A New Worry

Even cat can be a source of worry. Having several can cause one’s worrying to be constant. This time, it is Josie’s turn. The trouble is that my Chubs is not my chubs anymore.

Josie has lost rather a great deal of weight in a short time. Previous to this weekend, the Great White was weighed at the veterinary hospital, when taken there for her dental surgery; this was on January 19th. Her weight was 6.41 kilograms, which was down from many months previously when I had registered her poundage at seven kilograms. This weekend, however, I borrowed the PAW Society scales and, when I placed Josie upon them, was told that she weighed 4.89 kilograms. The scale had been calibrated to that at the veterinary clinic the Society habitually uses, so is probably accurate.

I had noted that my Chubs had been losing her principal characteristic, and becoming lighter to pick up. Prior to that, I had observed that I needed to clean her bum fewer and fewer times, which suggested that she has been able to do it herself. This was something she was incapable of performing previously, due to her wideness. I did not, however, expect to see that she had lost so much of herself.

Needless to say, I am rather concerned over this sudden decrease in gravitational pull. The cause may be one of many, or a combination thereof, not all of them bad. The move to the apartment may be psychologically beneficial for Josie. She is certainly eating better than she has in the past, as I am providing her with more flavours of Merrick brand cat-food that she likes. She may just be taking in less food due to her age, which will be thirteen years in June. There are also a number of sinister possibilities.

Josefina has not given me any other reason to worry about her health (the lately removed cyst on her jaw excepted), which is why the new total for her weight startled me. She moves about in the apartment more, so it seems to me, than she did in the house. She is often climbing vertically without much effort. She and Tucker play ‘chase’ now and then. And if her idea of playing with a string-toy is to lie in one spot and grapple with it as it swings by her, then at least she is almost always eager to play. Her mood is usually good and she purrs easily. If asked to render a verdict on her health, I would have judged it to be better than it had been in a long time.

However, the weight-loss is not to be taken lightly (pun perhaps intended). What I will do is to weigh my Chubs weekly for the next month or so, and for a further period, if necessary. I want to monitor any more loss, if it occurs, and, if it does, to arrange for a doctor to see her.

For now, the Great White and I wait. I will lay my plans and be ready, and hope that all my preparations prove unnecessary.