Cat owners, please help Second Update

Jells2dot0 · February 2014

JCBride2014 said:

Posted an update above. Copy/pasted here if you don't want to scroll up:

*Update*

Just got the test results back. Vet says his bloodwork is normal: kidneys, thyroid, liver all OK. Urinalysis showed high urine concentration and some crystals (low concentration but still there). She said the high concentration shows he isn't drinking enough water, and suggested we try adding some tuna juice or chicken broth into water to get him to drink more. As for the crystals, she said it's a low number but drinking more might help clear it up.

Vet recommended we give it through the weekend to see if he gets better with drinking more water, and if not then bring him in on Monday for more tests (ultrasounds probably).

My kitty had the ultrasounds and that is what showed the gall stones. It was a little pricey, but worth it. As for the crystallization, we switched our kitties to bottled water. We live in AZ, though, where the water is hard and crappy, even with the reverse osmosis and water softener. However, things cleared up a bit when we switched her.

CrazyCatLady3 · February 2014

If it turns out to be stones, you may just need to switch him to a rx diet. My cat had blood in his urine twice. We switched him to rx diet and hasn't had any problems since.

lc07 · February 2014

JCBride2014 said:

lc07 said:

We spent thousands of dollars on all of the tests you are describing as well as the ultrasound when Kitty was exhibiting similar behaviors. It turned out she had fleas. Duh. We didn't check for them (I would pet her and didn't see any, our house was not infested) but she had a ton of them on her. She acted miserable, understandably so. The vet didn't notice them either and didn't check for it, not even when she stayed overnight. Her brush broke so we got a new one and bought a flea comb, too because our neighbor was complaining about a flea problem. We combed her and there were TONS of them on her. All of her symptoms resolved after we got rid of the fleas.

@Ic07 Hey-- wouldn't that be great! He's an indoor cat so I doubt that's the problem, but you never know. How do I check besides looking?

We also have a white cat and I feel like I'd see fleas on her if she had them. Jack is a tuxedo cat.

You can buy a flea comb at any pet store. The comb has teeth that are very close together so it will catch fleas as you brush your cat with it. You will either find fleas while you do that or you will find flea dirt which is basically flea poop. You can tell it's flea dirt as opposed to other black random stuff by wiping the brush with a wet tissue. The flea dirt will turn red (it's the cat's blood). If it is fleas there are lots of options. Capstar is the only one that worked for us to totally eradicate them.

ETA: Fleas are sneaky and fast. Kitty probably had hundreds on her and I love her and pet her and hold her and sleep with her all the time. And we didn't notice. She's a tuxedo, too, grey on top, white on the bottom.

PrettyGirlLost · February 2014

Look for evidence of flea dirt at the base of the tail and around the neck area- part the fur until you can see the skin.

Emmy1493 · February 2014

Oh, good! Glad nothing serious so far. Our cats, well one, had a very similar issue. We bought them a fountain like water bowl, and it seems to have gotten a little better. Vet said wet food is good for moisture, so if you set some out for the kitty, even if he nibbles on it here and there, then at least he/she is getting some moisture aside from water.

pinkcow13 · February 2014

Good to hear that so far it isn't anything serious. Does he also eat dry food? Hopefully drinking more water will help him feel better!

Peaseblossom55 · February 2014

JCBride2014 said:

Posted an update above. Copy/pasted here if you don't want to scroll up:

*Update*

Just got the test results back. Vet says his bloodwork is normal: kidneys, thyroid, liver all OK. Urinalysis showed high urine concentration and some crystals (low concentration but still there). She said the high concentration shows he isn't drinking enough water, and suggested we try adding some tuna juice or chicken broth into water to get him to drink more. As for the crystals, she said it's a low number but drinking more might help clear it up.

Vet recommended we give it through the weekend to see if he gets better with drinking more water, and if not then bring him in on Monday for more tests (ultrasounds probably).

