Charley ... Back question

My cat, Charley, was a rescued cat. Someone drove by, tossed the poor fur ball out, & I rescued him. I took him immediantly to the vet where they said he was at least 5 weeks old. Within his 1st week with us, he was fixed, shots, you name it. We were going to put him up for adoption but it didn't take long before we fell in love with him.

Charley is now 6 months old & as time goes on, I notice something very wrong with his back. He looks like an old, worn out race horse. His curved spine is very noticeable. It dips in at the waist area and shoots slightly back up as it gets closer to the tail area.

Charley, over all, appears to be a very healthy, over fed cat. He runs, jumps, plays, and still has a ton of kitten in him. He drives us crazy most of the time but I do worry about his spine.

I'm wondering, prior to taking him in for x-rays, has anyone ever seen an animal with this type of problem & what is it usually? I'd like to have maybe a general idea of what we are looking at before going through a ton of tests at the vets, which I rightly can not afford. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to email me privately.

Much thanks,
Julie
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I have not heard of or seen that as of yet, but I do wish you all the best with him. I just noticed, my back hurts, I hope his doesn't.

I hope your back feels better soon. As far as Charley, I made him an appt. for tomorrow at 2pm. At first, I thought his long fur was the problem so I took some scissors after him (YIKES!) but thankfully it will grow back and sadly, that's not the problem. I'll post what the vet says tomorrow ... $80 later. Not really wanting to spend that type of money but Charley must be seen. If it's something that is very negative, I sure don't want my little guy to suffer without knowing other options.

Julie

We have a clinic cat named Wobbles that had her back broken when she was a kitten (she is now 15), she looks very swaybacked and wobbled when she walks.

Good luck to you and Charley. My mom's cat, Hannah, was diagnosed with some sort of birth defect that gives her arthritis in her back. She has had it her whole life, but we didn't find out until last year (when it started bothering her). She's 12 years old now. It's possible that Charley could have had an injury or birth defect that affects the way his spine looks and functions. With Hannah, she's fine 98% of the time, so we just give her a pain killer when it seems to be bothering her. Having the x-ray, while expensive, will give you peace of mind and will let you know what to expect.

Best of luck to you both, and welcome to TCS!

Julie,
Any updates yet? how did your visit go? and how is the little one doing???