Cats belly hanging...

I think my cat needs a tummy tuck...lol! I think it's a male cat, and
it's been neutered. He was left by someone who never came back for him.
He's a big cat at 16 lbs. He doesn't seem overweight, athough he's
always eating. His stomach though seems flabby, and seems to hang. He's
an American Shorthair. Is this normal, or does he need to go to a kitty
gym ;-).

wrote in message
oups.com...
I think my cat needs a tummy tuck...lol! I think it's a male cat, and
it's been neutered. He was left by someone who never came back for him.
He's a big cat at 16 lbs. He doesn't seem overweight, athough he's
always eating. His stomach though seems flabby, and seems to hang. He's
an American Shorthair. Is this normal, or does he need to go to a kitty
gym ;-).


It sounds like your cat may be overweight, but the flap you described is
often present even if weight is perfectly normal. It often is especially
noticeable in neutered cats, and is sometimes referred to as a "spay sway."
It's sort of an abdominal pouch and gives the cat extra protection (from cat
fights, etc.).

MaryL

My cats --
Duffy: http://tinyurl.com/cslwf
Holly: http://tinyurl.com/9t68o
Duffy and Holly together: http://tinyurl.com/8b47e

On 3 Sep 2005 19:04:21 -0700, "
wrote:

I think my cat needs a tummy tuck...lol! I think it's a male cat, and
it's been neutered. He was left by someone who never came back for him.
He's a big cat at 16 lbs. He doesn't seem overweight, athough he's
always eating. His stomach though seems flabby, and seems to hang. He's
an American Shorthair. Is this normal, or does he need to go to a kitty
gym ;-).

It's called a primordial pouch. It is required in the show standards
for some breeds, for instance the Bengal, Pixie-Bob, American Keuda.
You can find more information by looking up "primordial pouch" and
cat on Google.

Several of my most athletic male cats exhibit this pouch. It seems to
give them better leaping ability. I have seen one of them do an
impossible ( I thought) backward flip from the top of a BQ grill to
the roof, and a leap from a fence post over the cat-proof ( I
thought) netting which surrounds the trees and the patio, to a tree
four feet away. Then he sits on top of the fence and laughs at me
until I figure out his escape route this time sigh.

BarB

wrote in message
oups.com...
I think my cat needs a tummy tuck...lol! I think it's a male cat, and
it's been neutered. He was left by someone who never came back for him.
He's a big cat at 16 lbs. He doesn't seem overweight, athough he's
always eating. His stomach though seems flabby, and seems to hang. He's
an American Shorthair. Is this normal, or does he need to go to a kitty
gym ;-).

If the flab is hanging down from the sides of his belly rather than from the
ventral area of his belly, those are called "primordial pouches". They
provide protection to the stomach during cat fights.

Phil

Sounds like your kitty is like mine. Fat!! My kitty is also fixed, and
he has rolls.lol My cat could use some major lipo, but I don't have
the heart to take away his canned food. Terri

Sounds like your kitty is like mine. Fat!! My kitty is also fixed, and
he has rolls.lol My cat could use some major lipo, but I don't have
the heart to take away his canned food. Terri

"happilycrabby" wrote in message
oups.com...
Sounds like your kitty is like mine. Fat!! My kitty is also fixed, and
he has rolls.lol My cat could use some major lipo, but I don't have
the heart to take away his canned food. Terri


Canned food is not the problem when a cat is fat. Use good quality food and
reduce the portions.

MaryL

When does this appear? Age 2 or thereabouts? Is it mostly male cats
that get this?

I am perplexed. My female cat got free-fed at age 2 and went from below
8 pounds to over 10 pounds in a few months.

As I try to slim her to 10, then 9, even 8, I am beginning to wonder.
She has a flap. But it am not sure it's ventral. I might do on the
sides, is that dorsal?

She does have some indentation before her hips now. And since I have
started some canned food, I think or hope some flab is converting into
muscle. She feels a little more solid.

I can feel her spine easily. Her ribs take more prodding to feel.

But when looking at her sideways, standing, I see a flap and I think
it's receding.

I am giving her a 3 ounce can daily which she sometimes eats all and
sometimes not. I feed her SD Light and a little Oral Care for the teeth
and wet food. When I get into it, I try to compute the calories into
the 150-160 range. I suspect if she is flabby, I might have drop down
another 20 calories, or even 30.

She seems hungry a lot, so that's good and bad.

What's your educated but free opinion?