I'll have to preface my post by saying there is a lot of uncertainty involving my kitty. I don't know how old he was when I found him; he was an adult stray I found in the backyard, but I would venture a guess that he is at least 10 or 11 years old. I also don't know when his weight loss started. This time last year, he was quite fat at about 13 or 14 pounds (I'm guessing). I admit I did not pay him as much attention between October of last year and February of this year because I was either not home or I was caring for my other two cats who were terminally ill. But it was actually my boyfriend who brought Kip's smaller frame to my attention, and if I had to guess, I'd say he's between 7 and 9 pounds right now.
He's an indoor-only cat and has no interaction with other animals (not even the two indoor dogs). I do not suspect parasites, and his litterbox habits seem normal, though for some reason he only uses one of his two litterboxes. Behavior appears normal; he's still very vocal, purrs a lot, is very bright-eyed, grooms himself, plays, and so forth. Breathing is normal - not too weak, not too hard. My concern is that he seems to have a lower interest in food. Granted, he has never had a big appetite - how he got so fat before, I'll never know. But hey, my other boy Rolly (who is gone now) didn't eat much either and he held steady at 17 pounds. He got so big eating special UTI protection Purina kibbles and occasionally dipping into my female cat's kitten chow.
Now, he is the only cat in the house and he has both the Purina UTI kibbles and kitten chow kibbles available to him, yet he doesn't seem to want them. Some time ago, I decided to leave the dry food out for grazing and give him wet food, which had hit and miss results. Sometimes he'd nibble at it, sometimes he'd eat an entire can of Fancy Feast, and other times he wouldn't even touch it. He quit eating the Fancy Feast, but he seemed to like Purnia canned pate, so I got him that and had the same hit and miss results. The last few times I've fed him canned food, he didn't even touch it, regardless of the flavor. He will not eat it when it's mixed with milk or warm water or microwaved for a few seconds to make it nice and smelly. He seemed to enjoy chicken baby food, so I'll get him more of that sometime. He won't drink goat milk, but he likes cow's milk. I know, not good for cats, but he needs calories. It's just he's getting more and more picky. Of course, he still begs for any kind of deli meat or home-cooked chicken/turkey.
He doesn't appear to be drinking more water than normal,nor does he appear to be in any pain. You know how some cats lay in that "meat loaf" position when they aren't feeling well? Kip doesn't do that;he looks quite comfortable when he lays down and honestly will purr sometimes when I merely say his name. I could not with any certainty tell you if his weight loss is from a decreased appetite or if there is something just making him lose weight more rapidly. I do understand that sometimes cats will lose weight with age, but I think this might be too rapid even for plain old age. Also, since his appetite is not increased, I don't know if I'd suspect hyperthyroidism, unless he happens to have it without that symptom.
I've considered the possibility that his teeth might be an issue; when I got him, he was missing several smaller teeth and one canine tooth, and in the 8 or so years I've had him, he's lost almost all of his front teeth (he still has the back ones). They just got loose and fell out. I assumed he had bad teeth, but it never stopped him from eating. His remaining canine tooth probably needs to come out as the root is all brown. No idea how his back teeth look because he refuses to let me open his mouth and I can only see them when he yawns or I play with him (when he gets all riled up, he'll sit with his mouth open).
Is it possible this is being caused by the other cats being gone? They all hated one another, but Kip's always been in the company of other cats up until February. The only behavioral change I've noticed since the other kitties had to be put down is he won't sleep on the furniture anymore. He sleeps on the floor. One thing I notice is when I set food in front of him like treats or kibbles, he might eat a couple pieces, but then he starts scratching the floor and gathering the rest in a little pile and never eats the rest. I never noticed this before. When I started him on the kitten food, I would have to take a few kibbles at a time and place them in front of him, almost like having to say, "This is food, you can eat this." I also once tried making homemade in a blender with plain chicken, low-sodium broth and a little catfood...the dogs didn't even touch it and they eat ANYTHING.
