i have had a young stray cat living here since the middle of october. he was a friendly confident young man until i had him neutered on the 26th oct and to start off with he seemed fine. i decided to keep him in for a bit longer than i usually would because of the fireworks and a couple of weeks ago he started showing signs of being a bit depressed. he stopped coming down for his dinner voluntarily but would eat some of it if it was brought to him or if we took him to it and spent more than the usual amount of time sleeping. i thought it was maybe because he wanted to go outside so i let him but he'd just go and do his business and come straight back in to sleep some more. since then he has just been getting worse. shows no sign of wanting to go out, hasn't purred for a week or more and just sleeps. he will eat and drink if i hold the plate under his nose and does shift himself if he wants to use the litter tray. he's still cleaning himself, his coat is nice, his eyes are bright and he's weeing and pooing without any problems, there is nothing untoward in what he's passing, no blood or mucus and there's been no vomiting. he's between 8 months and a year old according to the vet that neutered him. ive taken to feeding him a small amount 3 times a day, half a tin of the little gourmet cans and i'd say out of a tin and a half he probably has a tins worth and has lost a little bit of weight but not a huge amount and is weaker than he was when he first came here. he whinges a bit if you pick him up. i'm wondering now whether he's anaemic rather than depressed. ive checked his gums and compared to my other cats they are a bit pale. i will be making an appointment for him to see the vet on monday but in the meantime i wanted to ask how common is anaemia in such a young cat?

Hi

I expect/hope you've taken him to your vet by now. There's a variety of potential problems for your cat's lethargy that are unrelated to the neutering, especially as that was a while ago now. Anaemia isn't very common in a young cat but can occur and has a variety of causes, some are infectious and could be caught from other cats. Infections would be high on my list to check for why your cat is lethargic anyway but anaemia is another possible cause of lethargy. If it is present it is serious, so I hope he's been checked, had some tests and is being treated now.

Cathy Wickenden BVet Med MRCVS
Barton Lodge Veterinary Centre
1 Midland Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 5BH
Tel: 01442 216048 24 hours
[www.bartonlodgevets.co.uk]