The vet called me back and says that Eliot's bloodwork is completely NORMAL. They did a "SuperChem" with bloodcount, thyroid, blood glucose, protein and multiple other tests. His theory is that having the babies here for the past year has made Eliot more active than ever and this is why the weight loss. He also said that some cats gain past kittenhood and then their weight stabilizes downward to their normal adult weight. His own youngest female cat also lost weight this past year. His notes about Eliot said that he appeared to be a sturdily built small cat. So - this is all GREAT news!! As far as the dry texture fur - I don't know what to think about that except that I have been looking too hard for a problem?? His fur does feel drier and coarser than the other five....Whatever - I am SOOO relieved that his tests were negative I still need to get the pee and poo samples but he did not go for me since this morning I will get those another time - vet still wanted to check those when I could get the samples.

I am happy!! Thank you everyone for waiting with me Better safe than sorry. They will follow his weight for awhile.

Kirsten - I sure do not know a good way to get that urine sample!! With the others - I have in the past gotten samples just by watching for them to go to the box and holding a container under them. Eliot will not even enter the litterpan if anyone is watching. They gave me plastic pellets to put in a clean container but the one time he actually went on them, the urine just pooled under them and I could not get any liguid from around them. I will try again tomorrow and see how we do. Yes, I know that Luna has the bladder troubles and it must be VERY hard to get the sample if she is not going very much or is having bladder pains.