Cat lost nearly a pound after neuter surgery and I'm worried! Is this normal?

[AssortedTangerines]

Hello, our vet office is closed today so I wanted to ask here in hopes I can get some reassurance or some understanding.

My sweet cat is 11 months old and just had his neuter surgery about 2 weeks ago. In his pre-surgery checkup, he was 8.8lbs. On the 10-day followup appointment, he was only 8.08 pounds.

The vet mistook it as still saying 8.8. I pointed it out to the vet, but he didn't care or didn't understand, because he wrote down 8.8 in his chart after laughing and saying "yep, 8.8!"
I weighed him at home after, and he was 8 lbs, so I dont think I misread the number.

This loss of nearly a pound worries me- that's over 10% of his body weight and he was a slender boy to begin with!
I've heard rapid weight loss in cats is very dangerous to their liver, so I wanted to be sure he is ok.

He has also thrown up 3 times last week after breakfast, but I think it's because I fed him breakfast too early after his 3am witching hour snack. I started taking the bowl up at 5am with a 2-3 hr break between meals and he hasn't thrown up since, but wanted to mention as he is a slow eater and isn't very food motivated.

Overall I feel dismissed by our vet, and I want to know if I need to take him to get a second opinion, or if the matter is urgent and requires immediate care.

When I look online, all I ever see are articles about weight gain, not loss!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi and welcome to TCS! Very cute cat!! The weights you listed means he has lost about 3/4 pound (~12 ounces). 3/4 pound in 10 days is a tad bit much, but I don't think it constitutes a concern for liver issues (hepatic lipidosis) because he is actually eating, but you should continue to monitor him anyway - to ensure he doesn't continue to throw up, so you know that you've figured out the cause for it.

What did you use to weigh him at home? Most human scales are not sensitive enough to get down to that level of ounces accurately.
It could be from the vomiting sessions, and maybe he is not drinking as much either, which could bring on a small bit of dehydration. Maybe add a couple of water dishes around the house, so that he might drink more. Cats sometimes will see a dish of water as they are passing by a location, and stop to drink some.

Is there anything else going on with him? Any loose stool or diarrhea? Were there any food changes done around the same time, that could be part of the issue for him vomiting? Was/is he on any meds that he wasn't before?

There is a high calorie canned food that most vets carry that you could try to give him for a while and see if that helps. Hill's Restorative Care a/d. Even if he isn't food motivated, if has some treats that he likes, give him extra of those too.

I think you are right to call the vet and re-express your concern about the weight loss - did you tell them about his vomiting when he was in for his checkup?

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. If in fact he did lose that much weight, it would be very concerning. If he did you would be able to notice it. His skin would feel to big and you could tell from handling him.

Some vet scales weigh differently, weighing in lbs and ounces. So, it could have been weighing 8 lbs 8 ounces, not 8.8. Your scale at home may weigh differently than the vet scale.

As for the vomiting, he may be a cat that can’t properly process carbohydrates. No cat can process carbohydrates, but it affects some cats more than others. I would see if you can feed him canned only.

If the vomiting continues, you should get a vet check for that. Also be careful that he doesn’t eat things he shouldn’t like hair ties etc.

Do you have any plants or flowers in the house?

It sounds like you are not comfortable with this vet. By all means, seek out another. See if there is a feline only vet near you.

 

[stephanietx]

Is he still eating kitten food? Are you feeding him wet and dry?

The weight will be different at home vs at the vet because you're not using the same scale. If you want, you can track his weight at home so you'll have a better idea of what his "normal" weight is. You can check his body condition by looking at one of the body condition charts online.

Body Condition Chart

I'm just impressed that he's 11 mos old and only weighs 8 pounds! My chunky boy weighed 8 pounds at 6 months old. He did eventually even out as an adult, though, and at his peak, weighed about 12 pounds.

I don't free feed my cats. I feed them at scheduled times and they don't get any food overnight. They also sleep all night and don't frolic. I don't usually have an issue with vomiting unless I'm late feeding and my kitty scars and barfs. For your kitty, you could try leaving a small amount of dry food out for him to much on overnight and see if that helps.

 

[silent meowlook]

I’m sorry, for some reason the pictures didn’t come through for me before and I am just seeing them now.
If he was my cat, I would get him in to the vet for an exam. He does look to me like a cat that has recently lost a bit of weight and while he is adorable, his hair coat looks like he doesn’t feel well.
This is all based of a couple of pictures and I am not a veterinarian, so this is just my opinion.

 

[Meowmee]

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Hello, our vet office is closed today so I wanted to ask here in hopes I can get some reassurance or some understanding.

My sweet cat is 11 months old and just had his neuter surgery about 2 weeks ago. In his pre-surgery checkup, he was 8.8lbs. On the 10-day followup appointment, he was only 8.08 pounds.

The vet mistook it as still saying 8.8. I pointed it out to the vet, but he didn't care or didn't understand, because he wrote down 8.8 in his chart after laughing and saying "yep, 8.8!"
I weighed him at home after, and he was 8 lbs, so I dont think I misread the number.

This loss of nearly a pound worries me- that's over 10% of his body weight and he was a slender boy to begin with!
I've heard rapid weight loss in cats is very dangerous to their liver, so I wanted to be sure he is ok.

He has also thrown up 3 times last week after breakfast, but I think it's because I fed him breakfast too early after his 3am witching hour snack. I started taking the bowl up at 5am with a 2-3 hr break between meals and he hasn't thrown up since, but wanted to mention as he is a slow eater and isn't very food motivated.

Overall I feel dismissed by our vet, and I want to know if I need to take him to get a second opinion, or if the matter is urgent and requires immediate care.

When I look online, all I ever see are articles about weight gain, not loss!

Love your beautiful ginger guy

He looks on the thin side to me anyway, but I don't know what he looked like before, you do know him best. My Wizard was always very thin, very muscular and had almost 0 fat. Before and after neuter. Like an os shorthair cat, or like most of them are.

The discrepancy in the weight could be due to the scales and different measurements so maybe it is not really a pound. I would call your dvm and ask them about that. If you are concerned about the vomiting and have seen a lot of weight loss I would bring him in again or to another dvm. Also mention to the first one who did the surgery that he seems to have lost weight since that. Most dvm would be concerned, I think, if a cat had lost a pound after the surgery. I don't know what the cause is because there could be many causes.

I think male cats neutered later in life can lose weight due to muscle loss etc. But usually, I think, male cats may gain weight after neuter due to lower hormone levels etc. and lower activity. I think this is too close to the surgery for a weight gain though. Also some weight loss initially after surgery can happen due to not eating as much, sedation, de-hydration etc.