Cats sleep about 16 hours a day. But if your cat would rather sleep than eat, drink or play, it's cause for alarm. All this snoozing is a response to illness. And even if this illness is a temporary condition (like the common cold), failure to eat and drink can have disastrous effects.
Cats that go more than two days without eating are likely to develop one of the most common -- and deadly -- metabolic diseases of their species: hepatic lipidosis, also known as fatty liver disease. When a cat won't eat, her body taps into its fat supply for energy. It's then up to the liver to metabolize all that fat, and it simply can't handle the influx. As a result, the liver becomes overwhelmed by fat; some of it stays behind and inhibits the liver's function. If your cat is excessively tired or refuses to eat for more than a day, contact your veterinarian.
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