Weight Loss. Unsure why (diabetes is regulated)

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lbeachstace

lbeachstace

Member Since 2022
Recently, Buddy has:
  • Lost weight: went from 10.6 to 10.2 (he was weighed at the vet on 4/7 and was 10.6)
  • Puked two times in the past couple of weeks, it was a white foam - this is not typical of him
  • Seemed nauseous (kept swallowing) and we gave him cerenia twice in the past couple of weeks. Haven't given him any since January 23
  • He has a great appetite. He's eating two full meals and two big snacks a day
  • He had bloodwork in April (labs are on his ss) and all is okay.
  • He had an echocardiogram a couple of weeks ago, and that was also okay.
He's scheduled for surgery on Thursday to have a cyst removed. We are really nervous and unsure if the surgery is safe, with the sudden weight loss. (We will be calling our vet in the morning)

Any thoughts on what could be wrong?
 
All labs have been run.

He's been getting meals at 10am and 10pm. Snacks at 2:30pm and then again 6:30pm. No snacks at night because it is so late but he does seem to vomit in the morning.

The cerenia definitely seems to help the nausea.

Any thoughts on the weight loss?
 
In the labs have they checked his thyroid hormone levels? If not I would suggest you get him tested, is a very simple blood test the vet can order. Thyroid problems can cause weight loss and nausea and they may be very hungry
 
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I didn't see any recent thyroid labs in his spreadsheet. It would be worth asking to see the results yourself. Vets don't always follow up when the result is in the "grey area", but in older cats, the result could actually be hyperthyroid. That's where Rhubarb sat.

Has he had an SDMA test run? For Rhubarb, the vet and I decided to not treat thyroid until the risks outweighed benefit. The thyroid was balancing the kidney issues. If your guy has kidney issues, that would be a discussion to have as well.
 
My cat vomits white foam when she goes without food for longer than 6/7hrs.
She also used to vomit in the early morning but it stopped when I added an extra snack portion of her wet food late at night.
 
majandra said:
For Rhubarb, the vet and I decided to not treat thyroid until the risks outweighed benefit. The thyroid was balancing the kidney issues. If your guy has kidney issues, that would be a discussion to have as well.
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If his thyroid values are off, I do suggest you consider some treatment, an untreated thyroid will eventually cause a lot of health problems, kidney, liver, anemia and even heart problems, thyrioid issues can become serious if left untreated, if properly treated cats can live a pretty normal long life .

When a cat´s thyroid ( or a person it woks the same for people) is malfunctioning it causes his body to work in overdrive so all the organs are working extra, which means being hyperthyroid is not balancing kidney issues what it is actually doing is masking the problem because the kidney is working extra hard all the time so it may look like is helping because his blood results look kind of ok but in the long run it is causing extra stress in the kindeys since they are overworking.

I do apologize if my comment appears a bit strong but thyroid issues can be solved with medication or treatment quite easily and if left untreated can become ugly
 
Veronica & Babu-chiri said:
If his thyroid values are off, I do suggest you consider some treatment, an untreated thyroid will eventually cause a lot of health problems, kidney, liver, anemia and even heart problems, thyrioid issues can become serious if left untreated, if properly treated cats can live a pretty normal long life .

When a cat´s thyroid ( or a person it woks the same for people) is malfunctioning it causes his body to work in overdrive so all the organs are working extra, which means being hyperthyroid is not balancing kidney issues what it is actually doing is masking the problem because the kidney is working extra hard all the time so it may look like is helping because his blood results look kind of ok but in the long run it is causing extra stress in the kindeys since they are overworking.

I do apologize if my comment appears a bit strong but thyroid issues can be solved with medication or treatment quite easily and if left untreated can become ugly
Click to expand...

I somehow missed adding that she has been treated for it for quite a while now. The temporary decision to not treat thyroid was based on her clinical signs, history, bloodwork, other conditions and etc.

It was a very individualized temporary decision.
 
How did the surgery go?

Weight loss if still eating a good number of calories is usually one of three things: diabetes, hyperthyroidism, GI condition like IBD or small cell lymphoma. Along with getting the T4 test done, I'd ask for a GI panel to start.

I see his creatinine is out of range, you might also want to get an SDMA and a urinalysis, specifically urine specific gravity, to see his kidney progress. The USG can be done with a free catch done at home and taken into the vet. They should have a refractometer to measure it.
 
AliceL said:
My cat vomits white foam when she goes without food for longer than 6/7hrs.
She also used to vomit in the early morning but it stopped when I added an extra snack portion of her wet food late at night.
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My cat used to vomit in the mornings as well when he started insulin treatment... a snack at around 4 am with the autofeeder fixed the problem. I often wondered why he gets nauseous when he doesnt eat every 4 or 5 hours. I can see by reading the comments here that it is not unusual...
 
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