Cats have very sensitive systems and once their unbalanced it takes a lot to get them back on track. Often, the original reason they stop eating might not even be contributing to their anorexic behavior later on. If a cat goes more than 24 hours without eating a bite, organ systems begin to sustain strain, which was why your vet had to hospitalize him and give him potassium, etc. Naturally, having your organ systems get all wonky makes you feel that much LESS like eating and the whole thing snowballs from there.

I don't really suscribe to the theory that he won't eat because he's mad at you. He's upset in general at all the upheaval and probably feels quite ill and out of sorts, he's not doing it to punish you. I once took on a cat that refused to eat -- we did all sorts of tests and a barium series, EVERYTHING, but could find nothing other than the physical signs of a cat who isn't eating. Whatever it was that had caused him to stop in the first place was long over, and now he just felt horrible because he wasn't eating. Once I force fed him one time he began eating a little bit with special coaxing and now is a fat happy boy with a wonderful owner.

Sometimes force feeding is the only way to get them back on track, to get nutrients in their system again, HOWEVER, it seems your cat has a rather delicate heart condition going on that is particularly affected by stress (like from the kitten), so force feeding him could contribute to the difficulty breathing because it would stress him.

I would say, if he continues to not eat, to have him hospitalized again so they can force feed him under a doctor's supervision for the heart issue. It's rather like, if he continues to not eat, you have to choose the lesser of two evils, one one hand the stress of forcing food could make his heart act up, on the other if he doesn't eat he could go into organ failure.

Now that he is on Lasix, that should help with fluid buildup in the chest cavity, which was causing the breathing difficulty. Although there's nothing to be done about the murmur, he will now at least be able to breathe eaiser when stressed, so, if it comes to it, force feeding would be the way to go.

Make sure you've tried to tempt him to eat with everything under the sun, lunch meat, roasted chicken, all the good stuff that he would normally just go crazy over. And keep in daily contact with your vet.

Best of luck!

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