Force Feeding using a feeding syringe is needed if a cat doesn’t eat for 24-72 hours and you've exhausted all other options. Not eating for this long can be a result of surgery, certain medications, or illness, such as chronic kidney disease. A feeding tube is sometimes used with vet supervision, but is not as common as using a feeding syringe, which most pet owners can use at home.

It is very important that cats eat regularly to keep the liver from developing a disease called Hepatic Lipidosis. This is when liver failure sets in as a cat loses weight too quickly. Unfortunately, Hepatic Lipidosis can prove fatal, which is why force feeding is sometimes necessary.

To force feed your cat, you‘ll need to get either human baby food from the grocery store or blend cat food into a wet gruel. This makes it easy to use a feeding syringe as a delivery method. You’ll want to get a meat based type (like chicken or turkey), and make sure it doesn’t have garlic in the ingredient list. Check the calories when you get it…you want to try to find 100 calories per 2.5oz container or something equivalent. It doesn’t have to be exactly that, but the more calories the better.

Weruva makes several kinds of healthy canned wet food that are great for syringe feeding and low in phosphorous. "Goody Stew Shoes" has chicken and salmon in gravy and is very liquidy. Just make sure you shake the can for a few seconds before opening. "Press Your Dinner" and "BFF Play Paté Lovers Chicken Checkmate" are both a chicken paté, though I'd mix in a little extra water to help liquify it even more.

NOTE: Wet food like Goody Stew Shoes contains fish, which can sometimes be a concern for cats with CKD. The reason being that a condition called Proteinuria (if present) can cause the cat to lose protein in their urine. This can cause weight loss. If your cat is losing weight, (despite their appetite) I'd stay from wet food containing fish, as fish helps to accelerate kidney damage and increase the weight loss due to higher levels of phosphorus. That said, I'd stick to wet food containing chicken to help cut down on the effects of Proteinuria.

Force Feeding Instructions

Draw the food up in a syringe and put it in the corner of the cat’s mouth and squirt a little in. Give him time to swallow and lick his mouth...maybe 10-15 seconds or so, then repeat until the syringe is empty.

Cats need to eat 20ml per 1 lb. of bodyweight each day. This is based on 100 calories per 2.5oz of food. If your food is much lower in calories, increase the volume of food accordingly.

Please use the chart below to figure out how much to feed per the number of times a day:



While feeding, keep a big absorbent towel or disposable puppy pad handy, as they often spit some out while you do this. Wrapping the towel around them like a bib sometimes helps with the mess. I recommend feeding them small amounts more often, rather than large amounts of food only a couple of times a day. Kitties will fight it sometimes, so if you can give them smaller amounts more frequently, they usually tolerate it better.

Personally, I've tried several types of feeding syringes over the years. The most common ones often seize up a lot during their use, making feeding extremely frustrating. I recommend using the "Miracle Oring Syringe" which comes in 3ml, 5ml, 10ml and 60ml sizes. The advantage is that these syringes are outfitted with only one O-ring and designed to be reusable without having to deal with the constant seizing. If they do start to become a little difficult after several uses, you can take a wooden handle cotton swab and dip it into a small jar of Coconut Oil, then gently coat the O-ring on the syringe's plunger...you're smooth as silk again!

Continue to offer wet cat food every day while you are force feeding. At least once a day try warming the wet food up, putting it on their lips/in their mouth, putting it next to their face, etc. to try and coax them to start eating again. Depending on the cause, it usually takes anywhere from 2-14 days for a cat that stops eating to start wanting to eat again, so just keep offering food until they feel like eating on their own. The exception is when they're dealing with chronic illnesses like kidney disease, which creates inappetence on occasion. This topic is discussed at length on my Loss of Appetite page.

It's sad to think about this, but the only exception to force feeding a cat with a syringe, is if they are near death as a result of disease. This is because that force feeding can be traumatizing to some cats, and doing so can take away what little quality of life they may have left in the end. At this point, I would definitely discuss end-of-life decisions with your vet.