Belle has been through a lot this year. She is a 10-year old cat, who saw a lot of health issues recently. The most severe of all was the discovery of large scabs across her back, which would irritate her so much that she couldn't leave them alone, resulting in bloody, oozing sores.

At first, we thought she had finally angered her brothers enough that they were biting her more. Not unusual for the three feline siblings. But when these wounds didn't heal and started getting worse, we took her to the vet.


Tests, including a couple of skin biopsies, resulted in stumped dermatologists. Our vet wanted to start her on steroids to clear up the skin, but her weight (over 20 pounds) was a serious issue. The steroids would cause her to become diabetic, so Belle went on a very, very strict diet.

Tangent - at the same time, Tigger (also 10 years old) needed a dietary change because his teeth are awful. Coupled with his past kidney stones, he needed to be on a mix of food to maintain urinary system health, as well as dental health. Gizmo (age 7) had blood-work done for the first time this year and we found out he's got high cholesterol, so he needed to be on a senior diet high in potassium and vitamin K.

If you caught all that, it means that all three cats are on 3 completely different diets, with a mix of dried and wet foods for the boys and Belle on her very, very strict wet food only, high-protein, diabetic diet. How do we accomplish this? With this feeding structure, seen below.


It was actually a scratching post/bunk bed for our cats, which Paul and I built several years ago. The stainless steel contraption on the right is a water fountain.

When we started noticing that Belle could sit in front of the food bowls the entire day and eat 3 cats' worth of food, we knew we needed to make it more difficult for her to access all the bowls. Because of her weight, she had issues jumping up to the second level, but the height was a minor obstacle for the boys who were extremely content that their food would be left alone. Over time, all the cats became accustomed to feeding in their own spots. So, this year, when we needed to put all three on different diets, it was fairly easy and straight-forward.

In just one month, Belle has lost a pound, which is equivalent to 10 human pounds, so the vet considers her weight-loss a success! Meanwhile, Belle has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that causes these lesions. If controlled, she is fine, but if left alone, they can start manifesting itself internally, which would be fatal.

Belle will be on a daily pill for the rest of her life. She is on Novartis' Neoral, which is an immunosuppressant. Long-term side effects of this drug can be scary and we are cautioned to handle it carefully as the oil inside the drug can also have an adverse effect on humans, but the trade-off is necessary for Belle's condition.

Luckily, we have discovered the secret to pilling a cat without a fight - Greenies pill pockets!!! All of our cats beg for these like dogs for bacon.

For now, Belle seems to be extremely happy and content. She has been a lot more active and social since the weight loss.

Something about this cat has always triggered our mothering instincts. Observe that both Kayleigh and Abby treat her like a baby.