Your cats failure to eat can be life-threatening--and it can happen much faster than you ever imagined.

IT HAD BEEN TWO WEEKS SINCE CAPRI LOST control of her world. Gone was the old green couch with the loose cord, a favorite toy when she was upset. Gone, too, was the low, wide windowsill where she could stretch her 19-pound Siamese frame and trap insects under a paw as they crawled along the edge. Also missing was the black radio tuned to a country-western station, the music soft and pleasing to her sensitive ears. It had dispelled the loneliness that crept over her in the late afternoons while she waited for her owner to return from work.

Of all that had disappeared, the most painful to Capri was the absence of the nightly routine with her owner. It would begin wrestling with a stuffed blue mouse her owner wielded, shouting, "Come on, Capri, get him!" Then came the careful brushing of her long fur, and finally, she would settle down on the pillow on the bed she shared with her owner.

This new place frightened her. There were three large cats in this household, the first cats Capri had ever lived with, and they kept her from sleeping on the Lady's bed at night. So Capri slept under the bedroom dresser where dust bunnies danced on her head.

The Lady was different too. She didn't find joy in everything her cat did like Capri's owner had. Nor did she keep the radio on--a sound Capri ached to hear.

Soon Capri was wetting in various parts of the house and attacking the other cats in spite of her fear of them. No one was listening.

One day, Capri heard a familiar sound. She ran to the front window and looked out. Yes! It was her owner getting out of the white van--coming back for her! At last she was back in her owner's arms. Capri sat eagerly next to her human on the Lady's couch and ducked her head into her owner's hand again and again.

It's over, it's finally over. She would sleep in her own home that night. No more dust bunnies. At last she could rest. Capri jumped down and ran to the food dish. As she crunched happily, she looked to see that her owner was standing. It was time to leave.

As they moved toward the door, Capri trotted along side. It opened. Capri was about to cross the threshold when she was pulled back by unknown hands. The door closed. Her owner had left without her.

What Capri could not have understood was that her owner had become homeless. There was no safe haven for either of them, and the extremes in Texas weather during that year prevented Capri from staying in the van. Of course, Capri could not have understood this. Instead she curled up in a corner, and never ate again.

The Lady took Capri to a veterinarian. She spent over $200 on special medicines and force-feedings, but it was no use. During those three months, Capri's 19-pound body dwindled to four.

Finally the owner was located. She rushed Capri to Balcones Animal Hospital in Austin where her veterinarian, Dr. James Wood, told her that the cat would be in pain soon, and that she should be put to sleep. Her liver was failing.

Capri was taken to a quiet: room reserved for final moments between a feline friend and a heart-broken human. Capri had so desperately wanted to eat for her owner, but it was not to be. She laid on the green table as her owner caressed her, then Capri's left paw was shaved and the IV needle inserted. Her bared skin indicated severe anemia. Soon Capri would be in a better place. This time it really was over.

I know this because I was Capri's owner.

Clinically, Capri faced certain death from hepatic lipidosis, or liver failure. It was brought on by excess weight coupled with sudden anorexia (not eating)--a deadly combination in adult cats. The question that remains is simple. Why did Capri stop eating? My research determines that a) it was caused by something physical and emotional, b) she could have been saved, and c) it could happen to your cat.


Why Do Cats Stop Eating?

All of us know how finicky our feline friends can be at the dinner hour. But why they choose not to eat can depend on many things. According to The New Natural Cat by Anitra Fraizer and Norma Eckroate, some of these reasons include snacking between meals, the weather (cats eat better when it's cold) or eating a large meal the day before. Medical reasons such as a stuffy nose (cats won't eat what they can't smell), tow grade infection, nausea, painful gums, dirty teeth, dehydration, constipation or a major disease, can also be factors.

In addition, many adult cats will not eat anything if they are in a new situation for the first 24 hours, no matter how healthy they are.

Short-term or intermittent anorexia can be expected in the normal adult cat to some degree. Most cats turn their nose up at the food bowl from time to time; after all, cats are infamously fussy eaters. It is the alert owner who can prevent it from becoming long-term and deadly.

