My 1 1/2 yr. old M.C. male is losing wt. for no apparent reason. He is offered the same food as the 2 yr. old and the other one is doing fine. Hank has gone from @17 to 12lb. in the past few mo. My vet has done blood work and checked for the usual feline diseases. The blood work came back normal & no diseases were found. We treated him with an antibiotic for gingivitis thinking maybe his gums hurt and therefore he did not eat. No tartar on his teeth, just red gums. No improvement. My vet's next suggestion is to do an endoscopic something or other which envolves annesthisizing Hank, sending a tube down him & getting a little scraping of the lining of either his stomach or intestines, I'm not sure. Possible bacteria infection I think. Not only is this COSTLY, it seems like a lot to put Hank through unless there is nothing else to do. Help!!! Any thoughts or suggestions?

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2000

Answers

I am going through the same thing with my 1 1/2 yr old female Maine Coon. She was 9 1/2 pounds about 6 weeks ago. Now is down to 7! We are going for an ultrasound of the abdomen today. One thing different is that she is having diarrhea. If the ultrasound does not show any tumors or obstructions then we are going to treat her for Inflammatory Bowel Disease which might be what your vet is looking for by scraping. Good luck!

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

An endoscopy and ultrasound both are reasonable tests....the ultrasound will non-invasively look for masses, but won't diagnose IBD. The biopsies with the endoscopy will hopefully diagnose illnesses like IBD or possible cancers. I read that it is not good to treat with prednisone until you rule out lymphoma. (I've been going through the weight loss thing with my cat, and she was diagnosed with IBD after ultrasound and needle biopsy).

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2000