Calling all cat owners

[itsheresomewhere]

A little while ago, I adopted a cute deaf, dwarf cat. She is a year old and will never be bigger than a small kitten. She has done beautifully in the house, loves to be brushed and have a manicure. She is very much like our dog- just sleeps all day, eats, pottys and sleep( what a life they live). Something is nagging the back of my head about the cat. She weights about 2 lbs and is considered underweight when I got her. The shelter/rescue had her for a few months to see if they could get her heatlhy and ran a ton of tests to figure her out. They found nothing wrong. She eats 2 2oz cans of food and has open access to dry food a day. She is on a grain, soy free diet like the dog as they can't eat grains. She hasn't gainned any weight since I got her. I feel like I'm missing something with her. I can't put my finger on it but feel like the vet is missing something. Not that I want anything to be wrong with her but it is a feeling like they are missing something. Any odd ball things I should ask for them to test? I am looking for a new vet while thinking of this as my current vet is a big pain and hates that I use the low cost vaccine clinic instead of his 400 well exam vaccine visits. Thanks in advance

 

[DisneyWhirled]

Sorry, I don't have much info to help you, but I wanted to thank you for adopting such a sweet kitty and wanted to wish you the best with her.

Has she been tested for feline leukemia?

Would love to see a pic!

 

[itsheresomewhere]

Sorry, I don't have much info to help you, but I wanted to thank you for adopting such a sweet kitty and wanted to wish you the best with her.

Has she been tested for feline leukemia?

Would love to see a pic!

Thanks. She is a very sweet kitty. She was tested for feline leukemia and feline aids and both were neg. One day I will learn to post pics.

 

[SandrA9810]

when you use photobucket, if you scroll over the picture, it'll automatically give you the image code link. So you just copy and paste it into your post and it shows.

So we need pictures first to make any assumptions...

 

[omghidanielle]

our kitties were underweight when we got them, and the vet gave us a tube of medicated paste (it was $90! ) but they loved it and even though our one cat is now 8lbs, but tiny, and the other is 15, and giant, so it works

 

[cirquelovers]

One of our cats is very small too. We call her our bird bone kitty and she's 7 and still skinny. The vet says she's healthy and everyone else in the house is fat, including her brother, so it's not a food thing.

I think just like humans there are many different body types out there. She's just graced with a svelt physique

 

[epcotfan]

Have they checked for kidney disease?

 

[itsheresomewhere]

Have they checked for kidney disease?

yes they did. I forgot to say that one of the things she does is she breathes like she has just run a race when she hasn't. Also, when she purrs, her mouth has to be open so she can breath.

 

[Katie Dawn]

Do you have a major university near by that has a veterinary college? If so, they will often take on unusual cases. Is the "dwarf" part of her due to a rough start in life or is it normal for her breed? If she is small because of an issue as a kitten I think that would up the interest level from the perspective of the vet school. (In other words, they are more likely to take on situations that fall outside of the realm of "normal.")

My Mom has a cat that she rescued as a kitten that had been severely malnourished for some time. When she brought her in the vet was basically like, "I'll try everything I can to save her life but I can't make any promises." She made it through that time but the vet told her right then that she would never grow to be a normal size. She probably looks like a 6-9 month old kitten, and even though she's 3-4 years old now she looks very slim, and I imagine she always will.

 

[jmpurdy]

Open mouth breathing is extremely life threatening if that is what your cat is doing. How old is the cat? A kitten should be playful alot of the daytime hours. Heart disease? No cat should breathe with an open mouth continually, even if its for a few minutes. If the cat exercises and has to stop and breathes with an open mouth, big trouble. You really should take your cat to another vet asap. Asthma? Alot of things are popping up in my head (work for a feline only veterinarian), but the two issues above are both serious. Please see someone today if you can. If blood work has been done (hopefully), x-rays and/or ultrasound to look at that heart properly. But a good vet will NEVER let an open mouth breather out the door unless evaluated. Struggling to breathe even for a few moments is not an option. But I do agree that yearly exams with vaccinations is the best way to care for your pet so that the vet can have a year to year basis of how the cat is doing and can note changes, even subtle ones, that have taken place over that year.

 

[Scurvy]

The size thing may not be a big deal - it might be normal for her - but the breathing thing is not normal at all. As jmpurdy said, that can be a sign of something life threatening. Has she always done that or is this a recent development?

