Weight Loss and Yellow Skin-HELP!

My 10 year-old cat Mickey who has been an indoor kitty most of his life, has recently lost a lot of weight in a matter of about 2 weeks. He has gone from 19 pounds to 15 pounds. Just today I noticed is breath was stinky and the skin around his temple/ear area is a yellowish color. PLease help! Can anyone give me an idea of what may be going on? I am going to try and get a Vet appt tomorrow, but I am looking for some answers in the meantime. I have recently let him go outside occassionally under supervision-shots are all up to date. I have his sister Minnie who appears fine. And I recently adopted a stray kitten who's health was oked by my Vet. By the way, Mickies temperment has not changed much-he seems like he feels ok. Any ideas?

-Worried Mom

Yellow usually indicates jaundice, which indicates a liver issue. I'm glad you are taking him to the vet, that's the best place for him!

I'll move this to Health & Nutrition for you. I've also merged your two threads into one as we don't allow duplicate postings.

Whatever is going on doesn't sound good and it is a very good thing that you are taking your kitty to the vet tomorrow. I know that with humans a yellowish colour to their skin indicates some sort of liver malfunction. Make your vet appointment ASAP and if you are not able to get into your regular vet then I would take him to the emergency vet clinic. Please keep us posted on what happens...and good luck.

Please play it safe and get this cat to the vet quickly. If you can handle it an ER vet would be the way to go and tonight. Yellow ears generally means kidney problems Feline Hepatic Lipidosis, CRF, it really is crucial to get help quickly.

Originally Posted by hissy

Please play it safe and get this cat to the vet quickly. If you can handle it an ER vet would be the way to go and tonight. Yellow ears generally means kidney problems Feline Hepatic Lipidosis, CRF, it really is crucial to get help quickly.

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I would take her advice if I were you. I really hope Mickey will be alright .

Agree with the above...yellow usually means liver problems and liver problems are extremely serious. The emergency vet is the place to go...delaying treatment by even half a day could possibly make the difference in whether or not the condition is reversible.

my 10 year old cat lost his appetite and his skin turned yellow just last year. He also stopped drinking and lost alot of wieght, and they vet ran tons of tests that cost lots of money and could not define any single cause, but he thought it could be an infection in the liver or kidneys. He said we needed to get food and water down the cat to jumpstart his system again. He gave us a bag of fluids which we gave him subquetaniously twice daily, and we force fed him through a large syringe without the needle, 3 times daily. we blended canned food with water until it was easily drawn up in the syringe, and he spit alot of it back out, and did not want to eat it. this went on for about a month, and it really sucked. we had lost hope, but the vet said to carry on, after 5 weeks we told the vet we were going to stop forcing the fluids and food, and if he wanted to die, so be it. Within the next 24 hours, the cat started eating and drinking on his own, and it has now been over a year, and he is happy and healthy again. He just needed help getting his liver and kidneys to start processing again. He was shutting down, and was jaundiced, but he did not have a disease. we also tried appetite stimulants, bu they mad him vomit up what little food we did get down him. He had no meds, just fluids under the skin and force fed food...full recovery!! Good luck, I hope this helps...

Rissa

I just wanted to let you know that reading your post has given me hope. We're in a very grim situation with our 12 yr old cat with a similar problem. He's really yellow, not eating or drinking and the vet said he has pancreatitis with hepatitis. His gall bladder is also somehow involved. We've been giving him meds,subcutaneous fluids and nutrical for almost two weeks and he's still not looking much better. We have an appointment for Sun and I'm so worried they will say there's nothing more they can do and we need to let him go. I'm going to try your food suggestion and I really hope it helps. =)  

misty wolf said:

I just wanted to let you know that reading your post has given me hope. We're in a very grim situation with our 12 yr old cat with a similar problem. He's really yellow, not eating or drinking and the vet said he has pancreatitis with hepatitis. His gall bladder is also somehow involved. We've been giving him meds,subcutaneous fluids and nutrical for almost two weeks and he's still not looking much better. We have an appointment for Sun and I'm so worried they will say there's nothing more they can do and we need to let him go. I'm going to try your food suggestion and I really hope it helps. =)

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My baby is 20 yrs old 96 in kitty years she currently at vets very jaundiced lost major weight has anyone had one recover at her age love her so much

Spookey's mama said:

My baby is 20 yrs old 96 in kitty years she currently at vets very jaundiced lost major weight has anyone had one recover at her age love her so much

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I don't really have any experience with that. Its an achievement in itself that she's 20. I hope she will get better.