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Weird things cats have done

 
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Location: southern Illinois, USA
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My Master Mouser has a self inflicted health problem …. She weighs 20 pounds.   So the vet put her on a diet.  She has accepted it well. In fact, she barely eats the carefully measured and monitored portions I give her.  I am actually dishing out less food than the vet recommended. But, in the 2 months since the vet visit, her weight has remained the same.  No, she is not taking food from the other cats.  In fact, the only other source of food she may have access to that I can come up with is …. Mice!

So, now I have a problem.  I dearly love my MM.  I want her to live many more years.  She is very hard working. I appreciate her “ No Mouse Left Behind” policy. So now I have to figure out the solution to the problem of her losing weight and us being mouse free.
 
                                    
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Location: Perth, Western Australia
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John F Dean wrote:My Master Mouser has a self inflicted health problem …. She weighs 20 pounds.   So the vet put her on a diet.  She has accepted it well. In fact, she barely eats the carefully measured and monitored portions I give her.  I am actually dishing out less food than the vet recommended. But, in the 2 months since the vet visit, her weight has remained the same.  No, she is not taking food from the other cats.  In fact, the only other source of food she may have access to that I can come up with is …. Mice!

So, now I have a problem.  I dearly love my MM.  I want her to live many more years.  She is very hard working. I appreciate her “ No Mouse Left Behind” policy. So now I have to figure out the solution to the problem of her losing weight and us being mouse free.



Have no fear John. MM will live a long time. I treat cats all over the world and THE number one consideration is the diet. The commercial cat food is not food. The prey they hunt is food. Sadly mainstream vets are not on board with this as they're trained by Big Pet Food, who can't be said to be without bias. Yet when you swap the commercial for quality raw (aka mice) EVERYTHING improves and many conditions disappear altogether. Including serious, chronic, auto-immune......
Being overweight on commercial is a BIG problem. Being overweight on raw is not. However, another hunter will help share the load of mousing!
 
pollinator
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Location: Mid-Michigan, USA
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I hope Madeleine Innocent reads and replies to this, perhaps she could give you some insight.  

My personal paranoia goes straight to "Could it be a tumor and not just fat?  A blocked digestive system or bladder?  Could his vet have missed something important?"  I hope it is nothing but excess fat, and that she manages to shed it back to a healthy level.  Perhaps she is eating mice who have eaten lots of fattening grains or something to fatten up for winter.  

My best wishes for your MM to get back to normal and have many more years of enjoyable life with you.  (If you end up with surprise kittens, be sure to post pics!)

EDIT:  she beat me to it!  My computer/internet didn't load her reply before I posted mine.
 
                                    
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Location: Perth, Western Australia
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Donna Lynn wrote:I hope Madeleine Innocent reads and replies to this, perhaps she could give you some insight.  

My personal paranoia goes straight to "Could it be a tumor and not just fat?  A blocked digestive system or bladder?  Could his vet have missed something important?"  I hope it is nothing but excess fat, and that she manages to shed it back to a healthy level.  Perhaps she is eating mice who have eaten lots of fattening grains or something to fatten up for winter.  

My best wishes for your MM to get back to normal and have many more years of enjoyable life with you.  (If you end up with surprise kittens, be sure to post pics!)

EDIT:  she beat me to it!  My computer/internet didn't load her reply before I posted mine.



It can't be fat as wild animals don't have excess fat. The fat in the commercial is far too much. You could say pet food is a dumping ground for fat. And if it was fat, MM would not be the successful hunter he is. Mice don't want to be eaten so do have strategies to avoid this. Without seeing MM, I would suggest he is solid muscle and big framed. A successful hunter needs all their senses working in perfect unison, which would not be possible if they were suffering with something.
 
John F Dean
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Location: southern Illinois, USA
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Hi Donna,

My MM was found as a half grown kitten in a Cookesville TN parking lot … hiding under a shopping cart… and terrified of the cars whipping past her.  She remains aware and grateful that I saved her life.  I made sure she visited a vet to be sure more strays were not created.

Her weight is pretty evenly distributed, so I doubt if there is a tumor. But, while I do like the vet, he is very much a small town Spencer Tracey type ( I bet I just lost 99% of the readers).  So, if the weight does not come off in a couple of months, we will take a trip to someone with more resources.
 
John F Dean
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My MM was promoted to Queen Kitty and takes her responsibilities to look after her 5 subjects quite seriously.   Yesterday morning I woke suddenly as my MM bit me on my upper lip.   She then scampered to one of the three water dishes we have in the house ….God forbid…it was empty!  Of course, the other two water dishes were full, but that didn’t matter. The servant had failed to do his job.
 
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