An update on Hedy

I have been willing to share more of Hedy on my facebook page recently because she is starting to look more like a cat and less like a fur covered skeleton. Even so many people have commented that she looks very skinny so I thought I would do an update post on her so you all know where she stands.

I don't remember the exact weight Hedy came to me at but I believe it was in the low 9lb region. She arrived at the beginning of April and didn't give birth for three weeks.

Hedy when she showed up
 I had to check twice that this wasn't Butters.

Three weeks later after giving birth

She arrived with a URI and some stress shedding. After a few trips to the vet, she started doing well and we had a fairly uneventful pregnancy by April's standard. I know we had some food issues, but once we got her URI settled she seemed to eat well and I don't remember any major issues with diarrhea at the start.

After the kittens were a few weeks old, Hedy started losing weight quite dramatically. She was eating but she had horrific diarrhea. I swear for every ounce of food she ate she produced three of "nacho cheese" looking diarrhea. She was filling up two litter boxes in twelve hours. We tried several different dewormers and had her in the vet multiple times trying to figure out what was going on. I tried offering her raw food and she didn't want it.

Skinny Hedy

After the third round of "well, I have no idea", we tried premium foods. One day I walked into the kitten room and the stool odor was incredibly strong and almost fruity smelling. I looked at the food she loved and that she licked up the gravy first of and saw it was full of potato starch. It was then I decided to remove the dry food and any food that has plant-based ingredients in it; wouldn't you know it.. nacho cheese turned into toothpaste.

So, I fed her only fancy feast kitten food as that was the only food I had in the house that didn't have rice or potato or other plant-based ingredients. She ate it because I gave her no other option. She wasn't a huge fan but she ate enough that it should have put weight on her despite nursing five kittens. Her weight slowly fell down to under six pounds.

eating well and losing weight

the only good use of the phrase "Calories in / Calories out" 

At that point, I freaked and tried raw again. This time she ate it with gusto. she would eat two or three times what she would eat of canned (where she put it I have NO idea) and slowly the weight started to creep back on.  She didn't poop for three days - which is pretty normal for a raw fed cat. I had no idea if she was gaining weight because she was holding in stool or if the raw was doing its job.

Hedy hiding from the kittens

Finally, poop showed up and while it was not the typical dry raw fed poop, it showed me that the weight gain was her own and things were finally FINALLY going in the right direction. Even at six and a half pounds, you could almost see the bumps on her bones through her fur.

Slowly, all too slowly, weight came back on. She started looking a bit better. The fur that remained on her back (since she lost most of what was on her flank) started feeling softer. Something is still not right because she never developed that bone dry poop that comes from eating raw. She might need more medical support she might just need more time on a carb-free diet, I'm not sure.

I am out of here! - Hedy

But she is leaving me today. We are going to neuter her and see if the hormones running through her body is adding to the problem. Since she has started hissing and biting the ears of kittens she has shown she is ready to move on so she will stay with the rescue until a home is found for her. She has been spending most of her time up on the cabinet where the kittens can't reach, only coming down occasionally to use the box or lick the back of the head of a distressed kitten.


The kittens are still with me and will be until they reach weight to be neutered. Agate is there (she is such a little bruiser) but the rest of them need a little finishing. I wish I could keep them at least a couple more weeks because there is so much more for them to learn in their family unit. If I had my way I'd keep them until they are 16 weeks.. they are still super cute at that age and I think it makes for better adult cats, but I get that people want their kittens, and since I have people who are chewing their fingers off waiting for them, I won't fib and keep them longer than is necessary.