Unexplained Weight Loss

imbri

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
90
Purraise
15
Location
Chicago-ish
 on April 4th I took Jasio, The Niblet and Hector in for the yearly exam and vaccine visit.  The Niblet checked out all fine and

dandy, Hector had a partial urinary blockage that I had suspected (I saw it that morning, little pee clumps in the pan) and Jasio had mysteriously lost nearly a pound despite the fact that he will eat anything and everything in sight.

*sigh*

We got Hector all sorted out and his bladder is no longer a geode (yays!) and he didn't require a urinary catheter since we caught it so early (double yays!)

On physical exam Jasio checked OK, except the vet noted his intestines felt a little thickened.  Since I was planning on doing some routine blood work on him to just make sure his anti-crazy cat drugs weren't doing anything bad to his liver we decided to make it a bigger panel and check his GI system as well.  8 months ago he weighed in at 14 pounds  9 ounces, now he is down to 13 pounds 11 ounces.  He is a rather large cat, built tall and lean, but the vet didn't want him to get any lighter than where he is now.

His CBC came back normal, on the Chem 25 the only thing out of range was his glucose which was just below normal.  Which is odd considering he wasn't fasted for his blood draw and had eaten a can on Fancy Feast about an hour before.  His T4 is well within normal.  On the GI portion of the panel his PLI (looks at pancreatic function) was normal but both his Cobolamine and Folate were high.  Usually this is due to bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine so I was given the option of either metronidazole or forti-flora for a month then re-weigh and reassess at that time. 

So we've been doing forti-flora for the past two weeks, and I think he is getting worse.  I'm taking him in on Monday for a weight check since my kitten scale is broken.

I'm so frustrated, and frightened.  He isn't usually a vomiter, doesn't eat weird things, his stool is normal and he eats his cat food like he hasn't been fed in months.  What worries me even more is that for a couple months before this I had increased his daily food since he was always hungry and wasn't gaining weight.

Last October I euthanized my 13 year old tabby, Xerxes, after we found two large masses on ultrasound.  The pathology report came back as carcinoma.   The whole thing started with him mysteriously losing weight, followed by lack of appetite. 

Now all I can think about is the worst case scenario, that Jasio is growing some bad jujus and I'm going to lose him too...  Not totally rational of me for sure but I can't be the rational one in this house hold all the time, ya know.
 

vball91

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
3,853
Purraise
252
Location
CO, USA
I empathize because it is so hard to not worry and imagine the worst outcomes. I know you know, but a gentle reminder that until you know that something is wrong, don't drive yourself crazy with worry. :)

Did the vet recommend Fortiflora as a probiotic? Because the general consensus here is that it's not a very good probiotic. There are much better ones out there.

Also, what about digestive enzymes? It might help him absorb nutrients better. Obviously, the underlying cause of the weight loss needs to figured out, but I'm wondering if these will help in the meantime.

How old is Jasio and what else do you feed other than FF?
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

imbri

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
90
Purraise
15
Location
Chicago-ish
Jasio just turned 8 on March 15th.

He and The Niblet eat mostly FF, but when I'm a little broke we do Friskies.  The only dry food they get is a kibble or two swiped from the dog's dish.

So far as pro-biotics go the only other one I've tried has been Culturelle, all the other cats tolerated it fine but for what ever reason Jasio vomited each and every time he got it so he got switched to forti-flora, which worked.  This was about 2 years ago when we a bout of the runny virus in the house. It isn't likely that he has EPI, though not out of the realm of possibility, so I'm not sure digestive enzymes are on our radar yet,  are you suggesting something OTC, or something like Viokase powder?

After a good 5 minute cry and hour long cuddle session which has lead to my current situation of me resting the keyboard on Jasio while he sleeps, I'm feeling a little less under the cloud of doom.  Part of what was stressing me out is that he hasn't been very demanding of attention time in the last day and half until about an hour ago.  Now he and Hector have taken over my desk after much purring and snuggling.

