My cat used to be a blob. He was pretty fat, lazy, but he always used to have a lot of personality and energy, and even in his old age (he’s about 9 or 10 now; not sure exactly, since he was a stray).
Being an outdoor tomcat, we’ve ALWAYS had to battle his worms, but except for the constantly scruffy hair and other things you’d expect from such, he’s been healthy.
However, recently he’s lost a lot of weight and has zero energy. He eats like a frickin’ horse though, on an order of magnitude of what he used to (one small tin of catfood would usually last him two days; now he’s eating one to two tins a day). He’s not throwing it up, he’s not going to the bathroom an unusual amount (although it’s hard to judge because we just recently got him a litterbox to keep him from starting to spray as male cats do when they get older), but he’s not gaining weight. He’s bony as hell and doesn’t even break out in more than a fast walk, even when he’s going to his food dish to eat for the zillionth time in a day.
We have a vitamin suppliment thingy a vet suggested that we just started giving him today. It’s sort of a paste you mix up in their food, but if my cat seemingly isn’t getting any nutritional value out of his cat food, I don’t see how he can get it from that. A family friend, who’s something of an amateur vet, suggested it might be a thyroid problem, which is curable, I’m told.
Anyone here have any insight before I shell out the money for a blood test and check up?
Shell out the money for the checkup and blood test. It’s money well spent.
There are a lot of reasons a cat might lose weight. It’s worthwhile to find out what’s going on as soon as you can, because rapid weight loss can in itself cause serious liver problems in a cat. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the thyroid problem, since that certainly is treatable.
For Pete’s sake. The cat is sick. Take it to the doctor.
And if he isn’t neutered, or even if he is, the litter box will do absolutely nothing to stop him from spraying. Spraying and urinating are completely different functions, reactions to completely different stimuli.
Not that it really needs to be said at this point, but please do take the cat to the vet! This sounds serious to me. It could be that he has worms which could be why he’s eating so much, but getting thin. The worms eat all the nutrients themselves and leave none for the cat to utilize. It could be many things, but this is not something that will go away on it’s own or with a home remedy most likely. Let us know how he does, good luck.
It could be something treatable, like a tapeworm or a thyroid problem, but it could be something much more serious, like feline leukemia or FIV. Take the cat to the vet, please.
How old is he? Along with eating way more than usual, does he seem very thirsty? My thought was be liver failure. When my cat got into his later years (15-18) his liver went into a slow decline. He had to eat kitten food to keep weight on.
Even if he is not that old, a lot of mild poisons cause liver failure (that is to say, they’re not strong enough to cause death). An outdoor cat can get into all sorts of whatnot, some of it posionous.
Info about feline liver failure:
IANAVet, but I have some close friends who are small animal Vet techs.
