Female cat with balloon-y belly can't hold her urine.

So up front I'm going to say that I haven't witnessed my furbaby's urine issues personally; it's an odd situation in which my SO's brother is currently providing her care at a house that, next week, SO and I will be moving into, and his brother will be moving out of. So while we visit her daily, we're going off what his brother is telling us.

I took in a stray last October. She was pregnant, and 2 days later, had 3 little babies. We kept them all. In February, everybody got fixed.

Ever since then, it's seemed that momma cat, Micah, began to get a belly best described as ballooned.

Side notes:
- she wouldn't stop nursing up until the spay

- it looks like, to me, as a result of that ^^^^ she's still got some... ... flabby udders, so to speak

- her spay resulted in a large hernia that the vet said wasn't large enough to take action on yet

- she (and babies) were dewormed twice

-she's eating, no problem there

We were concerned that Micah's belly, on top of being like she swallowed a balloon, was too firm, so we took her in to our vet. He's a lovely old guy, and we love him (unlike the other vets that work there.... I don't ever like to hear "uhm, I think..." regarding a treatment...)

He felt around and said that it didn't feel solid or that firm. Here I get fuzzy on what exactly he said, but it was along the lines of, whatever was in her belly was... so to speak... squishy and didn't resist, I think. Don't quote me! And that he thought that, really, it was "all her." As in, pudgy - cause she'd gained roughly 3lb since she'd gotten fixed the month prior. (Spay was not done at his office, btw.)

Vet visit was 2-3 weeks ago I think. SO's brother had said Micah had peed outside the box a few times - usually in her bed. Bed was taken away to be washed where we're living currently since he refused to do it anymore.

Weeeell, we got a text this morning saying that he thinks Micah has gotten fatter (uncertain on this; vet told us not to obsess over her belly so I've been trying not to)  and that supposedly she can't hold her urine anymore; she just goes wherever she's standing. But I have no idea if that's 100% true or if he's exaggerating or what. (he's done that before, he's a jerk, and mad he's being kicked out of the house. oh well!) Can't wait to move in next week and monitor everybody myself.

So now SO and I are thinking just to make another vet appt. but at the same time I'm at a loss for what could be wrong - not to mention would basically be repeating what SO's brother claims to the vet without really knowing myself.
Part of me wonders what if vet's first opinion was right, not to worry about her belly, and if her litter box issues are just that, litter box issues; she's sharing a box with her 3 kittens at the moment since SO's brother refuses to deal with more than one (and yeah, the first thing I'm doing when we move in next week is adding more!).

Then the other part of me is still worried that her belly feels like a balloon; it just makes me feel uneasy.

I guess I'm just looking for some insight on what could be up with my Micah, or if anybody's experienced anything similar.

lovexrin said:

 
I guess I'm just looking for some insight on what could be up with my Micah, or if anybody's experienced anything similar.

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Hi there

in my experience when someone posts about a cat currently under someone else's care, it gets very confusing very quickly.  So i'd say a vet visit is in order, but better to take the cat back into your home if possible and monitor yourself or your stuck listening to an angry caretaker.

I'd probably separate the belly issue from the peeing issue and with 4 animals sharing the same box, i would offer additionally that i suspect it may be a behavioral issue (not enough boxes and probably not being cleaned enough) and i would start on that with a surprise visit, inspect the box, see how clean or dirty it is, and bring a second box with you and set that up as well.

Incontinence to the point of "peeing where she is standing" is very rare, but as a behavioral issue, (possibly magnified if she dislikes the guy) is quite common.

Hey there Stephen - and thanks!
As I said, we're moving in to the home and taking over complete care in a week; we live with my SO's parents right now where they didn't want any more cats than we had already. The compromise was to keep them at the other home until we switched houses.

We visit daily (never planned, never same time) and the litterbox is almost always taken care of to an obsessive point - brother is a jerk, but is very fussy about keeping things clean.

I'm doubtful of his wording too, although supposedly once she looked him dead in the eye when she did it - so that would not surprise me at ALL. I'm so curious to see if all litterbox issues clear up first thing when we take over their care next week. We already have extra litter boxes. They'd originally been over at their home, actually, but he wouldn't set more than one up citing "no space" in their room. Yes..yes there is space.

It's difficult not to worry about her belly though. I checked the papers and she was last at the vet exactly 3 weeks ago.

I'm nervous to let it be until next week just to see, although it's been so long already that she'd had it without (any other) issue. More than likely though we won't be able to get a vet appt. with our vet until about then anyway since he's usually booked up.

I'm thinking we'll give them a call and see if they think we need to have her checked out immediately or if it can wait until they have an opening.

So my SO was able to read me the text message his brother sent him about all this while on break. Apparently his brother is also claiming that Micah is acting lethargic - except, she's always been pretty laidback and inactive.... since we took her in in October. So I'm hesitant to think that her inactivity means something wrong since she's just always been that way.

I guess I'm defaulting now to being paranoid about her balloon of a stomach. I've mentioned before, my vet checked it out and said he wasn't worried, somehow he thinks that it's just all her and she's basically a bit pudgy (although how that would make her a small balloon, I'm not sure). So... if I take her back in for the same issue he said not to worry about, what else could I ask him to do to make sure she really IS okay? I'm at a loss of anything else that could cause this.

-- Micah was tested for FIV and such and it was negative, also. So it's not related to that.

Meanwhile I've got my SO's mom (who SO's brother runs to to tell her every little problem to make it look like we aren't taking care of the cats) upset that she thinks Micah's belly feels hard (vet said it wasn't actually hard) and that she doesn't act right (always been that way...) and this and that, but I mean- I'm just at a loss in regards of what to do. ):

lovexrin said:

 
So my SO was able to read me the text message his brother sent him about all this while on break. Apparently his brother is also claiming that Micah is acting lethargic - except, she's always been pretty laidback and inactive.... since we took her in in October. So I'm hesitant to think that her inactivity means something wrong since she's just always been that way.

I guess I'm defaulting now to being paranoid about her balloon of a stomach. I've mentioned before, my vet checked it out and said he wasn't worried, somehow he thinks that it's just all her and she's basically a bit pudgy (although how that would make her a small balloon, I'm not sure). So... if I take her back in for the same issue he said not to worry about, what else could I ask him to do to make sure she really IS okay? I'm at a loss of anything else that could cause this.

-- Micah was tested for FIV and such and it was negative, also. So it's not related to that.

Meanwhile I've got my SO's mom (who SO's brother runs to to tell her every little problem to make it look like we aren't taking care of the cats) upset that she thinks Micah's belly feels hard (vet said it wasn't actually hard) and that she doesn't act right (always been that way...) and this and that, but I mean- I'm just at a loss in regards of what to do. ):

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OK since you visit often you can do this:  Most people take their cat to the vet when they see something wrong or not appearing quite right.  Go visit the cat.  Spend some time with her. Does she look and act ok to you?  Touch her all over and see if she reacts badly to any place on her body being touched and probed.  Then ask yourself the question, do i think she needs a vet.  If yes, make an appointment, if no, then tell your relatives to either relax, or they can take the cat in for a visit.