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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / June 2004Goodish news for Jackie Cat
Jackie is the 5 pound 12 year old (or more) cat that I adopted last month. After more than three weeks on antibiotics she has gained 7/10 of a pound. The vet was very pleased and thinks that there is no need to try to get more blood out of her for testing. His thinking is that if she had any of the prime suspects (thyroid, diabetes, cancer) she wasn't going to gain any weight, much less almost a pound, without treatment. Jackie does have bad gums and they will be prone to infection, and it is likely the infection that caused her to be so light in the first place. She had serious mouth ulcers when I got her and that is why she went on antibiotics in the first place. Unfortunately our choices on that aren't so good. Cleaning the teeth and gums would be great but that involves putting her under and he will not do that at this point. So I just have to make sure she keeps eating like a little horse and bring her in if not. She also can't go on Frontline or such, which is bad because she won't be able to go outside in the back with the two boys (Espy and Nipsy). It is apparently a VERY bad flea season. She did go out back for the last couple of days and it will tough to stop her now but I have to. He says to bring her back in two or three months and if she is up to seven pounds he will ok Frontline. The vet says that she walks funny because she has very little muscle mass, mostly because she is old and that sort of thing happens. All in all, about the best that could be hoped for. > All in all, about the best that could be hoped for. Good for Jackie! And good on you. > Jackie is the 5 pound 12 year old (or more) cat that I adopted last > month. After more than three weeks on antibiotics she has gained 7/10 [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > All in all, about the best that could be hoped for. Great! Almost a pound is terrific. I hope she can get up high enough for the flea treatment. I hope you can find a way to control her gum problems. circa Tue, 15 Jun 2004 22:56:44 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, dgk (sonicechoes-spamless@zero-spam-hotmail.com) said, > All in all, about the best that could be hoped for. You are to be commended for adopting a senior cat, and it's good to hear that she is as healthy as can be expected, overall. :-) Laura  SignatureExperience is the name every one gives to their mistakes. -Oscar Wilde So far, so good; better than it looked like it might turn out, initially. I hope she'll continue to gain weight, & do better & better. Cathy > Jackie is the 5 pound 12 year old (or more) cat that I adopted last > month. After more than three weeks on antibiotics she has gained 7/10 [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > All in all, about the best that could be hoped for. I'm glad for Jackie and you. Maybe you should get one of those flea combs if you don't already have it. What about brewer's yeast in her food? I always heard that deterred fleas but maybe it's an old wives' tale. Candace (take the litter out before replying by e-mail) See my cats: http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace "One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human." (Loren Eisely) >I'm glad for Jackie and you. Maybe you should get one of those flea combs if >you don't already have it. What about brewer's yeast in her food? I always >heard that deterred fleas but maybe it's an old wives' tale. I don't think I can take the chance. If she can't take the Frontline now, getting her a flea bath isn't even a possibility. My cats (all three, including Jackie) are officially on strike. They are snubbing their food. Yes, even Jackie looks at me like "you think even I'm going to eat this?". She then does, but the others are holding out. Wellness, Nutro, Triumph, Maxcat. We won't eat that stuff. We WANT 9LIVES! They always have the dry stuff. circa Wed, 16 Jun 2004 10:32:51 -0400, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, dgk (sonicechoes-spamless@hot-nospamp-mail.com) said, > My cats (all three, including Jackie) are officially on strike. They > are snubbing their food. Yes, even Jackie looks at me like "you think [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Wellness, Nutro, Triumph, Maxcat. We won't eat that stuff. We WANT > 9LIVES! They must be American cats- hooked on junk food. ;-) Laura SignatureExperience is the name every one gives to their mistakes. -Oscar Wilde << I don't think I can take the chance. If she can't take the Frontline now, getting her a flea bath isn't even a possibility. >> No, I said a flea comb, meaning an actual comb thing that takes fleas and eggs out when you comb them with it. Candace (take the litter out before replying by e-mail) See my cats: http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace "One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human." (Loren Eisely) ><< I don't think I can take the chance. If she can't take the Frontline >now, getting her a flea bath isn't even a