I'm glad you found out what is wrong with the kitty. We just had this happen with one of our kitties two weeks ago. He was peeing outside the litter box and we found out he had crystals in his urine when we brought him to the vet. This also happened to my parent's cat several times a few years ago and he had to have expensive surgery to be rerouted as a girl.

My vet recommended we remove him off of all dry food and only feed him wet food. He is now on Royal Canin wet food urinary SO. It is expensive but he has been fine so far and hopefully it stays that way. We also isolated the kitty to make sure when we brought him home from the vet he was peeing in his litter box and wasn't becoming blocked. Hopefully the chicken broth or tuna water work. We feed our cats that too.

JCbride2015 · February 2014

@peaseblossom55 He was interested in the tuna water but still didn't drink it. Today I'm going to try adding water to his wet food and making "soup."

I'm just really worried. He is alert, purrs when we pet him. But he won't walk or move at all, and now he's not drinking or using the litter box. It's really strange.

Peaseblossom55 · February 2014

@JCbride2014 I would try to get to him the vet, or at least call vet tell them what you are seeing if he is not using the litter box he may be blocked. Did they give you any pain medicine for him?

JCbride2015 · February 2014

Peaseblossom55 said:

@JCbride2014 I would try to get to him the vet, or at least call vet tell them what you are seeing if he is not using the litter box he may be blocked. Did they give you any pain medicine for him?

I spoke with the vet yesterday and I told her he was not using the box or drinking water, so she suggested the tuna water thing. They are closed today due to the weather. :-/ The vet said we should give him through the weekend and see how he's doing, but I'm still concerned.

Peaseblossom55 · February 2014

Ugh that sucks. Is there an emergency vet you can at least call and talk to?

JCbride2015 · February 2014

Yeah they have someone on call today. If he gets worse I will call. I feel stupid calling and saying, "He's the same as he was when you told me to wait through the weekend!"

SmileDamnit · February 2014

JCBride2014 said:

Yeah they have someone on call today. If he gets worse I will call. I feel stupid calling and saying, "He's the same as he was when you told me to wait through the weekend!"

You know your cat best, though, so don't be intimidated by the "professionals" and push your vet if you need to. I, personally, would be concerned with waiting 72 hours for a recheck if he isn't drinking or peeing at all.

JCbride2015 · February 2014

Niccirf said:

JCBride2014 said:

Yeah they have someone on call today. If he gets worse I will call. I feel stupid calling and saying, "He's the same as he was when you told me to wait through the weekend!"

You know your cat best, though, so don't be intimidated by the "professionals" and push your vet if you need to. I, personally, would be concerned with waiting 72 hours for a recheck if he isn't drinking or peeing at all.

Thanks @niccirf. He ate a can of wet food and a little bit of dry yesterday, but as far as I saw, no water. I'm going to try making him "soup" with some water in his wet food, and see if he will drink the "broth."

Peaseblossom55 · February 2014

I would be concerned if your vet wasn't concerned about your cat not peeing I would call another vet for a second opinion

Jells2dot0 · February 2014

I ended up taking my obstructed kitty to an emergency specialty clinic. If it wasn't for them, my normal vet would have not properly diagnosed her issues. I love my normal vet, but in this case, it called for much more. I can't get over how similar the symptoms are to when my kitty was sick, but at the same time, the blood work didn't show anything. I believe an ultrasound will probably show the true issue. In the meantime, fingers crossed!

SmileDamnit · February 2014

Jells2dot0 said:

I ended up taking my obstructed kitty to an emergency specialty clinic. If it wasn't for them, my normal vet would have not properly diagnosed her issues. I love my normal vet, but in this case, it called for much more. I can't get over how similar the symptoms are to when my kitty was sick, but at the same time, the blood work didn't show anything. I believe an ultrasound will probably show the true issue. In the meantime, fingers crossed!

