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This is my first time posting here – I hope you have some suggestions for me. My 13 year-old ,neutered, male cat is not looking so hot lately. I can actually feel his spine when I couldn’t do that about 2 months ago. He is eating like a horse but isn’t gaining weight. He drinks a lot of water – he hardly ever drank water. He is still using his litter box (in our attached garage), but it is always soaked. If I leave him inside, he will pee on a pile of clothes, a bean bag chair, etc. Yet if he has access to his box, he never pees on a pile of clothes in the garage. If it is a kidney issue, can the vet help? What will the vet prescribe? Since he is eating non-stop, could he have worms? Can I tell? There is nothing in his stools. Should I be feeding him something other than "older cat" cat food? Should I keep him away from certain foods? Or is this just how things go with older cats? I hate the thought of my first baby living in our garage, but I don’t want to make things difficult for him. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!
:- If you haven’t already, get your kitty to the vet. Excessive drinking and weight loss in older cats is usually kidney related, and the sooner you get a diagnosis, the better. It is also quite possible that your cat is suffering from hyperthyroidism, which would account for the eating but no weight gain. Sometimes a benign tumor or even simple failure of the thyroid gland can speed up your cat’s metabolism to the point where he eats and eats but continues to lose weight. You should address the situation as soon as possible, because left unchecked it will eventually ravage his kidneys and liver. We have a cat who had to have her right thyroid gland removed from her neck when she was 11. She went from 14 pounds to 6 pounds in three months, and then packed it all back on after surgery. She is still alive and well at 15 today.
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