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What would you recommend for a feisty 12-year-old girl cat who's a tad bit skinnier than she should be? She gets half a can of wet food twice a day, and all the dry food she can hold.

She had tooth problems a little while back that made her lose a couple pounds, but she's gaining them back. I'd just like to help her gain more quickly.

Also, she and her "sister" (also 12) have a couple of thin spots on their fur.

I'd have the thyroid values checked or at least ask your vet about it. Cats get hyperactive thyroids when they get older or at least a lot of them do. Usually they lose weight, hair loss can be a symptom as well as things like heart problems, high blood pressure and blindness if you let it go on. Pansy, one of my cats, she has a hyperactive thyroid and she is on meds for it. She is doing quite well, there are times her weight yo-yos a little but you have to work out the dosage of meds with your vet. Pansy will be 19 in August.

Pansy: b. 1987 -

Awwww, look at Pansy! She knows she's a lovely girl.

The vet thinks they're both fine - he says that as soon as we get rid of every last flea (we're getting close), it should clear up in a couple weeks.

Dolly (the feisty one) is allergic to fleas and gets bad dermatitis, so she's taking monthly allergy shots that I think are a mix of B vitamins and something Benadryl-like. One out of every five or six times she gets the shot, when we get home from the vet, she shoots out of the carrier like her tail is on fire, and rushes furiously about the house at top speed. Then she sits down and cleans one of her back feet like it's personally offended her.