Cat needs Xray

My 13 year old cat has lost weight, 2.2lbs in the last 3 years. 20% of his body weight, brought him to the vet they did blood work and everything came back fine. The vet wants to do x-rays what would the vet be looking for? I just want to prepare myself.



Thank you

Re: Cat needs Xray

Could be anything - blockage, tumor.
Did they check his teeth and gums to see if there might be a dental issue ?
My girl started losing weight even though eating normally, that was due to hyperthyroidism.

eta : It's hard when they are your babies and can't tell you what is wrong.

Message edited 6/13/2018 7:50:54 AM.

Re: Cat needs Xray

He isn't having any issues eating, in fact he is hungry all the time. Other than being hungry all the time he is acting normal.

I figured since his blood work came out fine hopefully nothing serious will be discovered through the x-rays.

Re: Cat needs Xray

Hmmnn. First thing that comes to mind is thyroid, but you said the blood work came back normal.

When we took Bella in, vets told us it could be thyroid, diabetes or kidneys that were causing her weight loss. Thankfully was thyroid, which is easy to take care of.

Re: Cat needs Xray

Yes, the first thing that comes to mind would be thyroid as well.

Look, your cat is eating. That is a great sign. The xray is a precaution. I think if they were looking for more they would do a sonogram.

I’d mention something about the thyroid at your next visit. Sometimes the T4 levels (shows thyroid problems) do not show up in blood work. Ask about this.

Another thing could be kidney disease. But you can manage that by giving fluids.

Re: Cat needs Xray

Another thought came to mind : have you tried switching his food, adding in wet if you don't already ?

Bella all of a sudden stopped eating her Purina Naturals so I switched to Nutrish. She ate that for a while then stopped so I started her on Halo and added a can of wet food. We did great with Halo until she had to start Hills Prescription YD for her thyroid issue.

I'd still push for more thyroid testing. The weight loss is gradual, which is kind of a good thing.
But, there has to be an underlying reason.

Cat needs Xray

Thanks for your replies, I really appreciate it. I will definitely discuss with the vet about the thyroid again.

My cats get wet food and dry food. He is a very good eater.

Hopefully I will find out tomorrow after the x-ray.

Re: Cat needs Xray

I can give you my experience. It wasn't a good one but I am just being honest. Not to scare you.

My cat had the same issue. Over about a year he lost a lot of weight. But the thing is he was also RAVENOUSLY hungry. To the point where he would steal food from our plates if we weren't looking, he would OPEN CABINETS at night, yes open them and knock down bags of treats and claw into them. He would troll our counter tops for food.
It was terrible.

Went to the vet- he thought diabetes or thyroid .
Both came back fine.
All tests were fine except his lymphocytes were high. Right away they thought lymphoma.
We did a sonogram and a biopsy of his lymph nodes. They came back inconclusive for cancer.

So they thought maybe Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

We tried steroids, we tried a special food, we tried bulking his food with bread.
Nothing helped.

He continued to be starving all the time no matter how much he ate.
The vet was stumped. The only other option was exploratory surgery which the vet did not recommend due to cost and the seriousness of the surgery. And if they did find a tumor the vet said there wasn't much they could do.

So we tried it all. He would eat so fast and so much he would vomit. Everywhere.

But through this all he was still a pretty happy cat, would play, purr, sit on our lap.
We didn't think it was time to consdier putting him down. He didn't seem to be suffering other than be constantly hungry.
You have never seen a cat this hungry. We couldn't even leave ANYTHING out on the counter or table- he would be in there in a flash eating it. From refried beans, to brocolli to pizza crust. It was terrible.

No matter what we tried, and the vet tried, he continued to lose weight.

Last August he got to the point where he was so weak he couldn't jump on my lap from the couch. His hind quarters had no muscle tone anymore, you could feel every bone in his body... his spine and hips .
We knew it was time to make a decision.
He was now suffering. I felt he was starving to death. Literally starving in front of our eyes.
You have no idea how awful this was to see.

But the day we were going to the vet to discuss options he passed on his own. His body gave out. I truly believe he starved to death.
It was awful and sad and horrible but my only consolation was he was no longer suffering.
My cat had gone from a healthy 12 lb cat to about 5 lbs of skin and bone by the time he died.

The vet believes it was intestinal cancer of some kind- even though the tests were inconclusive.
He thinks the tumor or whatever it was was stealing his nutrients and calories and he wasn't getting any nourishment.
He did say that even if they had been able to diagnose this, there wasn't much they could have done...
He was only 8 years old though so I felt it was so young for a cat.

I'm sorry if this is long and I don't mean to scare you, but I just wanted you to know what happened to us. This doesn't meant it's what's going on with your cat, but maybe ask your vet about more tests?

Good luck to you. FM if you have any questions!

Re: Cat needs Xray

Nell thank you for sharing your post with me. That is exactly what I am afraid of, I am hoping it's going to be nothing but trying to prepare for the worst.

Yes my cat is always hungry, he never cared about table food but now if you leave anything out he will definitely eat it.

I will mention your post to my vet and see what he recommends.

Thanks.

Re: Cat needs Xray

Re: Cat needs Xray

So I took Tom to the vet this morning they did an x-ray, the only thing that showed was that he has a Kidney Stone which is not causing him to lose weight. Everything else looked good.

He would have liked to obtain a urine sample but that would be a little difficult to do. So for right now we are not going to to any additional testing. He said try feeding him some kitten food, more protein and calories and see how he does.

Very relieved that nothing showed up. I will just pay attention to make sure that he is not losing more weight and hopefully will start putting weight.

I really appreciated the input.

Re: Cat needs Xray

Oh so glad to hear.
One thing our vet suggested was to take regular white bread and rip up a piece and wet it with some water and then mush it into his wet food.
It adds bulk and calories.
They also have high calorie prescription food, but our vet said to try the bread first since the prescription food is very expensive.

Re: Cat needs Xray

Good to hear !

Re: Cat needs Xray