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#21
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat and getting Boney
"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message ... "Billy" wrote in message ... Interesting, is this a joke (did you read my old posts?) hahahaha Here's why I ask.....my cat with this issue, her name is ....well, ummmm it's Amber. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No, definitely not a joke. If you go here, you can see a picture of Amber: http://tinyurl.com/a5tpn She was 15 at the time this picture was taken (two years after diagnosis), and she lived another year. She was truly a little angel. Oh, she was so beautiful! I have not seen a flame point without tabby markings. Was she a particular breed? |
#22
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat and getting Boney
"Wingnut" wrote in message ... "MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message ... "Billy" wrote in message ... Interesting, is this a joke (did you read my old posts?) hahahaha Here's why I ask.....my cat with this issue, her name is ....well, ummmm it's Amber. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No, definitely not a joke. If you go here, you can see a picture of Amber: http://tinyurl.com/a5tpn She was 15 at the time this picture was taken (two years after diagnosis), and she lived another year. She was truly a little angel. Oh, she was so beautiful! I have not seen a flame point without tabby markings. Was she a particular breed? She really was gorgeous, but she was mixed breed. She obviously had Siamese in her. She had fairly long fur but not as long as a Himalayan. I always thought she looked somewhat like a Balinese. I adopted her from people who had had *all four paws declawed,* and yet they were going to put her outdoors when they were expecting a second child because "they would not have room for her." It still hurts me to think that that was done to that little angel. She had the sweetest face and sweetest personality imaginable. MaryL |
#23
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat and getting Boney
"Billy" wrote in message ... OK, bloodwork is back and all is A-OK. The vet said her blood looks beautiful. The vet also said this does not rule out cancer, but I thought cancer causes anemia which is found in the blood but Im no vet. So at this juncture, we have a decision to make. Wait and see if she continues to lose weight and not eat too much, or box her down, sedate her and get the x-rays to check for masses. What masses we are checking for or what type of cancer this could be I dont know yet until the vet explains. Hopefully if so then it is treatable. We do have the VPI special cancer endorsement! She's on the WD dry food special diet for the past few years. This we thought contributed to the weight loss since that was it intent when she weighed in at almost 17 lbs and we started her on it. Weight loss from perhaps sickness then becomes more confusing to diagnose, but not eating is plain and simple - there's still something wrong. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Billy, I can see that you are trying to give your cats the best of care, and I would like to make still another suggestion. That is, please discontinue the dry kibble and move instead to a premium *grains-free* canned food. Cats are obligate carnivores; they do not need and should not have carbs. Canned food also provides additional water, which is essential for their health. There is an old myth that says eating dry food will be better for a cat's teeth and gums. That would be somewhat like saying that people will have better teeth if they eat pretzels! In fact, it makes even *less* sense than that because cats do not chew their food, as people; they "crunch" down on their food instead. To get a much better explanation, please look at this web site: http://catinfo.org/ MaryL |
#24
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat andgetting Boney
I can see that you are trying to give your cats the best of care, and I would like to make still another suggestion. *That is, please discontinue the dry kibble and move instead to a premium *grains-free* canned food. Cats are obligate carnivores; they do not need and should not have carbs. Canned food also provides additional water, which is essential for their health. *There is an old myth that says eating dry food will be better for a cat's teeth and gums. *That would be somewhat like saying that people will have better teeth if they eat pretzels! *In fact, it makes even *less* sense than that because cats do not chew their food, as people; they "crunch" down on their food instead. To get a much better explanation, please look at this web site:http://catinfo.org/ MaryL I agree completely with MaryL. Some brand examples include Wellness, Innova Evo, and Nature's Variety canned--all brands I've fed/feed that are grain free. Warm it up a bit to make it even more appealing. |
#25
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat andgetting Boney
On Jun 2, 12:04 pm, Billy wrote:
Interesting, is this a joke (did you read my old posts?) hahahaha Here's why I ask.....my cat with this issue, her name is ....well, ummmm it's Amber. