Sickness Identification

Hi

I just had a new room mate move in who has a cat, and this cat is sick (mabey). I was wondering if mabey someone could tell us what's wrong with it.

Symtoms: Barely eating, has lost 3 pounds (ways 6 instead of 9) in the last few months. Meows a lot (tho I dunno if it's bad, she just seems to meow instead of purring, nice friendly kitty). Took her to the vet, vet couldn't find anything wrong. They took a blood sample, but it clotted so we hadda take her back...but she gets really freaking out in cars and urinated all over herself and her case on the way there, so we never made it to the vets to get more blood taken.

She doesn't act like she's in pain, she's fixed, very friendly, but just doesn't want to eat much cat food. She's be ravenous if we feed her a little people food (like small pieces of cooked chicken or a string or two of pasta) but I dunno how healthy that is for the cat...tho I guess it's better than nothing.

Any clue what this is?

How long ago did they move in? If kitty doesnt like car rides, shes already had one to move in, then went on another one to the vet, shes very stressed right now. What kind of food is she fed?

Losing that much weight and not eating are signs that something is wrong. How long ago did the roommate and cat move in? Are you feeding the kind of food the cat was used to?

When we first got Sam, he was friendly, but acted the same as your kitty. He virtually stopped eating his cat food, but would beg for people food, and he also got really thin.

The problem turned out to be that he hated the food we were giving him, and with the upset of moving, getting used to a new home and famiy, not knowing how to tell us he was hungry, all combined to make a very unhappy sick kitty.

We changed food (added high quality wet food to his diet), and he is thriving - probably a little overweight, happy, spoiled, and always lets us know if the food dish is in danger of becoming empty. Now he just meows all the time for attention and love.

Hi,

My kitty was just sick (I might post about it) recently. We had no idea what was wrong. It may have been a leg injury. In any case, he ended up with a temperature and a bladder infection and extreme constipation. He's only been better in the last couple days and we are still watching to see if he poos.

If the vet did not take your kitty's temperature, that would be a good idea. Our cat did not show any evidence of a temperature or even being lethargic. He was sleeping a lot and not moving, and when he moved he was stiff, but from the waist up he was playful and seemed happy - except we knew he was uncomfortable because he did not purr.

Jayce,

It is rather difficult to diagnose a kitty over the internet. Your best bet is to take kitty back to the vet if you are concerned. Some cats prefer people food over cat food, so perhaps you could mix some boiled chicken into her dry food to entice her to eat. She could have worms, or if she has fleas, she could be a bit miserable with them as well, but really only a vet can tell you for sure. Good luck!

She was like this before the move. We changed cat food brands and that helped a little but not much. First she'd not eat dry but she'd eat a little wet. Now she won't eat wet but she'll eat a little of the new dry stuff.

My room mate has not been able to take her to the vet again because it's been too hot when he's been able, he plans on waking up at and taking her in at 7 tommorrow morning (his car has no AC at the moment).


The last time she had been moved in the car was at night, so it was cool out. She urinated all over her self when it was mid day and sunny, and no AC. Boy was it hell giving her a bath heh.

I guess my main point of the post was to see if there's anything we could do before going to the vet again and getting the results of the blood test. The first time she went to the vet they couldn't figure out anything wrong, hence the need for a bloodtest.

My guess is some sort of worm but I'm not very knowledgable about cats or dogs (I'm a snake person myself). Hopefully she'll get to the vet tommorrow and they'll figure out something.


Thanks!

Well after another vet visit the vet still doesn't know what's wrong with her. The only thing they found out is that she'd anemic, and is on pills for that now. However she's pretty much not eating anything, and still getting skinnier. I feel so sorry for her, she's starving herself to death.


Jayce

I'm sure that people will still give you good advice about searching out the medical causes of your problem. However, you really need to get kitty to eat something, so that she doesn't get liver disease.

When my Sam quit eating, I eventually found some wet food that he liked. However, he was so weak, and so unhappy that he would not just eat from his dish. I had to hand feed him every hour or so to get his strength back. I just put a little food on my finger, and he would take a bit of it. I actually had to smear a bit on his chest to get him used to the taste - he would still groom himself, and licked the food from his fur.

We progressed to him eating from a spoon (yes, really), and eventually taking some from his bowl.

I also read somewhere that I needed to be using metal bowls, so that they could be completely cleaned - plastic that I had been using kept the smell of the food he didn't like.

The vet didn't say anything about any of her other body functions being abnormal even in the slight? The first thing I would try is a round of mild antibiotics like clavamox, some sub Q fluids and try a low fat diet with her.
In order to get her to eat something right now, I would try the KMR kitten milk replacer. If she likes it, I would try soaking some dry food in it to see if she will eat it.
If it's a behavioral problem, you may need to talk to a vet about a prescription to help. Another trick is to give them a shot of steroids to increase the appetite. If you dont feel satisfied with answers your vet is giving you, I would think about looking for another vet.

Well now she's throwing up too, and she's still getting skinnier. She definately has energy though. We still don't know what's wrong. She's been taking her medicine for iron deficiency and an appetite stimulant, but she's barley eating. She'll eat mabey 2-3 handfulls of food per day.

The vets are pretty clueless, and this is starting to get expensive. They don't think there is a blockage because it seems that the tummy/intestine area is NOT tender.

She won't even take milk now (though she's thrown up again...not chunks, but a small bit of yellowish/greenish foamyish liquid.

I dunno what to do, taking her to another vet will be expensive, and we're not made of money.


~Jayce

Well she was taken to the vet for X-Rays. All that told them was that her intestines were a bit enlarged. The Vet wants to do exploratory surgery, but that'll cost 150. My room mate has already put in like 150 bucks more, plus whatever they have to do when they find out what's wrong.

That's a lotta money, plus we don't know if the surgery would fix anything. My room mate is thinking of trying to give her away to someone that can take care of her or letting the vet put her to sleep.

I'll just list out everything we know, if anyone has any idea what we can do (besides have the exploratory surgery done) please reply.

...

Extremely skinny, has lost almost 4 pounds now. It's almost disgusting to look at her, you just see bone.

Refuses to eat.

Throwing up (just a little bit and no chunks) Yellowish green.

Low iron in blood.

X-Rays found just a bit of enlarged intestine, nothing that looks like blockage.

She's been on medication for low iron and something to give her an appetite.