10 years ago, I brought home a litter of kittens, 3 females, 1 male. I had them vaccinated and neutered at the appropriate time, and they have lived indoors ever since. The male is "normal", but each of the females has suffered from anorexia of unknown origin beginning at the age of 3-5 years. All three were always thin, but healthy to begin with. Then, one at a time, each of them began to go through periods of anorexia that would last from a few days to a few weeks. Over time, the cat would become very thin. I would take the cat to the vet, who would do blood work, look for parasites, or evidence of cancer, but all tests would come back normal. Eventually, the cat would start eating again (albeit lightly) and would regain some weight. However, before the cat regained her starting weight, another anorexic cycle would commence. Eventually, the cat became so emaciated that one of the anorexic cycles would prove fatal, although the whole process from the onset of the anorexia to death from starvation would take 5 years or more. Even when the cats were near death, all blood tests were still normal, or the only abnormalities related directly to the self imposed malnutrition. Two of the three females have succumbed in this manner, and the third is now near death. I have had some success in stimulating appetite with the use of prednisone, although the vet doesn’t think the cat should be on prednisone indefinitely, since that can do more harm than good. I have had to resort to force feeding this cat with single meat baby food, but I am not making any headway toward regaining lost weight. Has anyone else encountered this problem before? Any ideas about treatment?