09/01/2026
❤️ ASTRID UPDATE: WE FINALLY HAVE SOME REALLY ENCOURAGING NEWS ❤️🩹
Astrid crossed 10 pounds today. 🎉
If you’re meeting Astrid for the first time, here’s why that number means so much.
When this severely malnourished girl came into Desert Whiskers Rescue after spending months outside, one of our biggest challenges was something that should have been simple: getting her to eat.
She wanted food. She tried to eat. But something kept stopping her.
And despite everything we were doing, we were watching her weight continue to decline.
When Astrid was checked into our vet on August 18, she weighed just 9.16 lbs. At that point, finding the underlying cause was still incredibly important—but first we needed to stop the slide and get nutrition into her.
Astrid spent about a week under veterinary care while her nutrition was medically supported and her doctors continued searching for answers. She received fluids, appetite support, assisted feeding and tons of testing. The immediate goal was to get her stable enough to keep moving forward.
After that, Astrid spent three days with a feline specialist. Their working diagnosis is suspected esophagitis with inflammatory bowel disease—inflammation affecting her esophagus and gastrointestinal tract.
And for the first time, we have a theory that really seems to fit what we have been watching.
An inflamed esophagus can make swallowing painful. That means Astrid may have been genuinely hungry—and we know she was interested in food—but eating itself may have hurt. It could help explain the heartbreaking pattern we saw over and over: she would approach food, try to eat, and then stop.
Inflammation farther down in her gastrointestinal tract could also help explain the weight loss and digestive problems we have been fighting.
She came back into our care Friday with what feels like a small pharmacy: medications to reduce inflammation, protect her esophagus, and manage pain, nausea and acid reflux.
And then something changed.
ASTRID STARTED EATING. ❤️
Not just showing interest. Not just taking a bite or two.
She has been steadily eating both wet and dry food, coming back for more, and the scale is finally moving in the direction we have been desperately hoping to see.
She weighed 9.47 lbs at the specialty hospital.
Today, our scale read 10.08 lbs. 🎉
For most cats, eating a meal or gaining a few ounces isn’t news.
For Astrid, it means everything.
But recovery isn’t happening in a straight line.
On Saturday, Astrid developed significant diarrhea—our newest hurdle. With how dramatically her diet and eating patterns have changed recently, some gastrointestinal upset is understandable, but we are staying in contact with her doctors and monitoring it closely rather than assuming that is the only cause.
It affected her appetite enough that she skipped her wet food Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Every meal matters right now, and when she doesn’t eat well, getting her full medication regimen into her becomes harder too.
Sunday evening, following her doctor’s guidance, we gave her an appetite stimulant along with additional medication to help control the diarrhea.
Thankfully, she ate her wet food well that night. ❤️
For now, we are managing this at home under veterinary guidance and closely monitoring her weight, food intake, stool and medications every day.
We also want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who has already donated toward Astrid’s care.
The care that made the progress we are sharing today possible happened because of your generosity. You helped make the testing, nutritional support, veterinary care, specialty care and treatment that brought her to this point possible.
When you donated to Astrid, this is what you were helping us fight for: seeing her walk over to a bowl, eat a meal on her own, come back for more, and finally begin putting weight back on. ❤️
We still have a gap to close on the medical expenses that got her this far, and her needs aren’t over. She will continue to need medications, nutritional support and follow-up care as we work toward getting her healthy again.
If you’re able to help Astrid with the medical expenses that got her this far and the care she’ll continue to need, you can find ways to donate in the first comment. If donating isn’t an option, sharing Astrid’s story can help us reach someone who can.
For now, we are holding onto three very big wins:
ASTRID IS EATING.
ASTRID IS GAINING WEIGHT.
ASTRID CROSSED 10 POUNDS. ❤️🩹
~ one whisker at a time ~
