Worried about Willow

On Saturday I went to see the local cat specialist because Willow wasn't acting like herself. Not eating as much as normal and sleeping a lot. I had recently changed the food I was feeding her, so thought that might have something to do with it. She had been on an all dry diet, and I switched to a higher quality wet food. This was the first time seeing this vet, but I did have her records from the previous vet and her weight had not changed at all as of her last examination in March.

The vet examined her, checked her teeth and temperature, checked her ears, couldn't find anything wrong. She recommended having her teeth cleaned as they had a lot of tartar buildup, and advised on monitoring her food intake for the next few days. The previous vet visit had recommended teeth cleaning as well, but I had put it off because I had a bad experience with a pet dog dying under anesthesia and I'm hesitant to put my animals under for that reason.

Willow seemed normal on Sunday and Monday, but as of last night she's gone completely off her food. Won't eat at all. I gave her one of her favorite treats (which happens to be a crunchy pellet) and she did try to chew it, but then she made this strangled yowling sound and ran across the living room, dropping the treat halfway. She spent the next two or three minutes dry heaving, then ran and hid behind the toilet.

I will be calling the vet in the morning and hope to get her in tomorrow. Does it sound like dental problems or could it be something else? Willow is a little overweight, and I'm worried about fatty liver disease if she goes too long without eating.

it could be

How old is she?? has a blood panel been run??

do you know how to assist feed??

Willow is a little over five years old. The vet mentioned blood tests on Saturday, but recommended observation since she didn't have any obvious signs like an elevated temperature. I'll probably have them done when I take her in tomorrow.

I tried watering down her food until it was almost a soup, but she wasn't interested. Is it possible for one person to force feed a cat?

A bad tooth can definitely cause a cat to lose interest in eating, and infection beneath the gum can set in, causing them to sleep more. Sometimes the teeth don't look bad above the gum line, maybe just some tartar, but beneath the gumline (which is why xrays are necessary) there can be resorptive lesions (similar to cavities in humans, for the most part).

1. How old is Willow?

2. Does she go outside at all and perhaps got into something she shouldn't have? If she does go outside, please - keep her inside at all times so that you can closely monitor her.

3. How long has it been since she had bloodwork done, to check kidney function, liver, sugar level, CBC, etc? If not recently, she should have it done. Often times this basic bloodwork can reveal a lot (eg: diabetes, kidney disease, liver problems, infection, etc). This should also include an analysis of the urine (urinalysis) as that too can give a lot of good info re: the presence of bacteria, how well the kidneys are doing their job, if blood is present (eg: symptom of bladder infection), if there are crystals, etc.

Dental disease in cats can lead to kidney disease because bacteria under the gumline can spread into the bloodstream and to the major organs, like kidneys and heart.

I hope you'll be able to get her into the Vet as soon as possible tomorrow; try to explain to them the urgency of this, that she's not been herself for several days, and then her recent episode on top of that.

It's possible, too that she didn't like the canned food so I'd put her old dry food back out for her to at least nibble on if she so chooses, so that she's at least getting some food into her.

Is she peeing more than usual? Drinking more than usual?

I haven't noticed any changes in her litterbox habits. It's easy to tell her pee from the kitten's, since he leaves lot of little ping pong ball sized clumps, and she leaves bigger ones. She is definitely drinking less, but I was told that was normal when switching to wet food.

She had urinalysis done back in March when we did the last checkup and the vet looked over the numbers and said they were normal.

I still have a little of her old dry food left, so I'll try softening it with some water and see if she'll eat it.

Just an update... As far as I can tell she didn't eat anything last night. Some of the food disappeared, but I'm positive the kitten ate it. I called the vet first thing this morning and they agreed that it was most likely dental problems and had me bring her in to do the cleaning today. They said they would check for any teeth that need to be extracted and pull them at that time, but they would cap any cavities if it was possible to save the tooth.

They also agreed to do the blood work to look for any underlying problems. They said that she should be ready to pick up by the time I go on lunch at 5:30 PM (I work late) but I think that I will have them keep her overnight for observation. The surgery isn't scheduled until 3:00, and if she's groggy and in pain then having a rambunctious kitten around who wants to play all the time would probably stress her out. I'm supposed to receive a call from the vet once the surgery is done and they have results from the blood test, so I'll update later.

