Latest / Senior Pet Talk | for dogs + cats / 6. Weight Loss in Senior Cats Is Never Normal
Transcript
- Amanda Steffen: You are listening to Senior Pet Talk, the show where we combine Western and Chinese medicine to give senior dog and cat parents the knowledge, the clarity, and the confidence to make sure that your pets' senior years are their best years yet. I'm Dr. Amanda Stefan. Let's get started. Hello, senior pet parent, and welcome back to Senior Pet Talk. I am Dr. Amanda Stefan. I am a veterinarian who practices Western and Eastern medicine, and I run my own in-home integrative senior dog and cat facility, as well as help pet parents online. So I want to bring as much free material to you as I can in order to help your senior pet live their best life. And today, specifically, I want to talk about senior cats. So I am talking to my senior cat parents. There can definitely be some tidbits that are taken across to senior dogs. So I urge you to still tune in. You may have a friend who has a cat, or you may wind up with a cat one day. It's always good to know this information. We know knowledge is power. So today I want to talk to you about cats losing weight as seniors. It is never normal for a cat to lose weight without any other pushing factors towards that. Like if we're intending on them losing weight, if we are intentionally decreasing their intake of food because they're overweight or something like that, or we put them on a weight loss diet or something along those lines, then that is one situation. But if we have no reason otherwise for our senior cat to be losing weight, I want to make sure you know that that is not normal. Okay. What I would love senior cat parents to do is to go to the local thrift store or something like that. You can buy it new, that's fine. Find a scale, like a baby scale or something along those lines, to weigh our cats once a month and have a chart where we just write down their weight once a month. This is so much easier to be able to notice fluctuations because. when we're just looking at them, we see them every single day. And these small fluctuations may not actually pick up to us until it's a big fluctuation. And if we're talking about a pound for a 10 pound cat, that's 10% of their body weight. That's a large amount of weight lost, even though it's only a pound to a cat that's only 10 pounds or to a living being that's only, you know, 10 pounds. So you have to think of how much they're Heart weighs and their lungs weigh and their kidneys weigh and their bones weigh, like they're not gonna weigh that much. So it is a huge deal when they're losing even a small amount of weight or any fluctuations like that. Now, why is that? This could be weight loss for from something like muscle wasting, which is definitely something we want to get on top of. I've talked a lot about frailty and muscle wasting in cats and how it does happen in a lot of cats and for various reasons. But we can always treat that and support that. So it is something that we should always bring up and try and get on top of. It could be from diseases, whether that's organ diseases or whether that's cancers or things like that. So we're gonna go through all those today. Okay. So the first action tip I want you to take away from today is get a scale and weigh your cat once a month and write it down somewhere. Okay. If there is any action you take from this podcast, let it be that. You will catch so many things and you will catch things early because cats, we know our cats are so good at hiding things, right? That's why they pee in the closet. That's why they, you know, just go hide in a corner and don't come up to you yelling and going, listen, Linda, I don't feel good because they're not going to do that. Cats are so quiet and instead of showing us a lot of their changes, they tend to just become more quiet or more reserved. They're not typically going to show us a lot of the problems that are going on with them. So it's really important that we pick up on these subtle changes. And one of these really easy subtle changes to pick up on is their weight, right? So if we're talking about There are different scenarios that we play out here. If we're talking about a cat that is losing weight, but may have like a really good appetite. Like I have people that come in and their pet has lost two or three pounds and they didn't come in earlier because they said, Well, he has an amazing appetite. Like he eats everything. He's trying to eat the dog food. He's catching rabbits outside. Like he's still, he's trying to eat everything, right? And to me, that's a red flag because I'm thinking. Oof, okay. Well, if that's what's happening, we might actually have our metabolism is an overdrive. We have a thyroid disease that's going on. And that's actually causing problems in their body because thyroid disease in cats can lead to things like heart damage. It can lead to damage to the kidneys because it's pushing things through, can lead to blood pressure changes, it can lead to an acceleration of muscle wasting and things like that. So thyroid disease is not something that we want