Thread: Maine Coon not putting on weight

Poor things, how worrying this must be, especially as Martha seems to be hiding away more than before. I hope you get something conclusive soon from the vets.

I've found that a good place to go for advice is petforums.co.uk, in the Cat Health and Nutrition section. There are some very knowledgeable people on there who have experience and veterinary knowledge, know all the drugs and procedures, etc. I've had some good advice from there so it might be worth registering and posting a thread, if only to get some reassurance.

Hope you get some good news soon. xx

Well, we took Martha to the vets today and I must admint I was not feeling positive, she has been tired, lethargic and weak the past few days, she seemed to be struggling.

At the consultation the examination revealed that she now looks slightly anemic, she is starting to get dehydrated and they also picked up an occasional heart murmour which they let me listen to.

It was looking bleak, the plan of action was to scan her for fluid, scan her liver and heart, then x-ray and take more blood for specific liver work. She was also going to refer us to a cardiologist. Needless to say our hearts sank when we now knew she may have a heart problem.

We left her with the vet for a couple of hours for them to do the tests, but shortly after leaving we had a call. Her results has come back in this morning and she was negative for FIP, in that she has never contracted or been exposed to the corona virus that leads to FIP thus ruling that out. This was a massive relief, the vet said that in honesty if it had come back positive she would have suggested putting her to sleep! Thank goodness.

She also had a word with a colleague at another practice that had a case not so long ago with another Maine Coon by co-incidence and she was heavily stunted and showing the same symptoms. It turned out to be Giardia. Our vet said that she was not aware that Giardia could cause stunting to this degree, and they did specific tests for Giardia (FIP was her main suspect), but the negative stool sample doesn't rule Giardia out. As a result she said at this stage because FIP was not the cause that an x-ray and scan would not be of significant benefit and that we should up the dose of Panacur for another four days as well as giving her metronidazole antibiotic for 10 days to treat Giardia more aggresively.

We are going to see how she goes on this over the next 48 hours and re-group on Monday for referral to a cardiologist.

Fingers crossed she picks up, there is still hope with it not being FIP.

I also just had a message from the vets to say she spoke to the Breeders vets and the family history and Martha's history is all in order, there have not been any illnesses in the litter. The breeder was also happy to speak to the vet if needbe so that's good. I also called the breeder myself and she said both parents were tested and HCM negative.

Hang in there Martha, we hope the meds work!

Good luck Martha, keep in there little one. x

The vibes are coming from Shropshire for you this weekend Sasha,had to check to see how you were doing.So pleased about the FIP results & its sad that you are sleeping more but as for not eating so much it could be that if you're toilets are better it means you are digesting your food more which in turn means it holds you better & you don't need quite so much. Do think its a pity though that your vets didn't take this so seriously in the first place little girl but you can do it we are all willing you better....xxx

Glad FIP results were negative, hope everything starts to go uphill from here XxX

Good Morning,

I'm new here. I registered today after reading your thread last night. I / We am / are in the same boat so can sympathise with you. By the sounds of it, it is all the same age and timescales, down to the age they are now.

I have 3 kittens from the same litter. 1 is significantly bigger than the others but for his age I'd say still under weight I think. At 6 months, he is 3.35 kg. The other 2 being 2.1 kg.

They were weaned on Kitten 36 and stayed on this when we brought them home but they just were not thriving. Despite consuming kilo upon kilo of the stuff, they just didn't gain anything in stature or weight and their coat was dull although they were lively and loving enough. On the recommendation of the vet we changed their diet to Hill's Vet Essentials.

Their coats have improved but alas they still are not gaining anything and one has had loose stool to diarrhoea for weeks following a course of antibiotics. Intermittently the other two also have loose stool to diarrhoea. The biggest was previously hard and dry.

They are all on probiotics Pro Kolin + and the persistently loose one is now on Protexin Synbiotic DC. It is completely exasperating. You so want the poor little things to thrive and enjoy their lives as kittens but can't help but feel that they must actually feel lousy.

All 3 are as playful as ever and I am hoping we might have turned a bit of a corner as the frequency and volume of stool has decreased over the last couple of days. We have, however, been here before. I have taken to confiscating their dry food at bedtime and the last couple of mornings we have stool that at least has some form to it.

It is completely frustrating when you just want what is best for them but, having read your thread, I have taken some comfort in that we are not alone with this problem and I feel a bit more relaxed about it today. It is difficult not to become obsessed with weights and poo inspections though.

Saturdays we have a weigh in and I will stick with that and also take some comfort in them at least not losing weight, their coats are improving and finally they are starting to grow whiskers! The vet actually asked me if I had been cutting them off!

I hope for us and you and yours that things begin to settle down.

^ This is a long winded way of saying you are not alone and thank you for giving me some reassurance that I am not subjecting the MCKs to animal cruelty.

I'll continue to follow your thread for any results and helpful assistance and words of reassurance from other members.

I'd say take deep breaths but that is probably the wrong thing to do.

It strikes me that there are some very lucky babies on here at the moment,without the likes of you & Quass to take great care of them & try your hardest to get them sorted out where would the poor little mites have been now...x

Hi All,

Thanks for the comments.

I've been keeping quiet on the thread for the past few days allowing time for things to try and settle down. I believe Martha to be showing some signs of improvement although she is still very sleepy, underweight and now has a problem with the conjuctivia on one of her eyes the poor thing (slightly swollen and sticking the eyelid together) which we are now trying to sort out aswell. I am cleaning it with soft cotton wool and cool boiled water, I'm picking up some eye drops tonight.

It's too early to tell if and how she is recovering (since Saturday) but we are staying positive, as I said there are some small signs that things could be on the up.

She is eating half a pouch of kitten wet food morning and night. We are also leaving biscuits out all day / night for her to graze on as well as giving her nourish-um each day to boost callories and vitamin intake.

Today is her final day of the THIRD dose of panacur (although this is a much higher dose) and she has six days remaining of metronadizole morning and night.

We are still awaiting the blood results to see if her pancreas is functioning correctly. I'll update you all when I have some more positive news. We are also awaiting referral to the cardiologist.

Caternity, thanks for the comments. It sounds as though you have had a challenge with two of yours, I hope the treatment is working and that they pile on the pounds soon enough It is worrying though, I honestly think that had Martha not started getting the treatment we are currently giving her that she would have easily gone down hill even more so very quickly. Like yourself, we want to see her jumping around and getting into everything enjoying herself. She broke a pot in our bedroom when we got her by trying to pick the flowers out of it, I haven't replaced it yet and I tidied it up and placed the pot in the corner of the bedroom as a reminder to replace it, but every time I look at it I thinik of her being active, then I think that I would rather her be running around and breaking any number of things in the house than be tired and poorly. Anyway, it sounds like your little ones are active and are on the right track.

For us, whether our course of action and medication is treating what is essentially an educated guess at best or something else I don't know, but as long as it works that is all I am happy about. As I mentioned it's too soon since Saturday when she dropped to 1.38 kilos again to say for sure if she is on the mend but I've got everything crossed!