[April Jean]

Hello,
My daughter just adopted a cat from the humane society. She already knew this cat, as he belonged to a friend of hers who had Pete for 7 years. He was moving and took the cat to the humane society, instead of trying to find him a home. He spent about 2 weeks in the shelter. Pete weighed 22 pounds, and was listed as a seal point snow shoe, and was quite obese! My daughter felt really bad for Pete, and went to the Humane Society to adopt him. He started sneezing and could not breathe soon after she brought him home. After a day or two, my daughter took him to the vet, who started him on antibiotics. He stopped eating, and has not eaten anything in 8 days! We took him to the vet again, and he has been hospitalized there since Saturday. I called today, and his blood work was all normal, but he still will not eat. My daughter and I have become very attached to Pete, and we are really worried. The vet's office said they were going to try medication to increase his appetite.

Do you think this refusal to eat could be because of the emotional upheaval of being left in a shelter, adopted into a new home with another cat already there, and then back to a cage in the vets office? He must be terribly confused! He's seven years old, and not a young cat, poor thing.