Forums » Smalltalk » I'm worried about my cat-Elmo

The orange tabby is my baby Oscar, he is a year and a half old, while the little maine coon is my stepsister's cat Elmo, but I still love him, and he is almost a year old and still this small.

So, as you see in this picture Elmo looks healthy and happy, but sometimes we let our cats out and Elmo gets into a lot of fights with other cats; I feel the skins on his neck and under his chin when I scratch his chin like he likes. Just today, my dad and I noticed that he is getting thinner and isn't moving around a lot like he use to. I'm worried about him, he is a sweet, little kitten and I really don't want him to die because my sister loves him so much, it would break her heart to have him die while she is gone in Tennessee visiting her dad. We have had so many cats either die or disappear(I read cats leave their owners when they feel their time coming to protect their owners from the pain of losing a loyal pet.), one of them being very precious to me. I don't want my sister to have to go through the pain of losing another cat, we already lost her beloved cat, Brother(he had a twin sister so we named them Brother and Sister, then they had a white sister with black spots, which was my cat, named Chicken after the Chick-fil-a cow.) and she is only ten years old so she got attracted to these cats really fast and we both miss all of our cats.

So, I wanted to see if anyone could help me out. Elmo isn't eating a lot, he barely gets up, and just sleeps all day and worries me deeply. If anyone could try to help me out with this, I would appreciate it greatly.

I know you probably have some reason for not doing this already and were hoping for another answer, but the only person who can really help you with this is a vet. If at all possible, get poor Elmo to a vet so he can get checked out.

I don't know if we will be able to because both my parents have to work and with our air conditioner messing up and having to be replaced, and my dad got into an accident just this morning but he is alright, I don't think we have to money for it. All the jobs near where I live won't hire anyone under 16 so I can't get a job to try to pay for his check up and anything else that might be needed. So, honestly, I am just trying to figure out what be wrong and see if there is anything I can do to keep him happy during this time.

The thing with this is that none of us are trained veterinarians -- we can't perform a physical exam on Elmo in case there's something wrong with his tummy or whatever else, and we don't have the medical expertise to tell you what's up. We can only guess, but that won't help you in the least. I'm really sorry!

Visiting a vet is your only option. If you don't have the money for it, try asking family and friends if they can help you out somehow.

I also strongly suggest to keep cats indoors at all times, or only take them out with a harness and leash. You can monitor what goes on in your home and deal with issues, but outside your house they're subjected to all the dangers of predators, other animals (dogs frequently kill cats too) and car accidents. If you don't want them to end up hurt from these sources, your only option is to keep them indoors. That's what I do, for all these reasons listed above.

I am fully aware of that, I just wanted to see if anyone had any advice on this matter. Since he is still so small, that worried me as well. I only posted this to see if anyone had more knowledge on cats than my own(I use to read books about cats when I was younger because I didn't like reading but I love cats). I would ask my mom, since she went to nursing school and have dissected a cat once but I don't really think she knows very much about them since she has been out of the field for awhile due to some things she shouldn't have done.

I don't think my parents would ever do that, they are very independent people and never ask for money unless it is very serious situations; as they view it, animals aren't important and can not feel many of the true and deep emotions that humans can feel like love, so this doesn't matter much to them like it does to me and my sister.

My parents wouldn't ever get harnesses or leashes for my cats because of what I had just put above, they don't care much for our pets, that is why Oscar is my cat and Elmo is my stepsister's, because we truly care about them. Originally, Oscar was suppose to be an indoor cat but he always found ways to get outside whenever he could, so we have just let them outside, as for Elmo, he had came to us one afternoon while my dad was working on his truck and Elmo just came up to him when the cat saw him, purring and loving, and this was when Elmo was only about two or so months old, he was still small. I didn't want to let them out, but I have no control over it because it is my parents choice.

Even if we can tell you what's wrong with Elmo, by the sound of it he needs medication or surgery to fix what is wrong. Symptoms like that don't occur in conditions that can be treated with home remedies. What are you going to do if we can help you determine what's wrong? By what you're saying, your parents won't pay for any of it as it is. (I don't understand why they let you get a pet when they won't get them the care they need...)

It breaks my heart to hear an animal is clearly suffering here, and I wish there was something we can do for you, but the reality is we can't. Only your parents or other family can.

If your parents won't do something about it, take the initiative and talk to family and friends and ask for help yourself. Call the vet and ask them if there's some sort of charity program that helps people with money issues to pay for a vet visit. You can always ask if they do free phone consults (I know a lot of vets give you some extra information on what to do and look out for without charging for it).

Besides this we can't do anything. I'm sorry.

Elmo is much better, I heard. I got a text from Kuro saying that he's eating again. She won't be able to post for a bit, so I wanted to tell you guys this.

I'm so glad to hear that!! Thank you HRA for sharing. I personally appreciate it a lot!

No problem, Sanne. I just wanted to help in any way I could.