I need some help.

6 months ago I moved to an apartment where pets aren't allowed. I had to give my beloved Gray Ghoul (Whom I have had since 1996) to my sister. Usually I am able to see her every week but during February my sister hadn't been able to hang out because of school, so I wasn't able to see my cat. Tonight I went over and was shocked to see my cat was very thin, I could feel her spine. As well she seemed like she had trouble cleaning herself and jumping up on chairs was an effort. When I picked her up she squealed like she was uncomfortable. I tried giving her some wet food but she only seemed to nibble at the sauce and later on took a few nibbles of the meat.

I plan on taking her to the vet but I won't be able to call until Monday when they're open, and even then I will probably need to wait a day or two for a ride. I am broken up. I love this cat so much, she is like a kid to me. I feel so guilty, I don't know what I could have done but I feel like I should have noticed her getting thinner or her slowing down. But it all seemed to hit at once. My sister has been feeding her 3x a day, but I don't know if she had been getting enough because of the 2 other cats.

Is this a sign of her old age and possibly her close to passing? Or is she just ill? Or worse, is she just emaciated? She didn't seem too interested in the actual food, just the sauce. I feel terrible, like I abandoned her and I somehow caused her mental anguish.

I'm glad you're getting her to a vet. Don't beat yourself up over it. You did nothing wrong.

ask the vet for a senior blood panel

This is just a guess, but I wonder if she's got a toothache.

Ask for a senior panel, which does screening for renal failure (a very common cause of weight loss in older cats) and liver failure. Liver failure (specifically hepatic lipidosis) can cause weight loss in cats also. It wouldn't hurt to also ask for a thyroid screen. Usually hyperthyroid cats will eat enormous amounts of food, while still losing weight. Please don't beat yourself up. Cats are very good at hiding illness, and your sister may not have noticed the weight loss, especially if it happened slowly. It was probably easier for you to notice, since you haven't seen your kitty for a while. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

I am over my sister's house now, Gray Ghoul is on my lap impairing my typing after a bit of effort getting onto my lap. I have been monitoring her for the past few hours and I have noticed a lot of peculiar behavior. Her coat seems to be shiny and neat but she is pretty thin. Her meow is strangled and sounds a bit weak, and she is more vocal towards me than usual. Also, she has nibbled on her cat food, albeit not very eagerly. She did however gobble down a few pieces of chicken from my sandwich. Maybe I should get her a can of chicken to eat? She has been drinking water as well as nuzzling my hand and purring.

Another odd thing I have noticed is that she keeps cleaning her bum. Almost compulsively, I have also noticed the smell of feces. I am not sure what all this means. I have a ride to the vet tomorrow, so I will call as soon as they open.

I'll keep you folks updated.

Poor baby, she is probably so happy you are there.
Good luck tomorrow.

Best wishes for the vet visit tomorrow. Definitely have a senior panel done, including a thyroid test, and a urinalysis if possible. Sometimes you can get a package deal. There are several possibilities, and the best way to find out which is most likely is to get a picture of what is going on in the cat's body by testing the blood.

Hung out with my fuzzy little friend today. She was in a pretty chipper mood. Nuzzling and bunting and purring her little heart out. Took her to the vet, doc said there are no outward signs of serious illness but they kept her overnight to run some blood work and urine/fecal analysis' to figure out what's up.

We'll find out tomorrow. Hoping my little friend just needs some extra calories.

aw hopefully kitty was just a little depressed cuz she missed you and it isn't something more serious.

keep us posted!

Ok. So we took kitty to the vet and got her back. Doc said her bloodwork looked fine and she was gobbling down the wet food. They wanted a fecal sample to test for intestinal parasites so we bought a few cans of that wet cat food and isolated her from the other cats. Took a day or so but she finally did her business. This is after the vet called me today at 6 and said she had a urinary track infection and they prescribed antibiotic for her. I walked up there and got the antibiotics and went back to my sister's house to collect a sample, cleaned up there and gave her the first dose of medication. She was a good cat and took it like a champ.

So tomorrow I am going to go and give her a dose of medication, walk up to the vet, and then later on walk over and give her another dose.

I am going to be a busy man for the next ten days. But she is totally worth it. And when I finally get another place I'm going to take her back. ^_^

aw... good kitty!

I'm glad you're taking her back. the sooner the better...

Hey guys. I have a question. The vet told me to give ghoul her antibiotics morning and night. Problem is my sister's schedules and mind are different so I can't give her the meds every 12hrs. The closest I can get is 8-9hrs.

Is this bad? Will it adversely affect her or just not work?

When one of our cats have been on antibiotics we've always given the doses at like 6:30 in the morning and around 4:30 in the afternoon. So, I don't think it has to be exactly 12 hours.

All you can do is the best you can. The idea behind evenly spaced doses is to keep a level amount of antibiotic that is high enough to work round the clock. You could call the vet's office and explain the situation and ask them about it. I know antibiotics for people have dosing now that has decreased the number of times a day that it has to be taken but I don't know if they have that for cats. I would just call the vets and ask, I do that a lot when I'm not sure about something.

Well I am not usually able to get over there until 12 or 1. And my sister goes to bed at 10 so the latest I can give her the second dose is 9:30. It's as close as I can get it to 12hrs. :/

Too bad your sister can't give her the meds, or that you can't get there like at 6 am.

I have dealt with urinary infections with my cats alot, and they always lost significant amounts of weight with the infections. Cats will go into liver failure if they don't eat, I think the common name is "fatty liver". You have to make sure that she eats...anything!!! If she is eating chicken, than give her that. The way I could tell that my cats were going into fatty liver, was because their ears looked dirty, kind of like orange wax on them. It is not wax, but jaundice setting in. It is very treatable, but you have to usually tube feed them and give them IV fluids if they quit eating altogether. Much better to get them to eat anything!!!

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your kitty for a speedy recovery. It sounds like you got her on antibiotics in time. Clavamox, is very hard on the tummy though, and when I started that, that is when they quit eating.

Good Luck!

Jane

Gray Ghoul is doing well! She has been on her medication for about 5 days now and she has stopped the compulsive licking. As well she is eating, talking to me, following me around when I come over, showing me her belly, and playing with her mousy toy!

I have convinced my sister to switch their diet to urinary tract health cat food and I have been keeping the litter box extra clean. Once my little friend puts on a few lbs I will take some pictures.

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice and well wishes for my little senior citizen. ^_^