Hello -

San Diego, CA.
I have a Marbled Bengal that I actually got through craigslist. I wasn't looking for anything in particular - just browsing through the Pet posts when I saw someone giving away a Bengal because they were moving. It was a short post - straight to the point - about them just giving it away. So I met them at Mission Valley - and sure enough... 10 minutes later "Cairo" as I call him - was on his way to his new home. He's really healthy, chipped, super vocal and unfortunately his front claws have been removed...



Anyway - the main reason I came here is because I have a question about his health. I've given him his checkups and ran him through all sorts of tests - and he passed them all. He's a healthy Bengal through and through. The problem is - in the last 2 years he's lost 10 pounds for no apparent reason. No one can figure out why because he has seemingly ZERO health problems. He's always been skinny though and never really gains any weight. I feed him Blue Rhino dry foods as well as any table scraps he'll eat (which is just about anything. He has a voracious appetite). I do know he's chewed on some of my Philodendren leaves from time to time but - he actually hasn't done that in a long time so maybe he's learned his lesson finally.

I've never fed him raw foods - I actually read somewhere switching him over from his normal diet of dry foods to raw foods is a bad thing if he's never actually eaten that type of food. I have bought the raw pellets that come in the bag that you let thaw out and then feed - but he never really an interest in that...

Any ideas as to why he has such a hard time putting on weight even though nothing seems to be wrong with him at all? Maybe something I can try?
Thanks!

An adult cat should not fluctuate in weight. Male bengals usually weigh between 12 and 15 pounds. Mine is 9 years old and weighed 12.8 pounds last time on the scale. Bengals are naturally slender. Kitties should not be fed table scraps. They do not have the proper nutrients a cat needs. If they are eating even a tiny amount of human food, they are not eating that amount of kitty food.

A cat losing 10 pounds is a serious matter -- but if he is seen by a vet regularly, the vet is going to keep you informed on the health of the kitty. Raiden goes once a year for his wellness check and shots and usually at least one more time for some health issue. And, outside of his Grade 2 heart murmur, I am told he's in excellent health and at a perfect weight.

If your vet thinks your baby is severely underweight, there are higher calorie cat foods that you can give your kitty -- and hope you stop with the human food. It is definitely not helping the situation.

Thank you for rescuing Cairo.

Losing 10 lbs is scary! If Quasar lot 10 lbs he'd only weigh 2.5 lbs.
Is it possible Cairo was obese to begin with?

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~ Kyenta

That has to be more than half his body weight lost. That is not normal or healthy for a cat. I would get a second opinion from another vet. It could be something serious like cancer. How old is your cat?

So what is his weight now? And what was it before he lost all this weight? When you say that you've given him checkups, do you mean that you've examined him yourself? Or has a vet been involved in this? What is his current weight? And if he's seen a vet, what does the vet think about his current weight?

Do you measure out food? Or is it free-fed? Do you have any idea how much he is actually eating?

I have a hard time reconciling the "zero health problems" with the symptom of losing tons of weight despite eating a ton of food. Have they checked for diabetes and hyperthyroid?

I probably wouldn't mess with his food too much. Actually a dry diet is higher calorie than the others, so switching to raw would probably be counter-productive imo, not to mention the risk that you've be feeding him something new that he potentially doesn't like as much so he eats less.

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The little monsters 3

...wait wait wait.
You're all right about the weight and there's no way. I know I made a mistake with that number. Cairo WEIGHS 12 pounds currently g/t when weighed at the vet. He lost a few pounds since the last time he was officially weighed which was like 2 years ago instead of gaining weight. I know that weight is somewhat of a healthy(ish) weight but recently he seems like he's losing weight again.

The only table scraps I really ever fed him was chicken or fish. Not anything trash and he does eat regular food in addition to the few times he has ever eaten table scraps (which isn't often and isn't ever much at all). It's more like a treat - not a meal.

-- He's been tested for everything normal and has good results both times (including the thyroid test). I want to get him a blood test but haven't been able to afford it yet...

-- A second opinion would be nice except for the $$$ for the tests. I just don't have all this money to throw around for tests like these and the vet I take him to has extremely awesome reviews. He's easily one of the best in San Diego (Dr. G at Turqouise).

-- Age - I would say under 7 years maybe. I never got an official age that I can remember from the original owners but he is chipped so I will trying to contact the company and finding out when he was chipped and go from there.

-- Cancer is what I have also been thinking recently because nothing else makes any sense what so ever in regards to his positive test results. According to THEM - he should be totally healthy in every way... No one can figure what out what's going on yet...

-- I am going to start working my way towards raw food through wet food first

I'm not being lax about this condition or treatments. It's the $$ that is blasting on me. That's why I'm here, the vet, talking to people at Pet Stores etc. I'm going after it ALL and doing what I can with what I obtain information wise.

