The results of Callie's thyroid test came back yesterday in the normal range. So all of the blood studies showed Callie to be in excellent health ... but she's continuing to lose weight. I feel like my old baby is just wasting away before my eyes, even though she eats twice as much as my other cats. She has gone from 10 pounds to less than 6 pounds in the last few months.
Dr. Shew thinks the problem is that at her advanced age (18) she's just not absorbing the nutrients from her food and he says the only thing I can do is make sure she's getting high-calorie food and feed her as much as she wants.
I still haven't ruled out that the stress of having Mr. Milky here may have affected her, but that wouldn't explain why she's still losing weight. So I'm looking for advice from all of you who may have experienced something similar with one of your kitties. And maybe you could advise me about high calorie food and some vitamins or supplements I might try with her. Other than maybe being grumpier than usual, Callie seems to feel okay.
Oh, and speaking of Mr. Milky, I'm going to Stan's this afternoon to visit him, so check back tonight or tomorrow for a blog post from our Milky!
~~Mom Sharolyn
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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29 comments:
If the vet doesn't think she's absorbing nutrients properly, probiotics might be a good thing to try. Mom never tried them with us or with Texas, but lots of cats on the lymphoma forums have used them successfully.
We also recommend hi-vite or pet-tinic/liqui-tinic for Callie. We think it is non-prescription too, but Mom got it from the vet for Texie.
Although expensive, it might put your mind at ease to have Callie's stomach x-rayed or scanned. This would show if there was cancer or anything else wrong with her tummy/intestines preventing absorbption of foods.
I don't have any suggestions except to feed her as much as she wants and give her lots of smooches.
ps - please give her one for me!
I'm glad Callie's thyroid values are normal. With Angel our eldest at 18.5yrs, even after thyroid surgery she just could not put on weight (she did have big GI problems too as a complication) Older cats definately need to eat a heap more than younger ones, so keep shoveling it in, maybe smaller more frequent meals might help her absorb more goodness?
The best food we found to help Angel maintain weight is Royal Canin Sensitivity Control S/O (2 flavours in wet food - duck and chicken) She absorbes this well. It has restricted protein and pro-biotics. She gets 250g+ a day, supplemented with up to 30g of the same brand in dry biscuits. She gets cooked chicken twice a week too. She'd eat more but we have to watch the amounts as too much sets off her GI issues. It took us ages to find a diet that suited her in her old age.
Good luck!
Whicky Wuudler
PS: Hills AD in tins is very high calorie and easily digested too - a bit rich for Angel with her GI problems, but might work for Callie.
Might some supplementary digestive enzymes help out? Humans can benefit from them, so why not cats?Glad her thyroid is okay.
PS: We had full body x rays done of Angel and nothing showed up, vets were sure that it was an absorbtion issue.
It might take Callie a little while to recover from the Mr Milky related stress too. Feliway diffusers, might help with that.
It'll be good to see how Mr Milky is doing in his new home.
Whicky Wuudler
I'm glad to hear that Callie's tests came back good. Have you tried probiotics? Also, visit www.thehonestkitchen.com and take a look at their cat food (it's called Prowl). I know cats and dogs are very different, but my Frenchie has many allergies and was not gaining weight on any of the foods we tried. Honest Kitchen worked out great for him and he's at the correct weight now.
Also, has your vet given you the Hills D'D food or recommended it? I've never used that myself, but I know of a lot of people that use that for their cats to deal with health issues.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for her and all my kitties will be thinking of Callie, too.
In our experience with unexplained weight loss in our cats, it was from kidney problems. Has the vet checked her kidney function?
Crew's Mom
Thanks for the update on Callie!! We hope she gains back all her weight!
Your FL furiends,
Others have given you good ideas. My sister had a cat that had problems absorbing nutrients and was losing lots of weight but her cat also threw up and had diarrhea. The vet thought it might be pancreatitis. But if Callie isn't throwing up, etc. that may not be her problem.
Island Cats' mom
Are you sure she is eating as much as she always was? I know that as our older cats aged sometimes they picked more than they ate and so their intake was down a bit. The probiotics are good idea and it will take her some time to adjust to not having the stress of Mr. Milky. Sometimes that can take awhile for a cat to calm down. Georgia usually takes about two weeks to understand a new change (like when we didn't have a kitchen and then we did).
Perhaps Callie developed an allergy to her foods?
Stress makes beans lose weight, why not kittys too?