to leave unattended or untreated. And it's a very easy thing to treat in cats. So even if they have a really good appetite and we're still noticing that they're losing weight, it's still extremely important to bring that up to our vets and to talk about wet testing and things we should do with them. These are little puzzle pieces that your vet is going to talk to you about whenever you come in for those visits. I'm just gonna say a little tidbit if I have a pet parent who comes in and they say, I just noticed on my scale that my senior cat has lost 0.5 pounds in the past two months and I was concerned. Oof, I'm gonna kiss you. I'm gonna hug you. That's so good. That is that is the pet parent that I am making you. That is the person we are turning you into from this podcast. A non-helicopter parent. It is a really good senior pet parent. Okay. So always make sure you're tuning in because that's what I'm turning you into, is the most amazing pet parents that there are. You're going to be so knowledgeable and informed that your vet is going to look at you and be like, Are you in healthcare? Do you know something? Are you a vet? You're going to be amazing. Okay. So High thyroid does affect about 10% of cats over the age of 10. That's going to be something really important for us to keep in mind because high thyroid in cats often can look like this rabbit's appetite. And if it goes untreated, they can become blind. That is hyperthyroidism leading to hypertension, typically, in that scenario. So the hyperthyroidism itself is not always going to cause their retina to detach or anything like that. But We know that high thyroid disease can also lead to things like high blood pressure and that high blood pressure can lead to a detachment of part of the eye and can actually make cats blind. And we know that can affect their quality of life a decent amount. You know, cats that are indoors can very much function as blind and can get around really well. However, if say we have like Small kids in the house, or we have dogs in the house that they don't like, or we have other things going on, like that can be stressors for them, right? So we want to make sure that we are catching things as early as possible. In that regard, I want you to know again that you're always doing an amazing job because cats are so good at hiding things. And I see cats come into the emergency room all the time who have multiple things going on, and pet parents get really distressed that they didn't catch things early. And it is not that you did not catch these things earlier. It is just that they are really good at hiding things. Okay. So I never say the things that I say on this podcast to trigger anyone. And I know that it is going to because we all have that concern that we're not doing enough or that what we're doing isn't the best for our pet. But I always want to remind you that you have that pet for a particular reason in this life and they are with you and they choose to be with you. And You are doing a good job. If you are stressing out about whether you're doing a good job or not, that is the definition of you're doing a good job, I promise you. Okay. Another thing that we can see in pets that are losing weight but have an increased appetite would actually be something like diabetes. So this can happen if the body's not able to use glucose appropriately. Cats are very prone to diabetes, especially if they start as overweight cats. So this is something that can look a little funny because you would think diabetics are always sick, but oftentimes they are just eating more and may still be losing weight. And that can happen very frequently. I had a patient, his name is Boone. He's really funny. He's a he's such a sassy cat. And his parents were welcoming a new kid into the home soon. They were gonna have a baby soon. And Boone is like 16 years old. And he came in and they said, This cat has been eating really ravenously. And we don't know what's going on with him, but in his case, he was actually losing some weight. And I weighed him and he was like 14 pounds. And they said, ⁓ he used to be 27. And I was like, that is bad. Right. So boon, I love this cat. He is so sassy. We have found a way to draw blood on him and do things with him by giving him a churroo. And if you don't know what a churu is, I define it as like cat meat paste that's like crack for them. Cats are going to go crazy over this stuff for the most part. And he is a patient who the moment that you touch him, he starts growling at you. And yeah, he's a cat and he growls. But if someone takes the churu and feeds him the churu while we draw blood on him, He will just sit there and like meow, meow, meow, mow, meow. And he sounds so mad, but he's just chewing on the guru and it's so adorable. I respect him and I love him. But Boone was diabetic. We diagnosed Boone with diabetes, and we were able to, because he was not having a lot of vomiting and things like that, there are now new medications for diabetes in cats that are actual oral tablets. So instead of starting him on injections, we were able to start Boone on something called