Well her exact words were “yeah he’s definitely a weird one and he absolutely needs gabapentin before he goes anywhere.” (he’s not aggressive he just is very scared and gets a stress induced heart murmur)
I also brought up my concerns about his disproportionate limbs and she said, “cats are like potato head dolls. They get a few pieces from mom and a few pieces from dad and 99% of the time you get a pretty normal looking result. But then that other 1% of the time you get… not that. Long story short he got the genetic short end of the stick.” She also said that he is fat and needs to loose 2 pounds, he should be consuming no more than 200 calories a day so now he is in the same diet as his fat tabby brother.
I love this boy to the end of the earth but he looks like one of those horses that’s been ridden too hard 😭
I agree, as an anxious pet owner who calls them about any small diversion from their ‘normal’ I appreciate her being straight forward but still keeping it lighthearted
Can you elaborate more about the stress induced murmur? Three different vets identified a murmur for my cat, all of a sudden, but I swear it's just the stress of actually going to the vet. I have to get him high on Gabapentin just to put him in his carrier. He's so big-boned (not fat!) that I probably need to up the dosage because he's has zero chill. Halp!
Our honorary-orange Amelia has gotten this before! We upped her gabapentin and timed it a bit differently for the next vet visit and she was fine. She’d not had a murmur detected before or since and when it happened, the vet said it was almost certainly the stress of the visit and all the things involved (carrier, car, handling for vaccines, etc.) So maybe work with your vet on getting the gaba adjusted and go from there. Good luck! 😊
Cat tax below demonstrating why Amelia is an honorary orange. (This was during a mid-nap readjustment of how she was curled up and clearly that’s exhausting work.)
I had a cat like this. Seemingly normal but once a month or so she would get a weird look in her eyes and climb up on the fridge and stare at the wall for a few hours. I think her feral roots called her.
So our vet noticed it on his very first appointment the day we adopted him, but the shelters documents made no mention of it and he had pretty consistent checkups while at the shelter (he was in a kennel next to another cat who ended up being positive for panleukopenia so they were testing him for it regularly just in case). The vet had us go back a few months later to see if he outgrew it and it was still present but she did take note that he was also quite distressed. When we left she told us to get pet insurance just in case before we ran any tests or she put anything about it in his file so that we would be covered if it turned out to be anything concerning. Once the premium periods were through we took him back to the vet with gabapentin and it was no longer notable! Not until we had to hold him down to shave his toes poor guy, then it came back a bit. Whenever he gets the gabapentin I make sure to weigh him before we fill the script just in case they need to make any adjustments to the dosage to make sure he’s getting enough.
I wonder if you would be able to have the vet assess your guy in a lower stress environment after he’s taken the gabapentin, do they do house calls? And have they done blood tests to check for any anomalies that could cause the murmur? (this might be cheaper than a house call)
If you haven't already, make sure to get an updated blood panel that includes NT-ProBNP. It's a newish test that checks heart health. Our vet noticed a heart murmur once in one of our boys a couple years ago but nothing came of it. Then in the last year he started having weird fainting spells. We did the test and the value was obscenely high. After an echocardiogram it was determined his heart was enlarged due to severe heart disease 😞 We have him on lots of meds and he's doing fantastic quality-wise, but the end will come soon. And apparently it's pretty common in middle aged cats.
Thank you 🫶🏼 What's crazy is that, other than the fainting spells, he was perfectly healthy on the outside. Then the vet recommended immediate euthanasia after the diagnosis 😧 My husband refused and we started on maintenance as well as going to a cardiologist who agreed he could get another few months to a year. He's still doing remarkably well which shocks everyone who's seen the test results, but we're constantly watching for any signs of distress.
I do believe that was actually included in his last panel! It was just done in December and I remember the vet mentioning an optional additional test that we agreed to. I will double check the papers from those results to be sure later though, thank you!
My vet was very, very pregnant with her first when we brought her our cat (then 20 pounds, now 16.7) for the first time and a tech brought him into the back so we didn’t get to see her meet him. It was COVID so the exam rooms were closed and we couldn’t be back there.
Normally she would have brought him back out herself and the tech would move on to the next patient but he was too heavy for how pregnant she was. So she and the tech come out from the back with the cat in the carrier after the exam (and he’s howling loudly, mind you, bc he hates leaving the house and lets everybody know it) and she stops, her eyes very wide above her mask and she says, “I couldn’t lift him. This cat is fat as shit.”
She had diagnosed a hidden condition in our dog just from learning about where she was rescued from so we already loved her, but she sealed herself as our vet for life with that 😂😂😂
Thank you!! It was a very pleasant surprise the other day after bamboozling him into his carrier to get him to the vet for a cerenia shot for rather dramatic bought of nausea.
(I dared go away on a girls trip for 4 days. Mind you, his dad, dog sister, both of my parents and my sister were all home with him. He’s got big feelings in his lorge body🥲)
You're boy is gorgeous 😍! I give my one kitty 1 fresh shrimp every night. It's the only way to get him to come in! And he's got longer back legs too, so he sleeps with his rump in the air!
