Well, an interesting morning - took Sam up to my branch, and the receptionist weighed him for me - he has lost 100g, which is what he had gained last month, and he is drinking more - his bloods are booked for the 17th Jan (he was due his repeat thyroid levels, but am going to get full bloods done on him), I am concerned as he has had raised liver enzymes, and did lose 300g when I first got Arthur, and hasnt put any of it back on yet.
Came home, quick chat with neighbour before taking Zia to the other branch of the vets, who were mad busy, and nearly got lumbered with the locum from my vet who came to help - luckily I had told the receptionist why I didn't want to see her, so they changed me to see a different vet. Zi has gone from 3.17 to 3.22, so at least a slight weight gain. Her mouth is still bad, apparently her heart murmur is unusual in that it is at the front of her heart, and not where you would expect one, didn't get her to feel her arthritis. She spent a while feeling her abdomen and then said she wanted full bloods, so not sure if that is a good sign or not. Quick discussion about what we would do if her kidneys werent' great, which was a bit upsetting, and we are debating trying her on the new Anti-inflam, which has been mentioned on here - begins with an O and is a pill format. It is only licenced for 6 days though, the vet is going to check if it can be used long term, but i would have to sign a waiver - as she is 19.5 with other health issues, to me long term doesn't really mean that much, so if I can get her to take them, I would give it a go as they are kinder on the kidneys. I have also done something I didn't think I would do, which was accept the Convenia jab to see if it helps her mouth, she has eaten a bit more tonight. Unfortunately I had fed her this morning, so she has to go back tomorrow for her bloods, and the vet wants lab ones doing, so I wont get the results until next week. So more promising than I thought, but that does depend what her results bring - they were great for a cat her age 7 months ago, but that was before Metacam, weight loss and drinking more.
I finally made the call to the rescue, was putting it off and off, spoke to quite a few people first, but I have to for my own cats health - I dont think it is just him, but it will allow me to monitor them more easily.