Big belly?

My 9-month-old kitty June has quite a large belly. It hasn't come up suddenly; she's always been like this (of course, sudden symptoms should always be seen by a vet). It looks like she's pregnant. She was spayed at 18 weeks, so I know she's not preggers, plus she's never been around a tomcat anyway. She's been dewormed several times (twice by the vet, a few times I gave her OTC dewormer). I also gave her OTC Tapeworm Tabs, but she's never had any Drontal or anything else from the vet. She was last at the vet 2 weeks after her spay, to have her stitches taken out.

My vet is a farm vet, and has a rather laid-back attitude about things like this. So before I take her in, I want to know what to suggest to him. So, any suggestions as to why a 9-month-old spayed kitten's belly would be so big? Her digestion seems to be working fine. The only other times I've seen this, the problem was cleared up right away after a round of dewormer.

My Squeaky has a hanging gut too, and I've been told it's probably loose muscles from spaying.

Is she overweight? My kitten is 11 months tends to hold a little extra weight in his belly even though he's not fat. Do you have a pic of her?

No, it's not her "pouch", and she's not fat. She looks like she's pregnant---a slim cat with her tummy sticking out both sides. I'll try to get a pic.

Worm infestation is one thing that can cause this. The other thing is ascites.
Please, have a stool sample checked for worms and parasites.
Deworming medication has to be tailored to the worms/parasites you want to get rid of. (That's one reason why using an OTC dewormer is not a good idea.)

PS: any chance at all that you can find a vet in your area that treats small animals?

I was thinking, and this may be a bit extreme but it's possible she has some fuild build up. That could be caused by many different health problems....it's a pretty serious thing and normally there would be other symptoms as well if she has this. But when a vet does an exam on a cat they usually feel their stomach pretty well to see if it's fat or fluid or something else like tumor...they can tell by the way it feels to the touch. Sometimes they can't and need to do other tests like ultra sound but if it's visible to the eye then it's definitely something they can tell just by touching..

Originally posted by ut0pia
I was thinking, and this may be a bit extreme but it's possible she has some fuild build up.

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I really, really hope and pray it's not ascites. Still, the same thought occurred to me too and that's why I believe it would be important for Willowy to find a small animal veterinarian (a vet who only treats small animals.)

Info about ascites:
http://www.petplace.com/cats/ascites-in-cats/page1.aspx

Originally Posted by Violet

PS: any chance at all that you can find a vet in your area that treats small animals?

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My vet DOES treat small animals. He's just rather prone to be laid-back about problems he doesn't think are a big deal. I do use another vet for serious issues, but I have no reason to think this is a serious issue.

I don't think it's ascites. One of my ferrets had a swollen abdomen from liver cancer ( ), and it's nothing like that. She's always had a fat tummy....when I first found her, I thought it was roundworms. The vet gave her a dewormer, and her tummy got slightly less fat, but still round. I think I'll take a stool sample in and see if she has some kind of worms the regular dewormer doesn't take care of.

She's perfectly active and playful, and doesn't act any different from the other 9 cats. She had a bit of diarrhea the other day, but normally her stools are firm.

Originally Posted by Willowy

My vet DOES treat small animals. He's just rather prone to be laid-back about problems he doesn't think are a big deal. I do use another vet for serious issues, but I have no reason to think this is a serious issue.

I don't think it's ascites. One of my ferrets had a swollen abdomen from liver cancer (

), and it's nothing like that. She's always had a fat tummy....when I first found her, I thought it was roundworms. The vet gave her a dewormer, and her tummy got slightly less fat, but still round. I think I'll take a stool sample in and see if she has some kind of worms the regular dewormer doesn't take care of.

She's perfectly active and playful, and doesn't act any different from the other 9 cats. She had a bit of diarrhea the other day, but normally her stools are firm.

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What do you feed her? It's possible that she's a bit gassy from what she's eating?

Good idea to have stool tested again. It might be that whatever she was given for worms didn't work and she's that round due to roundworms inside.

Originally posted by Willowy
My vet DOES treat small animals. He's just rather prone to be laid-back about problems he doesn't think are a big deal. I do use another vet for serious issues, but I have no reason to think this is a serious issue.

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I understand. So let's suppose the problem (big belly) is caused by something as "simple" as roundworms. Unfortunately even roundworms can become a very serious issue and cause complications you would never expect to see (from roundworms), such as intestinal obstruction or pneumonia. I do believe you should see your other vet with this.

I have a few good articles on roundworms, hopefully the info you'll find in them will be helpful to you.

http://www.peteducation.com/article....1+2122&aid=761

http://www.petsandparasites.org/cat-...oundworms.html

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body...__kittens.html