I'm probably paranoid, but now I have questions...

[chickpea616]

So in light of my current situation (We had to have our kitty put to sleep earlier today; unknown diagnosis but was super sick for over a week), I'm paranoid about her sister (who we adopted with her, and is still with us). This is about her weight, and food, first and foremost (at least I think so).

For many weeks now, everyone in the family has been commenting that they thought "Cinder is looking fat, mom" (kid quote,) - I noticed she was gaining weight also, but I really thought it was 1) overeating, or 2) her upper body and head size just don't seem to match her lower body.

So here's the stats: haven't been to the vet yet with her - was actually waiting for her to be 1 year old to take her in, but she was released to us from the shelter with everything up-to-date, etc.

She and her sister loved wet food, I couldn't seem to feed them enough! Previous posts of mine questioned this - I would post about them always being hungry!! Most advice here said that they were still kittens and that if they cleaned the bowl, they were obviously still hungry, so go ahead and offer more, etc. -- along those lines.

In the meantime, I also offered dry food as a backup, and for overnight, but not too much, just a small amount. It turns out that Cinder absolutely adores the dry food, and is eating less and less of the wet -- this is guess #1 that's attributing to her looking like she's "getting fat".

So I guess I just want to advice or reassurance (or something, I don't even know what I'm looking for at this point) -- could she still be growing, and the rest of her body will catch up to her middle/lower body? What to do about her lack of interest in wet food? I offer it at roughly breakfast, lunch, and dinner time but she'll maybe eat half of a Sheba pack, instead of devouring 1 or more every sitting... Do I even keep offering dry kitten food? I feel like if I don't offer at least some, she might be getting very hungry....but who knows?

Obviously I guess I should also get her in and checked out, just because of what happened to her sister

 

[Kieka]

Can you share a photo of her?

Sometimes cats develope a primordial pouch around that age. It can give the illusion of growing fat without really being that.

 

[chickpea616]

I'll try to get a pic and post it later! (although looking at some pictures online, and having another cat that has a pouch, this doesn't look like that)

 

[molly92]

I'm so sorry about your other kitty.

You don't have to wait till the year mark to start the annual check up. I'd go now, just to get some answers and guidance. Your vet's really going to be the best judge of what's a healthy weight. Since you never got a diagnosis for your other cat, I would even get blood work done now in case it was something this cat could be at risk for. With blood work from a healthy state on file, the vet can be better at diagnosing problems when they occur and not waste time wondering if an elevated number is something to worry about or is instead normal for that cat.

All that said, my unprofessional guess is that the carbs from the extra dry food might be adding up. Dry food needs a carbohydrate content to bake well into formed pieces of kibble, but carbs aren't used for energy well by cats and they add fat easily. If your cat is overweight it's likely not an urgent situation or anything (unless weight gain was extremely rapid). The biggest worry at this point is that the cat is becoming a dry food addict, which very easily happens! I would restrict dry food access and get her back into the habit of eating mostly wet food, because it's so important for their long term health, and the more dry food they eat, the harder it is to get them to accept wet food. I probably wouldn't change the total number of calories you're feeding until a vet tells you that weight loss is necessary though. Instead just substitute dry food with more wet food, perhaps tapering the transition slowly to make it easier on her. A little parmesan cheese sprinkled on top sometimes does the trick. There are other tips and tricks for encouraging wet food consumption too if you need them!

I'm so sorry you've been through such an awful week. If you need to take some time off from the vet and worrying about things that's fine; this check up is not urgent! If it would make you feel better to see the vet right away, that's also fine. I think you can pretty safely choose whichever feels better right now.

 

[Kieka]

I'll try to get a pic and post it later! (although looking at some pictures online, and having another cat that has a pouch, this doesn't look like that)

If you are standing above her and looking down, you should see a slight pinching between the rids and hips.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

First, I'm so sorry for the loss of your little girl cat

Now, some cats LOVE dry food and really aren't interested in wet food. So you need to actually train them to like it by first transitioning them to scheduled meal, then transitioning them to the certain type of food you want them to eat. Not always an easy thing to do. I was able to get four cats off of a kibble only diet to a wet only diet, and those four cats ranged in age from 2 years to 13 years of age. Here are the artiacles I used to do this: Just know this, some cats are very picky about what type of wet food they will eat. One of mine absolutely hates pate, and the only one will ONLY eat pate. Figures . So if you have problems getting her to eat wet, you might want to try different varieties, both brands and flavors and textures. Not sure how old she is yet, but our vet told us that by eight or nine months, they should be able to stop free feeding.

Transitioning Free-fed Kibble Kitties To Timed Meals – Cat Articles

Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food – Cat Articles