- Joined
- Aug 16, 2013
- Messages
- 203
- Purraise
- 12
Continuing with my obsessive worry over my cat's health, on Tuesday, I picked up Grace and thought "hmmmm she feels lighter." So I did the digital scale method and tried weighing her. Well the scale was telling me 8.5 pounds so a chill went down my spine. I called the vet but ultimately decided to take her in to be weighed. The vet told me that weighing her on my own scale isn't that great a method so I did try to think positive. She didn't really feel as light on Thursday but still I couldn't get it out of my head. Finally I decided to take her for a weigh in and exam, since I had other concerns today. Well I got the shock of my life when I discovered I was right. She had lost weight. She lost 4 tenths of a pound in under 3 months! Doesn't that seem huge? The way I figure it is that their scale measure in tenths of a pound so .1 off on their scale is the equivalent of 1.6 ounces. So all told she lost about 6.2 ounces which is quite nearly half a pound. Basically her weight has fluctuated over the 5 years of her life between 9.2 and 9.6. When I took her over the summer, she was 9.6 but then dropped to 9.4. I was concerned then but the vet so that small amount which I guess is around 3.2 ounces isn't that big. I took her back again on October 30 and she maintained the 9.4. However, now she is just 9.0! So in reality, between August and January, she's lost a total of 9.6 ounces! That's over half a pound! Needless to say, I burst into tears right then and there and the whole visit was a mess. The vet was very nice trying to reassure me. I was ready to shell out whatever money was needed (even if I dipped into my rent fund) to test her for anything under the sun and he told me I needed to calm down. When I finally stopped crying and told him I think she has cancer, he chuckled (not in a mean way) and said, "You need to stop going there. You always go to the worst case first." He didn't tell me 100% it's not cancer but he said he didn't think so. He also told me not to test her for anything. He would have liked to get a urine sample because, since I told him she seems to go pee more (or so I think) he's thinking UTI. He did give her some Clavamox to take just to rule it out but the poor thing got sick after taking it so I'm not so sure I'm giving her more since it's not definitive she has a UTI. He told me these weight fluctuations can happen and since she hasn't lost more, he's not panicking over it. He asked if I changed anything in her diet and I said I did start giving less dry food as I fear it's bad for them. He said that could even be the case. He said to bring her back in 2 weeks just to weigh her again to see if she's lost more. If she has, we could pursue other testing. Does anyone have any experience with this? Like with weight fluctuations? I feel like a wreck right now and just want to curl in a ball and cry.