Aw, she's beautiful, Susan! Yes, our Puma had a thyroid problem and required surgery. He was well up in years--in his teens--but since he was so healthy otherwise the vet advised us to go ahead with the operation. It was a good decision. Puma remained healthy for a number of years after that, and lived a good long life.

Best of luck with your beauty!

She could be the sister of our cat Buddy -- a "dilute orange" beauty! I hope she gains weight soon.

If she is also drinking/peeing alot, she could have diabetes. Not a big deal to give the insulin shots once you get used to the idea. My last cat lived to age 17 with diabetes for over 5 years.

Have not dealt with any issues except Elmo's batter crystals, that thankfully seem to be in check at the moment. (knock on wood)

Stewie's mom only weighed about 4 pounds a week after giving birth to 4 kittens. No idea what she weighed before but she was tiny! Stewie was the runt and I think she would have had to push him aside to care for the other 3 had she been left on her own. (I started supplemental feedings with him at about 3 weeks.)

The cat rescue person and the vet had use give the momma cat kitten formula and "anything" else she would eat just to get her weight up. She was a stray so we don't know about her early experiences but she was only a year or so old when she had the litter.

Momma cat never did get very big... on second thought, looks like she did fill out- here is her "catster web page":
http://www.catster.com/cats/324705/in/stroll/

Daisy does look thin to me. Please consider getting the full blood work up, including T-4 (thyroid) values. If he has thyroid issues, they can be treated several ways. My cat Basil became hyperthyroid at age 8, which is pretty young for the condition but not unheard of. He lost a dramatic amount of weight. He had radiation therapy twice for the condition, gained all the weight back, and we are now hoping he is finally cured. You'll find lots of information about it on the net, as well as the Pets forum.

Our Teddy had radioactive iodine treatment a few years ago. He had lost a lot of weight and also had lots of muscle wasting. He is back up to 18 pounds and no more thyroid trouble, knock wood.
Marita, I hope you got a discount the second time. :o)

Thanks for asking Petra. I was shocked that Basil was among the tiny percent of cats that need radiation twice! But the vet did give me a major discount. The worst was poor Basil having to be isolated again for two weeks. It is amazing how fast he went "down hill" with major weight loss and then how fast he regained all the fat and muscle almost immediately. He looks gorgeous now and is a happy, relaxed cat. We pray it worked this time. . .

Hope she is better soon. What a pretty kitty! I hope you don't mind that I lightened up the photo in order to see how pretty she is.
Clare

{{!gwi}}

Hi socks....

Actually Rex and Jazz both had hyper-t, and they both took medication for it. Rex needed to have his dose tweaked a couple of times, but they did fine as far as that went.
Good luck, she sure is cute. I always wanted an orange cat.
Rita

Sure, Clare, thank you.

Thanks for all the comments. She was skinny from the day she came home from the rescue center. Her weight has held steady at 6 lbs. She's playful, active, no excess drinking or urinating.

Our son and DIL adopted her and then felt sorry because she was home alone all day, so Daisy has come to us. They miss having her but know she has a better life with us. We lost our other kitty at 17 years to kidney failure, so we've cared for a sick cat before, but I didn't want to start again so soon!

I also had a cat with a hyperthyroid.....she lost alot of
weight. She also took medication and had to change dosage
from time to time. She lived to be 18 yrs 0ld. Hope she
is well soon. Love the nails. Never heard of nail tips
for a cat. How do they stay on?

Glue. Occasionally one falls off as the claws grow, and then we trim the claw and replace it with a new pink tip. I don't like them, prefer a "natural" cat, but I was getting so upset about the sofa and we'd tried everything else we could to stop her, and she has 3 scratching posts. So we had to do it.

I think HyperT is pretty common among cats. We've had a couple of cats with this and gave them the pills once a day. They're pretty small and inexpensive. Radiation is another way to go. Either way, it's pretty treatable.

Looking forward to reading what the blood tests say.

Our old Roughy developed thyroid problems as he aged and we had a medication compounded that we smeared inside his ear every day. It worked well. About once a week I would clean his ears of the old stuff, he hated that more than anything, but it was so much easier than trying to get pills down him and he wasn't a good candidate for the surgery.

Your kitty looks like our Freddie Wheat. She was a pale orange and very long and lean and she never plumped up at all, no matter what we tried. She was killed by a fox, we think, before we could thoroughly investigate her thinness.

Keep us posted as to Daisy's results. And for an orange kitty- she looks great in pink!

such a pretty kitty...my ashley has remained on smaller side while her brother jack is almost 2x bigger...i love those tips wish i's known about them years ago!

Oh My, she's a doll and looks like my Clancy's twin...AND he is also, what I consider, skinny even though he eats every thing in sight and wants more...We did have him tested but the vet said he's OK. Hope you get good results....

We did have a complete blood panel done. The vet just called and said all Daisy's blood levels are within normal range, so this is good news! No kidney, liver, thyroid, glucose problems. He said that it's good that her weight is steady and she isn't losing.

Doctor said he did not know what could be causing her to be thin but did request a fecal sample since she hasn't been checked for worms in a year. It's hard to get a fresh sample since she does her business at night, but I'll try to get one ASAP.

He said I could try integrating a little kitten food into her diet and even KMR unless it gives her diarrhea. She is picky eater and only eats Fancy Feast and one of those foil packeted kinds. Any tips for getting her to eat more?

I'm so glad I don't have to medicate her. We went through a very difficult, emotional time with our other kitty, and I'm still having upsetting memories of that. This business with Daisy has brought all that back to me.

Daisy asked me to thank you all for your caring helpful comments. She said she's feeling just fine.

{{!gwi}}

forget what vitamin it is, but one of 'em is supposed to stimulate the appetite;
your vet should know what I'm talking about (even if I don't...)
& you might post on the Pets Forum;
there is a lot of knowledge over there, & they all love animals.

I wish you the best.

That's great news, socks! Does Daisy eat any dry food? My two cats love Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. And they also split one can of Fancy Feast each day. I've tried to switch to a wet food that's more nutritious but with no luck. Fancy Feast is kitty crack!!

Marita, you called that one right--Yep, she's an FF girl for sure. What on Earth is it about FF that cats like? She eats a very minor amount of dry, though it is always out for her.

What is Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul? It sounds like a book. I'd like to try it--the cat food not the book.

I think I'll run up to the pet store and see if they have that Chicken Soup stuff and/or something else. We gave our other cat a supplement from a tube, something for thin or nursing cats. I know she won't eat it willingly. Maybe I can make some kind of gravy from baby food chicken and a little water. She's also a gravy cat.

I don't want to post on the Pet Forum. Too much bashing and bickering over there. I searched that forum under "cat eat" and read many of the previous relevant posts. We've had a poor eater before and she was given cipro, but I wouldn't dream of starting that again even tho' it works well.

socks, Chicken Soup is a brand name of cat food. My cats eat only the dry stuff, but they love it. It is stocked at my local grocery store, and pet specialty food stores should have it as well. It is good, nutritious food without being over-the-top-expensive.

When the pet food scare came out two years ago, I spent nearly $75.00 in many different types of wet cat food to try to get the cats off Fancy Feast. I tried everything!! And, I'm sorry to say, ended up throwing out or giving away all $75.00 worth of the food. They ONLY want Fancy Feast! I, too, would love to know what's in it. . .