11 Year Old Cat Listless and Losing Weight w/ Bad Coat and gettingBoney

"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.

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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?

"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

"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.


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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

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.

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

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

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

"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.

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- -

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

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 -

"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