We all love our pets dearly and want them to be as healthy as possible and to live as long as possible. As with people catching health issues early can result in a better prognosis. Not to mention that catching problems earlier can often cost less money than treating advanced diseases.
Anyone who has worked in the veterinary field will tell you when giving a bad diagnosis to a client we very often hear “But she was fine last week! How is she this sick?”
All pets will instinctively hide illness or weaknesses as long as possible until they can’t any longer. I think of this as a cliff. The pet will compensate and hide symptoms and then their health seems to fall off a cliff suddenly. In reality, the illness has been going on for a while but any symptoms were so subtle or small that they were essentially impossible to see. Especially in our busy world where we’re juggling hundreds of things every day.
Very often the first symptom of serious disease is weight loss. Which is very subtle and can be hard to detect. When we live with and see our pets every day noticing a half-pound of weight loss is nearly impossible by just looking at them. But when you only weigh 10 pounds a half-pound weight loss is a lot.
At my house, I have a baby scale to weigh my cats. The scales we use for ourselves are just not accurate enough for cats, cats are just too small for those scales. Most people's scales are accurate to within 1-2 pounds. We need a scale that is measuring ounces for our cats, and this is what a baby scale can do. Once a month all my cats get put on the scale and I record their weights. I have a little notebook I write them all in and then it is super easy and fast to compare to last month’s weight and determine if they have lost too much or gained too much as well. Weight gain can be concerning as well! This usually takes me 15 minutes to get everyone on the scale and get everything written down. But you all know I have a house full of cats. For one or two cats it would only be about 5 minutes once a month needed to catch diseases early and help our pets live longer and healthier lives. I weigh the young kitties too! This helps everyone get used to the scale and make it as easy and streamlined as possible in the future.
This is the scale I recommend to everyone and the one I have at home. I like it because it does not have a bunch of moving parts that can break or fall off, it weighs in pounds and ounces, and it’s a good price!
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