Bexacat, which is an oral tablet, instead of having to put him on insulin right away, which is really great for a lot of pet parents because sometimes you can't give them injections. Sometimes you're not able to be there twice a day to do that. You know, it's it's just a lot of stress on everybody. And if we can instead just give them a tablet that helps everyone's quality of life, right? So Boone is doing really well on his Bexacat tablets for his diabetes and he is maintaining his weight. He is looking fantastic. They welcome the new baby in the house and everyone's doing great. So fun facts there. Have you ever left the vet with more questions than answers? And then you drive home and you go straight on to Google. Yeah, I hear that a lot. And honestly, is exactly why I created my senior pet virtual consultations. Imagine we have 45 minutes where we go through everything, your pet's full history, their specific challenges, their daily life, no rushing. We're gonna cover nutrition, integrative options, whole modifications, and quality of life. And I send you a personalized plan after so that nothing slips through the cracks here. But don't just take my word for it. Chelsea called it a senior pup therapy session and said she felt so much better afterwards. Adiba got recommendations her own vet had never thought to suggest, and Denise said that the consult was incredibly informative and helpful, giving her many options to help her dog Loki feel better. This is the conversation that your senior pet deserves. And honestly, The one you deserve too. The link is in the description. I'd love to help you. That brings me to our next one. If we have a losing weight with a reduced or poor appetite, this could, like I said, be diabetes. This could also be something like dental pain. This could also be kidney disease. This could also be like GI disease. Cats often get this diagnosis rollout between inflammatory bowel disease and GI lymphoma, which is the type of cancer that happens in the GI tract. That can happen with these patients that are losing weight. and have a lower appetite or some intermittent vomiting, some diarrhea, those types of things can happen there as well. So these things obviously are all very severe problems. Dental pain is actually something that we can treat fairly easily, usually with a really good dental cleaning and removing any of those infected teeth. So that's something where we can fix a problem really easily. So why not? I had a cat who came in to me and the owner said, He walks up to the food bowl and then he hisses at it. Like he looks like he wants to eat and then he hisses at it and then he walks away. Like what's up with that? And I looked at his teeth and the gums that touch the tooth itself were also red and inflamed. And there is a lot of tartar buildup. And touching those teeth made him hiss and respond negatively. So what was happening was he wanted to eat the food, but every time he ate the food, it hurt his teeth. So he associated with the food with hurting him. So he was hungry, but he was essentially starving himself because he was in pain when he was eating. So that was a very simple fix. We did a dental cleaning. We were able to make him feel so much better and he was eating great by the next day. A lot of these things do have fixes to them. So I don't want you to not go because you're afraid of getting bad news. It's much better to just figure out things early with cows. Because things like kidney disease, they can live two to three years without worsening their kidney disease if we catch it early. Things like cancers or IBD or lymphoma. I've had patients live years with those diagnoses, you know, and they just go on a certain food or different protocols, and we can give them a very good long life with that. Right. If we have a cat who is losing weight but has a normal appetite, this can still be thyroid disease or it can be earlier onset diabetes. It does raise some concerns about certain diseases metabolically like diabetes. The big thing I want you to understand is that if a cat is losing weight, even if it's with a normal appetite, an increased appetite or a decreased appetite, it is always something that we need to take into account and we need to bring up To our veterinarians and have a specialized visit for that conversation to figure out what's going on, right? So we do know that cats can lose a lot of muscle mass while still looking normal. So that's another reason why I think it's important to talk about their muscle condition score as well as their body condition score. I've actually seen cats that are overweight and have muscle wasting still. So those things do not always go. You know, across on a chart, they can be varied. And it's important for us to know one way or the other what's going on. There was a study done on cats that have high thyroid disease, and only about a third of those guys were actually classified as underweight, but more than three quarters of those guys had significant muscle wasting. So again, we could have a cat with a normal weight. But muscle wasting. And we still know that muscle wasting is