I am babysitting my friend's mom's cat for a week. I noticed she has a problem walking in her rear end. It freaked me out thinking it was a blood clot (which is an emergency situation). But the owner told me this has been going for a long time (months). The cat is young and otherwise perfectly healthy, on a raw diet, spayed, not vaxed.

She is taking her to the vet as soon as she gets back...but just wondering if anyone has any input (besides you would have already taken her to the vet, no need to got there). Her front legs function normally, the wobbling is only in her rear end. My best guess is its from a back injury and I hope its not too late to help it. She is a very nice cat and she doesn't try to bite me but when I just lightly touch her back she twitches like it hurts or something.

She also has a big belly like bloated or maybe fed too much...she is a greedy eater...but her body composition is excellent. She tensed up when I touched her belly too, so IDK if it bothers her or she just doesn't like it. That may or may not be related but I want to give the whole picture.

She walks with her back legs stiff and unbalanced (but walks on the pads) while the front is normal. She said if she is over fed, she gets more uncomfortable....could this be a hernia from being spayed?

I wish I had real cat knowledge, but:

http://www.ehow.com/about_6298735_rear-leg-weakness-cats.html

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_acute_abdomen#.UWxQ-Rxa4bw

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/cat-abdominal-swelling



And this seemed to be a good thing to monitor:

http://www.justanswer.com/pet-cat/14g2q-bloated-belly-appears-painful-touch-looks.html



Here's hoping Betty L might see this.

Thanks Connie. I am going to check and make sure she is pooping normal after reading that. I have the feeling she doesn't get enough bones in her diet (her downer mentioned she eats a lot of tilapia)...I start babysitting tomorrow so I'll see what the deal is then.

Sometimes you see adult cats who have survived terrible injuries as kittens. If the cat is fine in every way, just wobbly, and this is the way she's always been I'd suspect an old injury.
If she can get to her dish and her litter box and isn't in pain her gait may just add to her charm as a pet.

 Quote: Tresa Hendrix

Thanks Connie. I am going to check and make sure she is pooping normal after reading that. I have the feeling she doesn't get enough bones in her diet (her downer mentioned she eats a lot of tilapia)...I start babysitting tomorrow so I'll see what the deal is then.

Well, one thing is, if she is constipated (or even impacted), more bone will firm up the poop even more.

I hope some helpful info will come out of the potty journal/observations:
http://www.justanswer.com/pet-cat/14g2q-bloated-belly-appears-painful-touch-looks.html

Oh, I just thought: Did any of those links mention worms?

I just zipped through Google again and saw "Intestinal worms are a common cause of a bloated stomach in felines. Worms are more frequently met in kittens, but may also be found in adult cats."

(That was VetInfo.com )

Ok after spending some time with her....I came to the conclusion that its probably a stomach issue and not an injury. Once she got to trusting me she allowed me to pet her back and its obviously not painful and her spine feels normal.

Her diet isn't right and I talked to her mom about that. She is going to try giving her milk and see if it helps her poop and then change her diet (right now she just gets muscle meat because that's what she likes the most...but I told her bones and organs are essential). If that doesn't do it, she goes to the vet to get checked for worms. I think the all muscle meat diet is the problem though.

If you give an adult cat milk it will often get diarrhea. Which can be a mess. So start easy.

With an imbalanced raw diet,and feeding all that fish. I’d question nutritional deficiency, Thiamine would be my first thought.



I am with Betty on the milk. Why the milk anyway?

The milk is temporary for constipation...I didn't know that constipation (among a few other possibilities) can cause a wobbly rear end. I think this is a dietary issue and even if not, a all muscle meat diet is NOT good. She was raised properly on a balanced diet but then her mom gave into what the kitty "preferred" and stopped giving her bones and organs. Not good.

I told her she could do one of two things...go back to feeding her wings, fish with bones and organ meat like she was on before and was doing great.....or buy one of those foods designed to mix with ground raw meat and feed her that.