This. General Practice vets are wonderful, but there are highly trained Specialist out there, too (emergency, internists, surgeons, etc.). It's not necessarily a matter of incompetence with the GPs, rather the Specialists are trained to deal with & diagnosis more advanced issues. Vet medicine has really become more and more like human medicine.

ETA - but it's good Jack is at least eating a bit. Again, you know your cat the best so just go with your gut on next steps for him.

PrettyGirlLost · February 2014

@JCBride2014

We have a male tabby cat that has issues with producing crystals in his urine. . . he even had surgery to remove a crystal that was caught in his ureter and to invert it, so to speak. Tigger the male cat doesn't quite have a penis now, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, Tigger's crystals are caused by either high concentrations of Magnesium or Manganese, I forget which one right now, and he was on Hill's Science Diet c/d but it was a fortune to feed multiple cats that damn food. And it was a pain because we had to buy it from the Vet.

We compared the ingredients and tried Blue Buffalo Healthy Living for Adult Cats, and everyone loves it and Tigger hasn't had crystal issues for a long time now.

JCbride2015 · February 2014

Thanks @Prettygirllost and everyone else.

I just tried to feed him some wet food "soup" with water in it to try to hydrate him, and he didn't want it. He's hiding in the closet, he let me pet him, but he just doesn't seem interested in anything. I left the food, water, and some water with chicken broth in the room. And a clean litter box so I can see whether he will use it. I closed the door so our other cat can't go in there, and hopefully we'll see that he used the litter box at some point.

My regular vet is closed today. Trying to decide whether to battle it out on public transportation for an hour to get him to the emergency vet in NYC (provided they are even open, I'd have to check). Selfishly, I myself am sick and really don't want to go out in this weather. I'm also worried about the stress on him from such a long, unfamiliar trip in this cold and snow. And we have a bunch of train delays so it would be a terrible trip.

PrettyGirlLost · February 2014

Aw shit, poor kitty!

Can you perhaps call the emergency vet and just do a phone consult 1st and then see what they say?

arrippa · February 2014

My cat had similar symptoms and he had a urinary tract blockage. After a two day hospital stay and $1000.00 he is doing much better. I swtiched to the urinary tract health dry food and he has had no relapses.

SmileDamnit · February 2014

JCBride2014 said:

Thanks @Prettygirllost and everyone else.

I just tried to feed him some wet food "soup" with water in it to try to hydrate him, and he didn't want it. He's hiding in the closet, he let me pet him, but he just doesn't seem interested in anything. I left the food, water, and some water with chicken broth in the room. And a clean litter box so I can see whether he will use it. I closed the door so our other cat can't go in there, and hopefully we'll see that he used the litter box at some point.

My regular vet is closed today. Trying to decide whether to battle it out on public transportation for an hour to get him to the emergency vet in NYC (provided they are even open, I'd have to check). Selfishly, I myself am sick and really don't want to go out in this weather. I'm also worried about the stress on him from such a long, unfamiliar trip in this cold and snow. And we have a bunch of train delays so it would be a terrible trip.

AMC (Animal Medical Center) is open 24/7, regardless of weather (they have their docs/staff sleep there if necessary). They are expensive though, and agree that a trip out might be more stressful than not. Perhaps monitor and see what tomorrow looks like?

CrazyCatLady3 · February 2014

It's possible that he's not peeing because he's not really eating or drinking much. If he starts circling the litter box or crying out in pain, that is a sign he is blocked and needs to get to the emergency vet ASAP. If he's just bumming around I don't think you need to take him to the emergency vet today.

My cats don't like the watered down wet food either (they do eat the non-watered down wet food). You can try getting a can of tuna in water and just letting him drink up the non-diluted tuna water.

JCbride2015 · February 2014

CrazyCatLady3 said:

It's possible that he's not peeing because he's not really eating or drinking much. If he starts circling the litter box or crying out in pain, that is a sign he is blocked and needs to get to the emergency vet ASAP. If he's just bumming around I don't think you need to take him to the emergency vet today.