Long-term anorexia, despite its name, happens fast--usually within 48 hours. Any cat is in danger of liver failure after a two-day fast, especially an overweight cat. Experts say kittens and cats of normal weight are not as likely to become ill after just 48 hours, depending on the precipitating cause of the fast.

Capri did not eat for three months because after the second day of the anorexia, her liver began to break down and she was unable to. But why did she stop eating in the first place? Probably because of something called stress-related anorexia.

Stress-related anorexia or behavioral anorexia is the diagnosis that most likely applies to Capri. She had no medical problems before the fast. Dr. Katherine Houpt is president of the American College of Veterinaran Behaviorists and teaches at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Physiology. She has been studying and writing about this condition since the late 1970s. Houpt has seen behavioral anorexia mostly in boarded healthy cats, hospitalized cats and cats who have lost a housemate or owner.

Capri was an anxious cat to begin with and had no training in how to deal with the unfamiliar elements of her new situation. When I left her the last time, her emotions overwhelmed her and she shut down. She could not handle the sense of loss.

At this point, stress hormones began to build up in the blood, causing neurochemicals in the brain to suppress her appetite. Because of her excess weight, it took only two days for her liver to began to break down fatty de posits. Her final days had already begun.

It's hard to say which neuro-chemicals were involved; one possibility is serotonin, which could have been suppressed by an old drug, periactin-cyproheptodine. By arresting the production of serotonin, some experts think her appetite could have been restored. Other drugs such as benzodiazepine tranquilizers and oral progestine may also have helped, though Houpt warns that oral progestine can cause diabetes and mammary hyperplasia.

Capri might have been saved if I had paid closer attention to her high levels of anxiety during the last time I saw her at the sitter's home. It is easy to see in retrospect that Capri did not feel capable of handling the new situation without me. I did not realize that stress could prevent my cat from eating.

Stress-related anorexia is a squirrelly, convoluted disorder to understand for several reasons. First, the very term stress-related implies an uncertainty that stress can cause anorexia even though it has been diagnosed in cats for years. According to Houpt, "Even if laboratory evidence reveals an increase in stress hormones in the blood, there is still no way of knowing if the stress led to not eating, or if not eating led to stress."

Secondly, it is rare. Some say too rare to concern the average pet owner. But who knows for sure? Since most vets see an anorexic cat after it has developed liver or kidney failure, practitioners are more concerned with the immediate need than with how the anorexia began. The result is a failure to document the cause of anorexia and, without a record, there's no way to determine how rare it really is.


Is It Really Stress?

Someone once said that if you're not under stress, you're six feet under. At the same time, stress can rob you of the ability, to think clearly or to feel appropriate emotions. For the housecat, stress can be deadly.

The most ruthless culprit is abrupt change. Capri's entire world had been moved into another universe, literally overnight. "Abrupt change in the environment can be devastating to a cat," says Dr. Buddy Urbanczyk, owner of Block House Animal Clinic in Austin. "People don't realize that cats don't see the environment the same as we do. It's their whole world."

According to Urbanczyk, your cat could be traumatized if he is moved to a neighbor's home for a visit without preparation, "because they don't know if danger is hiding around a corner," he says. It's better to prepare the cat by bringing him along for several brief visits before his longer stay.

Most behaviorists believe that cats have no way of knowing if they can survive in a new place because they are only aware of where they are at that moment, or where they have been.

Your cat knows what makes him happy. Generally, he needs places to hide, furniture he can walk on to check out the area and the location of his toys, litterbox, food, water and scratching post. He also likes to know his owners' routine and where his bed is. All this provides security for him and a sense that he will be able to protect his territory from invaders because he knows what is available for defense.


Common Causes of Stress in Cats

A variety of things can cause your cat to lose his peace of mind, including:

moving from country to city, or city to country.

a sudden introduction to the outside world without protection from the weather, strange people or strange animals.

sudden introduction of new animals to the home, and the accompanying pecking order rivalry.

being left with an inept sitter.

punishing the cat out of personal frustration instead of training purposes.

sudden change in diet.

being abused by hostile house guests or by untrained children.