The vet said if he worsens or doesn't improve the next step would be either ultrasound or exploratory laparotomy.  I asked her if she wanted to install a zipper if we go into surgery since this would be the second time he would get an exploratory in 4 years.  (Last time he was puking, lethargic and not eating, turned out to be giant hairballs stuck in his stomach, they were  almost 5 inches long and 2 inches wide.)   In truth I think we will start with ultrasound, last time we knew we were going to find something (just not what) this time we have no idea.  I'm debating popping off a lateral radiograph of his abdomen on Monday just to see, since we didn't do that last time we were in.
 

vball91

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
3,853
Purraise
252
Location
CO, USA
A lot of us on here who feed probiotics use a human grade one that was recommended by LDG's holistic vet. It's the Natural Factors 10 billion CFU Acidophilus & Bifidus.

I wasn't thinking pancreatic enzymes, just an OTC one like Prozyme. Just a thought really.

As I was reading about Jasio's giant hairball, I was wondering if he has a motility issue?
 

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,391
Purraise
7,128
Location
Arizona
What is EPI?  I was thinking along the same lines as vball.  I feed all 3 of mine the same probiotic she mentioned, plus Prozyme.  I do know that digestive enzymes might not be appropriate if a cat has been diagnosed with IBD, but not familiar with any other reason why it might not be ok to use.  It's good for older cats who need to put on weight, as a matter of fact, says right on the bottle to give them more.

 

vball91

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
3,853
Purraise
252
Location
CO, USA
EPI is Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency. It's a maldigestion problem.

I wasn't necessarily thinking that that was an issue, just that as mrsgreenjeens said, digestive enzymes are supposed to help with better absorption on nutrients and gaining weight.
 

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,391
Purraise
7,128
Location
Arizona
Oh dear...now that you say this, I realize I made a mistake, and it's Pancreatitis that sometimes doesn't mix well with Digestive Enzymes, NOT IBD.  But if  EPIis a maldigestion problem, then I would think they might certainly be beneficial.  I'm kind of surprised her Vet hasn't suggested them
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

imbri

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
90
Purraise
15
Location
Chicago-ish
We're still in the diagnosis stage, and not totally sure what part his body isn't functioning normally.  What we do know is that his pancreas isn't inflamed (yay!) and that he doesn't have chronic low blood glucose.  I brought home a glucometer for the weekend to spot check him and so far while fasting between meals he's been pretty steady around 87 to 76, so not too bad.  I'm going check him again tonight about an hour after his dinner and see how high his glucose goes.

I don't think he has a particularly slow digestion either.  Poor guy has had to have more than one xray taken in his life due to a habit of eating inappropriate things when he was younger, and more recently to assess his lungs for mild asthma/ possible HARD.  In every case he seems to be emptying appropriately, I've only seen food in his stomach on film a couple of times, and they were both within a few hours of eating.  The hairball issue appears to have been a fluke, two hairballs got stuck side by side, then more formed around them, it was the weirdest thing I have ever seen.  As I watched the vet remove it from his stomach my first thought was "Did he swallow a mouse whole?", which is something I honestly would not put past him.

Just for giggles- his most recent radiograph taken in January:


I think the reason why they did not suggest digestive enzymes at this stage is two fold.  First, judging from his folate and cobolmine uptake, he seems to processing his food.  Second, in order to tell if antibiotic or pro-biotic treatment is what is working we've got to do one thing at a time.  I did, however, change his diet up a little bit since I had half of a case of Recovery sitting there not being eaten by anyone.  I've been giving him half a can of that every other day in place of his regular food since it high calorie, easy to digest and I know it isn't going to make him puke or give him the runs.  He seems to think this is a pretty spiffy idea and would like it if I would feed him that all the time (meanwhile Hector wonders why he doesn't get it anymore!)

I'm planning on taking my jump drive to work with me tomorrow, so I can post his radiographs when I get home as well as an update on how much he weighs.  I'm hoping that all of this is just me being hyper-vigilant and worrying too much.  This is one of the draw backs to working in animal health, you get to see just how bad something seemingly minor can be and are able to formulate realistic worst possible scenarios in your head. 
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

imbri

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
90
Purraise
15
Location
Chicago-ish
Well problem child has gained back half the weight he lost and there was a line of cats waiting for xrays by the end of my shift.  Since Jasio had just spent the last 11 hours hanging out at the hospital and we both just wanted to go home we decided with the weight gain to skip them.  Doc is having him stay on forti-flora indefinitely since it appears to be helping, if he develops more GI signs though, we are going straight for an ultrasound.
 

vball91

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
3,853
Purraise
252
Location
CO, USA
That's good news. I'm glad to hear that Jasio is gaining that weight back.
 
Top