Yes, I intend to take him to the vet very soon. I would like to ask folks here if I should consider getting anything else done besides a senior blood panel and asking the vet to attempt to look at his teeth. I really reeeally hope I don't have to give this cat pills. Not that I don't want to, but he becomes absolutely spastic when I even open his mouth. There is no way of getting pills into him unless he could be injected with a sedative first. And even then that's questionable (which is why force feeding would never work either; he has such a godawful tantrum that I'd never get food in his mouth). I suppose the vet would also let me know if he would be healthy enough for a teeth cleaning...for the few teeth he has left.
He's an indoor-only cat and has no interaction with other animals (not even the two indoor dogs). I do not suspect parasites, and his litterbox habits seem normal, though for some reason he only uses one of his two litterboxes. Behavior appears normal; he's still very vocal, purrs a lot, is very bright-eyed, grooms himself, plays, and so forth. Breathing is normal - not too weak, not too hard. My concern is that he seems to have a lower interest in food. Granted, he has never had a big appetite - how he got so fat before, I'll never know. But hey, my other boy Rolly (who is gone now) didn't eat much either and he held steady at 17 pounds. He got so big eating special UTI protection Purina kibbles and occasionally dipping into my female cat's kitten chow.
Now, he is the only cat in the house and he has both the Purina UTI kibbles and kitten chow kibbles available to him, yet he doesn't seem to want them. Some time ago, I decided to leave the dry food out for grazing and give him wet food, which had hit and miss results. Sometimes he'd nibble at it, sometimes he'd eat an entire can of Fancy Feast, and other times he wouldn't even touch it. He quit eating the Fancy Feast, but he seemed to like Purnia canned pate, so I got him that and had the same hit and miss results. The last few times I've fed him canned food, he didn't even touch it, regardless of the flavor. He will not eat it when it's mixed with milk or warm water or microwaved for a few seconds to make it nice and smelly. He seemed to enjoy chicken baby food, so I'll get him more of that sometime. He won't drink goat milk, but he likes cow's milk. I know, not good for cats, but he needs calories. It's just he's getting more and more picky. Of course, he still begs for any kind of deli meat or home-cooked chicken/turkey.
He doesn't appear to be drinking more water than normal,nor does he appear to be in any pain. You know how some cats lay in that "meat loaf" position when they aren't feeling well? Kip doesn't do that;he looks quite comfortable when he lays down and honestly will purr sometimes when I merely say his name. I could not with any certainty tell you if his weight loss is from a decreased appetite or if there is something just making him lose weight more rapidly. I do understand that sometimes cats will lose weight with age, but I think this might be too rapid even for plain old age. Also, since his appetite is not increased, I don't know if I'd suspect hyperthyroidism, unless he happens to have it without that symptom.
I've considered the possibility that his teeth might be an issue; when I got him, he was missing several smaller teeth and one canine tooth, and in the 8 or so years I've had him, he's lost almost all of his front teeth (he still has the back ones). They just got loose and fell out. I assumed he had bad teeth, but it never stopped him from eating. His remaining canine tooth probably needs to come out as the root is all brown. No idea how his back teeth look because he refuses to let me open his mouth and I can only see them when he yawns or I play with him (when he gets all riled up, he'll sit with his mouth open).
Is it possible this is being caused by the other cats being gone? They all hated one another, but Kip's always been in the company of other cats up until February. The only behavioral change I've noticed since the other kitties had to be put down is he won't sleep on the furniture anymore. He sleeps on the floor. One thing I notice is when I set food in front of him like treats or kibbles, he might eat a couple pieces, but then he starts scratching the floor and gathering the rest in a little pile and never eats the rest. I never noticed this before. When I started him on the kitten food, I would have to take a few kibbles at a time and place them in front of him, almost like having to say, "This is food, you can eat this." I also once tried making homemade in a blender with plain chicken, low-sodium broth and a little catfood...the dogs didn't even touch it and they eat ANYTHING.
Yes, I intend to take him to the vet very soon. I would like to ask folks here if I should consider getting anything else done besides a senior blood panel and asking the vet to attempt to look at his teeth. I really reeeally hope I don't have to give this cat pills. Not that I don't want to, but he becomes absolutely spastic when I even open his mouth. There is no way of getting pills into him unless he could be injected with a sedative first. And even then that's questionable (which is why force feeding would never work either; he has such a godawful tantrum that I'd never get food in his mouth). I suppose the vet would also let me know if he would be healthy enough for a teeth cleaning...for the few teeth he has left.
