Can I fatten her up?

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

Portia is my older girl.. she's 15 and a half. She has always been a small cat..she's a long haired torty who came to me as a farm kitten, as she has attitude.. purrs while she slaps me! If she gets wet she's about the size of a large rat!

She maxed out at about 7.5 pounds but recently I noticed she looked smaller (hard to tell under her fur) and this morning I weighed her ...I'm now bearing the scars on my arms! She is only 6 pounds :/

She had her jabs last week and the vet said she was in good condition for her age (she certainly put up a fight ) but he didn't weigh her.

She's never been a big eater..she likes little, often, and preferably fresh prawns, tuna etc... She decided she wanted my breakfast this morning and delicately removed a slice of bacon from my plate!

Any suggestions? Should I be worried or is this normal? She's my oldest cat so I've not navigated elderly moggies before!

[SuburbanRhonda]

When my 13-year-old cat went from 5.4kg to 4.1kg in six months, I was delighted as the vet had said she was overweight.

Then they did blood tests and found she had hyperthyroidism, one side-effect of which is weight loss.

Do get her checked out - that's a big weight loss in an elderly cat.

[cozietoesie]

I'm very surprised that the vet didn't weigh her. My own vet weighs Seniorboy every time he goes to the surgery without fail - I think that's partly how she keeps an eye on his condition now that he's more or less past the stage where she can take bloods. (He squirms so much that taking blood was always a serious struggle and nowadays, I think she's more concerned about him having a heart attack during the process - and to be honest, at his age, what's the point?) I think that if this is a regular occurrence, and you have a reasonably accurate pair of bahroom scales, I'd keep an eye on her weight yourself.

Older cats often tend to lose a bit of weight in the normal course of things - I 'think' that their internals become less efficient at getting nutrients out of food and they start to lose some muscle mass although I'd be happy to be corrected on that - so I wouldn't necessarily worry overmuch. Seniorboy's weight is Oh-So-Gradually slipping down (he's now at about 3.6 kg) and the vet isn't that concerned given his age. (In fact the second last time he went, he had to see a locum vet and she was very surprised that his weight hadn't reduced since the previous visit some two months before.)

Is she still eating at broadly the same rate and displaying the same behaviour?

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

Yes she seems fine in herself. She is definitely staying home more these days.. potters around the garden rather than going off hunting, but she has a little nibble every time we go out to the kitchen..she's always been a small eater. She throws up hair balls about once a week... again always has!

If anything she is nicer these days!! She is a VERY feisty cat ..you can't pick her up as she panics (hence the vet not weighing her..she really fights) but she likes to sit near us and purr.

The reality is ..we couldn't get pills into her on a regular basis so I hope she's just getting old. I'll weigh her myself for a few weeks (goodbye skin!) and see if she is stable. If she is I won't worry but if she keeps losing I'll hot foot her for some tests.

[cozietoesie]

I have to groom Seniorboy daily because he's now too old to realistically do more than his 'personal washing'. That seems to remove a massive amount of hair from him, short coated though he is. (And he doesn't have furballs.) Maybe something to consider?

[SuburbanRhonda]

One way to weigh a cat at home is to get on the scales while holding your cat in your arms, record the weight, then get back on without her and the difference is your cat's weight .

We have a basic flat glass scale and there's no way either of our cats would stay on long enough on their own for their weight to register.