My 11-year-old cat is eating more than ever but she's getting bony — should I just be pleased?

Eating more while losing weight, in a middle-aged or older cat, is one of the clearest "get bloods this week" signs in the whole of feline medicine. Your partner is right. Book an appointment, not a richer food.

The logic is simple: calories are going in and not staying. The usual suspects are an overactive thyroid, diabetes, and diseases of the gut that stop food being absorbed — and every one of them is diagnosed on tests, not by looking at the cat. That's why the urgency matters. An overactive thyroid quietly damages the heart and the kidneys while the cat looks "great for her age", and untreated diabetes can tip into a genuine crisis. The good news is that these are among the most manageable diagnoses in an old cat, and cats treated for them often get years back.

Bring your vet numbers. Weigh her weekly on a kitchen scale in grams and bring the list — a trend beats a single reading. Measure how much water she drinks in 24 hours. Note any vomiting or loose stools, and watch for a cat who seems wired and restless, won't settle, with a racing heart. Your vet will weigh all of that against her exam and her blood and urine results; the tests decide this, not a guess from a distance.

One thing not to do: don't switch her to a richer food to fatten her up before she has been tested. You would be feeding the problem and blurring the very sign that gets her diagnosed. And see a vet the same day if she stops eating altogether, becomes weak or wobbly, or her breath takes on an oddly sweet smell.