Although a sick cat’s body desperately needs sufficient nutrients, a very sick cat may stop eating, for several different reasons. In order to maintain your cat’s strength and aid it in recovering from its illness, you may have to force feed the animal. There are a couple of different ways of doing this, depending on how ill the cat is.

Syringe feeding: Use large plastic syringes, available at any veterinary office, to squirt water or a mixture of water and food into the cat’s mouth. Special food can be purchased that is a thin enough consistency to be delivered in this manner; alternatively, baby food can be used, but this may not contain the amount of calories or nutrients required by a cat’s body. This method is especially useful if the cat is also not taking fluids. However, it is important to realize that food given in this manner has less density of nutrients and calories, so more of it must be given.

Solid foods force-feeding: The consistency of most canned catfood is such that the food can be formed into small meatballs. These can be placed, one by one, at the back of the cat’s throat, as when giving the cat a pill. This method of force-feeding a cat is much faster, since the food is not watered down. However, it should only be used on cats well enough to swallow solid food.

Other tips: Regardless of which method of force-feeding you use, be sure not to rush the cat. Especially if the cat’s stomach has been in starvation mode, too much food at once can cause vomiting. Also, do not give the cat food directly from the refrigerator, as the chill in the food can also cause vomiting. It’s likely that the cat will struggle while being force fed, unless it is already very weak; to minimize the time you spend fighting to get the food into the cat’s mouth, wrap it securely in a towel before beginning.

Remember, when you got your cat you made it part of your family; as such, it deserves the same attention in nursing it back to health as your mother would have given you.