- Joined
- May 31, 2022
- Messages
- 379
- Purraise
- 501
Hi. Our 13 year old Tuxedo lady is overweight. She weighs a whopping 11.60 pounds, which I know does not seem like a lot, but it is quite a lot for her. She should weigh around 8-9 pounds. She has very bad arthritis and is on Solensia (it has helped) and Gabapentin twice daily. She is also on Methimazole for hyperthyroid. They have recently tested her (about 2-3 weeks ago) and determined she is on the right dosage. She is not very active. We discovered a growth under her skin two weeks ago and she has been seen by the vet. They will be doing a fine needle aspiration next weekend. In addition, they also found something more concerning--a leasion on her gums. The vet discribed the leason as looking like "cobblestone" and said that she was more concerned about that one than the lump we found near her shoulder blade.
They will be cleaning her teeth next week and will remove that and send it out to a lab at the same time as testing the lump. The lump feels like a marble, but kind of squishy and is right below/next to her right shoulder blade depending on how she is laying. She doesn't appear to be bothered by it when I feel it, which is very unusual for her since prior to her Solensia shots she would never allow us to pet her back. She now allows it with the Solensia shots. The doctor said it COULD be related to her microchip, but also said she has never seen anything like that happen before.
She was previously my parents' cat and they had her since she was around 3. They only fed her dry food. When we took her over, about 7 years ago, we still provided her with dry food, but also offered her wet food. She always preferred the dry. I have been encouraging her to eat more wet food over the years and was finally able to eliminate it from her diet completely about 2 weeks ago. I had her down to about a half a tablespoon prior to that. She also has CKD, but doesn't really like the prescription food. I've been giving her two Hills wet foods that are fairly low in phosphorous and she seems to like them. She has been getting two cans a day (66 calories each, so 132 calories per day), plus, she also eats the "leftovers" of our other two cats' foods in the evening, which I would guess don't amount to more than 30-50 calories for her since the other cats also eat them.
I weighed her about 2-ish weeks ago and then again tonight and she has gained weight! What is going on?! Is it really possible that she has gained weight at 182 calories per day? I am going to eliminate leaving the leftovers and move them to where I know she cannot/won't go because maybe she is eating more than I realize? But I still feel like 132 calories is not enough for her even if she were 8 or 9 pounds. I've tried to look up how many calories she should be eating, but none of the calculators account for age or activity. I think I will have her T4 retested when she goes in next week. Could it be the two possible cancer sources, plus her lack of activity? Both my husband and I have noticed a small change in her since her last Solensia injection and I suspect it is due to the lump near her shoulder and the abrasion on her gum. But I obviously could be wrong. The small change is so small that probably most "normal" and non-paranoid cat owners would not notice. She has just been a little more lethargic and a little more cligny at night (she has been sleeping on me every night), which she is NOT usually a clingy cat. She is usually very bitchy and I always describe her as "She is the type of cat that people who hate cats think all cats are like." She likes pets on her own terms and not otherwise. Likes company, but she does not usually want you to touch her except for a few head scratches and nothing more.
I have not called the vet because our appointment is next week and she is still eating/drinking/urinating/pooping as normal. The only thing is she is acting a little more lethargic and clingy while I sleep. Sort of like how she acted right before she was diagnosed with hyperthryoid. I think I will call the vet tomorrow, but I know they won't have any available appointments until the appointment we already have. Should I be rushing her to an urgent care/ER? Or does this just sound like arthritis issues? Does anyone have advice on how many calories I should be feeding her? I don't really have any faith in our vet's suggestions regarding calories/nutrition as they always suggest a "Senior" cat food if she won't eat the kidney prescription and all of the "senior" foods I have looked into (which is a lot) always have really high phosphorous levels. So, that proves to me they don't exactly know what they are talking about in regards to food/nutrition. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!
They will be cleaning her teeth next week and will remove that and send it out to a lab at the same time as testing the lump. The lump feels like a marble, but kind of squishy and is right below/next to her right shoulder blade depending on how she is laying. She doesn't appear to be bothered by it when I feel it, which is very unusual for her since prior to her Solensia shots she would never allow us to pet her back. She now allows it with the Solensia shots. The doctor said it COULD be related to her microchip, but also said she has never seen anything like that happen before.