If her kidneys are good, then maybe a good high quality kitten food because that has lots of nutrients and calories. Cats need a lot less of the high quality stuff to get adequate nutrients because there isn't the filler like corn and byproducts etc. We could name some that work well here if you want but don't want to put in a big list here.
Our Bailey at 17 just kept losing weight after her thyroid levels were stabilized and her blood work was good. The vet said it was brain cancer. There was nothing we could do, but I don't know if that'd be something you could still check for at this stage.
I agree and would try probiotics, along with a high calorie supplement Nutri-Cal. It's a paste that comes in a tube like hairball medicine. Unfortunately, my 15 year old cat, Butterball hated it as I had to fill a syringe with it and squirt it into his mouth twice a day because he wasn't eating anything. Since Callie is eating, maybe you just need to rub a little on her front paws to start off to see if she likes to lick it off. Good luck!
Can't wait to hear an update on Mr. Milky.
Spirit and Ezra sez... When Momma's doggie Sam gotted old and started to lose weight, Momma and da VET putted her on Prednisone a couple of times a week, cause it made her super hungry.
wew used nuti cal for lilly lu she loved it they also make cat sure for older cats/ Lilly was not going fo that one/. I agree with the probitics. we were going to try them with mu shue but the vet did not think it help. I would also have her tummy ulrtra sounded at a unsverity hopsial
Laura
i'm so sorry that Callie is still losing weight. that is no fun. i am very glad to hear that her tests are normal tho.
i am on a high fat diet for my FIV. i eat prescription hill WD (moist) and ID (crunchy) but we think there are even more high calorie ones, your VET should know.
those wine glass charms are adorable!! i need to save more green papers for those. we could use them on New Year's Eve
I am sorry I really do not know.
Momma has been giving me kitten food to fatten me up a little coz I eats and eats and eats but still has a little skinny tummy, but I poop regular and run around a little bit.
It is working a little I am a little more round, but I have always been this way..
I thinks you could be right about stress, and she may still be like that because she can still smell Mr Milky, maybe if you got some kind of proper kitty cleaners, or even just washing powder with enzymes ( Momma uses that coz it's cheaper), to try and rid a little more smell.
Either way as long as she is healthy, this is a good thing, you has something to work with :))
Just remember she can feel your stress too! We are sensitive to our hoomans feelings :)
V-V
We're glad to hear that the tests are clear, but we're still purring for sweet Callie. Maybe some kitten milk might do the trick?
We're looking forward to hearing how Mr. Milky is doing in his new home!
We're glad Callie's test results were good. We hope the high calorie foods help.
We are looking forward to a post from Mr. Milky.
I'm really happy to hear that Callie's tests went well. I don't have any suggestions about the high calorie foods, but there appears to be a lot of experience and expertise from the cat blog community.
The Woman says she gave Nutri-Cal to BooBoo kitty when she was older and very skinny. BB kitty loooovvveeed it even though the Woman says it looked like clear brown toothpaste to her! I'm sure lots of love and purrs and snuggles are the best medicine for Callie <3
We can't wait to hear about Milky-man!
Purrs to Callie, sounds like the cats have good suggestions.
Hi Sharolyn,
If Callie's faeces is different from normal than you could let the vet check it for parasites such as giardia, but it can also be checked for abnormal bacteriagrowth etc. Do you often use something against worms in the faeces? That's something you can do anyway.
I send you two mails the other day but I'm not sure you received them since I didn't get a reading notification and had some trouble with my mailserver lately.
I hope Callie will get better soon and to hear from you
Ellen (from Holland)
I am going through the same thing with my little old man, Carlos, almost 16 years old.
He was a strapping, muscular, 16 pound boy, and is now barely 10 pounds.
He has had all kinds of tests on his blood, stool, and urine, and nothing shows. He recently had an Xray which showed a shadow near his stomach, so it could be a tumor or an obstruction. He will be getting an ultrasound next week.
The vet recently started him on Metronidazole (Flagyl) and Mirtazapine. The Flagyl has practically eliminated the vomiting and diarrhea, and the Mirtazapine is to increase his appetite and help him put on weight.
We'll see next week if he has put on weight, because he has been eating much more lately.
Maybe your vet can give Callie Mirtazapine so she eats more, and gets more calories.
thanks,
Sandi
callie needs a spa day
our mommy gave 'Nae "mother's milk" for kitties. it's high in calories and fat and is a good source of vitamins.
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