If your cat is overweight and facing a major change, or if he is of normal weight and anxious, keep in mind the 48-hour rule: if he does not eat anything in 48 hours, take him to your vet. In fact, I'd venture to say that any cat, kitten or adult, overweight or not, who stops eating completely for two days, needs help.

To some degree, all cats are emotional. If they weren't, we probably wouldn't want them around as often as we do. Some cats display a more emotional personality and these cats may be more susceptible to stress in various forms, including anorexia.

Urbanczyk suggests being especially aware of cats under stress who have the following personality traits.

an irritable nature.

fights training.

is very emotional when visitors come to your home.

gets emotional at changes in the home, even when furniture is moved.

is easily distracted.

is aggressive toward people and animals at the vet.

is unpredictable.

has a very limited exposure to people and other animals.

This last point is very important. Is your cat's social experience balanced between other animals and adults? Of ail the mistakes I made with my beloved Capri, this one was most injurious to her. She had no experiences with other adults except me and the vet. She didn't know other animals, and she had only lived in my home.

If your cat is born to you, says Cat Love author Pam Johnson, by the seventh week you should introduce him to human touch. If you approach too soon, the kitten will not have had time to learn how to be a cat from his mama and siblings. The result may be a cat who is unable to socialize with other cats or other animals, like Capri was unable to do. If you wait too long to begin gently touching the kitty, he can become estranged from humans and never learn how to adapt to people.

Social balance cannot be emphasized enough. The lack of it contributed as much to Capri's death as the failing of her liver.

Most importantly, never forget that no matter who has temporary care of your cat in the future, remember the

48-hour rule: if your cat does not eat in 48 hours, tell them they must call you.

I wish my sitter had.


SUICIDAL TENDENCIES?

Is it possible for a cat to commit suicide? According to 15 vets I interviewed in the Austin area, the answer is no. Animal specialists believe housecats are not capable of conceptual thought. Essentially, they believe that any communication from a cat is instinctual, without conscious control. Experts liken it to the automatic nervous system that controls our breathing, blushing and eye blinking.

Roger Caras in his 1989 book, A Cat is Watching, writes about the feline mind and notes that cats are unable to conceptualize such things as statistics or the relationship between sex, pregnancy and birth. "Death close to home does depress them, though," he concedes, "I just don't know if it is possible for an animal to be depressed (emotionally, without apparent physical cause) without some level of awareness of the basic problem."

Caras says we can't prove that cats deal with their own mortality, but "they do seem to get the gist of it," when someone close to them dies.

Since so many elements of our friendly furball's nature are mysterious, perhaps it is only appropriate that this question remains open, too.


HOW THE BODY REACTS TO STRESS

Whether or not your cat is susceptible to stress-related anorexia because of excess weight and an anxious personality, stress can be very hard on the body. Says Para Johnson in her book, Cat Love, "Stress alerts the body to be on guard. The heart pumps more blood, extra hormones get secreted, muscles tense up, and in general the internal mechanisms must work harder."

Especially the kidneys. Robert Evans is curator of the mammals at the San Antonio 700. He said there is a chemical known as cortisol which is pumped by the adrenal gland to help an animal handle an emergency situation.

Evans says short-term stress "kind of cleans your pipes and gets you going again." When the emergency is over, the cortisol decreases and the body returns to normal, but the kidneys have been worked very hard by the cortisol as it processed through the kidneys.

Under long-term stress, the cat's adrenal gland can develop hyperadrenal cortisism and enlarge because of the constant presence of the chemical. If it continues unabated, the kidneys can fail.

Johnson says continual stress "also lowers the body's resistance to illness, cause personality changes and depletes energy."

Although all felines can be adversely affected by stress, Houpt says kittens are unlikely to be affected by stress-related anorexia. "It is not that kittens are less prone to stress," said Houpt, although that may be true. "l think what is more likely is that they are growing animals and have more things going on in their bodies that are encouraging food intake," she explains.

She says small or underweight cats, or cats of normal weight are probably able to last much longer on a fast because they are not in the high-risk category for hepatic lipidosis.

They can, however, be affected by hyperadrenal cortisism if they do not have a loving human to help relieve long-term stressful situations.



Chris Sexton Bordner died on April 18, 1998. A compassionate woman and an avid animal lover, Chris will be missed.