What's the cost of a senior cat health panel for weight loss?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I’m glad to hear Grippet has lost the weight you wanted him to, but at his age we would want to ensure all the weight loss is for healthy reasons and not an underlying medical issue. As cats age, they frequently can get an overactive thyroid, diabetes, or kidney issues (among others) that can lead to unhealthy weight loss. I would recommend he be evaluated by his regular veterinarian and have bloodwork done to ensure all his weight loss is healthy and there isn’t an underlying issue that needs to be addressed. Good luck!

I would recommend the bloodwork if possible. Many of the symptoms your describe could be due to hyperthyroidism which can often be managed with diet or medication. Renal disease diabetes are also concerns. Speak with your vet to determine what they suspect is most likely and find out if it is possible to test for one thing at a time instead of running a full panel at once. The vet will suggest the best options but often if you explain financial constraints we can work with owners. If unable to do the diagnostic testing then euthanasia is a reasonable option to prevent her from suffering. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach

CJ really needs a vet visit when you can manage it. In older cats hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease are possibilities and require bloodwork to diagnose. The good news is many of the conditions can be treated or managed but you need a diagnosis in order to determine the best treatment. Some areas may have low cost clinics or many vets accept Care credit http://www.carecredit.com/apply/ I would contact local humane societies to see if they can offer any suggestions. Some have programs that may help with vet bills. Good luck and thank you for using PetCoach.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Based on these lab results, I would suspect renal disease. BUN, Amylase, magnesium and CPK all can become altered with renal impairment. The weight loss may be due to muscle wastage due to chronic renal disease or something else may be going on. I would consider having Tigger's urine specific gravity checked and also send out an SDMA test to see if the kidney's are the main problem. At 14.5 years of age, renal disease would be high on my list of causes of these symptoms. Other problems such as cancer and inflammatory diseases may be the cause of the symptoms as well. I would recommend having your vet pursue additional testing to get more of a definitive answer on whether or not the kidneys are impaired and if not, coming up with further recommendations on diagnostics and treatment. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

I would recommend taking Oliver Paul into for an exam by a veterinarian. They can do a full exam, and a geriatric blood work panel. They may also take his blood pressure. High blood pressure can cause weight loss in older kitties. It can also cause eye problems. Another common and treatable condition in older kitties is hyperthyroidism. They get benign (non-cancerous) tumors on their thyroid gland that causes them to produce too much hormone which up regulates their metabolism. They will eat a lot and continue to drop weight. A veterinarian can get Oliver on a plan to recovery! Thanks for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. A typical check up at a local veterinarian is often in the range of $50-80 for an exam. Bloodwork and vaccines will be an additional cost. The prices vary based on location, and some larger company places such as Banfield or VCA may offer lower prices or even payment plans. I recommend contacting some of the veterinary hospitals in your area to ask around about approximate costs. I hope this is helpful! Glad to hear Punki is still doing so well at 12 years old :)

I'm sorry this is going on with Precious but she needs to see a vet. The most common issues we see with older cats are: 1. diabetes 2. kidney disease/failure 3. hyperthyroidism Any of those can cause her symptoms and all are treatable (to an extent). All can be ruled out with simple blood testing. The best one she could have is hyperthyroidism - it is not expensive to diagnose or treat. Of course it may not be any of those and she could have something else going on entirely. First step is you need to know what the diagnosis is. I don't know what prices are in your area but an exam and bloodwork is probably right around $200. All you can do is call around for prices and see what you can work out. Some humane societies these days have low cost services so maybe check with them.