3 Leg cat and a wobbly tummy

SCMP_2

Our cat is a rescue cat and is missing a back leg.
We got him when he was 10-12 weeks old after being attacked / abused by 'kids'. He arrived with us a few days after having his leg amputated and the 'snip'.

He is now 10 years old
It took him about 2/3 years to get the courage to go into the back garden and at first i had to 'accompany' him in the garden or he would get scared and rush back in.

We moved home 5 years ago and he loves the back garden, well sitting in the sun anyway! Come October he stays inside and uses the litter tray and won't go out until it warms up in March!!!

My problem is that on the one side he looks like a normal fed cat, not fat but not skinny but the other side his belly hangs down a few cm's. The vet has said to make sure he exercises but he is a very very lazy cat!
He hops outside and finds a warm spot to sleep in the summer and in the winter he hops from bed to food to snuggles to litter tray and back and that is it!

We have tried lots of toys and tunnels but he just plods around but to be honest he never had 'played' much since we got him. A few times a year he will go nuts with a hair bobble out of the blue but that is all.

He's not fat at all but as he gets older i'm worried he will get porkier.

This winter he has started to 'over clean himself' so now he has a skinny bum as it is not as fluffy as the rest of him is. Vet said there is nothing wrong he might just be bored. Nothing in our daily lives have changed, same jobs, same old detergent, cat flap still there etc.

He is wormed and flea treated but obviously he gets the odd few fleas here and there and his skin is ok.

He is fine in himself as far as he normally is he is no different as in purring, being alert, eating, drinking and cuddles so i'm not sure how to get him to stop cleaning himself so much and to get active!

scaredy_cat

i think all loved 'home' cats have a floppy belly. My old male cat Spice had one which would really swing from side to side when he ran!! He wasn't a fat cat either, just a big one! My Sugar cat (rip) had one as well, but she did have 1 litter of kittens.

i think as long as he's happy, healthy and reasonably active (in the warm weather) don't worry about it.

You can encourage him to play with sticks, string and feathers.

lisajane8482

Have you seen this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4353777

Apparently this toy has the laziest of cats jumping around. Zooplus do a cheaper version if you didn't want to spend that much money just in case he shows no interest:
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_toys/cat_dangler/feathers/137344

Zooplus do have a £5 minimum spend too. Of course you could probably make your own with some feathers, a stick and some string.

You could also try feeding a "light" food at the moment my oldest cat is on Royal Canin Light (when he's not muching the kitties food) as I thought he was getting a little podgy even though he was on indoor food. He's now close to his ideal figure although he does seem to have a saggy belly at the back.

The over grooming I can't help with sorry.

Bailey101

My boy (a siamese) is very long and slender, except for his wee tummy - it wobbles a bit when he runs and he doesn't look chubby but it's noticable. I mentioned it to the vet and he said that it's fairly common in neutered male cats and is more of 'pouch' then a fat tum. Could it be this as opposed to him being overweight?

It's maybe more noticeable because of his missing leg, if there isn't the muscles and bone there to 'hold it in'.

xx

Scrapaholic

Hi,our female cat (14) never had a litter but she has a swingy tummy too . She's not at all fat and she's active too. She overgrooms her lower abdomen at times throughout the year and it's bare at present . Can't really stop her doing it . Our big male cat (8) has a swingy tum too and so does our other female cat (15) she's not fat either . I'm not worried .

LutonGirl

I also have a three legged cat (he's my avatar) but he was born with a leg missing. We were worried he wouldn't get enough exercise but he scoots about just fine. When he's at full tilt you couldn't even count his legs anyway.

His right front leg is missing, so his left front leg is very strong and muscular as a result. His right shoulder blade area is a bit weedy in comparison to the left.

I agree with the posters above and think play is a great exercise for him - and for you! I read somewhere that 30 pounces a day keeps their inner kitten purring.

10/10 to you for taking on a poor abused kitty and giving him such a lovely life for all these years. Who the hell raises "kids" who'd do something like that to a defenceless kitten? Feral scum.

Notsosharp

My big, 14 pound male cat has a wobbly tummy too. It doesn't bother him that's for sure :rotfl:My other two don't have it but they are equally lazy, especially this time of year. They will wake me up at three in the morning chasing each other round the house though!

I would say don't worry about the wobbly belly too much.

The overgrooming, are you sure its that? It could be an allergic reaction to something, my big cat had a bare belly, turns out it was a flea allergy. The fleas have gone but the bare patch is still there . I also have a friend who's cat is allergic to grass and he loses all his fur if it's not treated with piriton!

SCMP_2

Just a little update after your kind and helpful posts.
The wobbly belly i think i can cope with but i have taken extra time to try to play with him. He is not playful cat at all as described but i tried a toy on sting hanging from a pole and although he doesn't play with it he does hop around the room watching it and does look interested so at least it is a bit of exercise!
I changed his worming tablet and he has stopped over cleaning himself completely! I think it must be a mixture of the two things really. He was so normal, purring and happy it was hard to think what the problem was. I think he was a little bored and maybe not happy with his worming but he didn't want to make a fuss bless him
Thank you again!

scaredy_cat

have you thought of getting a laser pen? most cats will chase the magic red dot!

SCMP_2

scaredy_cat wrote: »

have you thought of getting a laser pen? most cats will chase the magic red dot!

Yeah we have tried that. He does the same... sits there and watches it for a bit and looses interest (neck strain more than likely lol) and heads back into his happy oblivious world!

SCMP_2

He doesn't like to bother chasing anything to be honest.
Although we do chop up chicken which he sits next to us and we lob it down the hall way and he moves like lightening to chase it but if it is not food he doesn't bother!