As I posted last week, Ms P wasn't feeling well and eating poorly. On Tuesday, she wouldn't eat at all so with a heavy heart I decided to take her to the vet on Wednesday morning.
In the morning, I locked her in the house and managed to get her into the cat basket while I waited for my lift - cats and motorbikes don't mix. Once there, The vet examined her and couldn't find any obvious signs of illness so she drew urine from her bladder using a needle and checked it for bacteria or crystals but there was nothing to be seen. Her urine was also highly concentrated, meaning that kidney disease is unlikely.
We decided that blood tests would be the next step. Because she had allowed her urine to be drawn via cystocentesis, we thought we'd try a jugular vein blood draw without sedation. My vet allows me to hold my animals while she does this because she knows that I will not faint at the sight of needles going into the neck and cats are calmer if a known person holds them than if a stranger does. The acid test would be whether she allowed her neck to be shaved. She tolerated it so we decided to go ahead. Luckily, Ms P is a cat that freezes when she is afraid, unlike Yoda, who fights.
The blood tests all came out completely normal, only showing slight dehydration so the vet decided to give her an injection of an antinausea medication and told me give her subcutaneous fluids at home and to feed her whatever would appeal to her. I complained to the vet that after all that, we still have no idea what is wrong and she replied that at least we now know that a couple of things are NOT wrong and I couldn't disagree with that.
I learned how to give subcutaneous fluids when my cat Earnest had kidney disease and this has proved to be a useful skill. If my cats are sick and the vet suggests giving fluids, I can do it at home instead of having to drag the cat to the vet every time.
Once home, I gave Ms P fluids and then she ran off and the wait was on to see whether she would start eating or ever forgive me for what I had just put her through. A few hours later, she ate a little and has continued eating. On Thursday morning, I found a rat head on the kitchen floor, which can only be her handiwork.
She still doesn't trust me one bit although she will jump on the bed and allow me to pet her but she runs off if I approach her, especially at mealtimes. The kitchen cupboard is her favourite hiding spot so she currently takes her meals in the cupboard. I don't care, so long as she eats. For now, we don't know what is wrong but we will have to wait and see what happens
Lurking under the kitchen sink. Please finish your food!
Beauty photo!
Yes, it's hard when our pets get sick!
I wish a speedy recovery !!!!
Thank you. She seems to be improving now
Very good!
Must be very frustrating. We did have an indoor-outdoor cat once who went through a period of "general malaise" that lasted almost a month. And then she got better and went back to normal. The vet could find nothing, but suggested that Raddish had possibly been drinking from puddles and streamlets downhill from someone who had been fertilizing their garden for spring... not enough toxins to really hit her kidneys or cause an infection, but enough that she felt perpetually poorly. As the dry season kicked in those water sources dried up and she felt better... it was a theory, but we could never truly know.
Hope Ms P gets better soon!
=^..^=
Thank you! I have been considering some kind of contamination or poisoning. I can see that she feels nauseous but we can't figure out why. I was expecting her liver to show signs of strain as Yoda's has but nothing abnormal there
It is a pity that cats do not know how to speak. She would immediately say that it hurts. Let's hope she gets better.
Thank you, I really hope so
Aww hope she feels better soon!
Me too!
I hope the cat gets well soon.
Thank you
Poor darling. cats can take a while to forgive. At least you've eliminated quite a few things, but you're still left wondering.
Indeed
I look after feral kitties and also have a cat that is sick right now and we dont know what is wrong with her so I feel your frustration at the vets but I guess she did have a good point as I am doing the same and ruling out things that could be wrong with my cat, good luck @nikv
What are your cat's symptoms?
Its difficult to explain, at first I thought she had a hairball but it sounds like wheezing with a congested chest infection, she kinda coughs but brings nothing up, her breathing almost sounds like purring but its not its because shes congested @nikv
Does she put her head low to the ground when she coughs? Have you gone as far as X-rays?
I have a cat that was born feral and lived outside until she was given to me at 4 months of age. She tamed herself and also had a bad cough. The vet said she was too young for asthma but I had her spayed when she was 7 months old and xrayed then. The xrays weren't of an asthmatic but showed little white patches in the lungs. My vet put her on antibiotics for one month, along with low-dose steroids, which we discontinued after a month. She stopped after that. The problem with feral cats is that they get exposed to all kinds of things
Strangely she does not lower her head to the ground and no xrays I basically dont have the funds for it right now but have been collecting what I can from Steemit for her, and I agree the poor things can get all sorts I wrote another post with more details on it here if interested https://steemit.com/cats/@simonjay/cat-respiratory-bad-health-signs-18-6-2018
Awww poor thing. She wants your love but feels torn about the vet visit you had taken her to.
Pretty much. There is always a tremendous conflict in her between fear and wanting attention
Wonder if that rat head means "You can next, Human" :p
But seriously... I hope she is feeling better soon. It is so frustrating to see the furry ones not feeling well and not knowing what it is.
I was surprised that the rat head was whole. She's my little zombie, she always eats the brains :p although actually, she knows what is good for her. Rat brains are full of taurine, a very important part of a cat's diet. Yes it is worrying and frustrating when you don't know what's wrong
I'll hope you'll find out eventually what is with Ms P. I really do not have any idea how to help you. But I would like to tell you a little bit about my neighbor's feral cat. She adopted one female feral cat, when the cat was still young. It took 2 years that the cat would go into the house at all. !! Before that, if she had brought her in, the cat would become completely wild, break down everything in total mad fear, and would run away desperately. Still after two years of gentle care, the cat does not trust her completely. It is funny to watch how cat is following her all around !!, even when she come to visit me, but when she tries to approach her, cat runs away. :)
There is only a small window of opportunity for taming most feral kittens. This one lived in my mother's house for 5 years and never allowed anyone to touch her. I taught her to accept handling but she still is quite wild in many ways. She also runs away from everyone except me. She is 10 years old now
Good thing that Mrs. P is a little better and wants to eat. That's important because if you do not eat it's a big problem, let's hope it was not a big problem and you can be back to normal