My cats don't like the watered down wet food either (they do eat the non-watered down wet food). You can try getting a can of tuna in water and just letting him drink up the non-diluted tuna water.

Yes, bumming around is a perfect explanation of what he's doing. Something is obviously wrong because he won't eat/drink. However he's not attempting to use the litter box, circling, or making any pain sounds. Thanks for mentioning that, because it does make me feel better. I'm pretty sure he isn't in pain which makes me feel more OK about waiting until first thing tomorrow morning.

jojobrn · February 2014

CrazyCatLady3 said:
It's possible that he's not peeing because he's not really eating or drinking much. If he starts circling the litter box or crying out in pain, that is a sign he is blocked and needs to get to the emergency vet ASAP. If he's just bumming around I don't think you need to take him to the emergency vet today.

My cats don't like the watered down wet food either (they do eat the non-watered down wet food). You can try getting a can of tuna in water and just letting him drink up the non-diluted tuna water.

Not to freak you out, but a cat I had developed crystals/stones and ruptured his bladder, all without any signs of pain or trouble peeing. It wasn't until he actually ruptured his bladder that we could tell something was wrong. And I had seen him use his box the afternoon before, no issues at all.

CrazyCatLady3 · February 2014

JCBride2014 said:

CrazyCatLady3 said:

It's possible that he's not peeing because he's not really eating or drinking much. If he starts circling the litter box or crying out in pain, that is a sign he is blocked and needs to get to the emergency vet ASAP. If he's just bumming around I don't think you need to take him to the emergency vet today.

My cats don't like the watered down wet food either (they do eat the non-watered down wet food). You can try getting a can of tuna in water and just letting him drink up the non-diluted tuna water.

Yes, bumming around is a perfect explanation of what he's doing. Something is obviously wrong because he won't eat/drink. However he's not attempting to use the litter box, circling, or making any pain sounds. Thanks for mentioning that, because it does make me feel better. I'm pretty sure he isn't in pain which makes me feel more OK about waiting until first thing tomorrow morning.

Keep us updated!

pinkcow13 · February 2014

Here is some info I found on Web MD (my go to source since I'm a bit of a hypochondriac.

Illness. Loss of appetite is one of the key indicators that something is wrong. So be sure to pay attention if your cat suddenly stops eating. A number of different conditions may be responsible, including infections, kidney failure, pancreatitis, intestinal problems, and cancer. But it isn’t always serious -- something as simple as a toothache can make your cat stop eating.

It sounds like it isn't anything too serious because they ran tests on him - could it be something like a toothache? I know they checked his teeth, but was it super thorough?

Finickiness or psychological issues. If your veterinarian has determined that your cat is not physically sick, then anxiety or depression could be the reason your cat won’t eat. Changes in the household can be disturbing to sensitive cats, and sometimes new people or changes in familiar schedules can affect a cat’s emotional well-being. Or, your cat could just be a finicky eater. Keep in mind that cats, in general, take a long time to adjust to new types of food, so a recent change in diet could be the culprit.

Maybe it is a psychological issue? Have you tried feeding him treats? Maybe that will help, since cats love treats.

lc07 · February 2014

Also put different bowls/glasses of water in the room or in different places and show the cat. One day Kitty just stopped wanting to drink from her regular water bowl. I have no idea why. My husband was smart enough to put a water glass out for her and a different bowl somewhere else, etc. and she started using those.

JCbride2015 · February 2014

Thank you so much for the ideas and kind thoughts, everyone. His condition has not changed at all: he is just chillin under the bed, not interested in food, water, or litter box. He's alert and perks up when I poke my head under the bed, he purrs when I pet him.

So far, I think we will bring him to the vet first thing tomorrow morning and I plan to ask for an ultrasound to check for a blockage.

lc07 · February 2014

Keep us posted. Thinking of you guys!

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