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I was aware of the dehydration issue, the cat I talked about below with surgery done was dehydrated when I broght him in. The intrvenious fluids turned him into a new man (I mean cat!) before and after surgery. I know that dehydration is a serious issue. I will check her skin elasticity when I get home but based on the vets and my observations, along with *no* vomit/diareah or lack of drinking, I'm gonna guess that I will find it not to be the case. Rather than lack of spunk all-around as dehyration would cause, she conversely seems moreso "depressed". That's the whole jist of it, it's like she's depressed - mentally sick rather thank physically based on the lack of physical sickness symptoms such as vomit, diareah, heavy breathing, etc. One other thought that came to our mind was the possibility of some heart disorder because of her heavy weight over the years. I have heard I dont know if a simple exam without ekg or other tests would difinitively identify this. She has had some odd sounding breathing and gasps in the pasts on/off. Just got a call from my wife as im writing, Amber is drinking this morn and ate a little. Another good sign maybe. I was going to mention heart disease as a possibility. With hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most common kind with cats, blood tests will usually all be normal and x-ray may not show anything much until the heart is quite enlarged. The only definitive test is an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) to assess heart function. When cats act as yours does, seeming depressed, something is wrong. She doesn't feel good, maybe not terrible but just not so good, and she can't tell you why. We just went through something not dissimilar with our cat--she was obviously not herself but all her tests were normal. Then the vet took another look at her chest x-ray and noticed a change since her last one, and concluded her asthma had gotten worse. She wasn't coughing and didn't have increased respirations, but the lip-smacking we all thought indicated nausea was more likely due to mucus. It's a good thing that Amber is eating because as you probably know, it's dangerous for a cat to go without any food for more than 48 hours, especially an overweight cat. They can develop fatty liver disease. Another possibility I want to mention to you is pancreatitis. That is notoriously difficult to diagnose. When our other cat had it, she was mopey, didn't want to be disturbed because her stomach hurt, and didn't eat much. Blood tests can be normal with pancreatitis. It's always a puzzle when a cat is lethargic and just not acting right but tests are normal. In your cat's case, it's been going on for a long time and even though it's a challenge, I think your vet needs to pursue a diagnosis. Maybe a second opinion would help, just to get another perspective. -yngver |
#26
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat andgetting Boney
Thanks for your suggesstions. Your cat was bueatiful.
We are going to take her in beginning of next week for x-rays to rule out cancer. She is still eating very little - tiny morsels here and there. The vet says they will have to "box her down" and sedate her to get them. We are hoping this is the right decision and that the risk is minimal. The vet says according to the bloodwork, all should be OK with the risk involving sedation. I also asked for her to look at the teeth better because I still have this funny feeling it is something with her mouth due to the way she goes for food, tries to chew, then drops it out. I guess we have no choice because she has to start eating again and there is no way they will kep her mouth open for any length of time other then her being "out" for it. On Jun 2, 9:41*pm, "MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote: "Billy" wrote in message ... OK, bloodwork is back and all is A-OK. The vet said her blood looks beautiful. The vet also said this does not rule out cancer, but I thought cancer causes anemia which is found in the blood but Im no vet. So at this juncture, we have a decision to make. Wait and see if she continues to lose weight and not eat too much, or box her down, sedate her and get the x-rays to check for masses. What masses we are checking for or what type of cancer this could be I dont know yet until the vet explains. Hopefully if so then it is treatable. We do have the VPI special cancer endorsement! She's on the WD dry food special diet for the past few years. This we thought contributed to the weight loss since that was it intent when she weighed in at almost 17 lbs and we started her on it. Weight loss from perhaps sickness then becomes more confusing to diagnose, but not eating is plain and simple - there's still something wrong. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Billy, I can see that you are trying to give your cats the best of care, and I would like to make still another suggestion. *That is, please discontinue the dry kibble and move instead to a premium *grains-free* canned food. Cats are obligate carnivores; they do not need and should not have carbs. Canned food also provides additional water, which is essential for their health. *There is an old myth that says eating dry food will be better for a cat's teeth and gums. *That would be somewhat like saying that people will have better teeth if they eat pretzels! *In fact, it makes even *less* sense than that because cats do not chew their food, as people; they "crunch" down on their food instead. To get a much better explanation, please look at this web site:http://catinfo.org/ MaryL |
#27
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat andgetting Boney
Did they have to sedate your cat to do this procedure? How was it
done, did they have to "box her down"? I want to understand if that's how they do it with all cats and if this is standard procedure. On May 31, 11:12*am, spot wrote: I just went through this exact thing with my 12 year old cat. He was loosing weight and we had all kinds of tests ran and everything came back normal. *He had a tooth that looked a bit iffy and the vet didn't think it was a problem. *He didn't even have any mouth odor which is common with bad teeth so it never occurred to us that it was the whole problem. *In a last ditch effort to fix what was wrong the tooth was pulled along with one more she found was bad when doing the other extraction. Obviously that tooth was causing more of an issue than either of us realized because now he is eating like a champ and putting back on the weight he's lost. Celeste |
#28
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat and getting Boney