Well, the blood test says that her kidney and liver functions are consistant with being a little bit dehydrated, but no diabetes or kidney or liver issues. Her white blood cell count is very high though. The doctor cleaned her teeth and said that they cleaned up beautifully. She had a touch of gingivitis around one tooth, but no abcesses and they didn't see any cavities or pull any of her teeth. So now the vet suspects an infection or inflammation in her abdomen, since she showed signs of pain when palpatating her stomach. They did x-rays looking for a foreign body and checked her throat with an endoscope and couldn't find anything, or any signs that her intestines may be bunching up like she'd swallowed a string. So they did an ultrasound and found a mineralized mass stuck to the wall of her bladder. I told them to go ahead and run a urinalysis to see if there was blood in her urine, since she was going to be staying overnight anyway.

The vet says they can't see any obvious reasons why she would be off her food or have such a violent reaction when eating. So they're going to put her on antibiotics and give her an appetite stimulant to see if she starts eating.

So far we're at around $600 and counting...

Is it at all possible she is a fussy eater? Has she always been a god eater? And I can imagine her electrolytes would be down if she was not eating at all. Cats just do not have the reserve not o eat - if she ever does that again, get a syringe and give her some specialized cat food or even pediayte but there are recipes fr cats who won't eat. Still, it does not sound like she is near that state yet or your vet would have told you.

Has anything happened to upset her recently? Cats can stop eating when they are very stressed. There are many studies on this and a proven correlation between lack of eating and severe stress. It may even be stress you are unaware of. A cat outside that bothers her - even if she is an indoor cat. A change in her litterbox. New peple in your and thus her life. Any kind of major change.


I wish I could help you - but it's hard without seeing her.

I hope your vet and you with Willow's help can figure it out!

Happy everything went well, was looking forward to reading your update!

So what do they think about the mass on the wall of her bladder? What do they think it is? Is that something they're going to pursue/further investigate? Do they think it could be related to the abdominal tenderness?

Bet she'll be thrilled once she's back home, you too!

She has never been highly food motivated, but she has always eaten enough to maintain her weight. I adopted a kitten about a month ago, but she has lived with other cats in the past and had been eating just fine up until now so I don't think that's the problem. I live on a second floor apartment, so I don't think she's seen another cat outside.

The vet said that they should know more about the mass once they get the urinalysis results, but at this point they weren't recommending surgery to remove it.

Well, I picked up her up this morning. The vet was checking out her urinalysis results when I came in. Her urine is actually really diluted. The vet suspects that it may be an indication that the infection might be in her kidneys, or possibly an early sign of kidney failure. Her blood test results don't show any sign of diabetes. According to the vet, this means that the mineralized mass is probably in the wall of the bladder and be from a time in the past when she had more concentrated urine.

She did eat at the vet's after being given the appetite stimulant, so the vet gave me a few day's supply. They also gave me some Clavamox for the infection to bring her white blood cell count down.

She did seem happy to see me and come home, and immediately hid under my bed once I let her out of her carrier. I had to leave for work immediately afterwards, though.

I hope its not in her kidneys.
Coco's bladder infections got to her kidneys.
Do you know what her bun is?

They didn't find any bactiera in her urine, so I doubt it's a kidney infection. I don't know what her numbers are offhand, but I did get a copy of the blood and urinalysis paperwork. I just didn't get a chance to look to look at them before I had to leave for work. I'll see if I can scan them tonight.

Sounds like she has something else.
I hope it isnt Diabetes or Kidney Failure.

Well, they said the blood test results didn't indicate diabetes, so at least we can rule that out.

As promised, here are the results from the blood and urine tests. Do any of these numbers indicate anything I should ask the vet about? Keep in mind the blood test was done after she hadn't had anything to eat for a day and a half. The urinalysis was taken later the same day, but after they had put her on an IV.

Since then she has gone back to eating, though still not as much as I would like. I've been successful in mixing her medications in with a small amount of her food and feeding it to her first, making sure she eats it all before giving her more. Otherwise I'm sure it would end up in the kitten's stomach instead. It's like he has a hollow leg or something.

L = Low
N = Normal
H = High

I bolded the out of range results.

