- Joined
- Sep 3, 2021
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 0
Hello all! I'm not sure what is going on with my sweet girl Lucy. She's got a long story to tell so thanks for taking the time to read this!
I got Lucy back in 2017 from someone that posted her for free on Facebook. I went and got her, and it appeared she had been living outside, with a dirty water bowl and food bowl available to her. I think she stayed around the vicinity of the trailer, but didn't have much interaction with the owners. They informed me she was fixed and didn't have any fleas. Upon bringing her home, I quickly noticed she was INFESTED with fleas AND worms. After spending a good chunk of change on dewormer, and capstar, and flea medication, she grew to loving her new home, and I could tell she felt a ton better. We have another cat named Oliver, and they get along like brother and sister. Oliver is an inside cat, and Lucy had to go through an adjustment period of not going outside. She eventually got over it, and you'd never know she was once an outside cat.
She's always been on the smaller size. Just a smaller frame in general. In 2017, she was 4 years old and weighed about 7 lbs.
After we got rid of her worms and fleas, her coat got shiny and soft, gained a little more weight, and always playful. Ideally, a healthy cat!
The past 2 months something seemed to have changed. She stopped eating as much. Her and Oliver usually eat a dry cat food, I spend a good amount on nutritious food specifically made for indoor cats. Oliver is actually over weight and weighs 15 lbs. After noticing this change in Lucy, I took her to the vet.
They weighed Lucy, she was 6 lbs even. They told me this was considered underweight, and they were concerned. They did blood work, and they said she was making and abundance of "baby red blood cells" indicating that she might be bleeding from somewhere internally, and this might be from intestinal worms. I told them I haven't seen any evidence of worms, but they said sometimes we don't see them. So they dewormed her. They checked out her teeth, and they were fine. They suggested I feed her a diet of wet catfood to bring up her weight and I agreed. Anything to get her appetite back!
They set an appointment 4 weeks later, for her to get weighed. Ideally, they want her to be 7 lbs even or over, by September 8th (next Wednesday)
I haven't seen her eat in 4 days. I have bought every wet cat food in Walmart. Pate, grilled, fancy feast, friskies. I have even tried to feed her sardines. She hasn't touched any of it. I weighed myself, and then weighed her, and the difference(which is her weight) is 5.5 lbs. She's lost .5 lbs since her appointment. I called the vet, and said "feed her anything she'll eat and we'll discuss it at her appointment". She looks like a living zombie walking around. I saw her throw up earlier (or try to) and nothing came up. Not even bile. I'm thinking it's from the naseau of being so hungry! I don't know what to do and they're not giving me any answers. The last vet bill cost $250 and they didn't give me a diagnosis. They said if she didn't gain any weight, they were going to test for cancer. I don't have the money to keep testing for things, especially if they're not giving me answers. I don't think it's environmental. Purified water is in their drinking dish, and their dishes get cleaned regularly.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone know what the baby red blood cells mean?
Thank you for your time to read this. I'll obviously know more when I bring her back next week, but I'd like to see if anyone else has thoughts on my Lucy.
I got Lucy back in 2017 from someone that posted her for free on Facebook. I went and got her, and it appeared she had been living outside, with a dirty water bowl and food bowl available to her. I think she stayed around the vicinity of the trailer, but didn't have much interaction with the owners. They informed me she was fixed and didn't have any fleas. Upon bringing her home, I quickly noticed she was INFESTED with fleas AND worms. After spending a good chunk of change on dewormer, and capstar, and flea medication, she grew to loving her new home, and I could tell she felt a ton better. We have another cat named Oliver, and they get along like brother and sister. Oliver is an inside cat, and Lucy had to go through an adjustment period of not going outside. She eventually got over it, and you'd never know she was once an outside cat.
She's always been on the smaller size. Just a smaller frame in general. In 2017, she was 4 years old and weighed about 7 lbs.
After we got rid of her worms and fleas, her coat got shiny and soft, gained a little more weight, and always playful. Ideally, a healthy cat!
The past 2 months something seemed to have changed. She stopped eating as much. Her and Oliver usually eat a dry cat food, I spend a good amount on nutritious food specifically made for indoor cats. Oliver is actually over weight and weighs 15 lbs. After noticing this change in Lucy, I took her to the vet.
They weighed Lucy, she was 6 lbs even. They told me this was considered underweight, and they were concerned. They did blood work, and they said she was making and abundance of "baby red blood cells" indicating that she might be bleeding from somewhere internally, and this might be from intestinal worms. I told them I haven't seen any evidence of worms, but they said sometimes we don't see them. So they dewormed her. They checked out her teeth, and they were fine. They suggested I feed her a diet of wet catfood to bring up her weight and I agreed. Anything to get her appetite back!
They set an appointment 4 weeks later, for her to get weighed. Ideally, they want her to be 7 lbs even or over, by September 8th (next Wednesday)
I haven't seen her eat in 4 days. I have bought every wet cat food in Walmart. Pate, grilled, fancy feast, friskies. I have even tried to feed her sardines. She hasn't touched any of it. I weighed myself, and then weighed her, and the difference(which is her weight) is 5.5 lbs. She's lost .5 lbs since her appointment. I called the vet, and said "feed her anything she'll eat and we'll discuss it at her appointment". She looks like a living zombie walking around. I saw her throw up earlier (or try to) and nothing came up. Not even bile. I'm thinking it's from the naseau of being so hungry! I don't know what to do and they're not giving me any answers. The last vet bill cost $250 and they didn't give me a diagnosis. They said if she didn't gain any weight, they were going to test for cancer. I don't have the money to keep testing for things, especially if they're not giving me answers. I don't think it's environmental. Purified water is in their drinking dish, and their dishes get cleaned regularly.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone know what the baby red blood cells mean?
Thank you for your time to read this. I'll obviously know more when I bring her back next week, but I'd like to see if anyone else has thoughts on my Lucy.