Thoughts

[aligator79]

I need some thoughts...

Something is up with Ollie.  He has lost 2lbs in 4 months.  His bloodwork was good this time as it was 4 months ago.   She took a urine sample and it was good.His kidney was a little high- not enough to worry about- she thought he might be a little dehydrated since it's been in the upper 90's this week.  She suggested to put salt free chicken broth or tuna juice in his water to entice him to drink more. I know when we've had sick kitties here that it's been recommended but has anyone heard of this on a longer term basis?

Our next step is to get a stool sample for internal issues.  Getting a sample from a kitty that prefers to go outside is quite the task.  When I got home from work the other day he came to meet me.  I asked him if he would be a good kitty and potty for me.  HE DID!  or at least tried.  I haven't had much luck catching him since then.  Any thoughts on how to do it?  

Any ideas of what else could be wrong with him?  

[opus88]

good, I was hoping those had been ruled out as they are the most obvious, going to take some digging to get to the root of this weight loss. since you mentioned bad teeth it could very well be the cause, I'm glad you are feeding him canned foods....dry would be agony to try and chew.
bad teeth/gingivitas/forls can also mean heart disease.....:(

I am extremely happy to read the Vet will not give shots when Ollie isn't well, thats means she is a GOOD Vet and those are hard to come by....its never advisable to give any shots to an animal that is displaying any health problems....these vac's are hard on a healthy animal even, so its unthinkable to be adding insult to injury...glad to read this!!!! hooray for your Vet!!!!!

and she wants the stool sample to rule out a parasite...this could also be an issue since he goes outdoors and 'eats anything' in sight...

good luck with the litter box...and getting to the root of his problems..keep us posted

[aligator79]

The vet did all of the normal tests including the T4 and blood sugars.  Diabetes and Thyroid are ruled out- I made sure of that because he has all those symptoms.  She is usually pretty good at doing the right stuff.

He eats anything he can get his paws on including people food (I know-BAD for him).  We have dry food down for them all the time and give canned usually 2-3 times a day.  He doesn't eat much of the dry since he's had teeth problems and doesn't have many left.  We have changed his canned food within the last week to see if we could get him to eat more.  It seems to be working- it's still not the good stuff but he's eating more of it.  

He drinks very well- shocking considering he's a kitty- but it's been more the last couple of months.  

He is also due for his shots and they had that to do at the appt but since we weren't sure what the issue was they wouldn't do it.  (I was shocked!)

I'll try to keep him locked in for the night- I may put a litter box upstairs for him to use so he won't have to come downstairs.  At least I'll be kept awake by a kitty instead of nightmares.

[opus88]

hi Eve.....FLUTD is feline lower urinary tract disease....

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_feline_lower_urinary_tract_dis.html

[evewisewoman]

Hi opus88,
What do the letters FLUTD stand for? I see you referred to this in your
reply to aligator79. If you could tell me, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Eve.

[opus88]

did the Vet do blood sugar tests? or Thyroid? hows his appetite? is he still eating good but losing the weight?
to loose that much weight so suddenly something is very wrong....

To get a stool sample your just going to have to keep him indoors with a litter box until he cooperates...

sodium free chicken broth is okay to add a small amount on a regular basis if it encourages him to drink more....but I wouldn't do the tuna, cats really aren't supposed to have any of the canned tuna, too high in mercury and that would also be present in the juice.
is he on canned foods? thats where he needs to get the moisture from,dry foods only contain 12% moisture, cans contain 78%.....alot of difference and most cats do not consume nearly enough water to compensate for the dehydrated dry food...
Ollie is a male and therefore real prone to FLUTD if he is on dry food....I encourage you to read a post and reply I gave to bkitty tonight....Ollie will get this same issue if he is on dry food and his urine is concentrate already!!!!
so please read...

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Cats/My-Milo/show/1980314