... following up the continuing saga of our 14-year-old black neutered male
Moses, he's made remarkable progress in the couple of weeks since we've
finally gotten an idea of what was causing his weight loss, etc.

With what we've been doing on the recommendation of our vet ... 1.6 cc
Prednisone once daily, .5 cc Metronidazole twice daily and Hill's
Prescription i/d diet, as much as he'll eat whenever he wants to eat it ...
he's obviously beginning to put on weight, his coat is bright and shiny
again and he's lost the sickly appearance that he had when he was so
emaciated. He just seems so alert and alive again.

In short, he appears to be getting back to his old self. It's like day and
night compared to what he was when I first posted about him.

The instances of defecation outside the box have also lessened, although
they haven't totally disappeared.

An aside on that, he does have a low-sided box that is easy to get into and
out of.

Phil P. had suggested we look at giving him pancreatic enzyme because of the
test results we got and the symptoms Moses was showing.

We are certainly willing to do that if it's required; however, at this point
our vet recommends that we continue doing what we're doing for another
two-and-a-half to three weeks and assess things at that time and see where
we stand and how Moses is doing, and make a decision as to whether we want
to proceed along those lines..

One thing if you're out there Phil, Moses' stool has changed from the
yellowish tan color to a grayish color now, and it's been pretty
consistently like that for several days now (after your post, I've begun
watching it a little more closely), so I take it that's a good sign? It also
appears to be much thicker consistency than it was when he was so sickly,
although it's still not as solid as other cats', including our other
14-year-old orange tabby (FYI, his name is Bartholemew).

Another aside to Phil, you mentioned about the bad taste of the
Metronidazole, FYI our vet compounded it down and made a liquid out of it
using a feline vitamin as the base. We have to shake it pretty well before
giving it to him, but it seems to have dissolved quite well.

Here's one thing I'm a little concerned about. Our vet wants to keep him on
the i/d for a while. He seems to like it a lot ... he's eating enough of it,
as I said in an earlier post our vet told us to give him as much as he'll
eat, whenever he wants it ... and Lord knows it is DEFINITELY sticking to
his ribs, we can tell that because his ribs aren't sticking out anymore,
LOL!

However, Moses has had a history, throughout his life, of eventually getting
tired of one kind of food and becoming reluctant to eat it. He's still
eating the i/d fairly well as I said, but he's starting to nibble out of the
other cat's dish if there's some food left, although the vet didn't really
seem to be overly concerned about a stray nibble here or there.

If he does quit eating the i/d, I'll of course want to talk with the vet
about it, but just for informational purposes, can anybody suggest any
possible options that would be good for a cat with his history?

FYI, he's a canned food eater, always has been, he'd starve rather than eat
dry. Before we went to the i/d, we were pretty much feeding him Friskies
canned, Friskies pouch and Fancy Feast.

The vet may want to keep him on the i/d for a while, but at some point it's
likely that he'll come off it. I've researched all the various premium
brands (Wellness, Wysong, etc.) that have come out in the last few years and
have direct experience with Science Diet and Iams in the past. What has been
some of your experiences with these, as compared to the "regular" stuff you
get at Wal-Mart and the grocery store, especially with cats with intestinal
symptoms like Moses?

If we come off the prescription, I'm basically looking for something that
would be good for Moses but that Bartholemew could also eat and get proper
nutrition from as well, to kind of simplify things and cut down on the
problems of them eating out of each other's dishes (they've been together
for 14 years, and they lie next to each other and lick each other when we're
not looking, but at the food dish and when competing for my, my wife's and
my kids' attention, they are the picture of pea-green envy and jealousy).

One thing though, I know there are advocates of a raw diet, and I've
investigated that backward and forward, literally spent hours on the
Internet examining the pros and cons, and we're really not inclined to go
there with our cats. I'm not wanting to open a can of worms with anyone, if
you're getting good success with a raw diet, more power to you, if you don't
think it's the way to go, more power to you as well, and I'm not passing
judgment on who's wrong or right on that issue, we're just not inclined to
go there with our cats.

Thanks again for all the input.