Helping Hallie

Hallie came to us on 05/26/2021 from an abandoned colony of cats and kittens. She was always quiet and very timid, hiding all the time. We gave her a private room to live in and after many treats over a few months, she eventually began to willingly come out of hiding at treat time, but then went back to hiding.

She also had persistent diarrhea and leaked all the time. We treated her with antibiotics and her fecal tests came back clear, but her diarrhea continued. Other than that she seemed fine and healthy.

Her diarrhea finally cleared enough for her to be spayed on October 20. 2021.

After recovery from surgery, she was mixed with the general population and because we leave food out 24/7 we never thought about her not eating.  At that time we were overwhelmed by our rapidly increasing cat population and she was a bit overlooked until I noticed her weight loss on 12/08/2021.

Upon weighing her I discovered she had lost over 2 pounds since her spay surgery in October. 

Unfortunately, it seemed that she hid so much that she was failing to come out to eat enough.

I immediately took her to the vet on 12/09/2021 and her bloodwork was so bad (Fig 1) that the vet suggested we euthanize her, but I declined. Instead, we brought her home, kenneled her, and began treatment with Mirtazapine, Doxycycline, Pet Tinic, Immuquin, FortiFlora, and mama's “Get Fat or Die Trying” diet. 🙂

Fortunately, upon returning home and kenneling her, Hallie's appetite was good which further suggested that she was just not coming out of hiding to eat enough.

In addition to her cat food, we fed Hallie as much Gerber Chicken baby food as she would eat around the clock. She regained her lost weight rapidly which also suggested that her not eating might be a primary problem. 

12/28/2021 I took her back to the vet for follow-up bloodwork. (Fig 2) 

It appeared she was doing well and she had gained weight, so she was once again released into the general population.

Fast forward to 08/23/2022 when she ceased her daily routine of coming out of hiding for petting and lap time. Checking her weight, once again Hallie had lost weight and become lethargic, so back to the vet for more bloodwork on 08/28/2022. (Fig 3)

10/7/2022 Halley is eating well (still no wet food), drinking lots of Pedialyte, litter box output is good and her weight is increasing.

Her current recovery is still in progress and updates will be forthcoming.