Mike's Body Shape

Does his belly look extreme to you? We're going back to the vet tomorrow because he still can't breathe properly and he constantly sneezes and snots all over my house (lol ewwww). And I plan to ask them what they think about his weight. He was previously 11.4 pounds when we were there about a month ago, but he looks like a lion compared to my other 2 cats. He has really short legs and is kind of stocky. But anyhow...tell me what you think of this belly...

He looks to have a waist so isn't too much overweight.  Have you Googled 'feline condition scoring' to compare him to the links that will find?

Good luck at the vets.

It doesn't look extreme to me, in fact he looks pretty good. Are you nebulizing him every day, I can't remember.
 

Okay, thanks guys! Apparently I just worry too much. I've never had cats before this past year and my other 2 are skinny little things, so Mike looks big to me. It's not necessary that I thought he looked too far, it was just more that his belly looks *really* big and his waist looks *really* small...especially at the bottom of this picture (his right side). I know 11 pounds isn't really big for an adult male cat, it's just that his belly looks so disproportional to me.

And no, we are not nebulizing.

Hey.  I was just reading this article and thought of Mike....

http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/urihelp.htm

I have a foster (who we hope to adopt) who has a cold and mouth infection both of which have sometimes been linked to this bacteria. 

Oh wow!!! That sounds *exactly* like Mike! Exactly!! When I took Mike back to the vet this last time, I was basically told that "this might be as good as it gets for Mike." He did 2 rounds of Convenia and 2 rounds of Clavamox. The antibiotics did clear him up a little though - his nose isn't crusty anymore - but he does do the sneezing thing and I'm constantly cleaning up Mike snot from around the house. Since the antibiotics worked a little, would that rule out bartonella? Or not? Hmm soo many questions. Can I just go to the vet and request/demand he be tested for bartonella? Should I go to a new vet since this one didn't even think of Bartonella? I was already kind of annoyed with their "this is as good as it's gonna get" answer.

Seriously, thank you SO much for sharing this with me!! So nice to have total strangers thinking of you :-D

You're welcome!  Maybe bartonella isn't the culprit but it sounds like it could be worth looking into.

As far as your vet, I'd be more annoyed by the "this might be as good as it gets" than not thinking of Bartonella.

With this sick foster I actually called around to different vets in town to find one who sounded like they would have an up to date, thorough approach with her mouth condition.  (Our regular vet's prognosis was not agreeing with what I read on the internet from reliable sources.)  I left messages with a vet techs and the vets actually called me back.  If you were able to do this you could tell them Mike's chronic cold situation and ask questions like, "Do you think testing for Bartonella is a good idea?"  I knew the one vet I found was "the one" for several reasons....one of them being I didn't feel like I needed to apologize for researching on the internet.  She even gave me another website to look at.    I'm not saying you definitely need to find another vet, just that might be a way to approach it if you do. 

It's a little sad, because we have a nice bond with our regular vet (we adopted two of our cats from them....they rescued them both.)  But now that I've had a taste of what a very thorough, up to date vet is like there may be no going back. 

When you take him to the vet this time, ask them to do a culture & sensitivity test on his nasal discharge.  If this hasn't cleared up with 2 rounds of meds (4 actually), then the vet really doesn't know what's going on and is just guessing.  The culture and sensitivity test will tell the vet exactly what kind of bacteria your kitty has and the sensitivity test will tell the vet which med will actually treat it and cure the problem.  Don't allow the vet to give any meds until you know for sure what you're dealing with.  He actually sounds like my Hannah when she has a herpes flare up and we were dealing with a secondary pseudomonas infection.  Don't accept the vet's "this may be as good as it gets" attitude.  That would be enough to make me reconsider going there. 

Additionally, ask for the Real PCR URD test.  That tests for several upper respiratory diseases (URD), including herpes and bordatella. You can read more about the test here:  http://www.idexx.com/view/xhtml/en_...menu/innovative-tests/real-pcr.jsf?SSOTOKEN=0   On the right hand side bar of the IDEXX site, there's a link to a handout you can print out and take to your vet.