I think my cat is dying. Any other ideas?

Question

My cat seems to be losing way too much weight. We can feel her rib cages through her skin. Her fur is falling out (well the fur she doesn't chew off. A new habit she has recently started). We took her to the vet and he couldn't figure it out. She doesn't seem to be in any pain. She doesn't have any known diseases that we could afford to have her test for. She eats normally. We gave her special food (which she doesn't seem to like as much but eats just the same) We find no evidence of her throwing up and her litter box habits are fine.

The vet thought it might be stress but has no idea why she is still experiencing negative reaction. We recently adopted another kitty and she didn't like it very much. She is used to the new cat now, but she is still losing weight and fur. She is also becoming progressively more aggressive toward the other cat and my husband and I.

She is about 8 years old and I'm afraid she is dying. Any suggestions?

No the cat does not have tapeworm. That was the first thing they checked her for. She doesn't have heartworm either. I've been taking my pets to this vet for my entire life (altogether I've had 6 cats, 3 dogs, a guinea pig and a hamster all of which he has treated). I have another appointment with another vet for a second opinion, but I'm just trying to get some suggestions from the community.

Alright, feline leukemia, check. He ran a test for that and it came back negative.

Tapeworm, again....check. Neg tests. (On both cats just in case).

We adopted Cheddar about two months ago. Danni (sick kitty) had started to warm up to her before developing this illness.

Ok - Sorry will try to stop with details. We adopted Danni about a year ago. She was already seven when we got her. Adoption place said she got along fine with other cats. (Cheddar is also female so sexual tension solved)

Answer 1

She's at an age where the thyroid can be a problem, has the vet specifically checked her thyroid levels? It wouldn't show up in just a regular blood test, it's a special test. The fur loss, weight loss, eating normal but losing weight, and aggressiveness are all symptoms. Have them check thyroid levels. Cats can be on meds for that, they even have transdermal cream you can rub in the ears if you can't get a pill down them.

Answer 2

I hope your cat gets better. You already have several opinions here of what could be wrong...and I think it's good that you want opinions. And especially getting a second opinion by another vet. Although your current vet may be good, he/she is not perfect and may simply not have picked up on what could be wrong. A second opinion will at least give you peace of mind...hopefully they can figure out what is wrong. It may simply be stress or some type of cat anxiety suddenly brought on by the new kitty. I've never heard of such an extreme case as to pulling hair out and severe weight loss (even though she is eating). Maybe the vet can prescribe some stress relieving meds for your cat. Hopefully, it is something simple that your second opinion vet can find and fix. And if you do find out what the cause is...let your current vet know. It may help him in the future if someone else has the same problem. Have you tried secluding sick kitty (maybe in your bedroom) for a few days to see if her behavior changes? You might give that a try if you haven't already. Good luck! I hope you find the cause and a cure.

Answer 3

I'd recommend getting bloodwork done. It can be costly; different vets charge different amounts, but if you can find one that has a blod machine in their office, you can get the result quicker. Any vet should be able to do a CBC, so do that and get a copy of the results and take it to a vet you trust. Have her thyroid checked (blood test) and blood glucose level checked (possible diabetes). Not eating or losing weight can have seriously adverse affects on the liver and the blood levels will show it; kidneys, too. Did your vet do a fecal to check for intestinal parasites; I would assume so. That should be one of the first things checked for since it's so easy and cheap to do. Is she drinking/urinating normally? Does she get vaccs routinely?
I would not rule out psychosomatic issues since there is a new cat. After all, it was her domain until you brought the new cat in. Cats are territorial, especially if they've become accustom to a particular living situation for a long period of time and all a sudden that changes; thus a new cat being thrown into the mix.

Answer 4

Your cats seems too young to be losing weight like that, but maybe it has aged prematurely or something. I'll just tell you this: My in-laws lost a cat recently who went through the same thing. The cat was about 15 yrs old though. HOWEVER, she had started losing weight a while back, like maybe two years ago. She was literally skin and bone towards the end there and VERY frail for a WHILE. The thing is, she seemed fine otherwise, and was, it was just a natural aging process for her. She did eat A LOT more food. But she still would go outside and lay around and seem to be happy for the most part. At the very end she just stopped eating, and you could tell she was miserable.
I'm sorry your cat is going through this, and this may be an early sign of her dying. But she might live for longer than you think, like my in-laws' cat. Just try to make her as comfortable as possible. If she starts showing signs of being unhappy and in pain for a long period, you may want to consider euthanization.

Answer 5

Take her to another vet or emergency veterinarian hospital or clinic immediately. If she had tapeworm, probably you would see some evidence of it (little white segments about the size of a grain of rice.)
You could be right about her being close to death. I am worried she may have something a lot more serious like hyperthyroidism or some form of cancer.
Ask the new animal hospital to do a blood panel on her. Fur falling out is not a good sign. If she also is showing her third eyelid, then she is very very sick.
Get moving on this quickly please. You can be sure it is not a psychological problem.

Answer 6

Not eating could be just about anything -- hard-to-detect cancer (but she's not vomiting?), thryoid can DEFINITELY do that. Does she seem like she breathes heavily a lot -- or just fast? The fact that she's eating, not being "sick", but losing weight is very confusing, and disturbing.

Definitely have the vet check her thryoid counts. Also, go to some vet sites online (i.e. vetinfo.com) and see if you can't pinpoint more symptoms and help narrow down the possibilities for the vet(s), if you're limited on the testing. That's the absolute worst, knowing something's wrong, but not what it is, and therefore not being able to treat it.

I wish you the best of luck!!!

Answer 7

My last family pet had similar symptoms and it turned out she was hyperthyroid. This means that her levels or T4 (thyroid hormone) are too high in her bloodstream. The symptoms were irritability, chewing of fur (especially on front legs) and weight loss despite a healthy appetite. A simple bloodtest can confirm or deny this possibility. The solution is a daily pill that you can get at the vets. My cat was also 8 years old when this developed.

Answer 8

My cat just died. She lost weight quickly. Cats livers cannot metabolize fat the way, say, a human can. She will develop Fatty Liver and it will kill her. Fast!!!! I found this out AFTER my cat died. She ended up with jaundice (yellow coloured flesh inside her ears and her skin was yellow). She MUST NOT be allowed to lose that weight. You have to do your own research and make the vet find out what is making her lose weight. Tell him you learned that a fast weight loss in a cat can kill her, very fast. It is a dangerous condition.

My cat was 7 1/2 years old and she went from 16 pounds down to 9 in less that 5 months. She was constipated first, which leads to not eating eventually and she just kept going downhill from there. But I believe if I had force fed her to keep her weight up way at the beginning of this, she could have lived long enough to figure out what was wrong with her.

Answer 9

Some cats lose weight as they get older. My 13 year old used to have a belly that would drag the ground but now he's just a bag of bones. But his fur is fine. You might check her teeth and make sure she is able to eat enough to keep her from starving. The new kitty might have something to do with it especially if she has had all your attention all these years and now has to share you. Hope you find out what's troubling her.

Answer 10

I have grew many kittens and recently have a baby kitten and an older cat. At first they did not seem to gel along well sometimes they just do not except each other and react in different ways, may be you shoul keep them in seperate rooms if u can and change the food of the cat and also I have an epileptic cat to whom I always play Patricia Kaas when he is suffering from a seizure or is ill...You might try that, it helps... Good luck!