Cat Question

Because there are so many cat lovers on here, I wanted to ask a question (I am calling the vet again tomorrow, but was curious what folks thought).

I moved about 6 months ago to a place with stairs. The litter box is downstairs, and there is a lot more room to run and play in my new place. Stoli, my somewhat plump Russian Blue has been losing weight - probably 3-4 pounds in the past year. I took him to the vet for his annual shots, and mentioned the weight loss, which was confirmed when he was weighed, and had them do a blood panel, which came back normal. That was a couple of months ago.

His appetite is fine, he eats the wet food twice a day as well as dry being left out. There is nothing odd in any of his behavior or any symptoms, other than weight loss. His mood and energy are great.

He has always been an indoor cat, and is current on all of his shots. He looks healthy, just slimmer. His coat seems fine. His younger sister has not seemed to have any change in weight since the move.

Can this be normal? Any thoughts? I will call the vet tomorrow, but was just curious if anyone thought this could be solely due to the larger place and the stairs?

Deb, aka YWIW

I wish the stairs had the same effect on me!

Everything else seems OK - but I will check with the vet tomorrow anyway.

Thanks for the moral support.

This is very similar to what happened with my cats when we moved, Deb.

They love running up and down the stairs and it they lost weight as a result of it.

As for Zorra not losing weight, I wonder if Stoli playing more actually has made him less interested in food over playing thereby leaving more food for Zorra to eat?

Wet food twice a day and dry food throughout the day seems like a lot of food.

They split a small can in the morning and at night - and sometimes do not eat it all - Stoli's former owners were even bigger pushovers than I am, and he was used to actually being fed three and four times a day (both mother and daughter worked different shifts, and each would feed him when they came home).

Some days most of the food is gone, other days, not so much. This morning, less than half of the small can was eaten between the two of them.

Zorra does not seem any smaller, but she is fluffier, so it is hard to tell - and she was not as big as Stoli was before we moved (He was a big old cat, about 17 pounds, now he is about 13 or so).

I give the vet a call.

Thanks.

I have 3 cats, It sounds as though the stairs have given extra exercise.
I give my little family a very small amount of wet food ( for a taste ) in the morning.
The rest of the day is their dry food. Good luck with kitty - - let us know.

We have two cats, brother and sister. She is naturally more active, he is fat (23 lbs.) and lazy and just wants to cuddle all day. She has always been thin and a slow/picky eater...he has always been a bit of a hog and would eat all the time (we cant leave dry food out at all.)

His weight has been a worry for us, of course, and since they've been living in our shore house instead of the apartment, we've been hoping he'd lose more weight. He does seem a bit more active, but is still overweight.

The reason I post is that our vet has given us alot of advice and stairs are a GREAT workout and should help (though he just looks at us and lets his sister chase any toy we throw trying to get him to run)...that could explain your baby's thinness. I def. wouldnt worry about it. Just keep your vet informed.

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You wouldnt be a good parent if you didnt worry, imo.

Yes, he's a big boy, and the sweetest most beautiful cat...and his sister can kick his ass!

I've actually noticed him moving a bit more, lately...I doubt he'll ever be slim, but we are trying to keep the big D (diabetes) away!

He is an orange tabby, which I've been told are prone to be overweight...has anyone ever heard that? She is a grey tabby and slim. I find it hard to believe that fur color would effect weight, but I've heard it from different sources, including our vet.

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Stoli topped out near 18 pounds, and was about 13 the last time I weighed him. I think he gained wait when Zorra was a kitten, because he kept on eating her food - he is such a pig that there was no way to feed her and not feed him, unless I locked him up, which I am too much of a softie to do.

Stoli is also a jumper - he gets into everything, but is the one who needs far more attention.

Have a great afternoon.

And Joe, Fiyero and Stoli must be related!



(And old picture from a couple of years ago).

Updated On: 5/21/08 at 11:16 AM

Stoli and Zorra now have asked for their own MySpace pages. They have MySpace envy!

Off to work!

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Gussie purrs so loud he chirps.

Each of us decided to give each other a kitten (unbeknownst to the other) for Xmas...someone spilled the beans, so in January we went to the ASPCA to look (SO SAD!) but winter is not the best time for kittens. There were two BEAUTIFUL siamese sisters in a very large cage. I wanted one so bad, but when we went over to them, they both hissed!

Just then, a worker came out with a cage that was clearly meant for a gerbil, not a cat, and in the tiny litte box were two tiny kittens, one orange one grey. We looked at them and fell in love. He fell in love back... she took some convincing.

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Wow, amazing how the color changed so drastically.

I love how your cats are so cuddly and close.

Fiyero also loves odd food- his favorite thing in the world is Wendy's chicken nuggets- one night he stole one from Dan's dinner and ran off with it in hanging from his mouth! He will also get belligerent for coffee cake or muffins and eats bread whenever he can!