Post a picture of him and let us take a look! Bengals do not look like your normal cat. They are long and slender which can lead people to believe they are underweight. 12 pounds is not an abnormal weight for a bengal, even a male. Mine is under 13 pounds and is perfectly normal. His weight does fluctuate during the year -- a pound or two. There are higher calorie foods you can feed him, but if every test is coming back normal -- I would not be very concerned. You can easily monitor his weight by getting on a scale yourself, then weighting yourself with him and subtract your weight. Doing this every few weeks and keeping track will give you a much better idea.

I've tried to upload pics of him and every time it says the size is too big. I've shrunk them down so much you wouldn't even be able to see them anyway. Size restrictions are retarded here.

I don't have them hosted anywhere so I can't link to them either.
I talked to the vet - I'm going to hold off on any more tests or stress for him - and just gonna feed him a mix of wet/dry food to see if he'll start putting on some weight. I'm also going to ween him off the steroids. He's only taking 0.1 every other day now so that shouldn't be much of a problem. I got home today and he was pretty active - following me around. In a week or so I'm gonna see how his condition is - and if there is no significant changes then I'll run him through some x-rays and tests and see.

If you're saying 12(ish) pounds is an okay weight - that's okay. But I guess my concern is you can really feel his bones sticking through even at that weight - but if that's how he's supposed to be (lean and sleek) then maybe things aren't as bad as they seem but right now - I need to get him back on track at least to where he was and go from there.

I'll keep trying with the pictures. Says 256. I uploaded one that was 178 or something - still said it was too big.

Not sure what you're trying to upload your pictures from. Many times you can open a picture and save it as a smaller size.

I can feel Raiden's bones on his back -- but not his ribs on his tummy. I hope your vet has had experience treating bengals. I wish I could get a good picture of my bengal and the moggie I take care off so you could see the huge difference in their sleekness. I would not put your kitty through any unnecessary tests. Please monitor his weight -- as long has he maintains, things are good. If he continues to lose weight them you need to see if you can find the culprit.

I know you are concerned ... but if he is eating, drinking, playing, and going to the bathroom okay -- those are all good signs that he's fine.

He's eating wet food...
But won't touch dry food all of a sudden. Not sure why - but I'm trying to mix some dry food in with his wet food.

I'm gonna buy a digital scale tonight and start weighing him every day.
I was uploading pics from my hard drive. I resized them a couple different times but they got so small you could barely see them and it still wouldn't upload...

Not sure what's going on with that.

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The little monsters 3

I don't recommend weighing every single day. That will drive you crazy. The weight will fluctuate -- just like our weight. Once a week should be enough and don't be overly concerned if there a slight weight loss. And if he doesn't like dry food, don't give him dry food! Do not try to force a food that a cat won't eat. Focus on what he will devour because you are wanting him to put on some weight.

Hang in there .... everything will work out.

Know that sometimes you can post a small image and if we click on it, it will enlarge for us. Not sure how it all works with this forum, but I agree at 256k is a little small for images. I tried to resize a huge picture of a cat tree that looked like a tree and could not get it lower than 1.1 mb. Your phone may take smaller images or there are apps out there that allow you to resize a photo from your phone.

Okay so - I bought a digital scale today and tried to weigh him but it didn't even register his body. So I looked up a good way to weigh him if the scale doesn't acknowledge his weight is to weigh yourself and then weigh yourself with the cat in your arms. So I did that... I basically weigh 204. With him in my arms - the weight was 209.

Can that be right?
5 pounds?

That seems grossly inaccurate - but he is really skinny at the moment.
I can really feel his bones sticking out - backbones especially but everything. I'm gonna make an appointment for Monday if possible and bring him to get weighed there and do the Leukemia/Cancer test at least and maybe the Intestinal test if the first one shows nothing. He still won't eat dry food at the moment - or even cat treats. I bought a calorie booster gel - but he's not really interested in that either. The only thing at the moment he seems to want to eat is tuna straight from the can - or a wet tuna cat food.

Sorry for all the updates - I basically have no one else to relay this information to otherwise...
This provides an outlet for my stress :/

Sometimes you have to calibrate a scale. I had mentioned in one of my posts that you could weigh yourself, weigh yourself and your kitty and subtract your weight. I'm sure you can purchase a baby scale and use that. Five pounds is absolutely way to low for any adult cat to weigh. I just hate the stress you're going to put your baby through with all this testing -- and it may be for nothing. Not to mention the stress you're going to go through.

Whatever you do, please do not feed him tuna canned for human consumption. It doesn't contain the nutrients your kitty needs. Cat tuna is just fine. Give him what he will eat and give him as much as he can eat. Hopefully, you will find that he weighs a lot more than five pounds at the vet.

Just know ... this forum is here for you!!! We are happy to provide support, offer advice and answer questions. We aren't medical peeps -- we just go by the experiences we have with our bengals.