My picky cat is losing weight and has hairballs. Should I see a vet?

Question

Hi- my female cat Myla, who is almost 8, has been losing weight over the past few months. She used to be slightly overweight. I feed my 3 cats wet food 2x/day and put out a small amt. of dry food in the afternoon. Myla is very picky and doesn't seem to eat much, despite changing the varieties of wet food. I never see her eat dry. She also coughs up a lot of hairballs. I tried laxatone & she wouldn't eat that. Do I need to take her to a vet? Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 7 years and 10 months old | 8 lbs

Lauren Jones VMD · Accepted Answer

Hi! It does concern me that Myla has lost a noticeable amount of weight over the past few months. It's certainly possible that this could be due to her picky eating habits, but I wouldn't necessarily expect her to lose a considerable amount of weight from that alone since I'm assuming that she's always been a bit picky. Other causes of weight loss can include inflammatory bowel disease, a heavy burden of parasites, cancer, kidney disease, or diabetes, although we often see other changes associated with many of these conditions. I do think it would be best to take Myla to her vet for an exam and some diagnostic testing (blood work and/or imaging - x-rays or ultrasound) to try to get to the bottom of this situation. Until her appointment, try feeding her wet food in a room away from your other two cats so that you can more accurately see exactly how much she's eating. I hope that everything goes well!

My picky cat is losing weight and has hairballs. Should I see a vet?

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