I'd love to see your kitty. I have a Facebook but not photo bucket.

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~ Kyenta

I've given human tuna to a cat that wasn't very interested in eating. At least it sounds like his appetite is back for cat food. Did you stop the steroid? If so, that may be it! If your Photo Bucket page is set to public, we should be able to see the pictures. You may have some others up there that you do not want to share, but perhaps you can make just an album public. I don't know. I haven't used Photo Bucket in years.

Would definitely love to see a picture of this little guy so I can judge for myself whether I believe he is too thin. Does he play? Does he have good energy? Will he climb his cat tree? Observing a cat's behavior can tell you a LOT! I'm guess he pees and poops okay. Get a baby scale so you can weigh him properly. I just would not want to subject him to tests that may be unnecessary. The stress of going to the vet can alter the appetite process.

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The little monsters 3

Okay a few notes on his weight.

In 2014 his weight was: 7.40.
The 2 times I weighed him recently (at the vet during his 2 checkups and general retests) in 2016 was: 6.60 (a few weeks ago g/t).
The most recent weight at home (me vs. me with him in my arms and weight subtraction method) was: 6.02 (7-20-2016 5:12pm). He gained a pound since last week when I weighed him so the food he's been eating is helping.

Here is the link to the photobucket album where his pics are stored (the one with him on the side of the bed (red and white pillow soccerball) is the most recent picture):


http://s999.photobucket.com/user/Sarrii ... t=3&page=1

Let me know if this doesn't work.
One of the people at a local pet shop gave some names to some good wet foods, raw foods, and dry foods. I don't have all the accessories to make straight RAW so they said I could get a premade raw food package at like Petco or a local feed store etc with instructions on how to thaw it out etc.

I have an appointment tomorrow with the vet - I'm going to do the Leukemia/Cancer test, have him weighed and tell the vet what I've been doing so far and how the food helped him gain a pound in a week.

(attaching link to your picture)



He looks really sickly and thin to me I think he really needs medical help, he might be like 5-10lbs under weight imo, just from the picture. Poor kitty.

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The little monsters 3

Yeah :/

I don't know what else to do that I either have already tried or have yet to try coming up soon.
He's always been active and vocal and cruising back and forth around the house - until the last couple of months and then everything has been going downhill fast which is why I'm scrambling mad dog to figure it out and hitting up every resource I have for ideas and advice. There is obviously "something" wrong - just extremely irritating that nobody can figure it out yet because his tests always come back okay.

I'm gonna have the vet take a look at his teeth and gums as well just for the hell of it.
I hope tomorrow's tests DON'T reveal anything because that basically means his end.

...sigh.

Oh my, no wonder you're worried! He looks like a frail old man. I sure hope you find out what's wrong and soon.

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~ Kyenta

How old is he? He looks much too thin.

Poor guy, I can see why you're so concerned. He is very under weight. Definitely have them check his teeth, gums and mouth. Any problems with those can make it painful to eat, and then the not eating causes nausea - it becomes a vicious cycle.

In all of the testing they have done has his white blood cell count been either high or low?

Have they done some x-rays of his body to look for internal masses?

This is one of those times where you wish they could talk and tell you what they're feeling

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Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

I still need to call on the chipping company to find out when exactly he was chipped and that might give me a better idea of his age. I want to say like 7 or 8 years old g/t. I don't have his original paperwork - I believe they told me they didn't know exactly where it was and I left it at that.

I should have made them find it.

Anyway - I can either do the intestinal disease test or x-rays but not both. I can't afford both right now. Each one is a little over $200. But first I'm doing the Leukemia/Cancer test and he said if that's a negative hit then we can move on to either of those other big tests/x-rays.

I'll see about the white blood cell count - I think he mentioned something about that at some point but I can't remember.
My appointment is at 4pm today so right after work I'm gonna scoop the kitty and roll out there.

At least he's eating again.

