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What can I do for my senior cat with CKD who is losing weight?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

My 17-year-old male Himalayan cat has Stage 3 CKD. He has a prescription diet and receives subcutaneous fluids and B-12 injections. His weight has gone from 8.0 pounds to 6.4 pounds in 4 months. He was on mirtazapine for two weeks and weighed 7.0 pounds. I took him off of it because he was having all kinds of negative side effects, but then he lost weight. Other than the weight loss, he still appears to have a fairly normal quality of life, and I give him NutraCal as a treat. What else can I do?

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jenna Beyer, DVM, MBA, cVMA

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

Published on June 26th, 2020

It sounds like you and you vet have a good plan for your kitty. Depending on any symptoms other than weight loss and his most recent blood work, adding on a phosphate binder and antacid may help. The antacid would be helpful if his appetite is low. If he has high blood pressure, then medications for that may be needed, especially if your vet suspects it could be leading to protein loss in the urine (a cause for weight loss in cats with CKD).

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on February 15th, 2017

    I'm sorry to hear that Mischief is sick. Since he is on a prescription diet for chronic kidney disease, I'm assuming that he has been diagnosed with this problem at some point in the past - weight loss is a common symptom of kidney disease in cats, and unfortunately is likely to get worse over time as chronic kidney disease is a progressive illness. Non-regenerative anemia (meaning a decreased red blood cell count, with no corresponding increase in reticulocytes) is also commonly associated with chronic kidney disease, since the kidneys are responsible for making erythropoeitin, which is the hormone that drives red blood cell production by the bone marrow. So I'm afraid that everything you're describing can be explained by advanced chronic kidney disease. There is no cure for this problem; we can only manage it with medication to keep the cat comfortable as long as possible, but it's a progressive disease that will eventually be terminal. I would recommend talking with your vet about whether there are things that you could add to Mischief's current treatment plan to help with some of these issues - there are many medications that can be used in cats with this problem which may help with the weight loss and anemia, at least for a while.

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on May 8th, 2020

    Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Squirt. Unfortunately weight loss is part of the disease process, and there's not much you can do about it. You can try offering him more food and speak to his vet to see if they recommend any medication. Best of luck.

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