All my cat wants to do is eat, and her belly has been bloated / swollen for the past 2 weeks. I don't have the money to take her to the vet, so can you help me out? Thanks, Heather .

A common reason for a cat's belly to be swollen, and too often overlooked, is she may be pregnant! Cats going outdoors frequently never show signs of being in season, like yowling and rolling on the floor. The go out of season rapidly after being bred, which may be why you might have seen a few stray cats around a couple months ago. How far along, if she is... possibly 7 or 8 weeks? She will cut back on the eating a few days before having her kittens, usually, and will be more active trying to decide where would be a good place to deliver.

Another cause is simply putting on too much weight. Change food lately, to something she really likes? Another cat in the home? Competition takes on all sorts of behaviors, and eating so the other guy doesn't get it can be one of them.

And she isn't pregnant if she has been spayed. Another reason, unfortunately, is a fatal cat disease, 'infectious peritonitis', which is a virus that causes, through it's effect on her system, the loss of fluid from her abdominal vessels and tissues, producing edema. Usually the edema seems to develop rather quickly, and the cat also begins to feel not so well soon after that... not eating and less active. This fluid can be tapped, or aspirated so that she looks more normal, but to no avail. It continues until...

The big difference between the two, other than the final outcome, is that a pregnant cat has 'lumps' palpable in here belly... you can feel them, sometimes even see movement, whereas the sick kitty's belly is more like a water balloon... just soft and squishy. Your option is the vet, or just wait and see. There is no treatment for the disease, and Mother Nature takes care of the other.

Knowing nothing about her history, except that she has apparently been bloated for more than a week without signs of letting up, I tend to favor just being overweight or pregnant, in that order. And if she never gets out and there are no male cats inside, that is another big point for 'getting fat'. Let's hope...

Another possibility, and a better (for her) second choice, is edema from congestive heart failure, or some sort of heart problem. Cats have heart problems too. It will feel 'squishy' as the other fluid collection, but it doesn't have the same dire consequences. Again, only your vet will be able to determine which it is, unless you have decided she is pregnant, from your own exam of her.