My calico, Kitty, is 13 years old. She's always been neurotic and grumpy, and the only person she likes is me. Anyway she's been an outdoor cat for most of her life, except for the past couple of years. About 3 months ago she started going outside again. Now in the past few weeks I've noticed she's lost quite a bit of weight, and she's always been a fat cat. I can feel her spine quite easily, and her stomach looks all sunken in. She's also been sneezing and coughing lately, but I thought that could just be allergies (it started when she started going back outside, as did the weight loss). She coughing and sneezing have calmed down a bit, I think maybe because it's started to get colder here (CT).

I'm worried about the weight loss because as I've said, Kitty's always been a big, fat cat. I don't know if she's at a normal weight now or what. Now her face looks pointier, and her bones are noticeable. She sleeps on my bed all the time, and I've noticed too that she twitches and spazzes a lot in her sleep, and that freaks me out and I shake her awake. I don't know if she's always done that and maybe its just freaking me out now with everything else.

My mom said she thinks Kitty hasn't been eating as much. I haven't really noticed because I'm in and out all day with school and work. She gets mostly dry food. Is there something else I should feed her that would get her appetite back up and put some weight on her?

She's going to the vet on Monday, and she hasn't been in years. Now, I'm worried because Kitty would probably rather die than let herself be put in a crate and packed off to the vet. I also fear for the vet's life when he has to examine her! Is there any way I can make this a little less traumatic for her??? And any ideas on the weight loss? Could it just be that she's more active than she was? Thoughts?

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