Is she fat or is she pregnant?

Okay, so My cat Abbie will be 3 in August. She's normally been on the thinner side weight wise. She's indoor/outdoor and has always been eating the same way her whole life.
On her 1 year birthday she was having surgery on a crushed elbow joint (apparently common in young cats) while she was being worked on, they were supposed to fix her too.
Everything was fine until about a month ago, we started leaving the doors open cause it was warming up outside.
Since then my whole family has noticed she's put on a lot of weight in the last month or so.
She has the big belly now and everyone who sees her asks us if she's pregnant.
It doesnt really make sense (at least in our minds) that a young cat, who hasnt have any changes in her eating, but has been exercising a lot more (due to her being outside) would gain weight so suddenly.
What I want to know is, Is it possible for her to be pregnant even though they supposedly fixed her almost 2 years ago? And if not, what other kinds of things could be happening?
Thanks.

If you are sure she has been fixed, she could have worms. I would be tempted to take her to the vets anyway - if she has worms, she needs to be treated with stuff from the vets rather than from a pet shop.

See, the thing is, Im not 100 percent sure they Did fix her, or if they did, Isnt it possible that it didnt take? By looking at her, there are two distinct sides of her belly and when she's laying down and we try to pet her, she immediatly gets up and walks away if we try to get anywhere near her belly. So I dont know... Im calling my vet when they open to see if they have a record of fixing her during that leg proceedure... If she has worms instead, how can I tell the difference?

If they did indeeed fix her, it would definitely "take." Its essentially a total hysterectomy for a female cat. It sounds like sje is pregnant though. I would go to the vet to have him/her rule out worms and then force the original vet, who was supposed to have fixed her, to spay her after the babies are born.

Was there an incision and a shaved belly on her when you got her back? That would be a pretty good giveaway that they did spay her. Did it say on the papers or receipt or records for her that she was spayed?

I agree though she could have worms too. If she is outdoors that very well could be it.

Go to a different vet, rather than calling the first one, who may just want you to come in so he can try to cover it up if he messed up the first time. A different vet who has no involvement in what happened before will give you a diagnosis of worms or pregnancy or whatever else might be going on. The new one can also tell you if she was actually spayed or not.

And yes, a spay surgery removes the ovaries and the uterus. When she came home, she should have had a large shaven area on her lower tummy (some vets do it on the side, but it wouldn't have been on her leg) between her back legs, and an incision about an inch and a half, maybe shorter, in the middle, with stitches. If you don't recall seeing anything like that, your cat wasn't fixed.

eta: Haha, Jen, we keep posting the same thing at the same time. Jinx!

I want to add that if the second vet tells you that she is not spayed and is indeed pregnant, I WOULD at least talk to the first vet and explain what happened. See if they can do anything about it.

Is she acting healthy in other ways? It could be worms, a tumor, FIP.... I hpe its none of the more serious things, but you would definitely notice her acting unwell if it were.
Spayed and neutered cats do tend to gain weight... at least every single one I've ever had has.
Do you feel any movement? If she is that big you probably would feel movement by now if she is pregnant.
I would call the first vet first, ask if they can check her records and see if it says they did indeed spay her.

Just re read, if it has only been a month then you won't likely feel movement yet, that is *usually* ten days to two weeks before delivery.

Well my vet opens at 10 so Im going to call and see if they have a record of it. My vet office actually has four or five vets working there and I cant remember which one worked on Abbie. The other problem is, whether they have the record or not, I cant afford to take her in to see whats going on, at least not for 2 more weeks So I dont know.

Also, I would understand if her Gaining weight was gradual, But its been almost 2 years since she was supposed to have been fixed and She's just started to gain weight rapidly. She's not acting weird and other than the weight gain I havent noticed anything unusual in her behavior. We did have to start keeping her inside at night cause the neighbor kitties would bully her and chase her into the house. So I make sure that before I go to bed she comes in.

Is she eating a lot??? Is she laying down a lot?? like not walking alot???
Did you take her to the vet to see if she has worms or is pregant?
I would keep her inside for now.

I dont think she's eating a lot, but I have noticed shes eating more frequent.
Some here, some there.
She has been napping often in the house during the day instead of going outside.
The doors are all open during the day so she goes in and out, but I have found her curled up on piles of laundry a couple of times, or laying sprawled on one of the beds.
And I did notice when she lays down, she never lays on her belly, she's always on her side or angled on her back.
But when she gets up and goes outside, shes running across the back yard not as fast as she use to, but still fast.
Last night she was chasing a moth through the house and there wasnt really anything out of the ordinary...

Originally Posted by CoyeMuse

I dont think she's eating a lot, but I have noticed shes eating more frequent.
Some here, some there.
She has been napping often in the house during the day instead of going outside.
The doors are all open during the day so she goes in and out, but I have found her curled up on piles of laundry a couple of times, or laying sprawled on one of the beds.
And I did notice when she lays down, she never lays on her belly, she's always on her side or angled on her back.
But when she gets up and goes outside, shes running across the back yard not as fast as she use to, but still fast.
Last night she was chasing a moth through the house and there wasnt really anything out of the ordinary...

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We've had others who have had cats exibit what you are referencing and it turned out the cat wasn't pregnant...so it will be impossible to tell you based on a description whether or not she is pregnant. If you want to know for sure..you need to take her in to be examined by a vet. Since you do not know whether she is pregnant or not or spayed or not...I would curtail her adventures outdoors until she has seen a vet and you can confirm her status. An unspayed female that is allowed outdoors is just asking to become pregnant.

Katie

Was she in heat??? I think she might be pregant. Does she look like she might
have pouch?? Because when males or Females get fixed they have pouches.
Before you saw her get big. Was she skinny??

Originally Posted by KittyLova

Was she in heat??? I think she might be pregant. Does she look like she might
have pouch?? Because when males or Females get fixed they have pouches.
Before you saw her get big. Was she skinny??

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My cat who is neutered doesn't have a pouch...so a pouch doesn't necessarily indicate that a cat is fixed.

Katie

If she was in heat I didnt really notice, we have so many animals in our house.
Since shes outside ALL the time, I sometimes only see her at night when she come inside.
Even then she doesnt sleep in my room so she has free reign of the house. before she started gaining weight she was on the skinny side, but shes a small cat so it was normal for her.
And now its almost like she's the same size as our small dogs.
I talked to the vet and they said she's probably catching food outside and eating it. With our other cat I would say thats a possibility.
But Abbie has always been very picky about what she eats, in her 3 years she has eaten strictly the food we give her.
She doesnt like treats.
No meat off our plates, nothing.
The vet says they have the spay on file, but Im still not sure...
They said to keep her indoors and if she gets worse then bring her in.

It could certainly be that she is snacking at night...it could also be worms. I would follow the vet's advice...but I would get a copy of the spay certificate for your records.

Katie

We'll try to keep her inside as much as possible, she's already inside from about 10pm to 6 or 7am.
But short of locking her in my room all day, Its not really going to be much better.
I will get a copy of the spay record so I can have it.
What are some thing to check for to see if its worms?

Originally Posted by CoyeMuse

We'll try to keep her inside as much as possible, she's already inside from about 10pm to 6 or 7am.
But short of locking her in my room all day, Its not really going to be much better.
I will get a copy of the spay record so I can have it.
What are some thing to check for to see if its worms?

Click to expand...

Here is some information on worms:

http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/worms.html

Katie