Emaciated but Happy Cat

by Brenda
(Los Angeles, CA)

I'd like opinion on my cat, Zoelee.

Zoelee, now 2.5 yrs, has no fat on her. When I adopted her as a kitten, she was sickly (although the shelter stated she "had been sick but was well"-NOT). She had an upper respiratory infection, diarrhea, and ring worms. After three months she was cured of everything but the diarrhea, so the vet prescribed Hills r/d. She responded well after a few months and grew to be an active and fun cat.

All three cats (Paris,12 yr Maine Coon and Kesi, 2.5 yr mixed breed, feral cat, adopted with Zoelee) have been eating the r/d for 2 yrs. During this time everyone was fine with Zoelee having occasional colds. Kesi and Zoelee play hard and well together, with Zoelee being my most active cat.

Three weeks ago Zoelee threw up and then stopped eating and became lethargic. Took her to the vet, tests run, and only found that she had a slight temp. Antibiotics were given and she was 'normal Zoelee' after a day. That only lasted for three days and then she was lethargic again. Back to the vet for a two night stay and more extensive tests. Labs came back fine fine except that my main vet stated, "she's emaciated, with not even any belly fat". We started her on regular cat food (Frisky's) which brings back the diarrhea so as advised I've mixed 1/3 r/d to 2/3 Frisky's. Zoelee is back to being normal and her poop is better but still on the soft side.

I've researched the Internet reading about malabsorption and IBD (which brought me to your site, Love it tremendously!). I spoke with the vet asking if malabsorption could be her problem or IBD and stating that I was thinking of feeding everyone a raw diet. He said he's open to whatever might help Zoelee. He spoke of adding an enzyme to her food to help absorption or prednisolone once a day for the rest of her life. I decided to first try the enzymes. I'm adding Prozyme to every meal. I've read that it may take 8 wks before I see any results. My next step will be raw diet and my last step would be the daily Pred.

Finally I should add that I didn't think anything of her thin size because I'd seen pictures of Oriental short hairs and she resembled that breed so I figured she was related. Perhaps not so, now. Your thoughts are appreciated. I've uploaded (if it works) a photo of Zoelee taken April of '09. Gotta get some new photos. Thanks in advance.

RESPONSE:

It sounds like you are on the right track and we absolutly recommend going to a raw meat food for Zoelee! It has done wonders for diarrhea and too thin cats. Recently, we aquired a tiny kitten, thin, bony, and with loose stools 3-4 times a day. We started her on the raw meat food right away and within a week she was having nice, normal stools and is full of "kitten energy". She is so fast now that we can't hardly catch her! And she loved it right off the bat!
You may also want to try L-Lysine for her respiratory issues. It works great for cats with the Herpes virus (and similar) which they can often get as kittens and it is never "cured". Our Buddy does great with the lysine and only has respiratory problems once or twice a year now. (He has Herpes)
The digestive enzymes should not cause any negative effects and you may want to add an immune booster as well. Chek out our Cat Supply Link and once on the page, scroll down to the natural cat remedies link and search the site for some ideas. We haven't had to use any ourselves so can't recommend anything in particular but we checked them out and they have several products to choose from. Cats often respond better to natural supplements than to modern medicine so we always "go natural" whenever possible.
Zoelee does appear quite thin and we'd like to see more weight on her but are more concerned with the bouts of diarrhea and ill health. See if a raw food diet helps. Avoid the Prednisolone as much as possible. It would always be a last resort for us because it's immune suppression effects.
Hope this helps, good luck and let us know how it goes!

Donna
House Full Cats Mom