I rang the vets in a panic yesterday when I went out to top up Bilbo's food and discovered that the level in his bowl hadn't changed since I topped it up on Tuesday and I noticed when I gave him a good squeeze all over that he seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight very suddenly which is not like him. Tried him with warmed up tuna, hairball paste, Cimicat and allsorts and he will not eat anything, he just sniffs it and walks away.
Took him to the vets today and the vet agreed that he was a lot thinner when he squeezed him as to just look at him and to just stroke him normally he feels absolutely fine as he's got such a big coat on him all year round he just looked like he'd slimmed down a bit as like most cats he had cut down how much he was eating recently due to the hot weather but was still eating plenty for his size. We weighed him at the vets and he's lost a
serious amount of weight in a
very short time and he simply cannot go on losing weight at the rapid rate he has been this week.
The vet listened to his heart and lungs which were fine, his temperature is fine, his mouth, jaw and teeth are all fine, not tender and nice and pink, his tummy isn't tender to the touch, bladder feels fine, he can't feel any lumps in his tummy or anywhere else and Bilbo is still being his usual happy and purring self and still playing with his beloved waggler so the vet is at a total loss as to what is wrong with him as other than his weight loss and his third eyelid being slightly up he seems perfectly healthy
He's been given an antibiotic jab, 50ml subQ fluids as whilst he's not dehydrated it saves panicking overnight about that and we've got some a/d (our vets don't use Liquivite apparently) plus the litter that doesn't absorb so I can get a urine sample just in case he's got an infection. He said to take his food away for a few hours in case he's feeling a bit queasy and then try him with just a teaspoon or two of mushed up warm a/d (which I'm just about to do) and if he won't eat it then I'll syringe it into him but the vet said if it's just a bit of a bug the antibiotics should kick in quickly with it being a jab rather than tablets and he should start to eat again on his own this evening so
. If he does start eating overnight then it probably is some sort of bug and he's got antibiotic tablets to start taking tomorrow for 5 days.
Bilbo was ever such a good boy as usual and just sat on the table unrestrained for his jab and subQ fluids but was padding away on the table and giving the vet kisses and cuddles. He really is a vets ideal patient
If he's not eating anything of his own accord by first thing in the morning (ie when I check at 6.30am) then he's got to go back in to see the vet for bloods when they open at 8.30am and see if they show anything up (I asked about bloods today and he said to see how he goes overnight first with this jab).
I forgot to ask about a Vit B12 injection today but will ask tomorrow as I seem to remember that that can help stimulate appetites (am I remembering this correctly??). Never thought I'd see the day when I'd be asking about appetite stimulants for the usually piggy boy who has been known to chew into 10kg bags of Royal Canin and once chewed through the tube and ate a whole tube of Katalax that I left out and then wondered why he couldn't get off the litter tray
If you could send lots of positive hungry thoughts to my gorgeous Mr Baggins please and keep your fingers crossed that this jab kicks in soon and solves the problem and he puts the weight back on quickly
And this people is also why you should always keep insurance up to date as Bilbo's ran out in April when I was stuck in Dorset and I didn't renew it as he's 4 years old and never had anything wrong with him other than 1 abscess and the very odd tummy upset so thought there was no point in paying out for yet another year of unused insurance and just today's visit would have taken me up to the excess if he'd still been insured
