Weird Skinny (But Happy) Cat

[wildlifer]

I have a little cat I got who lived for about 2.5 years in a group rescue home, good place. She’s about 5 or 6 now. Has always been very active, super chatty, very small bodied and narrow. Used to be very prone to bolting food and puking it up but that rarely happens now.

Lately she seems to have lost weight (what little she has!). She is shiny, soft, happy, bright, chatty as ever, lots of energy, but she feels like a little skeleton. I’m an excellent caregiver, other cat(s) doing fine. They have been getting Wellness kibble, even when she is on free choice (when I am traveling) she never gains weight.

I have never seen this before, but no money to take her to vet to run tons of tests right now. Any suggestions of things to try out that might help her?

[MistyBlue]

Might take only one test.
Hyperthyroidism is pretty common in cats, more so in females. And most of the time shows up between the ages of 6-10.
It’s a simple, fast blood test and then affordable medication.
I’ve had more than one kitty that developed hyperthyroidism. Bright, happy, zoomy and despite eating normally…seem to turn into walking skeletons overnight.
Short time on the medication and the weight bounces right back.

[wildlifer]

Thanks, MB! I will look into that one. She’s never been big, never fat, but then about a month ago, it was like, whoa, honey, your vertebrae are sticking out (she is mostly black and shiny, so hard to see). I am not a kitty starver!

[MistyBlue]

It freaked me out the first time one of my cats went through it. I was terrified it had some sort of cancer since it was eating well and peeing fine, etc.
I brought her to the vets fully expecting to hear “cancer” and have to have her PTS, walked in the office dreading every step. Vet said probably hyperthyroidism, would test and explained how it’s common in cats and that they can eat and eat and eat and never gain a pound. I was thrilled it was a simple medication fix! I was kind of hoping they could uninstall it from the cat and install it in me. :winkgrin:
I’ve had 3 kitties with it over the years, all females. All 3 that got it were smaller than average cats, dainty little things. Not sure if it’s more prevalent for little cats, but my bigger kitties never got it. Was told that while dogs tend towards hypothyroidism and get fat as ticks, cats do the opposite. And that if I had a cat that was bright eyed and energetic and eating normally and seemed to become scrawny overnight, to bet on it being hyperthyroidism.
Nice bonus is the medication was a teeny-tiny pill, once a day IIRC. The pill was tiny enough that I could stick it in her wet food and she’d eat it herself without me going through the painful (for the human) method of pilling a cat!
Hope this helped! Don’t worry about the vet thinking you’re starving your cat. They apparently see this a lot.
I swear cats are from another planet…I’ve found it much easier dealing with wildlife than cat maladies, LOL!

[godiva13]

I have a cat that is about 14 and has always had trouble keeping weight on and would throw up allot and has chronic diearhea. I have tried every food from cheap to expensive and dry to canned with no results. Vet did blood test and tested for hyperthyroid and diabetes and he was negative,
I started him on raw just over a month ago and the change is amazing. He is eating like crazy and putting on weight, i can barely feel his bones now. he has only thrown up a couple of times and both were only hairballs not food and his diarea gone away.
If i had not seen it myself i would not believe it. I now feel bad that i didnt try it sooner. i will never put him back on cat food.

[wildlifer]

Thanks again! I was doing some research and reading about the alternative iodine or something treatment you only do once because the cats on steroids didn’t live as long? MB have you observed that or did yours live a normal life? I just buried a kitty on Friday and I don’t want to have to do that again for a long time.

[MistyBlue]

My first cat with it was a long while back and that treatment may not have been around then since it wasn’t mentioned as an option at all. She started at 8 and lived to 14. Passed from kidney failure. 2nd cat was already older, she was 12 and lived to 17. Most recent cat passed just under 2 years ago and the vet did recommend that treatment also, said it’s what she does for all of her own cats. IIRC there was something about the cat needing to be observed at the vet’s for a time after but for the life of me I can’t remember what exactly was said. Livi was also 12 so I went with the treatment I knew but we were going to consider again in a year. She passed before the year was over, but it was unrelated as she had a pre-existing issue.

But my vet was a big proponent of the single treatment, I just don’t have any personal experience with it. I do know with the pills the cats were all normal and happy and relaxed and lived a decent time after starting treatment. May have lived longer, may not.

So sorry about your other cat. Animals are both so great and so hard on our hearts.

(ETA: the cat who lived to 17 was a Siamese cross and I’ve never known a Siamese that wasn’t very long lived. Not sure if that was a factor)