cat is 3 years old and is very small. last time she was weighed she was 10 lbs.?

Question

she does not eat a lot. she only eats dry food. she does not drink a lot of water either. sometimes she throws up her food. say my friend fills her bowl with food, it will last her a week. i know with my cats it would have been done the same day. the cat also has dry skin. she eats iams if that helps. should this be of great concern?

Answer 1

10 pounds is pretty normal for a cat. She does not sound "very small". You might want to try feeding her canned moist food. Cats usually don't drink a lot of water, getting all of their fluids from their food. Cats eat only until they are full. If your cat leaves a lot of food in the bowl, it's because she has had her fill. At 10 lbs, it sounds like she is being nourished just fine.

Answer 2

If you are worried a trip to the vet is always a good call. I have had cats that only ate dry food all their lives and they were fine. I was never really sure how much water they drank, I left out water, which seemed to go, but they also had a tendency to drink out of the toilets, no matter how much I tried to stop that habit. But, if it's a small cat and weighs 10 pounds that's not all that small. One of my cats, not that small, weighs 9 pounds, and she is healthy. She eats mostly dry food, but she does drink a lot. She is 16 so she is getting thinner, or so we thought (persian, so hard to tell). My other cat is very small and weighs 6 pounds, and is 4 years old. So, there is no way of telling by weight if a cat if sick by the weight. Cats usually eat what they need to sustain themselves. It's the dry skin that makes me wonder. Iams is one of the best foods for a cat, and she should be getting what she needs. Check with a vet, i don't think there's much to worry about, but the vet is the only one who can really tell

Answer 3

Obviously the best advice anyone could give here is to consult a vet, right? I have a cat that is small as well, about the same size as your friends. She doesn't eat much either. The smaller the cat, the less food it will eat. If the cat throws up all the time, I would suggest switching the food. My cat will throw up food at times, and when I switch the food she seems to hold it down. Occasionally, a cat may throw up when they're just trying to cough up a hairball. Some cats will never throw up because of this, and some cats will.

-BD

Answer 4

My kitten(she's actually about 5yrs old, but she hasn't grown up past the 5-month stage) is about the same. Aside from some fat showing she's old, she still looks like she's a kitten. She eats a right ammount(we feed her iams too) and she doesn't usually drink a lot. She's getting some serious matts on her back and we dont know why. Her skin is also dry...

I dont know if it should be a concern, it could possibly be worms. My outside cat throws up if he eats too fast, but that doesn't seem to be your problem. If you can lift a section of her skin and it doesn't go back into place right away, she's probably dehydrated. If you are concerned and if the cat is not acting normal, then I would take it to the vet. Otherwise, I would say she's fine.

Good luck with the cat, hope she's ok

Answer 5

I had a cat who lived to 21 years...she ate very little, was always small, threw up almost every day (she had epilepsy as a kitten and throughout most of her life) but fortunately she did drink water. She just never got big or fat. Each cat is different. Just because she doesn't eat a lot it's alright. She will eat what she needs. As for water, she may be drinking from a tap somewhere ...cats love running water. Like I said, she lived to be 21 years old.

Just make sure your vet checks her out yearly, as all cats should have a vet check yearly...and enjoy her no matter who big or small she is.

Answer 6

HAHA, 10 pounds is a fine size for a cat. I have a cat that is 5 pounds and very healthy. I also have a cat that is 18 pounds, who is very healthy. But the way you are describing it, I'd suggest taking her to the vet's office and get her checked for worms. Especially tape worms. Tape worms will do that to any animal. My aunt has a cat that is 2 years old and they couldn't figure out why it was so small (1.5 pounds to be exact) it was puking, and barely ate. Turns out it had tape worms. My 5 pound cat picks at her food, it's just the way she eats. We also found out our cats hate Iams, Fancy Cat, and all those really expensive cat foods. They perfer Alley Cat and Special Kitty.

Answer 7

The weight of the cat sounds normal to me. Maybe try a different brand of cat food, she might not like it and only eat it when she is hungry. You can also get nutritional food, also try feeding her canned food once and a while, she might think it is a special treat. My cats eat all their food as soon as it hits the bowl, but my Mom's cat takes days to finish his, so it could be just his personality.

Answer 8

It could be an IUD Infection Or you should get a blood panel done to check for kidney disease/failure , thyroid, etc. It helped a bunch to save my son's father's 16 yr old cat when we found out she had kidney disease, and we put her on the diet ordered and her test came back normal this year but we are continuing the diet because you never know what could happen. So do explore those options. When she meowed and peed in front of you, that was her saying "Hey mom, I don't feel so good!" She may have diabetes as well, I heard that excessive thirst is one of the symptoms.

Answer 9

My cat is about 3 also and weighs under 10lbs. She sounds the same is your cat, minus the vomiting. You may want to talk to your vet and find a food that can help with that. I bet Science Diet has a food that can help with the vomiting.

Answer 10

My cat is also very petite. She is 13 years old, and has always been small, only about 7.5 pounds. She is also not a big eater, is very picky and upchucks occasionally. I guess cats are like people. Some of them have healthy appetites, and some don't. As long as your cat is otherwise healthy, there's nothing to worry about.