Question:
Last week when I got home, I came downstairs to find 4 seperate piles of puke and three piles of diarrhea. The puppy is crated when we are not home so I went to go check on our two 9 year old cats. Both had been eating well and acting normal over the last few weeks though the female had stopped using the litter box about a week earlier.The only other time she has stopped using it was because her brother Max, a male orange tabby had crystals and needed to be rushed to the vet.

So called our normal vet we take them to but they had no appoitments for that piticular day and found a different vet nearby instead and brought Mitten, our female grey domestic as she seemed to be unsually quiet and hiding. They took blood tests and did a fecel test on the diarrhea sample we brought with us, both which came back negative. So the prescribed us anti-biotics to help the nausia and diarrhea and told us to come back in two days if we didn't see drastic improvements. The next day Mitten puked once but after two full days of the meds she improved.

So today while brushing Max, the male Tabby I noticed he had unusually dented in hips. He is unfortunatly over weight, something which was our fault for free feeding them for 7 years of their life and we have been working since to get him back to a normal weight. He normally weighs in around 19-20lbs so I decided to weight him today to see if trying to get him more active and having him on a higher qaulity diet with less portions has been helping. He weighed in at 16-17 pounds. Normally this would be great news It's just that I am unsure if cats are supposde to have such pronouced hips and am worried maybe he has crystals again or something is wrong to be causing him to loose weight.

I took a few pics so someone could take a look and let me know what they think. I know dogs much better then cats and would describe it as how healthy dog hips look like after the ribs.

I should mention that they are both neutered and spayed and eat Wellness dry in the morning and wellness wet food in the evening.



In this pic I am applying almost no pressure to him, just trying to show how deep the indents are



Thanks
Kayla

Answer:
Maybe it's the pictures but he looks fairly well-upholstered to me. Maybe the Wellness diet is having an effect. Really rapid weight loss is a worry, but if it has been a few months since he started eating differently, 2-3 pounds IMHO isn't dramatic. Particularly if he is otherwise fine. I have a porker too and the best I can do is keep him more or less level at 17lb.

Answer:
I agree with Badger. If the cat doesn't show any other symptoms of crystals (ie, frequent urination, straining, peeing in inappropriate places) then don't worry. Also, it seems to me that the sagging is somewhat an aging process as well.

Answer:
My Rocky(10yrs) lost a couple of Lbs(from 16 to 13lbs)although he was eating more than any of the others,most visible around his hip-area,he was diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism and is now on meds,but your kitty looks well rounded to mebut then again,only a kitty mom can tell if there is something amiss,it's hard to see on the picture.

Answer:
Originally Posted by badger
Maybe it's the pictures but he looks fairly well-upholstered to me.



Answer: