Cat seems thinner but gained weight?

[MsBrie]

Hi, my cat isn’t well and I was hoping for advice
He’s a year and a half tabby. He’s always had chronic nasal issues and I recently noticed the symptoms come up again. These include nasal and ocular discharge, being overly tired (yes even for a cat) and he’s eating but not as enthusiastically. I also noticed he looks and feels thinner. I took him to the vet and when he was weighted, he’d GAINED 0.4 lbs, which was confusing. The vet treated him with a antibiotic and steroids shots. He didn’t indicate that I should be worried.

I recently lost a cat (old age) so maybe I’m being paranoid, but I’d like to hear if anyone else has had this experience.
Thank you.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
It almost sounds as though because he's not being active, he's lost a little muscle?

 

[MsBrie]

Hi
It almost sounds as though because he's not being active, he's lost a little muscle?

I dont think he has, I mostly notice the weight loss around his back and just from lifting him. Before this he was pretty active with play as well.

 

[solomonar]

I saw something similar to my 6 years old tomcat (integer).
In fact, he eats almost 200 g of wet food per day, but he eats only during nighttime.
When he used to eat dry food, he eat far less.
Conclusion : it very much depends on the calories per serving.
So eating "more" or "less" is subjective, in my experience

 

[MsBrie]

I dont think he has, I mostly notice the weight loss around his back and just from lifting him. Before this he was pretty active with play as well.

I don’t know if there is a specific way to tell, but I looked him over a bit and he doesn’t seem as though he lost any from just feel.

 

[solomonar]

The way I weight my cat is to weight myself with him and then without him. on a regular bathroom scale.
It is much more precise than weighting him directly, because the scale sensors (even those of a scale for babies) may not be suitable for a moving cat :-)

 

[MsBrie]

The way I weight my cat is to weight myself with him and then without him. on a regular bathroom scale.
It is much more precise than weighting him directly, because the scale sensors (even those of a scale for babies) may not be suitable for a moving cat :-)

That’s a good idea, thank you

 

[Alldara]

Muscle weighs more than fat, so if he's lost some fat but gained muscle from play, that will explain it.

If he's still growing, he may also appear thinned out but have gained mass. Cats can grow up to two years so that can likely explain it easily. We used to think cats only grew for one year, but now we know differently!