Ginger has been losing weight and his appetite hasn’t been good, so we took him to the vet’s this afternoon.
I was worried that perhaps his kidneys or liver had taken a turn for the worse, but the blood tests showed that it wasn’t so. Ginger is still at Stage 1 of CKD and his liver readings are normal.
What happened is that Ginger’s WBC is very low, so his immunity is suppressed. This is most likely due to him being FIV+. These symptoms will creep up in old age as the disease progresses.
Ginger also has one bad tooth. The vet managed to remove the tartar on it with a pair of tongs, but the bad tooth cannot be removed at his age.
For the suppressed immunity, the vet prescribed Vetri DMG 0.5ml twice daily (to boost his immunity) and also transdermal Maripotant for today and tomorrow only. Hopefully this will help with any gastrointestinal problem or nausea that is making him inappetant.
Meanwhile, it has been very challenging getting Ginger to eat. I am trying new foods and new flavours at every meal. The vet also said that sometimes in elderly cats, they just do not want to eat so much anymore. Hence, the weight loss.
The vet says he looks alert and okay. Well, we know how resilient cats are and they almost never show any pain.
I know I have to strike a careful and respectful balance in doing what it takes for Ginger to be more comfortable but not intervening too much medically to stress him out.
Leave a Reply