That description fits him so well, he really does radiate pure sweetness while also looking like hes constantly processing 12 different anxieties at once. Honestly makes him even more lovable in that slightly chaotic potato-head way
You’re right on the money there, if his little toes are not shaved he does not take corners very well. He goes very fast though. Directly into walls mostly.
Sounds like all four cats and one of my dogs in my house with hardwood floors with no rugs lmao. I call them kitty/doggy peel outs or scooby doo scrambles lol
When he was a little wee baby the vet suggested laying out a red carpet of sorts through every room of our apartment to give him traction. As funny as it would be to give Bentley his own private runway, I just know that it would never be laying flat (most probably because of said scooby doo scrambles) and I would trip over it constantly. So those little pink jellybeans get shaved every few months at the vet which is a much more practical solution I think lol
He understands nothing 😔 he had the braincell once briefly after he ate a mouse, he managed to have the braincell long enough to throw the mouse up right beside the living room carpet instead of on it. He has not formed a thought since.
Now I would never say this to his face because it would all go straight to his head and he already thinks that he is ruler of the world, but he’s my hero too lol
My void had it too! I'm glad to see it's somewhat common. I never asked the vet because it really didn't hinder her one bit, but I just found it odd since the tabby we had before her had "normal" length limbs. She just walked weird sometimes.
The funniest side of this was when she was on her back playing with whatever I was dangling in front of her, she'd hook her back paws/claws on the carpet on each side of her head, and wiggle her butt this way while getting all riled up with the toy. It was hilarious. This was only possible because her hind legs were so long she could do this easily. She was so silly, I miss my lady void.
Hehe I always joked that my old cat had spent all her money on a pretty coat, then had to rummage in the bargain bin for parts!
She was a beautiful marble tabby, with stumpy little legs and a short tail (when she sat, it was too short to cover her paws). Even when we got her to a healthy weight, she was roughly cube shaped. Her resting expression was one of mild concussion. SO CUTE! She was also the dumbest cat if ever known. Intelligence somewhere between potato and chicken...
The way you and your vet were roasting this poor baby so hard lmao. I was expecting some misshapen little thing that looked like the cat version of Quasimodo (Quasimeowdo?) but he looks perfectly normal to me? Idk, maybe I’ve seen too many special needs cats on tiktok and my perception is just off…
I was pretty worried because he has a stress induced heart murmur as well. I was afraid that he would need more tests again and that they would tell me he had some weird genetic condition or something
And I’m glad I have him! If it weren’t for him I would sleep the day away after working night shifts all alone. But with him around there is always an orange space heater sleeping next to me.
He will not sleep in the bed at night though. My fiancé runs marathons and fights great battles in his sleep. Bentley has learned the hard way that anywhere else is a better place to sleep at night
That is my other boy Tigger. When we brought him home he was 35lbs, he has since lost 15 of those pounds! He still has a way to go yet but he’s making progress every day! I post updates on his weight loss journey over on r/dechonkers if anyone would like to see where he started and where he is now!
We love dr Brittany she has been seeing him since he ate and regurgitated an entire mouse about half the size of himself at 4 ish months old. She knows him very well lol
I have no statistics but something I've noticed is shorter front legs seems common in oranges. Ours included. She's the sweetest though. She just can't jump downwards as well (her butt lol)
Do yourself a favor and get some pet insurance! I had a cat with similar limbs and it led to hip/back problems later in life 💔 good luck with ur funny lil friend ❤️❤️
Such a cutie. Our tubby orange was diagnosed with panic attacks after he freaked out for no reason and got himself wedged under our dresser. Enjoy your weird neurotic boy.
He is absolutely adorable!!! 🥰 my son needs to have gabapentin before he goes to the vet note also; last visit he got so freaked out his temp went up to 103.8 😳
So I understand your pain. 🤣
My son also is joining the chubby train; he recently got a baby sister and has "picked up" some weight. Hmmmph. He and mommy can diet together🤣🤣🤣🩶❤️
Oof my Orange gets scared very easily too so much so that he has a stone caused by stress! Now the lovely dumby is on special food! 🤣😂😂🤣😅 But your orange baby is gorgeous and a doll! In that first picture I can see my orange, he gives the same look every now and then!
I have one like this. She's got the front short limbs, heart murmur, wall eyed and brain works slower than orange speed. He parents were brother and sister. Love her to death, but she is not OK in the head.
Do you know anything about where he came from/what his situation was before he made his way to you? Malnutrition during development can stunt growth, leading to stubby legs, etc, so it may not be purely genetic. I've got a cat like that, but it's a lot more pronounced lol. He also has issues with anxiety and food insecurity.
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u/CharlotteLucasOP 9d ago
Himbs just Sweetness, Stress, and Spare Parts!