Kidney Failure & Hyperthyroidism in cats

[cprcheetah]

Tabitha is a former office cat at my last job (my vet/dad semi retired and closed his location) and she is about 12 years old, my sister had her at her house but Tabitha was literally wasting away to nothing (my husband didn't want 7 cats which is why she didn't come home with me in May), she was 6.9# on 10/1 and today was 4.7# (which is why she came home with me, she's not giving her the medications) she should probably weight at least 10# she is a maine coon/norweigan forest cat mix.

She has hyperthyroidism as well as Kidney Failure. She will be going with me to work tomorrow for some current bloodwork, it's been a while since she's had it done. I am going to probably try to transition her to Raw food as she will not eat canned food other than licking the juice off of bits. She will eat raw though as she's stolen it from my dogs when I had them at work. Right now she's just eating Kirkland Signature Dry food. I will update once we have her blood test results, but I am SO worried about her. She is still active and happy doing her 'reer reer' meowing. She's a sweetheart.

I am syringe feeding her (although she is very upset about it) at the moment some Innova EVO to get some 'good' nutrition in her, I'm not freaking out about the kidneys at the moment because she is in danger of developing Fatty Liver Syndrome if she doesn't have it already. Needless to say I am BEYOND irked at my sister for letting her get in this condition. She was about 10# in May, underweight at that.

[MollyWoppy]

Oh hell, I can't imagine a big cat being that skinny. Windy is 7lbs, shes not a big cat and I get people tell me that she's too skinny (my vet is very happy with her weight though), so to I was just trying to imagine what she would look like if she lost another 2 plus pounds. It makes me shudder actually.
I really hope you can get Tabitha eating again very soon. It does sound like it is really worth giving raw a try, especially since she seems a bit receptive to it.
Good luck, I really hope the blood tests show that nothing else is wrong and that she soon starts to put on a touch of weight. Thanks for taking her in as well, your husband deserves a big kiss for letting you have just one more cat.
Please let us know how she gets on at the vet.

[cprcheetah]

I am BEYOND irked at my sister. "I was like have you not noticed she's wasting away to nothing? Are you giving her the meds? Well every other day MAYBE!" OMG! SERIOUSLY! Pissed off at her. It's not like the meds are that hard to do as it's a transdermal gel (rub on her ears) twice a day. Glad I went up to her house today and got Tabitha. All I had to do was tell my hubby that Tabby cat was 4# and he was like bring her home NOW! He's seen her at her 'prime' of about 13# and he was in tears when he felt her today.

Here is a picture of her although it's hard to see because she's all fluff lol!

Here she is at about 13# (she really isn't that obese she's all fluff)


Look at the difference in her face (this is now)

[hmbutler]

That last picture looks like a slightly underfed teenage kitten, not a fully grown fluffy 12 year old cat!! My cat is a short-haired cat and she is about that size when you look down at her!

Fingers crossed she makes an improvement with you and goes on to live a happy and healthy life in a home that clearly cares for her!!

ETA: When I say teenage, I mean in terms of "growth" - like a year old or so, when they get lanky but haven't yet filled out. Just to clarify I don't mean teenage as in years lol

[cprcheetah]

Oh hell, I can't imagine a big cat being that skinny. Windy is 7lbs, shes not a big cat and I get people tell me that she's too skinny (my vet is very happy with her weight though), so to I was just trying to imagine what she would look like if she lost another 2 plus pounds. It makes me shudder actually.
I really hope you can get Tabitha eating again very soon. It does sound like it is really worth giving raw a try, especially since she seems a bit receptive to it.
Good luck, I really hope the blood tests show that nothing else is wrong and that she soon starts to put on a touch of weight. Thanks for taking her in as well, your husband deserves a big kiss for letting you have just one more cat.
Please let us know how she gets on at the vet.

She is eating some dry food, but I don't know how much as my sister has 3 cats and hasn't been monitoring. The Hyperthyroidism as well as the kidney failure can both cause weight loss. And she was just diagnosed with the Hyperthyroidism a month ago but my sister hasn't been consistent with giving her the meds she needs. I am keeping her separate from my cats (during the day) so she can have free access to food, and will be syringe feeding her as much as I can get into her for the next few days.

That last picture looks like a slightly underfed teenage kitten, not a fully grown fluffy 12 year old cat!! My cat is a short-haired cat and she is about that size when you look down at her!

Fingers crossed she makes an improvement with you and goes on to live a happy and healthy life in a home that clearly cares for her!!

I know isn't it sad? I can literally feel EVERY single bone in her body. She is STARVED for attention too which she has always been an attention hound which is why we kept her as a clinic cat. She actually was bottle fed by one of our former employees, so I've known Tabby since birth. Danielle actually adopted her and then when she was about 5 years old had kids and Tabby isn't fond of kids in the least bit so she brought her back for adoption. This is a cat who literally had to have a tranquilizer JUST to walk in the door of the vet clinic, she actually attacked her owners face once when she was bringing her into the clinic and she had to go have stitches. Well we had her for a month and she mellowed out and had been a clinic cat ever since (so for about 7 years). She LOVES dogs as Danielle had a sheltie whom 'nursed' her lol. So she was always walking up to the dogs and rubbing on them and loving them. I feel so bad seeing her like this. I hope we can turn things around for her.

[DaneMama]

Poor baby....keep us posted on her progress!

[cprcheetah]

Thank-you everyone, this has been a heck of a week, with the car, then tabby and me stressing about having surgery on my toe next week. Tabitha is in good spirits, she has already assumed one of her favorite positions....she stretches her paws on you and asks to be picked up kind of like a 'kid' does. She's been purring her butt off non stop (okay when I was force feeding her she stopped lol) since she got home. Just call me the crazy cat lady with 7 cats now lol! Munchie & Pipsqueaks (my siamesers whom are 1/2 brothers a few years apart) 1/2 brother is back up for adoption as well.........HARD to resist.

[hmbutler]

Come on, is there really much difference between 7 cats and 8 cats at this point?? lol

[CorgiPaws]

Come on, is there really much difference between 7 cats and 8 cats at this point?? lol

This logic is scary!! lol.
...trust me.

I wondered today, "what's 20 more lbs of dog at this point?" Doh! Corgi fever, I has it.


Back on topic: Keep us posted on the progress, and good on you for taking her in!

[cprcheetah]

You guys are TERRIBLE! LOL! That's what I keep telling my hubby, what's one more? LOL!

Update on Tabitha: Vet, hubby and I all agreed to wait on her bloodwork as right now she's pretty sickly girl and we didn't want to stress her too much, although she's purring, and playing a little even so she's adjusting beautifully into my home. We are syringe feeding her canned food (would much rather get her on raw, but at this point it's critical to get ANY nutrition into her), I have a mixture I'm giving her every few hours by mouth as well as some Powerade to keep her electrolytes up. She ate MAYBE 1 tablespoon of kibble today which isn't much at all. She did snarf some yucky Whisker's Lickin Chicken & Cheese treats, and ate some shredded cheese that my hubby gave her from our dinner. So hopefully we can get her eating better. I am thinking if we can get her to gain even a little bit she should be okay to have bloodwork ran next week....yeah I can afford the $200 it's gonna cost me for what tests she needs to have done....NOT! Thank heavens they let us carry a balance for 90 days.

Here shows a better picture of how truly skinny she is: