Diminishing Betty

[susandennis]

Betty hopped up on my lap tonight because I had a treat for her.  She needed a couple of nails clipped.  After I was done she stuck around and I stroked her back.  She is nothing but bones.  She's always been skinny but now she's beyond skinny.  She's a true little old lady.

But she's so perky and happy.  As I type this she is resting her head on the crook of my elbow.  Not so much because she loves me but more because she wants her before bed treat.

She's a feisty little thing still and I hope she'll be around awhile longer but if not, at least I know she had a fun.

Comments

[catmomma.livejournal.com]

My old lady Lola is going the opposite. My old cats have always gone skinny but Lola has recently discovered that she likes the prescription kidney food and she has put on a bit of plumpness. She has arthritis so I have to keep it in check so she does not hurt her joints.

[susandennis]

I did not think of that... counting my blessings. There is no way I could restrict Betty's intake. She'd pester me to death. Whew.

[fyremaven.livejournal.com]

It's pretty common for some older felines to have a thyroid problem of some type. Just happened to our last kitty. She was fine for YEARs then suddenly (despite our deworming, etc,) lost weight while still remaining just as active and eating...well let's just say she was always pestering us for food.. When we had her tested for worms and it was all clear the vet told me about the elderly cats and them having thyroid issues. A simple blood test and sure enough, she needed a supplement. With the supplement she didn't act quite so hungry all the time and she returned to pretty much her normal weight. For our cat it was alarming how much weight she'd lost, she really was just skin and bones but otherwise perky, etc. Which is why i think i didn't pursue the vet for a long time.

Anyway, she lived to be around 20 but finally declined, slowed her eating down, and one day just didn't wake up. She was a good cat.

[susandennis]

I thought thyroid, too, but the vet tested her and said no. And then gave her some vial medicine which was very expensive and she hated. Making sure she got it tortured us both. That was last September.

Maybe I'll take her back next week or maybe I'll take her to a different vert... but I'm not going to go through the medicine torture again.

[fyremaven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the ONLY reason we were able to give Mariah her medicine is because it was a tiny half pill once a day and we balled it up in a little cat treat. Otherwise, NO WAY!! I don't want to stress out my animals or myself.
If your vet did a blood panel and nothing came up then I'm stumped. If it was something super bad she would most likely not have her nice, healthy appetite. Though worms can cause weight loss she doesn't really go anywhere to pick them up. So I'm stumped. And for some reason I kept typing "i'm a stump" so it's time for me to stop typing. lol

[susandennis]

I just remembered a friend told me about a new vet and this might be the perfect way/time to try them out. I'm going to hold off til next week and then maybe we'll make a little trip. (Although, that's torturing her itself - she hates the carrier, the car, the all of it!)