She was previously my parents' cat and they had her since she was around 3. They only fed her dry food. When we took her over, about 7 years ago, we still provided her with dry food, but also offered her wet food. She always preferred the dry. I have been encouraging her to eat more wet food over the years and was finally able to eliminate it from her diet completely about 2 weeks ago. I had her down to about a half a tablespoon prior to that. She also has CKD, but doesn't really like the prescription food. I've been giving her two Hills wet foods that are fairly low in phosphorous and she seems to like them. She has been getting two cans a day (66 calories each, so 132 calories per day), plus, she also eats the "leftovers" of our other two cats' foods in the evening, which I would guess don't amount to more than 30-50 calories for her since the other cats also eat them.
I weighed her about 2-ish weeks ago and then again tonight and she has gained weight! What is going on?! Is it really possible that she has gained weight at 182 calories per day? I am going to eliminate leaving the leftovers and move them to where I know she cannot/won't go because maybe she is eating more than I realize? But I still feel like 132 calories is not enough for her even if she were 8 or 9 pounds. I've tried to look up how many calories she should be eating, but none of the calculators account for age or activity. I think I will have her T4 retested when she goes in next week. Could it be the two possible cancer sources, plus her lack of activity? Both my husband and I have noticed a small change in her since her last Solensia injection and I suspect it is due to the lump near her shoulder and the abrasion on her gum. But I obviously could be wrong. The small change is so small that probably most "normal" and non-paranoid cat owners would not notice. She has just been a little more lethargic and a little more cligny at night (she has been sleeping on me every night), which she is NOT usually a clingy cat. She is usually very bitchy and I always describe her as "She is the type of cat that people who hate cats think all cats are like." She likes pets on her own terms and not otherwise. Likes company, but she does not usually want you to touch her except for a few head scratches and nothing more.
I have not called the vet because our appointment is next week and she is still eating/drinking/urinating/pooping as normal. The only thing is she is acting a little more lethargic and clingy while I sleep. Sort of like how she acted right before she was diagnosed with hyperthryoid. I think I will call the vet tomorrow, but I know they won't have any available appointments until the appointment we already have. Should I be rushing her to an urgent care/ER? Or does this just sound like arthritis issues? Does anyone have advice on how many calories I should be feeding her? I don't really have any faith in our vet's suggestions regarding calories/nutrition as they always suggest a "Senior" cat food if she won't eat the kidney prescription and all of the "senior" foods I have looked into (which is a lot) always have really high phosphorous levels. So, that proves to me they don't exactly know what they are talking about in regards to food/nutrition. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!
. Now that he's older, he doesn't really run for treats anymore, but I can sometimes get him to follow me around by carrying his food with me and sweet talking him. I go up and down the stairs with it and he follows me around, yelling at me to give it to him. It's kind of cute (to me, probably not to him) Also, I feed him wet food only, and the carb content is almost nil. I think that's the key.
She should be closer to 10.5 according to the vet, judging by her body condition. She's been on steroids for IBD since August and a lower dose (2.5 mg/day) since October. She's still eating the very carby Hills I/D chicken and rice with vegetables and gravy. She is not very active and is also taking gabapentin for suspected arthritis. We don't know how old she is. But we think she's likely older than the five years the shelter thought she was. She gains weight when her weekly intake is above 140 calories. So yes, it's possible that given your cat's age and health conditions that 185 may be too much for her. It's also possible, as I am hoping with Betty, that switching to a lower carb, higher protein food will allow her to eat more food without gaining as much weight. I feed her four times a day and she gets about 5 oz over the course of the day--only wet food. My last cat, Krista, was a smaller cat. And when she got off dry and on a high protein, all wet diet, she could eat 7 or 8 oz a day and maintain a svelte 9 lbs frame. She was also a more active cat. So, as the saying goes, every cat is different and one chart or calculator does not fit all cats. The first step would be a food journal to know for sure how much she's eating. Then you would want to reduce her calories by no more than 5 or 10% for a couple of weeks and do another weigh-in. For everyone's sanity, I don't recommend weighing her more than once a week. I bought a baby scale off Amazon and lure Betty on it every Sunday morning with a few extra treats. As soon as she starts eating them, I lift her butt up and get her all in and three treats is usually enough to keep her there long enough to get a reading.
