My Skinny Old Boy

[plumtreeblossom]

I'm concerned about Rowley, my elderly Siamese cat, whose weight seems to have dropped to half of what it was last year. He's pictured in this icon, but he doesn't look like that anymore -- all that muscle is gone, and I can feel the knobs of his spine and all of his sharp joints. At his last vet visit he weighed 12 pounds. He couldn't possibly weigh more than 5 or 6 now.

Yet he isn't acting sick at all. He eats his meals with gusto, has no litter box problems, and is the same intelligent, demanding prince he always was. He snuggles with Benjamin and naps on his heated mat. On Wednesday he ate a quarter-pound of shaved deli turkey in one sitting. His real age is unknown, but he's somewhere between 13 and 20+.

He loathes vet visits more than anything, but I'm afraid we're going to have to go in. It's possible that this is normal -- I don't have much experience with geriatric cats. He might be just losing muscle and fat the way we humans do when we're very old. But I need to find out if anything else is wrong.

Comments

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I hope it turns out to be minor, whatever it is.

[gravitrue.livejournal.com]

I'm not a vet, but this sounds just like the thyroid issues my favorite cat had. If it is thyroid, it is treatable in two ways, one annoying (a pill every day) the other expensive (radioactive injection for like $1300). I hope your choices aren't too difficult.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I'd have to go with the pill, if that's the case. Hope it isn't.

[muffyjo]

I was just going to suggest this. My cat has a thyroid problem like this and has since she was diagnosed at age...oh, I think it was 13 or so. She's now 19. Basically she has a non-cancerous nodule on her thyroid which is apparently quite common. Rather than give her pills daily (which is exhausting for everyone involved) she gets a treat which has been nicely compounded by my pharmacist in liver, chicken or salmon which she wolfs down in the morning when we get up and at night before we go to bed.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

That's encouraging. My Rowley is a willful cat, and I was concerned about pilling him. The treat delivery system sounds better.

Did your cat get skinny like that? And did she gain her weight back?

[bex77]

My Vanna had the thyroid thing, too. Weight loss was the clue to get tested for it. Very common in older cats, vet said. She gained a little back. She also had the "treats" that she loved.

[muffyjo]

Yes and yes. She got skinny and then, once we figured out what level of meds to give her and got her on the right balance, she gained the weight back. She's been steady in the same .5lb range now for years.

One time I got all concerned that she was eating loads and loads and not gaining weight since her food bowl was going quicker and quicker and she didn't appear to be gaining weight. Of course I called the vet, he came over, got blood, did all the usual tests, etc. The next day I was sitting in my kitchen and heard her make a strange sound. I thought "Oh god, what is it?! Is she dying?" so I turned around to see her in rapt concentration. Slowly I made my way into the livingroom only to be nose to nose...with a squirrel.

Seems the squirrel had come in my window, climbed across the back of the couch, crossed the doorway and gone to the food bowl and was making his/her way back to the window (and outside to the tree) with her food!

I called the vet and explained that I felt the tests would come back normal. He said he was surprised they had (he'd just gotten them back) and I explained the situation. We both had a good laugh.

Just sharing the smile along with the information.

[muffyjo]

Oh, and right, there's a topical solution as well. It's a small dab of what looks like white lotion that gets rubbed into the patch of skin in front of the ear. That's another option as well.

Ms. T didn't take to it and scratched her ears too much for that one, but I understand that other cats don't have her problems. :)

[kencf0618.livejournal.com]

Merlot gets a dab of thyroid gel aurally thrice daily.

[kalibex.livejournal.com]

My little old lady cat Janie has suddenly lost some weight as well - though they said nothing at the vet when I had her in for nail clipping a month or so back. I figured the recent stress of dealing with the temporary kitty house guest might've caused her to drop a few lbs, but maybe her own thyroid is acting up, too....

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

Ember the Wonder Cat, who is 18, has the same symptoms (she went from 10 down to 5 pounds, but is otherwise her lively self). Her thyroid tested normal, but her kidneys are on the small side. My vet is suggesting subcutaneous fluids a couple times a week, which I really have to go deal with soon. I also have her on special kidney diet kibble.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

I hope that Rowley will be just fine. It can be such a worry when a pet shows changes. They cant tell us themselves, so we have to find out by other means. The vet is the way to go. Keep us posted?

[heatherp8.livejournal.com]

sharing your concern about your beloved feline companion.
It's difficult when you don't know their real age.
"somewhere between 13 and 20" definitely qualifies for the elderly tag.
Here's hoping you can get to the bottom of the weight loss.

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

Eep. I hope everything is all right. Rowley is an absolute sweetheart.

[lilbjorn.livejournal.com]

Definitely not normal. He'll need a blood test, which will probably tell you if it's thyroid, kidney, diabetes, or something worse. Coal Train is on the thyroid pills, twice a day (a total of 1 1/4 pills per day). If, since starting to lose the weight, there has been an increase in "running around activity", it's probably thyroid.

Do you know about pill pockets? They're shaped sort of like a pitted olive and are the consistency of cookie dough. You put the pill inside (thryoid pills are tiny) and close the end up. Some cats (like my mother's) will just eat them. Others, like Coal train, are pickier. So we just use part of the pill pocket to glue the pill onto one of his favorite treats and he eats that.