Cuz is back at the drrr. I feel awful - Friday night (of course, it's always after the vet closes for the day) was the first time I'd noticed her in a few days ...when the door to "upstairs" is open that's where she goes; she's always been something of a loner - and when I saw her she looked like a sick kitty. Eyes running more than usual (she has always had runny eyes), fur dull, and has she lost weight? I took her to the scale and wow! Three pounds! That's way too much, too fast, even for a cat that overweight. Down from 16.4 to 13.4 in six weeks.
Saturday morning (yesterday) to the drrr we went. On the way there she rubbed her teeth on my hand, so I theorized, "she has gingivitis; we know this. Her mouth hurts, so she doesn't eat, so she loses weight, too fast, which causes kidney problems." I was close. Dr. Ralph showed me a spot on her tongue that looks like another tooth coming in; said he couldn't tell if it was a cancer or something else; he'd have to sedate her to get a closer look. Took lots of blood, gave us antibiotics, sent us home.
An hour later his office called back; could I bring her back? Her blood is "all messed up," the little girl in the office informed me, and they'd need to put her on fluids. So Cuz is gone for the weekend.
This is scarily like the three-legged cat I got from AB several years ago (when Shorty was just a kitten, so it's been nine years). KittyKitty was the first seriously overweight cat I'd ever been around. A day or two after AB brought her to me she ran off, which wasn't real alarming because we lived way out in the country and there was not a lot of traffic (which is my main concern for outdoor cats). I would catch glimpses of her now and then and could tell she was eating the food I had outside for her. Then one day I got close and saw how skinny she'd gotten, and she was yowling to break your heart. Took her to the vet and she didn't make it. This was when I learned that rapid weight loss, for whatever reason, can cause kidney failure in cats. This is why I'm so worried about Cuz right now. Twenty percent of body weight in six weeks is way too fast.
In better news, the incredible transformation Nameless made after switching from Purina Cat Chow to Nutro Max Cat has now worked it's wonders on Sapphire. A couple of weeks ago she looked scruffy, today she's silky.
Shorty is getting along better with everyone, not as much "screaming and running" every time another cat looks at her and she's even shared space with some of the other cats. Right now she and Sapphire are less than a yard apart; one on the windowsill, the other on the tower.
Winston doesn't look like the sick little feleuk kitty he was last month. Yesterday afternoon th'Mr and I were out back by the garden with the Grrrl-dog and Winston, who was racing around playing chase-me, bouncing around in the tall grass and in general looked like he felt pretty good.
I think I'll make today a weighday. I'd intended to do this every couple of weeks, and with Cuz now on fluids I sure wish I'd kept that resolution.
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