Why is my cat losing weight?

Question

My cat is young, eats quite well, and there's no sign of worms in her f***s. She's a long haired cat and yet she's even losing her hair. It doesn't seem to matter how much she eats... she just keeps shrinking. She's so tiny it scares me!

Answer 1

Have you taken her to the vet yet?  Weight loss could be a sign of a dental problem, diabetes, cancer most ANY problem.

Dental problems can be a huge cause for cats to loose weight as they don't always show signs of being sick until they have lost a lot of weight and the owner wakes up one morning in shock.

We had a 3/4 year old feline that was one of 6 that I brought home with me when I worked at the vet and she lost 4 teeth at one time due to dental problems.  Most cats don't chew their food, they might break it up, but if the kibble is small enough they will swallow it whole.  So it's often hard to tell just by watching them, if they are having trouble eating or not.

It's best you take your cat to the vet and have him perform a good check up and let him diagnose your cats problem.

Answer 2

Take your cat to the vet!  My oldest cat just had his annual checkup, and the vet was worried about a 1 1/2 lb loss in weight - enough that he recommended a comprehensive blood test.

BTW - just because you don't see worms in the f***s, that doesn't mean your cat is without parasites!  When you take the cat to the vet, you should plan to bring in a fecal sample.  If you have more than one cat - my vet says it doesn't matter which cat the sample comes from, since typically if one cat has parasites, they all probably do!