possibility. >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Candace >(take the litter out before replying by e-mail) Would a flea comb actually remove all the fleas? I thought that once they got fleas you had to bomb the house and do the flea bath thing. << Would a flea comb actually remove all the fleas? I thought that once they got fleas you had to bomb the house and do the flea bath thing. >> I believe that it keeps it under control somewhat. You could give her a regular bath--if she gets them--and then flea comb her. Regular soap kills fleas, it just doesn't have a residual effect. Of course, giving a cat any sort of bath can be quite un-fun. Hopefully, she just won't get them. Candace (take the litter out before replying by e-mail) See my cats: http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace "One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human." (Loren Eisely) ><< Would a flea comb actually remove all the fleas? I thought that once >they got fleas you had to bomb the house and do the flea bath thing. >> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >fleas, it just doesn't have a residual effect. Of course, giving a cat any >sort of bath can be quite un-fun. Hopefully, she just won't get them. I have been very lucky with fleas. Well, I guess without fleas is a better way to put it. For the past two years I didn't use anything on the boys and there were no flea episodes. I do have a small backyard and it is fenced in so it might stay flea free. But supposedly squirrels are the prime source of fleas and they get everywhere. Jackie did come outside the other day but only stayed on the deck with me and didn't head out into the green areas so I wasn't concerned. I have never given any of my cats a bath, and Jackie is a fiesty one. No, I don't think that she would appreciate it. I did just put Frontline on both Espy and Nipsy two days ago. I just don't know how to break the news to Jackie that she has to stay off the grass and tomato plants... > Jackie is the 5 pound 12 year old (or more) cat that I adopted last > month. After more than three weeks on antibiotics she has gained 7/10 [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > will not do that at this point. So I just have to make sure she keeps > eating like a little horse and bring her in if not. I can't tell from your post whether your vet is saying she just needs to gain some weight before she can get a dental or whether he is saying she will always be at too high a risk for anesthesia because of her age. If it's the latter, I would suggest getting a second opinion from a vet that handles a lot of older cats. I just had a dental done on my 12 YO cat, but he is a Cat Of Substance (:-)) without any serious medical problems. They can put older cats under now for a dental with much less risk than used to be the case using Isoflourene. > She also can't go on Frontline or such, which is bad because she won't > be able to go outside in the back with the two boys (Espy and Nipsy). [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > The vet says that she walks funny because she has very little muscle > mass, mostly because she is old and that sort of thing happens. This characterization gives me a little pause because while nowadays a 12 YO cat is considered a senior cat, cats are living healthy lives for a lot longer than they used to and AFAIK it's not usually until they get to be something like 15+ before they start losing significant amounts of muscle mass due to age as long as they are otherwise healthy. > All in all, about the best that could be hoped for. It's such a nice thing that you took her in. It sounds like she doesn't have any health problems that won't clear up and I'll bet she'll look a lot different after being pampered for a few months. . >I can't tell from your post whether your vet is saying she just needs >to gain some weight before she can get a dental or whether he is [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >serious medical problems. They can put older cats under now for a >dental with much less risk than used to be the case using Isoflourene. I'm not really clear on that either. I think perhaps we can get to a point where it might be worth doing, but she is going to have to improve much. I was thinking that I could take her to the specialty vet if I really wanted to have this done, but for now I will just keep an eye out and make sure that she is still gaining weight. >> The vet says that she walks funny because she has very little muscle >> mass, mostly because she is old and that sort of thing happens. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >amounts of muscle mass due to age as long as they are otherwise >healthy. Yes, but she really wasn't a very healthy cat, to say the least, and we don't know her actual age. It isn't surprising that she would be short muscle mass when her total body weight was five pounds. I was more concerned that she might have arthritis or some kind of bone damage. She does walk funny, with the big end sort of swaying, and she seems a bit unstable somehow. Something else to keep an eye on. |
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