Sparkles the cat lost HALF of his body weight — due to dental issues

Dental issues can be tough with cats. Sparkles was always an overweight shorthaired cat, but one day he started losing weight. He went from a height of 16 pounds to 8 pounds. He regularly visited the vet.

It was hard to see the weight loss because I saw him every day. When I did notice the weight loss after being away for some time, I brought him to the vet. The veterinarian identified genetic dental issues and stomatitis, which was causing him great pain to eat. We did a dental cleaning, removed a few teeth, and assumed the issue would improve, but it did not.

Sparkles continued not to eat, and I began syringe feeding him KMR, which he hated (both the KMR and the syringe feeding). I continued, however, because I was concerned he would starve to death or that his organs would shut down without food. The vet prescribed various medications, including Onisor and gabapentin, however, it was really hard to medicate Sparkles as any time I tried to touch his mouth he became angry and aggressive.

We returned to the vet and after review, we removed all of Sparkles’ teeth. We hoped that this would help him return to eating, however, we still struggle. Right now I feed him a variety of foods like Royal Canin Wet Kitten Food and also, Hill’s Urgent Care Cat & Dog Wet Food, but he’s not gained all of the weight back. Sometimes when eating he runs away from his bowl whimpering. We have another vet visit on the schedule to see if we can find out more.

If your kitty is losing weight, take him or her to the vet ASAP.