My Aunt's Cats: Silky And Pumpkin

Silky (top) is fourteen years old and spends a lot of time sleeping and cuddling with my aunt. He's been losing weight and has had a decreased appetite since his brother, Velvet, passed away this summer from liver cancer but has perked up quite a bit since Pumpkin's addition to the household. Silky developed a heart murmur around age eight but it is low grade and has not gotten any worse over the years. He is a very sweet older cat.

Pumpkin is my aunt's new cat, acquired to keep Silky company. He is a bit of a bruiser. I'd say he is a dominant cat. He was an alley cat, an unneutered tom, until he was taken in by a rescue group. Since he was neutered so late he has a big block head, which is rather handsome.

Pumpkin's had several nebulous veterinary problems. The rescue group reports he was sick for a long time while they had him, with what no one knows. He tested FIV/FeLV negative but I'm not sure if he was tested before or after his illness. If it was before I don't know how accurate it is. He was proclaimed healthy and adopted out, but when my aunt took him to the vet the day after she adopted him, he had a whopping heart murmur (which he still has, I'd say 3/6 or 4/6 but I can't determine PMI because he is wiggly and purrs a lot and I don't have much experience with that kind of thing). Pumpkin also has GI problems-- right now he is on i/d (bland diet) and doing fine but he doesn't do as well off of it and has had bouts of both vomiting and diarrhea. I'm eager for my aunt to perform a bunch of diagnostics and get to the bottom of it but she probably won't bring him in again until the spring if he continues to do well.