My cat is anorexic

[nitznitz]

My cat had a lot in her life. She was abused as a kitten, my second cousin adopted her and raised her with her large dog, where she was happy, up until she and the dog witnessed my second cousin's suicide.
Since then she moved to my mom's aunt(the ex-owner's mother), then to my mom's for a month and finally, when my father got his own apartment, she moved to him. She handled moving to my dad's relatively well and switched between me and him as her trusted person. Then, we went to a vacation in Paris for 5 days in September, where she was freaked out when we got back, and at some point later she started wounding herself in the neck while roaring. She was more stressed and less trusting, scratching everyone who got near her, like she used to after she moved. We sedated her into going to a vet, where she was finally able to truly sleep, but she is obviously traumatized from the vet. She hardly eats or drinks, sleeps most of the time but is friendly to the entire family, even my 6-year-old sister, who she was scared of and aggressive towards. Her meowing is weak except for night time, but she expresses no pain. Her left third eyelid(the inner one) is usually half-closed, while the rest are either open(normally) or closed(sleeping or being pet).

How can we get her to eat and drink without losing her trust again?

[weeneez]

work slowly with her and let her come to you, don't force her to eat unless its starting to affect her health again or something.
pet her if she lets you, and try moving slowly with that as well, try picking her up or hugging her, but if she starts showing any signs of discomfort or aggression put her down and give her her space immediately. you don't want her feeling suffocated, she might freak out again.
with love an affection, she can learn to be a normal cat again, and she'll eat.

i had a friend who has a dog who was abused as a puppy. he's not the same as normal dogs i would say, but he's living a healthy and happy life now.

[11 Cardinal 11]

What are you feeding her?

I'd try switching to a wet food. Something really smelly. You can even try heating it up for a few seconds to make it even more smelly. Leave the food out in the center of a room where she is and then just.. leave her be with it. Some cats just don't like eating in front of people.

Eating a wet food diet will assure she's getting enough moisture in her diet. Also grabbing a water-fall type drinking fountain will stimulate the cat to drink.

[nitznitz]

I also forgot to mention, she tends to pretend she's eating, so I guess she read our concerns.

weeneez

work slowly with her and let her come to you, don't force her to eat unless its starting to affect her health again or something.
pet her if she lets you, and try moving slowly with that as well, try picking her up or hugging her, but if she starts showing any signs of discomfort or aggression put her down and give her her space immediately. you don't want her feeling suffocated, she might freak out again.
with love an affection, she can learn to be a normal cat again, and she'll eat.

i had a friend who has a dog who was abused as a puppy. he's not the same as normal dogs i would say, but he's living a healthy and happy life now.

We only pet her when she shows affection upon touch. And at the last 3 days, she does.

11 Cardinal 11

What are you feeding her?

I'd try switching to a wet food. Something really smelly. You can even try heating it up for a few seconds to make it even more smelly. Leave the food out in the center of a room where she is and then just.. leave her be with it. Some cats just don't like eating in front of people.

Eating a wet food diet will assure she's getting enough moisture in her diet. Also grabbing a water-fall type drinking fountain will stimulate the cat to drink.

She's really weak. My dad tried to give her some tuna treats(who are very moist)(especially made for cats, so no poision found in canned tuna), but she refused to eat, so he sticked some in her legs so that she'll eat whn she cleans herself again.
We're just that desprate to feed her.

[Henrika]

nitznitz

My cat had a lot in her life. She was abused as a kitten, my second cousin adopted her and raised her with her large dog, where she was happy, up until she and the dog witnessed my second cousin's suicide.
Since then she moved to my mom's aunt(the ex-owner's mother), then to my mom's for a month and finally, when my father got his own apartment, she moved to him. She handled moving to my dad's relatively well and switched between me and him as her trusted person. Then, we went to a vacation in Paris for 5 days in September, where she was freaked out when we got back, and at some point later she started wounding herself in the neck while roaring. She was more stressed and less trusting, scratching everyone who got near her, like she used to after she moved. We sedated her into going to a vet, where she was finally able to truly sleep, but she is obviously traumatized from the vet. She hardly eats or drinks, sleeps most of the time but is friendly to the entire family, even my 6-year-old sister, who she was scared of and aggressive towards. Her meowing is weak except for night time, but she expresses no pain. Her left third eyelid(the inner one) is usually half-closed, while the rest are either open(normally) or closed(sleeping or being pet).

How can we get her to eat and drink without losing her trust again?

I'm surprised the vet didn't recommend prozac for anxiety. I don't often agree with heavy medication, but it your situation it might be worth it.

Alternatively you could try HomeoPet's Anxiety Reflief medication. It is natural/ homeopathic medication and I have personally used this and found it worked really well to reduce stress levels. You could pair it with Feliway sprayed around the house to help create a more soothing environment for your cat.

After starting with some kind of anti-stress system in place, you need to spend a lot of time bonding with her, provide her with a space that is "hers" either a crate and/or a nice tall place to perch, and LOTS of playtime.

EDIT: To feed her, blenderize her kibble with chicken baby food and add some water until it's a drinkable consistency. Get a syringe and scruff her and force-feed her. Make sure you leave lots of time to breath and swallow. It may seem cruel, but trust me when I say your cat will be glad of it when she is better.

EDIT 2: If she is "sleeping" with her eyes half open, it is likely she is fake sleeping due to stress - this is a very common behaviour in shelter cats who's situation had been changed and are under a lot of constant change and strange noises. Again, I would choose meds from the vet or natropathic meds before anything else to help the situation.