correlated with a shorter lifespan and a shorter quality of life, in my opinion, for senior cats. So it's always important that we are able to keep an eye on those things and that we are monitoring for any changes that could happen, right? Another weird thing, nuance that happens with these guys, if they do have thyroid disease, thyroid disease can often mask kidney disease. So if your cat is diagnosed with thyroid disease, I always like to recheck the kidney values one to three months after starting thyroid treatment because we may see those kidney values are now elevated and we need to also treat that, right? It's a weird phenomenon that happens, but we need to make sure that we're rechecking those types of things and making sure we're staying on top of it. Right. So again, I don't want this to make you panic. I don't want you to notice a little bit of muscle loss or a little bit of weight loss and not take your pet in because you're worried about something being wrong. That's the opposite way that we need to think about this. Our pets are going to get older. And how lucky are we that we get to love them in their senior years? And that's not always going to be sunshine and rainbows. It is often going to be. diseases and complications and different things that we have to do and figuring out how to love them in this stage, because it's going to be different than the cuddles and the toys and the playing that you did previously, figuring out how to care for them in the right way. And figuring out, you know, how to be their caregiver, their ultimate caregiver. But I think that We can do it. I know you can do it. I don't think that you would have been put in this place with this pet if you couldn't do it. And I I just believe in you. And I believe in your relationship with your pet. I have a cat that I see and this pet parent, she is so in tune with this cat. And he recently had something go wrong where he just wasn't normal. And she said he looks dazed to me. I did not see any neurologic side effects. However, I talked to his primary vet and her and I both agreed like, if she says something is wrong, something is wrong. And like we're gonna look until we find it. Because people have such a good intuition about their cat. And they're usually so in tune that if you feel like something is going on, I believe you, we're gonna figure it out. Okay. So if you feel like something is going on. Please don't be afraid to say something about it because you're worried about what the other side of that's gonna be like. A lot of times we can do so much more if we catch things early, right? Okay. So, recap any weight loss is significant in our senior cats. We have varying reasons for that, but we can also have muscle loss without weight loss. And we can also have a pet who is in ideal body condition with that muscle loss going on. So I always urge you to weigh your cats once a month and notice any small changes, take them to your vet. Let's get this thing evaluated. Let's get the answers so that we can give them a very long, wonderful, beautiful life. I think the oldest cat that I have seen to date is 25 years old. It was a calico named Callie. It belonged to this German lady who was so wonderful. And I met that cat when I was 17. And my friend who's a vet said, ⁓ she's your elder. And I was like, Yeah, you're right. I had like almost 10 years. And that was when I was 17. So that was 17 years ago. So our cats can live a very long time. We can give them into their twenties easily with good life. Cause that's the whole point, right? We don't want a twenty-five year old cat who's unhealthy or who's suffering in any way. But if we can give them good years. By catching things early. Absolutely. Right. So I hope that this helped. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. I am always on social media. You can find me on Instagram. ⁓ you can find me through my website. I do have my programs that are always available or virtual consultations. If you ever need any more help from me, I am always here. Otherwise, I hope to see you on the next episode of the podcast. If this helped you, I really would appreciate some feedback on the podcast. Give me a rating or review or share it with someone. This is how we're always going to make sure that we get this information out to other pet parents who need it and who are destined to be their pet's best member of their cure team and they just don't know it yet. So help me find those people. Have a beautiful day. And make sure you give that sweet senior kitty a kiss or a hug for me, if they are comfortable with that. And I hope to see you in the next episode. That's it for today. If this episode helped you, please leave a review or rate this podcast so we can get the word out to more pet parents who need to hear that they are doing a good job. And if you're interested in working more with me, you can find me on social media or at senior petconnection.com because we all need to stay connected. Remember that you are doing a great job with the information that you have in this moment. And I am just here to give you more of it. See you next week.