How can I get my cat to eat on her own again after coming home from the vet?

So my 12 year old cat had to stay at the vet from Friday to Monday. The whole time there, she didn't eat so they had to force feed her. I figured it was because she was sick, but also because she's never been away from the house for more than an hour. Her kidney levels have gone down enough that she could come home yesterday, but she still hasn't eaten, or been drinking anything. I gave her the SQ fluids, but I also have to give her water with a syringe. Since she hasn't eaten anything but a few treats, I also had to put some cat food in the blender and give that to her through a syringe as well. And she hates the force feeding.It would be so much better for her, and for me, if she started eating on her own again, but she's had no interest in it. How long will it take for her to get used to being home again, and eat on her own again? Her bloodwork is fine, and she's somewhat active, but I can tell she's lacking calories. She has willingly licked the spare syringe food off the floor a little bit and eaten a few cat treats last night, so I don't think she has a complete lack of appetite. Please help. So far we've mixed in the treats with her normal dry food, added some tuna juice to the dry food (and all she did was lap at the juice for a minute), and blend the wet food to feed her with a syringe. Any other ideas I can try?Yeah, the food is almost always out. As far as I know, they didn't put her on any medication while she was there, just fluids. I'm going to talk to the vet as soon as the clinic opens and I'll try the tuna.Thank you, Ken. Yes, she has kidney failure. I'll try warming up the wet food the next time I give her some. Normally I feed her k/d, but I'm offering her anything hoping she'll eat it.If she doesn't eat the food after it's warmed up, I'll go to the deli and get some meat. If she starts eating on her own again, I'll still leave the dry food out, but I'll also offer the wet food a few times a day.At the moment though I think she might be just overhydrated. They had her on IV fluids all weekend long, and they instructed me to give SQ fluids 100cc every other day. I gave that this morning, but perhaps the fluids from the weekend were still keeping her hydrated. I'll wait a few hours and try feeding her again with warmed up food.

im not sure how long it will take, you should ask your vet and keep trying, make sure you give her lotsa TLC and when she's settled she will start eating again, try offering her a bit of tuna, she seems to show interest in that. make sure she has food in her bowl, if she wants it, she will get it herself. and make sure she has plenty of water, especially if she has been/ is on antibiotics.hope she gets better soon and i hope this has helped =]

First Try tempting her with chicken, tuna, turkey, any deli meat.Warm up a can of food, try baby food no onions, plain yogurt. You can also try plain chicken broth. You did not say but are we talking crf/kidney disease here?Treatment of Chronic Renal FailureIf your cat is not in final stages, this is not want you want to do. You do not want to put your cat on theVets low protein diet. There are simply so many better options out there than to hand the poor cat a low amount of poor quality protein - which often results in a poor appetite and muscle wasting since the body is now robbing its own muscle mass to feed itself a decent quality and amount of protein.. There are new thoughts on this and the thinking is it is not the amount of protein but the quality of protein that matters.The Merck veterinary manual [www.merckvetmanual.com] says that cats need "4 g of protein of high biologic value per kg body wt/day". That's about 7 calories from protein per pound body weight per day. If a cat isn't a good eater and consumes, say, 20 calories per pound per day, then 7/20 = 35% of calories can safely be from protein. It must be high quality protein, which means meat, fish, milk, and eggs, and not grain or soy. I am under the assumption that you have been feeding mostly dry foods. Many use a vegetable based protein instead of animal and that is part of the problem.. Your cat needs protein as it is a carnivore and cutting down on it will lead to other health issues and may cause faster degeneration.You want to cut down on phosphorous (no fish allowed now) The best way to do this is with a raw diet which you can make yourself or buy. (Making yourself is better) link provided at the bottomIf you are unwilling to do that then something like the non fish flavors of Wellness or Merrick with NO grains are good alternatives. Wysong is also a good canned choice. This list gives a breakdown. Remember you want low phosphorous http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/CanFoodOld.html You should be giving sub-Q fluids as needed.You also will want to look into phosphorous binders. Something like aluminum hydroxideAsk your vet or look into calcitrolYou may want to talk to the vet about having injectable Pepcid AC on hand or you can buy it in pill form (ac not plain pepcid) and give 1/4 tab for stomach upset which happens a lot in crf cats due to acid in the stomach.I hope this stuff helps, here are many links for youMaking cat foodhttp://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htmother links. Read, read, read!!!!http://www.felineoutreach.org/EducationDetail.asp?cat=KidneyDiseasehttp://www.marvistavet.com/html/kidney_failure_where_to_begin.htmlhttp://www.felinecrf.org/http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FelineCRF/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=3http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-Phosphorus-Management/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=5About that vets diet. This report is for dogs but applies to catshttp://mousabilities.com/nutrition/crf/bovee_protein_RD.pdfhttp://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Opera/21...

It is not possible to overhydrate your cat by giving just 100 ml of fluids every other day. When you call your vet, ask if they would consider placing a feeding tube so that you could adequately feed her. Stay with cat food, deli meats and stuff are not balanced. You might be able to stimulate her interest with some strained baby food meats that you have warmed. Cats eat what they can smell. If the vet gave you a special diet (like A/D, make sure to pick up more its made to support nutritionally deficient animals. The A/D stands for Anorexic Diet...for dogs or cats that can't or won't eat. I really think that you cat would benifit from a feeding tube to be placed for the next few weeks, less stress for you and the cat.Ken has quite a lot of good information, please read it. Pepcid is a good idea, check with your vet how often he wants you to give it. Your cat might really like having a fresh diet prepared instead of the dry food.