Vet Report

MamaCat and GirlCat made a little trip to the vet's office this morning, to follow up on their annual exams from a couple of months ago.

Mr. BoyCat should have gone for a weigh-in as well, but he managed to make himself scarce as we were loading them up, and again when Shrike was heading back over to pick up the girls, so we let him off the hook, since we can weigh him (although less accurately) at home.

Last time I checked, he's weighing the same as a couple of months ago, but that's with a human scale that's only accurate to within a full pound, so it's kind of hard to say.

Both Mama and the Girl had other things to check on besides just weight, so we dropped them off at the vet this morning, and Shrike picked them up before she went to work.

The good news is that GirlCat has lost 1.5 lbs since their diet started on June 30. That's about 6% of her starting weight (of 25 lbs!) which is great.

She also got a professional-quality clean & clip of her backend, and they gave us some special kitty-butt moist towelettes to help with her, shall we say, weight-related grooming concerns.

MamaCat was there for a weigh-in as well, and some follow-up blood and urine tests. She's also lost a half-pound or so in the past couple of months, but for her it's not such good news, as she's also dropped a total of about 3 - 4 pounds over the past couple of years (from around 10 lb to 6.something today).

Her bloodwork in June showed that her BUN (an indication of kidney function) was high, but it seems to be normal now, which is good.

On the other hand, the level of eosinophils (one kind of white blood cells) in her blood is still elevated. There are several different things that might cause that, including certain kinds of tumors.

They examined her thoroughly and felt all over her and couldn't find any lumps or anything suspicious, but combined with the weight loss it is concerning.

We've switched her to "growth formula" kitten food (as of today) and when I talk to the vet myself tomorrow (all this info is second-hand through Shrike, who picked them up) I will ask her if there are any other dietary supplements she'd recommend, to get more calories into her.

If we can't get some weight back on her, and if the eosinophils stay elevated, the vet will want to do some x-rays or ultrasounds to see if there might be a tumor that's not evident from the outside.

I'm not sure what kind of a timeframe she's looking at, but I'll ask about that tomorrow, as well. I'd like to go ahead and set a follow up appointment for no later than early November, because I want to have time to get her checked out and know what's going on before Peeper is born.

That all sounds quite worrisome, and I am worried, but Shrike said that the vet didn't sound overly concerned when she was talking to her about it, and she was very reassuring, so maybe this tumor thing is a worst-case long-shot scenario.

I would certainly think that if the vet thought there was a good chance of it, we'd be looking more closely at her now, rather than giving her several weeks to see if she gains any weight.

I definitely want to talk to the vet myself, though, and find out more about what we might be looking at, in terms of treatment and prognosis.

I do recognize that she's a thirteen year-old cat, which is certainly no spring-kitten, but on the other hand, other than being skinny, she acts like the youngest and healthiest of the three of them.

She certainly does not seem like an old or sick kitty at all, and certainly doesn't seem to be having any kind of pain or discomfort.

I think I'll feel better after getting more information from the vet tomorrow, but it sounds like it will be a month or two before we get a better idea of what - if anything - is going on with her.

In the meantime, some fatten-up-kitty mojo would be appreciated.

(Just aim carefully, and don't let any of it get on the others, who could use their own skinny-kitty mojo, if you've got some to spare!)