Hi,
WEll, I'll tell you the whole story.
About a year and a half ago, my cat started to pull out her fur, so we put her on Spot-On, and it disappeared. but now, it's come back with a vengeance.
She pulled out the hair under her legs, on her stomach, and now her bald patches are moving up her body. She also bites herself hard enough to cause little scabs. We took her to the vet when the Spot-On stopped working, and she gave her a dose of something (I'm not sure exactly what it was) to reduce the irritation. The vet says it is almost certainly fleas, but took some blood and skin tests to check. Everything seems fine in her blood (the skin tests haven't come back yet) but she wants a urine sample to test too.
Yesterday, I found her straining to pee in the bath. She occasionally scrapes in the bath is she needs the loo, but had never actuallydone anything before. What's worse, is there was blood in the urine.
We have workmen in the house just now, so she is undoubtedly stressed at that, but she seems very out-of-sorts, and is overly sooky and affectionate.
Today, she did a pee in the bath again, but this time it was not blood stained, thankfully. It was while we were in the house though, so she could easily have gone outside to do it.
She has always been a bit of a random cat, and very stupid, but recently she's been even more so, mewing pathetically all the time at nothing. She is being bullied by a new cat on the block, and I think she is afraid to go outside. She is very submissive and will not defend her own garden. There are a few cats she doesn't mind much, but this new cat had completely taken over her territory.
What I would like to know is:
1) Is there anything else I can do to help repel the fleas. (The vet is going to prescribe her a steroid)
2) Is there any reason for her strange behaviour?
3) How bad is it that she was peeing blood? (I am quite worried about that, as my previous cat started to do that, and we soon found out she had a tumour in her bladder, and had to be put down.)
4) Is there anything I can do to encourage her to go outside again?
Sorry for the long post, but I thought you should know all the details.
Thanks so much.
WEll, I'll tell you the whole story.
About a year and a half ago, my cat started to pull out her fur, so we put her on Spot-On, and it disappeared. but now, it's come back with a vengeance.
She pulled out the hair under her legs, on her stomach, and now her bald patches are moving up her body. She also bites herself hard enough to cause little scabs. We took her to the vet when the Spot-On stopped working, and she gave her a dose of something (I'm not sure exactly what it was) to reduce the irritation. The vet says it is almost certainly fleas, but took some blood and skin tests to check. Everything seems fine in her blood (the skin tests haven't come back yet) but she wants a urine sample to test too.
Yesterday, I found her straining to pee in the bath. She occasionally scrapes in the bath is she needs the loo, but had never actuallydone anything before. What's worse, is there was blood in the urine.
We have workmen in the house just now, so she is undoubtedly stressed at that, but she seems very out-of-sorts, and is overly sooky and affectionate.
Today, she did a pee in the bath again, but this time it was not blood stained, thankfully. It was while we were in the house though, so she could easily have gone outside to do it.
She has always been a bit of a random cat, and very stupid, but recently she's been even more so, mewing pathetically all the time at nothing. She is being bullied by a new cat on the block, and I think she is afraid to go outside. She is very submissive and will not defend her own garden. There are a few cats she doesn't mind much, but this new cat had completely taken over her territory.
What I would like to know is:
1) Is there anything else I can do to help repel the fleas. (The vet is going to prescribe her a steroid)
2) Is there any reason for her strange behaviour?
3) How bad is it that she was peeing blood? (I am quite worried about that, as my previous cat started to do that, and we soon found out she had a tumour in her bladder, and had to be put down.)
4) Is there anything I can do to encourage her to go outside again?
Sorry for the long post, but I thought you should know all the details.
Thanks so much.