Seth&Bell
Member since 2024
Hi all,
My parents' cat, Moe, has been losing a lot of weight in the last few months and just recently has started to get really bad fur matting all over his sides. This isn't matting near places he can't reach, it is all over the place.
Some background on Moe. He is 13. Indoor all his life. He has hyperthyroidism (although his current T4 levels are good, more on that below in the bloodwork). I would say his normal weight is around 10 to 10.5 lbs and he has dropped to about 8 lbs in the past year. He is a very sweet cat, more like a dog than a cat, and loves people and licking people
. He also has (at least what we think) really bad herpes side effects. He's constantly sneezing up gunk and lysine doesn't seem to help. He is an energetic cat, and even with all the weight loss, he still is playful and eating and pooping and acting like his normal self.
My parent's took him in for bloodwork a few weeks back and the vet basically said nothing was wrong and that he is old enough to be considered a geriatric cat and this was normal. Basically said to groom him more. IMO there is something definitely going on, as he pretty rapidly lost this weight and does not look good. So that response is pretty frustrating. My parents are going to take him back in next week and I am just looking for some advice on questions they should ask and other diagnostics that they should push for. They (and me) really really appreciate any wisdom this community has.
Here is Moe's bloodwork:
His BG was high at the vet's (he gets super stressed on vet visits). I went over today and poked him and he was at 90. So I don't think it is FD. Cancer is obviously the worry here, but we've never dealt with that in a cat before so any advice there would be great. My dad is worried about a parasite (Moe caught a mouse earlier this year), so they are planning on bringing a stool sample. He has lost weight due to the hyperthyroidism in the past, but once they got it under control, he has gained it back. And the bloodwork in those cases showed abnormal T4.
Thanks so much, all!
My parents' cat, Moe, has been losing a lot of weight in the last few months and just recently has started to get really bad fur matting all over his sides. This isn't matting near places he can't reach, it is all over the place.
Some background on Moe. He is 13. Indoor all his life. He has hyperthyroidism (although his current T4 levels are good, more on that below in the bloodwork). I would say his normal weight is around 10 to 10.5 lbs and he has dropped to about 8 lbs in the past year. He is a very sweet cat, more like a dog than a cat, and loves people and licking people
. He also has (at least what we think) really bad herpes side effects. He's constantly sneezing up gunk and lysine doesn't seem to help. He is an energetic cat, and even with all the weight loss, he still is playful and eating and pooping and acting like his normal self.My parent's took him in for bloodwork a few weeks back and the vet basically said nothing was wrong and that he is old enough to be considered a geriatric cat and this was normal. Basically said to groom him more. IMO there is something definitely going on, as he pretty rapidly lost this weight and does not look good. So that response is pretty frustrating. My parents are going to take him back in next week and I am just looking for some advice on questions they should ask and other diagnostics that they should push for. They (and me) really really appreciate any wisdom this community has.
Here is Moe's bloodwork:
His BG was high at the vet's (he gets super stressed on vet visits). I went over today and poked him and he was at 90. So I don't think it is FD. Cancer is obviously the worry here, but we've never dealt with that in a cat before so any advice there would be great. My dad is worried about a parasite (Moe caught a mouse earlier this year), so they are planning on bringing a stool sample. He has lost weight due to the hyperthyroidism in the past, but once they got it under control, he has gained it back. And the bloodwork in those cases showed abnormal T4.
Thanks so much, all!
