No cite I’m afraid until I can get two batteries charged for the camera… but he is really cute.
My roommate’s cat, Hermes, is about 2 yrs old. He has not been neutered because she had a dog that died while being neutered, and she says, “it’s a phobia.” I know, it’s very safe ordinarily, but you can’t reason with her.
Anyway, he still is about the size of an adolescent cat, and he is very bony and skinny. She says he was the “runt of the litter.” He definitely looks like he’s starving or something.
We got him kitten chow recently to try and fatten him up. He likes it, but hasn’t put any weight on. We have bought a ridiculous variety of wet food flavors and textures, trying to get him to eat. He will nibble at it, but just does not ever eat heartily. He will come and meow when he is hungry, and we always feed him when he asks. There is almost always plenty of all kinds of fresh cat food available in dishes in the kitchen as well. It seems that he is just not a big eater. (GAAAH! The AntiGarfield!)
I know that, probably, YANAV. But there are many, many longtime cat owners here on the Dope, and I value the voice of experience.
Is he skinny because he’s not fixed? (my guess.) He gets Revolution at appropriate intervals, so we don’t think it’s worms. He goes outside to poop, so we don’t know anything about, ahem, that end of the problem. His eyes are clear, his coat is very pretty, his claws are strong. Is it something to be concerned about?
Is he skinny because he’s not fixed? (my guess.) He gets Revolution at appropriate intervals, so we don’t think it’s worms. He goes outside to poop, so we don’t know anything about, ahem, that end of the problem. His eyes are clear, his coat is very pretty, his claws are strong. Is it something to be concerned about?
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I’d have the vet do a work up on him, if he looks abnormally thin vs. just slender. Some cats are just really tiny but an intact male cat should be bigger frame wise and they often get “chipmunk cheeks” if they are in good condition. Unless he is wailing and stressing himself out about finding chicks (or queens, in this case ) , that could explain the weight loss but if he’s just normal behavior wise, I’d have him looked at. And tell your friend one of the biggest causes of death in intact male cats is behavioral euthanasia! Far riskier to not neuter a male cat than to neuter it- I work for vets that do alot of cat rescue work and the most impossible cats to adopt out are male cats that have been intact for most of their adult life- they may find a home but they almost always come back.
Ditto on the vet checkup. How are his teeth? If he’s an outdoor cat, maybe he’s running off most of his calories.
Our older cat (Rick, neutered, age 16) has always been skinny. I don’t think he’s ever weighed more than 10-12 pounds. Mick (neutered, age 12) weighs 18 pounds. Both were litter runts.
I currently have four indoor cats: one fat, two average sized, and one skinny.
They all have water and dry food available 24/7, plus get a small can of wet food to share once a day. I think that the fat cat might have a eating disorder (she likes to munch the dry food when she’s bored), but other than that they all seem to eat normal amounts on average.
However, once in a while, the skinny cat, Sam, will stop eating as much and get desperately thin. As far as we can tell, it’s a nervous tic - he’ll also sometimes start licking all of the fur off of his legs and stomach. Once he calms down a week or two later, he goes back to normal.
The upshot is, I’d take him to the vet and get him worked up. If all looks good, he’s probably either naturally skinny or high strung, or both, and should be fine.
I have one skinny cat, 2 normal cats and 1 fatty catty. He’s a neutered male, dewormed, clean vet check. He’s just not all that into food. He’ll go outside and stay in the shed for a few days, saunter in, get a few bites of food and want to go back out. I figure lean and lanky is probably healthier for most animals than fat, and since he’s managed to keep going for 2 years, he’s obviously not starving himself. I also think we tend to think animals (and people) need more meat on their bones than they really do.
Really, needs to see a vet. Is he up to date on vaccines? Your idea of skinny may not actually be skinny, either. I’ve run across a lot of people who think certain cats are skinny when they’re really a perfect weight. You should be able to feel his spine and ribcage though a thin layer of fat & muscle. He should have a “waist” when looked at from above. An intact male is less likely to get that “belly waddle” fat pad that many people see as normal.
But bottom line is to see a vet. If he’s going outside often, he needs a lot of vaccines, and I hope your roomie is happy about all the homeless kittens he’s producing - a lot of them will die, too.
If he really is “too” skinny, he could have picked up any number of diseases while out, none of them good, many of them deadly serious. And the amount of food he eats while hanging around the house, well, if he goes outside you really have no idea how much or what he eats. He may have lots of friends in the neighborhood who give him food, too.
And the behavior issues mentioned by Smokinjbc - right on point.
Thanks, all. That’s a good cross-section of experience. I think I’ll do a bit of research and find out where the best low-cost neuter clinic is; maybe if I set it all up, she’ll do it…
Errrr… is Feline Leukemia more survivable nowadays than it used to be, if God forbid he were to have it?
It would be really cool of you to at least look into a low-cost option, even if she still won’t go along with it, you can have the information more readily. If it helps at all, cat neuters are a lot different than dog neuters, 10 minutes or less if done by a high-volume, low-cost type place.
FeLV is one of those that you’ll probably get a lot of different opinions on. At the shelter where I work, we have to euthanize the FeLV+ cats that we can’t place in foster homes quickly, simply because we have no where to isolate them. We aren’t opposed to placing FeLV cats in homes as long as they’re the only cat or the other cats in the home are also FeLV and the person adopting will be able to handle the medical bills that are in the cat’s future.
If they test FeLV+ at the shelter and they’re already unhealthy and sick, then they are euthanized. In my experience, once they start showing signs of illness, it’s nothing but downhill and it’s a matter of a quality of life decision. In a home, they may stay healthier and treatable longer. I’ve seen people go as far as getting blood transfusions for their FeLV cats, and I think those folks are not seeing things realistically.
A young, otherwise healthy FeLV+ cat could live for many years. They MUST, MUST stay strictly indoors! The virus is highly contagious!
But try not to worry unless you have to. Have him seen and tested, and don’t worry until you hear something to worry about! He may just be a svelte young buck. (Can’t tell without pics!)
My roommate had a 2 year old male unneutered cat that was very little and bony. Was a weird little cat- liked food, ran to the microwave whenever it pinged. Anyway, he started to be lethargic and seemed ill, took it to the vet and found out he had some kind of liver disease. One of the signs of it was jaundice of some kind and sure enough when he told us that and we looked at his ears in good light, they were yellowish. It was very serious and ended up sadly. I don’t know if its common, but I suppose it could be that also.
Good points. Intact male cats tend to be more lean then their over-all healthier castrated counterparts. The incidence of FeLV and FIV is higher in intact male cat populations as well.
My giant AIDS kitty weighs around 18 lbs (and that’s down from 24!) and he doesn’t chow down, either. He’s a snacker. We feed dry food only and he’ll snack 4 or 5 times a day. I generally don’t worry about any cat’s food intake unless they look like they’re wasting. They eat. I’d try dry food only, as it’s not as expensive to find one they seem to like. Nutritionally, it must be ok, since my cats generally live to be a spry and healthy 18 to 20+ year old.
) , that could explain the weight loss but if he’s just normal behavior wise, I’d have him looked at. And tell your friend one of the biggest causes of death in intact male cats is behavioral euthanasia! Far riskier to not neuter a male cat than to neuter it- I work for vets that do alot of cat rescue work and the most impossible cats to adopt out are male cats that have been intact for most of their adult life- they may find a home but they almost always come back.
