Spirit and Ollie are the two remaining kitties in the East Side Gang. Over the past number of weeks Spirit's food consumption was way down. Ollie wasn't eating much either and I thought it was because of the cold weather. However as the weather has improved Spirit still wasn't eating well and I began to think that he was suffering from a dental issue.
Tuesday I caught Spirit in my cat carrier by luring him in with some smelly tuna juice. I dropped him off at the vet for an assessment. Later that day the vet called to say that Spirit didn't have enough teeth left in his mouth for a problem. The vet took blood and would call when the results came back. When the results came in all the levels for kidney, liver and thyroid were normal. Not bad for a 13 or 14 feral cat!! The vet could not find anything wrong with Spirit.
When I called today to see if I could pick Spirit up I was told that he had been eating well and had also left a big hairball in his cage! Hmmmmmm....could that have been the cause of the lack of appetite?
Spirit was very quiet on the drive home and even stayed quiet in the carrier when we got to the colony location. Usually when I release a cat they shoot out of the carrier running off to hide. Spirit saundered out and started talking non stop announcing his return. He ate some food, did a little grooming then ate more food. He's a happy cat to be home.
Thank heavens for smelly tuna juice! You do amazing work and Spirit is a lucky cat. Let's hope this snow stops soon!
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