Hematology Data

Leukocyte Data

WBC / 26.5 / H / 5.5-19.5 (10^3/mm^3)
LYM # / 4 / N / 1.8-6.5 (10^3/mm^3)

MON # / 1.1 / H / 0.2-0.6 (10^3/mm^3)
GRA # / 20.4 / H / 2.8-13 (10^3/mm^3)

LTM % / 15.5 / N / 0.01-99.99 (%)
MON % / 4.7 / N / 0.01-99.99 (%)
GRA % / 79.4 / N / 0.01-99.99 (%)

Erythrocyte Data

HTC / 36.96 / N / 25-45 (%)
MCV / 45 / N / 39-50 (fl)
RDW / 16.01 / N / 13-17 (%)
RBC / 8.16 / N / 5-11 (10^6/mm^3)
HGB / 12.49 / N / 8-15 (g/dl)
MCHC / 33.8 / N / 30-36 (g/dl)
MCH / 15.25 / N / 12.5-17.5 (pg)

Platelet Data

PLT / 98 / L / 200-500 (10^3/mm^3)
MPV / 10.04 / L / 12-18 (fl)

Chemistry Data:

Renal Analytes

BUN / 9 / L / 15-35 (mg/dl)
Creatinine / 1.8 / N / 0.6-2 (mg/dl)

Metabolic Analytes

Total Protein / 9.2 / H / 5.8-8 (g/dl)
Glucose / 159 / H / 70-125 (mg/dl)

Hepatic Analytes

ALT / 12 / N / 10-100 (IU/L)
ALP / 20 / N / 0-90 (IU/L)

Urinalysis (Complete)

Color / Yellow
Appearance / Cloudy
Specific Gravity / 1.013 (LOW) / 1.015-1.060
pH / 6.5 / 5.5-7.0
Protein / Negative / Negative
Glucose-Strip / Negative / Negative
Ketones / Negative / Negative
Bilirubin / Negative / Negative
Occult Blood / Negative / Negative
WBC/HPF / None Observed / 0-3
RBC/HPF / None Observed / 0-3
Casts/LPF / None Observed / Hyaline 0-3
Crystals/HPF
Amorphous crystals (2+)

Bacteria / None Observed / None Observed
Transitional Epithelia/HPF / None Observed / None - Rare
Squamous Epithelia/HPF / None Observed / None - Few
Renal Epithelia/HPF / None Observed/ None - Rare

I see some of her numbers are low and some are high.
The high wbc could be a infection.
The low bun could be a liver problem.
What is the vet saying she has?

Your results look pretty good! Obviously the elevated WBC would show some kind of infection going on; is kitty on antibiotics?

The total protein is a bit elevated but that's likely due to kitty having been a little dehydrated at the time bloodwork was done.

Low platelets don't really mean much because generally in cats, they 'clump' so the result is never accurate (my clinic's lab will always add the note 'clumping' beside the number)

It's interesting that kitty's urine specific gravity is very low considering her kidney values (BUN and Creat) are good. BUN is a little on the low side but BUN is greatly affected by diet so if kitty wasn't eating much prior to when bloodwork was done, that could account for this. That's generally the type of dilute urine you'd see in a cat with chronic kidney failure (such that the kidneys aren't able to properly concentrate the urine and it's therefore dilute). I'm wondering if kitty could have a kidney infection?? This is something you should ask the Vet..........this would certainly cause infection (high wbc) and problems with the kidneys concentrating the urine). Kidney infections are sometimes a little difficult to diagnose........but an ultrasound of the kidneys would be helpful.

The elevated glucose isn't a concern because it always goes up when a cat is stressed, I've seen it much much higher!

Liver enzymes look good (ALT and ALP)

OOPS! I'm sorry, I realize I hadn't read a few of the past posts where your Vet also commented on the dilute urine and possibility of a kidney infection. The early stages of kidney failure won't cause such dilute urine; you usually don't see it that dilute until their Creat is way higher (the Creatinine level is the better indicator of kidney function, as compared to BUN). I'm sure they did hydrate her well with the IV so that could account for some of the dilute-ness, but not all of it.

I'd be wondering if Clavamox is really the best antibiotic for a possible kidney infection?

My understanding of cats w/ a kidney infection is that they need to remain on antibiotics for more than the standard 7-10 days.

Are you scheduled to bring her back in at some point to have her bloodwork done again; even if it's just a CBC to see if her WBC count has gone down?

I don't mean to scare you at all but I would be concerned about any type of mass seen attached to the wall of the bladder.....unless perhaps it's a large stone that's embedded in the lining? - that is possible.

Sending Willow Prayers and