Possibly have them check for kidney disease. That leaves cats very thin with little appetite because they become nauseous when toxins build up. If that is the case you could hydrate him at home rather than take him to the vet every week. They also have good medications for nauseousness. One works on the brain and the other works on the stomach. The vet can give shots or to save money you can buy the medication in pill form from the vet and give them to kitty at home.

Okay - so I'm back from the vet.

So he felt the underside of the kitty - and said he felt an abnormal mass around the intestines or that the intestines were a little thicker than they should be on an empty stomach.
I ordered up the intestinal test, ordered some B12 and did a steroid injection. The vet basically thinks because he lost weight like he has - with his symptoms that it is "most likely" Intestinal Cancer and most likely in a critical stage. The results should come back tomorrow or early Saturday and if that's the case - he said I could try some chemo once a week with the B12. But only gave him 1-2 years if it is (my brother had Cancer - they gave him 6 months - he's gone 7 years now so I never take a doctors word as gospel because you never really know).

I don't want to put my faith in any guess on what it could be until I know for sure based off the tests. But he seems really sure about it.
I didn't order up the other test (I made a mistake earlier. It's a Leukemia/Feline Aids test) because we don't really think it's that.

Expect to hear back Saturday at some point.

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Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

Your beautiful baby is definitely underweight! Am hoping that some additional tests can actually pinpoint what is going on. You never want a vet "guessing." Your baby looks extremely frail and should definitely weigh double what he weighs. Check into the higher calorie food which might help. And don't skimp on the tests. A simple Ultrasound, MRI, CT scan could probably yield a lot more answers. They are not cheap, but peace of mind has no price. You can't really treat a condition when you don't know what the condition is, so continue to search for the answers you need.

The reason I am hesitant for some of the tests - is because I don't have the $$. Literally - cannot afford them.

But anyway - that being said - I got the test results back. He called me today.

So - he said the B12 count is really low - which means that he DOES have an Intestinal Disease and it is most likely Cancer. He said that the intestines absorb B12 in the body - and since it's not being absorbed it's Cancer basically sucking up all the food he eats and limiting the body to absorb the B12 (that's why he could eat and eat and eat and gain no weight and then in the last few weeks drastically lose weight). I don't know if my weight method was accurate - when they weighed him he was around 5 pounds and I had him at 6. I thought he might have gained a pound - and if he did he immediately lost it or my scale was just not accurate as to his weight.

So - I have him on B12 shots for 6 weeks. Once a week. He's also going to put him on a steroid that kids use in the tablet form (I can get the name when I pick it up) to see if that helps with his situation. I do know that when he was given the steroid injection and the B12 shot - he was much more lively than he has been. He's been vocal - mobile and eating a lot more and going in the litter box with good results. But he's also super tired and frail like everyone said. The vet did say that when the steroid injection wears off you're going to either see his energy etc immediately decrease OR with the B12 shots and the food - it will remain stable and he might start getting better. I was going to wait a week and see - but I decided I'm going to go ahead with the tablets... I might just crush them up and put them in with some food. A friend gave me some raw food today which I tried (it's veal in little bite sizes). I gave him about 10 of them and he ate them all with no problems.

It doesn't help that my place is stupid hot. Like 10 degrees hotter than it is outside because I have no AC and no cross breeze. I'm shopping for 2 ceiling fans for both of my ceiling lights (one above my saltwater tank which Cairo actually sleeps next to from time to time and one in my room where he spends most of his time). That should help tremendously with managing the heat. Makes everything including him lazy. I'm currently looking to get a better place albeit not every actively at the moment. More of an idea...

...and yes - I live in San Diego by the beach.
So that's where everything is at. I also don't necessarily believe in the final word of a doctor/vet but that you never really know. So we'll see - I'm gonna keep him on raw food now. He absolutely has no interest what so ever in dry food anymore which doesn't make any sense to me but whatever. I'll try and mix in some of that calorie booster as well - and maybe even wet the dry food enough to include it into the raw food to give him some carbs. We'll see how things progress.