 

[irishtigger]

That is awesome of you for adopting a kitty. Mine our strays we took in. Have they checked her for Diabetes? When we had our cat tested he was doing the open mouth breathing and sleeping an awful lot. Plus drinking a lot of water. Just a thought but it wouldn't hurt at least to put your mind at ease. As for your vet tell him if he would reduce his prices A LOT you have no problem using him. Good luck

 

[irishtigger]

Has your vet looked up her nose? Our other cat had a pulp in his nose and once it was removed it was back to breathing normally

 

[itsheresomewhere]

Thanks everyone. She has had heart tests, xrays and more blood work than most cats her age. The vet at the aspca told me he thinks her breathing is more a jaw deformity as her lower jaw is much smaller than it should be. They said she is such a sweet cat they couldn't put her down for what no one can find. She is estimated to be a little over a year old and they were very open with me that they don't know how long she will live but I just wanted to give her a good life however long it is. Her little neck is too small for even a kitten collar that is how small she is.

 

[Planogirl]

I agree that the breathing with mouth open doesn't sound right. Ours only did that when they were in full panic mode.

She sounds like a sweetheart.

 

[itsheresomewhere]

Open mouth breathing is extremely life threatening if that is what your cat is doing. How old is the cat? A kitten should be playful alot of the daytime hours. Heart disease? No cat should breathe with an open mouth continually, even if its for a few minutes. If the cat exercises and has to stop and breathes with an open mouth, big trouble. You really should take your cat to another vet asap. Asthma? Alot of things are popping up in my head (work for a feline only veterinarian), but the two issues above are both serious. Please see someone today if you can. If blood work has been done (hopefully), x-rays and/or ultrasound to look at that heart properly. But a good vet will NEVER let an open mouth breather out the door unless evaluated. Struggling to breathe even for a few moments is not an option. But I do agree that yearly exams with vaccinations is the best way to care for your pet so that the vet can have a year to year basis of how the cat is doing and can note changes, even subtle ones, that have taken place over that year.

Just so you know- this vet is for bigger things than the well visits. We use a low cost vaccine clinic for regular well visits and they send all bloodwork to this vet to keep on file. This vet is just a very pricey money hungery person. He charged over 500 buck to neuter my dach. We didn't know any other vet at the time so we were stuck. This vet argued with me when I refused to give a lyme shot to the dog. I lost one dach to the lyme shot as I had no idea it gives a bad reaction to some of that breed.

 

[jmpurdy]

I don't know...I guess if it were me, I'd go to a cardiologist just to make sure. Did you have an ultrasound? That could be very informative too to see if there are valve issues that an x-ray will not show to conclusively show if there are ANY heart issues to be aware of. Clearly, the cat has some physical issues, but am still concerned about the breathing after exercise comment. A cardiologist and/or ultrasound could be one last diagnostic that could maybe fill in the blanks for you. Would hate to see the cat go into a full cardiac episode if it is something that can be diagnosed. Does the cat have a murmur?

 

[itsheresomewhere]

I don't know...I guess if it were me, I'd go to a cardiologist just to make sure. Did you have an ultrasound? That could be very informative too to see if there are valve issues that an x-ray will not show to conclusively show if there are ANY heart issues to be aware of. Clearly, the cat has some physical issues, but am still concerned about the breathing after exercise comment. A cardiologist and/or ultrasound could be one last diagnostic that could maybe fill in the blanks for you. Would hate to see the cat go into a full cardiac episode if it is something that can be diagnosed. Does the cat have a murmur?

Ultrasound was normal. She does not have a murmur. She is such a happy cat. The foster mom who had her for awhile was concerned as I am but the vet she took it to said the same thing. They can't find anything wrong but she probably won't live to be 20. I just feel like something is missing.

 

[jmpurdy]

I feel bad that you don't care for your vet and I hope you can find someone else. Many times people shop around and that is a good thing. It's so important to trust your vet to do the best for your pet and it does mean actually seeing the pet yearly. Seeing reports is fine, but each vet has their own ways of remembering that pet each year and charting how he/she does each year and noting weight, fur changes, dental issues, heart sounds, etc. are all very important to see each year. Calling around and visiting different clinics is what we recommend. We actually tell people to stop in and see if the get a good vibe and ask us questions! It is a 2 way road and we need information from owners as well as giving information so we encourage alot of input as we always say "You know your pet best"! That's why if someone comes in and says 'something is not right', you bet we believe it. Another poster suggested a teaching hospital. We are lucky to have Tufts not too far away. We would suggest that as well. You will get excellent care at those. Asthma? Has this been investigated? Can you arrange to bring in the cat right when the cat has an episode? That could be helpful.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

hmm i'd say get a few different opinions. it never hurts.

i have 3 cats. two girls and one boy.

one girl is 15lbs(she's at the max weight for her breed, but she hasn't gained any weight so the vet said she's ok) and the other is 11lbs.

the boy fluctuates between 8-9lbs. they're all 2, so it's as big as they'll get. he's just a small cat. people often mistake him for a kitten when they visit.

your kitty can also have a parasite in the intestines....i'm wondering if that might be the problem? have they tested for that? that's kind of what happened to my boy when he was younger(and that's why we think he's stayed fairly small, since. luckily it was something that was easily treatable).

good luck i hope you get some answers!