I am writing to clear up the difference between a not so big cat ( maybe 10-13 lbs and a SKINNY, wasting Bengal. My 2 brother cats, Raja & Bali were HUGE for the first 11-12 years of their lives together. The 2 of them came home with me when they were 8 weeks young. I fed them a wide assortment of healthy choices based on the fact they are cats. They thrived and were 16 - 17 lbs of muscle by the time they were 3 or 4 and for the first 12 years... Then, IN THE SPRING 4 YEARS AGO, they began to loose weight, slowly at first, then accelerated speed after the first year. I THOUGHT MAYBE THEY WERE EATING GRASS SOMEONE HAD SPRAYED WITH HERBICIDE, CHECKED WITH EVERY NEIGHBOR AND THE ANSWER WAS, FOR 2 STRAIGHT YEARS, "NO". They ate like normal, healthy food in healthy amounts. THEY DID EVERYTHING NORMAL. EVEN KEPT PLAYING UNTIL THEIR BODIES GAVE OUT... I tried feeding them different things, and after a while ANYTHING that they would eat, just to keep them going. The weight NOW came off at such a rate I took them to the vet. Then to another vet... The first one blamed Bali's weight loss on a broken tooth from a car accident when he was 2. I said, his tooth that has been broken for 13 years???, You are sure? Then i PULLED rAJA OUT OF THE CARRIER... "Then what," I asked," is wrong with Raja???" We took blood work up and stools showed nothing unusual. I took them home. By the next spring they were skeletons with fur... still eating, sleeping, drinking, talking ( a LOT! as usual) and yet they were down to 9 lbs. from 16 a year and a half earlier. I went to vet 2, pulled Raja out first, he said "oh, I feel a tumor in his stomach.. I said " are tumors contagious??? He said "no.." so I pulled Bali out and said, again, "then what is wrong with Bali?????" They said they would run more te$t$... so we did... $$$$$ later, NOTHING! They said we don't know and that was that. I went to a 3rd vet asking for tips on wasting and food. They $old me canned food meant for cats in vet care, high calorie... high cost... my cats said YUCK! 6 months later Raja was 6 1/2 lbs. 1 month later he was gone. It is a year and a half later now, and Bali is a horrific 6 1/2 lbs. too... He eats anything he wants, from meat to sauteed mushrooms. I will give him Thai food if that is what he will eat. He is a walking skeleton. He is not SKINNY, HE IS AN EXTREMELY FRAGILE FUR COVERED SKELETON, HIS SHOULDER BLADES RUB EACH OTHER, HIS HIP BONES PROTRUDE LIKE A BRANCHES ON A TREE... YOU CAN COUNT HIS VERTEBRAE FROM ACROSS A ROOM... and I believe this is what people are asking about... yet, NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE ENOUGH IN THE VETERINARY WORLD TO FIND AN ANSWER TO THIS WASTING. IT IS SO FAR BEYOND SAD TO SEE HIM, YET, AGAIN, HE EATS, HE DRINKS, HE PURRS FOR CHRIST'S SAKE. HE POOS, HE PEES, HE TALKED UP UNTIL A FEW WEEKS AGO, NOW HE BARELY SAYS ANYTHING AND IF HE DOES IT IS WEAK. HIS FUR IS FALLING OUT SLOWLY NOW TOO. SO I ASK, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE BEST CAT FRIEND I HAVE EVER HAD THE PRIVILEGED OF SPENDING MY LIFE WITH??? I AM SURE HIS DAYS ARE COUNTING DOWN, AND I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING TO FIGURE THIS OUT, AS KITTEN MILLS PUMP OUT BENGALS BY THE THOUSANDS FOR UNKNOWING OWNERS TO DISCOVER THIS HAPPENS AT SOME POINT. BLOG AFTER BLOG RELATES THE SAME STORY AND PEOPLE WRITE IT OFF AND "SOME ARE SMALLER THAN OTHERS... MY CAT IS DYING FROM WASTING, HE IS LOVED AS MUCH AS ANYONE EVER LOVED A 4 LEGGED FURRY FRIEND, AND MY HEART IS BREAKING EVER SECOND WE SPEND SITTING QUIETLY WHILE HE PURRS IN MY LAP... BARELY ABLE TO GET AROUND. I WILL KEEP HIM CLOSE UNTIL HIS LAST BREATH, BUT I FEAR A CAT IS BEING BREAD FOR PROFIT THAT PEOPLE DO NOT YET UNDERSTAND, AND NO ONE SEEMS TO HAVE AN ANSWER. CAN ANYONE TELL ME ANYTHING EXCEPT THE SAME UNINFORMED CRAP I KEEP FINDING ONLINE, FROM PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT. I DO NOT WANT TO SEEM RUDE, I AM SIMPLY IN A PANIC THAT THIS IS AN INBRED PROBLEM NO ONE IS ADDRESSING AS BENGALS, LIKE EVERY OTHER ANIMAL, IS SIMPLY A WAY TO MAKE MONEY ANY MORE. ANYTHING FROM ANYONE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE SPEAKING ABOUT ON THIS SUBJECT IS SO GRATEFULLY APPRECIATED... THOUGH MOST LIKELY TOO FOR BALI, BUT MAYBE NOT FOR OTHER BENGALS...
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