection to stimulate appetite may also help to encourage eating and drinking.

In addition, a repeat exam can check to see if your cat may have any other problems or ailments besides the strain of the worming.
Have vaccination and worming done together?

The worming treatment should be done before the vaccination in order not to overload the immune system and to improve the effect of the immunization.

So the treatments should not be done at the same time.

Your cat’s body must be worm-free and not weakened at the time of vaccination. Therefore, it is better to perform the deworming one week before.

Also, pay attention to the required amount during the treatment. The remedy can also strongly affect the stomach if the dosage was too high or your cat already has a problem in the area of digestion.

Therefore, it is important that your cat is in good health.

The only exception is severe worming. In this case, treatment is mandatory in order to improve the condition.

However, it should be only a part of the therapy.
If the cat does not eat after the worming treatment

If the food is refused after worming, it is problematic already after one day.

Therefore, try to prevent difficulties by the right timing of the administration of the remedy and, if necessary, by feeding.

If your cat tends to have digestive problems and eats poorly in general, you should firstly arrange for a comprehensive examination by the vet.

This is because weight loss and loss of appetite can be caused by a variety of diseases and injuries.

On the other hand, you should resort to other options instead of deworming with orally administered agents.