My cat eats well but is very thin, why?

The weight in the animals always generates doubts among the owners, whether they have an overweight cat at home or if they live with a very thin one. But, often, the changes in the weight of our animal are indicating us the presence of some occult disease and, therefore, it is an indicator that we can not ignore.

In this article we want to explain what causes can exist when the cat eats well but is very thin. Because it happens? It is one of the most frequently asked questions in veterinary practice, and then we will answer it.

Weight loss in cats

When we have an overweight animal at home it is always easier to put on a diet, since they will eat what we give them but, what happens if they eat the same old thing and lose weight? Here we have a problem. If, in a short period of time, you lose 10% of your weight, we can face a serious problem.

Weight loss is not a disorder in itself but it can be an indicator of another disease that our animal is suffering. In any case, the cat can not only lose weight due to illness, it can also do so due to psychological stress or changes in diet. We will detail below the possible causes of your weight loss.

Simple causes

We will start with the simplest that we sometimes overlook. We can have a cat very energetic and that it is very difficult for him to settle for what we give him to eat. It usually goes around and does not eat, so sometimes we choose not so nutritious meals and lose weight. They are cats that play a lot, jump, run and sleep little. In these cases, we should increase the rations or choose a more nutritious food for them and see if it continues without getting fat or, on the contrary, it begins to recover its ideal weight.

El psychological stress It is usually one of the main causes that explains why your cat eats well but is very thin. It may be due to changes in the habitat such as changes, abandonment of a family member of the household, be it animal or human, many hours of solitude or, on the contrary, too much activity in a house where there was none. This happens a lot in homes of grandparents who spend a season with grandchildren and cats are forced to have an extra activity that they did not have before. There may be depression due to the death of an owner and / or partner or new members of the family.

The changes in feeding they are usually another of the reasons that provoke in the feline the loss of weight. We must keep in mind that although we do not see diarrhea and / or vomiting, they may be going through internal changes due to the new food. It happens a lot when we change from commercial feed to homemade food. They tend to change their habits, since in homemade food we force them to eat when we put the dish and we do not leave it there all day so they can eat when they are hungry, as with dry food.

Diseases that can cause the cat to be very thin

In general, when the weight loss associated with diseases happens, it is common to see other symptoms. There may be hair loss or dull hair, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, increased thirst, etc. It is very important to talk to the veterinarian about this and discuss everything observed, as you will have to find the cause that is triggering these symptoms.

Although there are several pathologies that can cause the cat to eat well but is very thin, the most common are the following endocrine diseases:

Normally both are associated with cats older than 6.

In addition to the above conditions, there may also be digestive problems from the mouth, such as the lack of teeth, infections in teeth or gums, etc., even in the entire digestive tract, such as stomach ulcers, inflammations, stomach or intestinal gas. There may also be presence of tumors that still show no other symptom than the decrease in body weight. Likewise, there may be a beginning of renal failure, that if we are not alert can lead to chronic renal failure with all that this disease brings with the years.

Diagnosis and treatments

When we detect that our cat loses weight we should go to the vet to perform the corresponding exams. We must tell you the possible simple causes that fit our feline so that in the clinical history he considers them and determines the best treatment to follow.

Surely, the veterinarian will perform a blood test and, perhaps, one of urine to make the diagnosis, and discard or confirm the presence of the aforementioned diseases. If finally the cause that explains why the cat eats well but is very thin is a disease, the specialist will be responsible for stipulating the best treatment to combat it.

If you want to read more articles similar to My cat eats well but is very thin, why?, we recommend that you enter in our section of Feeding problems.