Cat appetite question

[emjacobs]

We've been having some food / eating issues with our cat lately. 

Background: She's appox 4 years old, we picked her up as a stray at about 5 weeks.  She's never had any health issues and was spayed as soon as she was old enough. Only food issue is that her stomach doesn't agree with chunky wet food (throws it up).  She does seem to scavenge for food and always follows / begs us for our food, I have always related that to being a stray at birth.  She's always done this so it's never concerned me, we just don't feed her our food. 

Issue: In the last week or so she hasn't been eating all of her food.  She gets fed 1/4cup dry food 2x's daily. I would say there is probably 1/2 of her food left when I go to feed her.  I thought it might be that she is getting bored with her food so I switched to another brand.  She showed interest but still only ate 1/2 of it.  I offered a can of tuna, no huge interest.  I gave her a few of her favorite treats and she was very interested but it took her a long time to eat them. 

I cleaned her litter box when we got the new food (so I have a solid reference) and as of last night she had only peed in the box, no poop in 24 hours. 

I'm thinking that there could be a tooth issue and her mouth is hurting her, or she ate something she shouldn't have and her tush hurts so she doesn't want to poop and she's backed herself up. 

Is there something I can give her that will act as a stool softener in that case? 

[niemand88f]

Whenever a cat's eating or litter box habits change (and isn't clearly related to her preferring another food), it can indicate a health problem - not wanting to eat and not pooping could indicate a blockage for example. I would definitely call your vet and see if you should bring her in.

A lot of vets offer dental specials during February for pet dental health month - if it is a tooth problem it might be cheaper to treat during Feb.

[emjacobs]

I called the vet and left a message, they close early on Fridays. I let them know that I was available tomorrow if there was space or a cancellation since I'm only 10 minutes away.

It does look like they are running a 10% discount on dental for the month so that is something.