Our cat Price, whom we've since about '98, is suddenly losing a lot of weight and not wanting to eat. Been through blood and senior tests, nothing wrong but a low thyroid reading -- and he's getting thin, not overweight. We've put him on thyroid medication, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. So we'll be setting up to go to a specialist. He had a cancerous growth removed from his face a couple years back, and that will be part of the consideration.
Don't laugh - I've known people to spend $4500.00 on a dog for cancer treatment. Ask what happened after Hurricane Katrina when people were told pets couldn't be rescued. Family is family. A good way to get hurt is to go for somebody's animals.
Price is from Bremerton, by the way. First time I saw him was butt-first in a homeless woman's arms. She told me, "You have to take this cat!" Her kid was looking up at me, hoping I would. I finally did take the cat and put him on the bed, and when they'd left, I went back into the bedroom to find him crossed-pawed and looking around, like, "Yeah, I could live here."
Turned out he'd been dumped at the local St. Vinnie's and had been living in the parking lot for a couple weeks. The woman couldn't stand it any more. As usual, it's the poor who try to pick up the slack.
Price was named after our other tuxedo cat Vincent, who disappeared in 2001. He's too young to be going into what looks like old age failure -- but that two weeks on the street might have set him up for a shorter life.
Here's hoping we can do something, but when they stop eating I've never seen it turn around.
Price is from Bremerton, by the way. First time I saw him was butt-first in a homeless woman's arms. She told me, "You have to take this cat!" Her kid was looking up at me, hoping I would. I finally did take the cat and put him on the bed, and when they'd left, I went back into the bedroom to find him crossed-pawed and looking around, like, "Yeah, I could live here."
Turned out he'd been dumped at the local St. Vinnie's and had been living in the parking lot for a couple weeks. The woman couldn't stand it any more. As usual, it's the poor who try to pick up the slack.
Price was named after our other tuxedo cat Vincent, who disappeared in 2001. He's too young to be going into what looks like old age failure -- but that two weeks on the street might have set him up for a shorter life.
Here's hoping we can do something, but when they stop eating I've never seen it turn around.
7 comments:
Saying the Cat Prayer for Price.
Thank you so many times, ma'am. The appetite stimulant kicked in and at least I got some calories into him. So evidently your good words worked! :) <3
I'm so sorry. Has he had his blood sugar tested? Do you know anyone who has diabetes, and could loan their meter to you? You could check for yourself and save a trip to the doctor. There's info on the Internet that tells you how often to check and which readings are dangerously high or low.
My sister's middle-aged cat got diabetes a couple of years ago, and weight loss and listlessness was the first symptom. We changed her food and she went back to normal. I hope this will be such an easy solution! Best of luck!
What I did in such cases is force feed the cat a special high-energy paste sold by the vet in tubes. They cannot spit it out and it contains all vital nutriments. It can help the cat to gain appetite again, since it stimulates appetite. Ask your vet for that. Our brand is called "Nutrigel". The one available in the US may have a different name.
I brought back a lot of cats into life and eating again this way. Best wishes for Price.
I may still have a tube, I guess, from when my Millie was sick. If you do not find one at your area, I will mail it to you.
Yup, tested the blood sugar -- not diabetes. Thanks for the offers; I've got him eating, but dunno what it is. I'd put the whole household on better food, but it might be that. We're taking him in for tests Monday.
My friend in Seville has been through this twice with her old guy now, who's about Price's age, and he rallied both times. Vet actually suspected an infection running him down and gave an antibiotic, which sounds wildly random, yet it worked.
http://azahar.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/pobrecito/
Good luck tomorrow. Cats are better family than most families of Miss Jane's actquaintance.
Thank you -- it may be an infection. I have Baytril. I'm going to try that.
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