"Billy" wrote in message ... Thanks for your suggesstions. Your cat was bueatiful. We are going to take her in beginning of next week for x-rays to rule out cancer. She is still eating very little - tiny morsels here and there. The vet says they will have to "box her down" and sedate her to get them. We are hoping this is the right decision and that the risk is minimal. The vet says according to the bloodwork, all should be OK with the risk involving sedation. I also asked for her to look at the teeth better because I still have this funny feeling it is something with her mouth due to the way she goes for food, tries to chew, then drops it out. I guess we have no choice because she has to start eating again and there is no way they will kep her mouth open for any length of time other then her being "out" for it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thanks for the update, Billy. Your description is still another reason why it would be a good idea to move to a premium canned food. If your cat really is having trouble chewing, a good-quality canned food would help enormously. Just be sure that it is *grains free.* I use Wellness, but there are also other good choices--for example, Innovo EVO or Nature's Variety. MaryL |
#29
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat andgetting Boney
How interesting that you say the thing about the lip smacking. After
trying to eat something without success yesterday, she was sticking out her tounge really far and was I guess lip smacking, like after she ate a really good meal but more pronounced. Her tounge was all over the place *outside* her mouth for about a minute. I would call it looking like she was licking her lips, but not the normal way. I wonder if this is mucous related and contributing to her not able to chew the food properly. She has had a very noticable weezing here and there for years now but it was never diagnosed because it never seemed to be a significant issue. I wonder if this condition she is feeling is respitory related and/or heart related but I dont know how or why this would cause not eating. I'm going to discuss this possibility with the vet. This also makes me more oncerned to get her sedated for the x-rays bacause I think that if she has a heart issue that it could be more of a risk to anethesize her that way. I know about the fatty liver thing so we will watch out for that. On Jun 3, 5:05*pm, " wrote: On Jun 2, 12:04 pm, Billy wrote: Interesting, is this a joke (did you read my old posts?) hahahaha Here's why I ask.....my cat with this issue, her name is ....well, ummmm it's Amber. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I was aware of the dehydration issue, the cat I talked about below with surgery done was dehydrated when I broght him in. The intrvenious fluids turned him into a new man (I mean cat!) before and after surgery. I know that dehydration is a serious issue. I will check her skin elasticity when I get home but based on the vets and my observations, along with *no* vomit/diareah or lack of drinking, I'm gonna guess that I will find it not to be the case. Rather than lack of spunk all-around as dehyration would cause, she conversely seems moreso "depressed". That's the whole jist of it, it's like she's depressed - mentally sick rather thank physically based on the lack of physical sickness symptoms such as vomit, diareah, heavy breathing, etc. One other thought that came to our mind was the possibility of some heart disorder because of her heavy weight over the years. I have heard I dont know if a simple exam without ekg or other tests would difinitively identify this. She has had some odd sounding breathing and gasps in the pasts on/off. Just got a call from my wife as im writing, Amber is drinking this morn and ate a little. Another good sign maybe. I was going to mention heart disease as a possibility. With hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most common kind with cats, blood tests will usually all be normal and x-ray may not show anything much until the heart is quite enlarged. The only definitive test is an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) to assess heart function. When cats act as yours does, seeming depressed, something is wrong. She doesn't feel good, maybe not terrible but just not so good, and she can't tell you why. We just went through something not dissimilar with our cat--she was obviously not herself but all her tests were normal. Then the vet took another look at her chest x-ray and noticed a change since her last one, and concluded her asthma had gotten worse. She wasn't coughing and didn't have increased respirations, but the lip-smacking we all thought indicated nausea was more likely due to mucus. It's a good thing that Amber is eating because as you probably know, it's dangerous for a cat to go without any food for more than 48 hours, especially an overweight cat. They can develop fatty liver disease. Another possibility I want to mention to you is pancreatitis. That is notoriously difficult to diagnose. When our other cat had it, she was mopey, didn't want to be disturbed because her stomach hurt, and didn't eat much. Blood tests can be normal with pancreatitis. It's always a puzzle when a cat is lethargic and just not acting right but tests are normal. In your cat's case, it's been going on for a long time and even though it's a challenge, I think your vet needs to pursue a diagnosis. Maybe a second opinion would help, just to get another perspective. -yngver- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
#30
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11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat and getting Boney
"Billy" wrote in message ... Another suggestion, to add to what I wrote earlier: Why not try some baby food. Get plain, unseasoned beef, chicken, or turkey. That is very soft and might be something that your cat could eat if the problem really is pain when she tries to chew. (Note: Be *very sure* there is no onion in the food. That can be toxic to cats.) MaryL |
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