I promised an update on Nestle.  You may remember that last year I posted that she was very ill and after a visit to a specialist she was diagnosed with pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease and possibly lymphoma.  We elected to treat her conservatively and I am happy to say the result is Nestle looking healthy a year later.

Last year Nestle was very thin despite eating all of the time.  Her fur was thin and dull.  You may be able to see in this picture that she had no fur on her ears.

Compare that to this year.  She has put on weight and her fur is nice and shiny and much thicker.  She still likes to eat, but she is not always crying for more food.

The only real change that we made was to add a probiotic called Proviable to her food.  This was recommended by the internist.

This probiotic comes in capsule form and we break it and mix it in Nestle’s food soft once a day.  Either she likes the taste, or she does not taste it, because she has never balked at eating it.  Her health improved so gradually that it was not apparent day to day but a year later I can see it.  She has gained a little over a half a pound over the past year.  She was 4 1/2 and now she is over 5 pounds.

By the numbers, the increase in her weight does not seem that great, but the difference in her attitude has been huge.  The previous winter she was cold all of the time, even curling up with the dogs in an attempt to stay warm.

However, this past winter I never saw Nestle do this.  She had gained enough weight and she was processing her food better so she was generating her own body heat.

The previous winter Nestle never played.  She has a toy that she used to love.  It is a ball in a round track and we would hear her spinning that ball at all hours.  That stopped when she was so sick.  As Nestle started to feel better, I noticed she was playing more.  Now she plays all the time with the spinning ball and also she tears around the house.

I declined a biopsy when we were at the internist which would have confirmed or ruled out lymphoma.  It may be that Nestle still suffers from that disease and that may be an issue as she continues to age, (she is 12 1/2).  But for now, as long as she seems happy and is eating, we are just going to continue with the current protocol.