Thin kitty

[LinZ]

It's been a long time since I've been here. Hope everyone has been having a nice holiday.

My question deals with my 12-year-old female cat who seems to have lost some weight off her already-petite frame.

My female kitty Caspurr has always been a very petite and slender cat, save for her little flesh pouch on her lower belly...which I assume is the result of her being spayed. Her and my other two kitties are in my mother's care while I'm in college and Mom says Caspurr is getting too thin. And she does look it...I can feel her ribs and spine, and her lower back and sides are really tiny. Mom thinks it's worms, but I have never seen the telltale wiggling worms on her backside like most infested cats have. This cat has always had a voracious appetite too...often rotating between eating her food, begging for table scraps and a treat (which is canned food) and then eating the dog's food. And yet she has always been the smallest of my three cats.

She has no other symptoms and still acts the same. I am concerned it *might* be feline leukemia since this cat's mother died of the disease about two months after Caspurr was born. But...wouldn't there be more than *a* symptom? I have read up on the signs of feline leukemia and none of them match Caspurr beyond the weight loss. The fact that a symptom of leukemia in cat is a decreased appetite and Caspurr still eats like a garbage disposal leads me to believe it may just be worms. Or maybe her metabolism is too high and she needs a higher-calorie food.

Plus, Caspurr is 12 years old. Why would symptoms of feline leukemia show up o late in her life? And why only in her when she has lived with her brother her whole life and with my other boy cat for about five years? Wouldn't the others have contracted it? I don't know if the cats ever got vaccinated for leukemia either.

I have some roundworm medication that I am debating over whether or not to try since I don't think it will harm the cat to ingest it if she has no worms. Right now, I'd have to say Caspurr weighs about 7 pounds. She does seem a little bit thinner than she was a year ago, but she acts fine. Her litterbox habits are fine, she drinks normally, she's perky and affectionate and has a healthy complexion and coat. You'd really never guess she was 12. I also did the thing where I gently pinch the skin between her shoulders and the skin fell immediately back into place, which I'm quite sure is a good thing.

Should I go ahead with the de-worming treatment? If it doesn't work, she will most likely be going to the vet. I just would think I'd see some worms if she had them. [/b]

[Traci]

Get her to a vet, IMMEDIATELY.

Weight loss, sudden or drastic or even gradual, is a sign of poor health, in ANY age cat, but in a senior cat, it's serious!

Do NOT allow her to eat dog food, it doesn't contain necessary nutrients cats need (like essential taurine)!

A voracious appetite is not always indicative of worms, it could be anything from improper diet to a serious underlying health disease.

A simple test can determine FELV status, this should be done on ALL cats and kittens when first aquired, and again in signs of illness.

It's not just FELV you need to worry about, it's a miriad of common diseases cats develop as they age, and exams and bloodwork (yearly or twice yearly) are necessary to detect them early on and to provide the best course of treatment. Get a full bloodwork panel done for her IMMEDIATELY.

If she's allowed outdoors, and at risk for worms, your vet can do a simple fecal exam to detect worms.

Do NOT give her deworming medication, only your vet should be doing that based on evidence of worms. Where did you get the dewormer, if it's over-the-counter, do NOT use it. If it was prescribed by a vet some time ago, it's probably expired and useless. Never use left-over medications (or over-the-counter stuff) for cats, and never share medications with other cats! Dewormers are not without risks, they can cause reactions, therefore it's always wise to let your vet do that.

Get her to your vet, TODAY!!

[LinZ]

Thanks for the reply, Traci.

To answer your question...yes, the de-wormer is over-the-counter. I'm iffy about giving it to her because I'm not sure about her weight and I fear overdosing (or underdosing) her. My mom is the one pushing the de-wormer, though.

Someone once suggested to me this cat might be hypothyroid...but doesn't that cause cats to gain weight rather than lose it? I wonder if it could be just old age? I know in the last month of my late boy cat's life, he lost weight and got scrawny. But he also got weak and tired and lost interest in everything. Caspurr acts the same as always.

It just perplexes me what could be going on with my cat right now. I don't know if the big appetite is a symptom or not because she has eaten like a pig her entire life and only has gotten a bit thinner within the last six or so months. It's also not a result of being over-exercised because my cats are the laziest creatures I've ever known and only are exercised when the dog chases them or they chase one another. This cat seems to be skin and bones, but also shows no signs of weakness. She's also not throwing up, having litterbox problems or fur problems and chews her food (so I don't think it's a dental issue).

I'm also reading about cat diabetes, which someone suggested Caspurr's brother had because he is huge (20 pounds) and has bad dandruff. I have not found anything on different types of cat diabetes that could cause both weight gain or loss.

She'll likely be going to the vet soon anyway, but until she goes, I'm kind of trying to find out what this could be (not in place of a vet's opinion). I wonder also if it could be her food...maybe it's not nutritious enough for her? It's a special formula my boy cat had to be put on to prevent bladder issues after he had a stone removed, and since my mother (who cares for my cats while I am in college) really doesn't want to have to buy two kinds of food, she simply fed all the cats this special kibble. Thankfully they all eat it.

Hopefully it's nothing too horrific and it can be treated with some meds.

[Traci]

LinZ, you can speculate until it drives you insane. The point is, she needs a vet exam, NOW, not "soon", not whenever mom gets around to it, NOT when kitty loses even more weight, but NOW (TODAY would be ideal).

Weight loss is a common sign that something is WRONG, there are a million health issues that can contribute to weight loss. Only a full exam and bloodwork can narrow it down.

Hyper or hypothyroid tend to cause weight loss in cats, not weight gain. It also depends on the cat. Adding a thyroid panel to the bloodwork is essential for detecting this.

Once she's been examined by a vet, the vet can do the bloodwork, narrow down what might be wrong, can discuss her dietary/nutrition needs, and other issues that may be necessary. Don't give dewormers, don't give ANYTHING, she needs to see a vet! Each day that passes without being seen by a vet could be the difference between expensive treatment and tests, to advanced health illness that you would have wished you'd gotten her in immediately to halt the progression, so PLEASE, get her seen TODAY.