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I adopted a older stray tom cat probably 10 yrs a few years back. He used to be the dominate one over my other female senior cat. Canned food he would be all over it. These days not so much.

In March 2007, with increasing bad breath I realized that he had pretty severe dential problems. Up until this point 2-3 yrs ago "Chairman Meow" had been a 15-16 Lb hunk of a cat. Now he's like 12-13 lbs.

The March 07 dental surgery removing all four back teeth fixed the tooth problems. Full blood work came back A-OK. All tests showing no problems.

Six months after the dental surgery, he seemed to have lost weight. Not severe, but a noticeable boney back. Worried, I took him back for a 2nd full blood work in Dec 2007. Again no problems found. His weight came back some, but not like it used to be. I gauge it by how boney his back is.

Now July 2008, his weight is slightly less than I would like it to be. He doesn't go after the canned food like I feel he should. I see him eating kibble some, but he just nibbles at the canned food.

One thing this cat will eat ANYTIME ANYWHERE are feline Greenies. No lack of appetite here!!!! But now I'm reading bad reviews about these containing grains, etc... Any thoughts about the Greenies? (Keep in mind I do limit the quantity. I'm not only feeding him Greenies). I have only been giving them Greenies for the last couple of months.

In the last month or so, I've caught him vomiting twice. Once after eating what seemed to be a good bit of kibble with some Greenies (reading the vomit tea leaves). The other was more liquid vomit. Should I be taking him back to the vet for one or two vomits (these were separated by a couple of weeks apart btw) He hasn't vomited in about two weeks.

Any thoughts about my situation? To be safe I should take him back in. But wanted some other opinions....

Food I'm feeding my cats: (I haven't been changing brands often)

Kibble - Felidae Platinum
Canned - Eagle Pack Holistic Select
Treats - Feline Greenies (only in the last couple of months)

Hi There,

It's obvious from your post that you take very good care of your cats! You feed them premium quality foods, provide vet care when needed, and you are aware of what is going on.

Yes, to be safe, you should not only have another blood panel done, but also a urinalysis. The urinalysis is important because some problems will show up in the urine before they do in the blood. Older cats lose muscle mass, which can result in weight loss and is considered normal, but you want to be sure there isn't anything else going on. The vomiting isn't very often, but there is still a chance that it indicates some medical problem.

I don't see any problem with giving Greenies as a treat. You know that they should not be given as the main diet, and your boy loves them! His regular diet is very high quality.

Senior cats are prone to many different health problems, such as kidney disease, liver disease, hyperthyroidism, and diabetes. If by chance your kitty should have one of these, early diagnosis would be a good thing. I have had cats live to 18 and 19 years old while treating them for a variety of problems.

Take care, and please let us know how things go.

PHKitkat

Thanks for the reply. An urinalysis was done both times before. I guess I just need to have the tests done again. It's really expensive though. I guess I'm trying to not over-react vs. not letting anything else bad happen. I know the only advice you can give is see the vet, as you can't really know what's up in a given situation.

I feel bad that I let his dental condition get so bad that he needed all his back teeth pulled, out of sheer ignorance. I kinda feel like that surgery changed him somehow.

Thanks again....

Hi Again,

Try not to feel bad about not noticing your cat's bad teeth. The back molors, especially, are difficult to visualize and most cats do not like having their mouths examined. The important thing is that you took care of the problem when you were aware of it. The same thing has happened to me and I am a vet tech.

Regarding the high cost of labwork........perhaps you can either ask about arranging a payment plan or request a less expensive panel. Where I work we offer what the lab calls a budget panel and it is much cheaper. If you are really in a bind, you might be able to have just the specific gravity test done on the urine, not an entire UA. The secific gravity indicates whether the urine is concentrated or dilute. Concentrated is good, dilute urine often indicates kidney disease.

Take care and please update when you can.

PHKitkat