Why is my cat loosing weight and having stinky breath?

Our question this week was:

I have two indoor cats -both fixed, Gibson (female) a siamese/persian/himilayan cross, and Sabre(a male) (a black and white) both are loveable animals and get along great.

Lately though Sabre has been acting very off. He’s been losing weight, vomiting, and his breath has become unbearable. He’s also becoming very dirty in general, his fur which was normally very soft and clean is now beginning to smell and feels greasy to the touch.

I am concerned for him, also his gums seem to be bleeding. Is it something I am feeding him or could this be something worse? At first I thought he maybe had a cold he has been sneezing alot and his eyes were a little runny but then he seemed to get sicker. I was just wondering if you have some advice for me – should I take him to the vet right away or is there some things I can try from home? Any advice you could give me would be very much appreciated… thanx

Megan MacNevin

Answer

Hi – thanks for your email Megan. You wrote that your cat Sabre has been loosing weight, Vomiting, has bad breath, bleeding gums, sneezing and runny eyes. In addition, is fur is unkempt and seems greasy.

Your question was – should you take him to the vet right away or is there some things I can try from home? The answer is – take him to your vet. He sounds quite sick and miserable.

I don’t know his history but these signs could be symptoms of many different disease. Loosing weight occurs when cats don’t feel well and aren’t eating. The unkempt fur is associated with cats that don’t feel well and quit grooming. The vomiting could be from multiple problems including kidney failure (common in older cats).

I don’t think there is anything you can do at home to “fix” is problem – first you need to figure out what it is and therefore I recommend that you take him to your vet. In the meantime, you can try to encourage him to eat and drink – even offering canned food, tuna or tuna juice is okay just to get some food into him. Make sure he is warm and dry.

Best of luck!

Dr. Debra

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