I adopted a 1 yr old male from the local Humane Society on Feb 14. He'd been neutered there on Feb 10.
* the day after I got him I noticed him licking his penis area a lot; was concerned he had a UTI or crystals so took him to Emerg Vet. Vet looked at scrotal area, said it looked inflamed to gave him a shot of Metacam and prescribed (mostly because I begged him) him Amoxi-tabs 100mg twice a day for 10 days. Said his bladder was completely empty and didn't feel a UTI or crystals was the cause, he felt confident it was inflammation of scrotal area causing him to lick 'down there.' I watched him like a hawk for many days to ensure no issues with peeing; had good sized urine clumps in litterbox, never observed to be straining to pee or making frequent trips
* a week later I took him back to Emerg vet clinic as he'd started sneezing and I feared he had an Upper Resp Virus; although it was only sneezing and no other symptoms (appetite great, drinking well, no nasal or eye discharge, plenty of energy), I wasn't able to get him to hold still long enough to check his temp and worried that he might have a fever and I didn't know it. Having 4 other older cats I just wanted to be safe. Vet said he was fine, to just watch him. I had her check his scrotal area. He'd no longer been licking it. She commented that I should take a warm washcloth and try to soak off the scabbed areas (on each side of sac). I didn't see why; my view is that you don't go fussing with scabs, let them fall off on their own, why go messing with them? so I didn't do as she suggested.
*a week later I observed his scrotal area, looked great; no redness, hadn't been licking at it.
*3 days later (middle of last week), came home to find him licking his scrotal area. One side of it was very very red, almost raw looking. Took him to Vet. She gave him a shot of Convenia (14 day long-lasting antibiotic) and told me to give him Metacam for 3 days. I shuddered as she suggested this, I flat out refused explaining to her all of the horrible things I've read about it's use in cats. She argued with me; citing she'd been using it in cats for years with absolutely no ill effects. She was very clear that he needed an anti-inflammatory, no questions about it. After much deliberation, I felt I had no choice. She sent us home with a nasty plastic e-collar for him to wear. That went over like a lead ballooon. He got it off his head, once at home, in 5 minutes.
*next night I come home from work....now other side of scrotal area is very raw. I get him into MY Vet (who I couldn't get into the night before). He shows me how tight I have to tie the tie for the e-collar, says I didn't have it tied tight enough. I asked him for some Panalog cream and he agrees; to apply that twice a day for 10 days. I ask him "WHAT" is the root cause of this......how much antibiotics and anti-inflammatories are we going to pump into the cat when we don't know the root cause of the problem. He explained that from looking at his scrotal area, that when the neutering was done, the method they used to remove the fur on his nutsac was to basically "pull" the fur out. He says this is common though traumatic to the skin and he prefers to use clippers and clip ONLY the area that needs to be free of fur. Says they removed ALL of his fur to his scrotum and by doing so, this was leading to the problem.
NOTE: I did call up the Humane Society prior to going to the vet to ask them to explain what method of neutering they used; concerned that maybe he was having a reaction to an internal suture or something. they explained they use the "over the hemostat technique" - the "open method." I explained this to my Vet and he said that is the method he uses.
I've had a cone on this poor cat's head for 3 days. He's not able to drink water with it on (despite everyone telling me that he'd be able to) and has one helluva time eating dry food despite the size of bowl I use. I take off the cone twice a day to feed him lots of canned food (add water to it; concerned that he'll get dehydrated from going all day without being able to drink water). He's been getting better used to the cone but for a rangy young cat, it's really distressing to him. Today I left it off and watched him. He's only licked a couple of times. The areas are much improved but still quite pink. I've never EVER had this problem with a newly neutered male cat. I have spent about $500 so far; so much for the 6 wk post-adoption pet insurance I have; because I had to take him to the Vet within 48 hrs of adopting him, this "issue" is considered a 'pre-existing condition" and they're off the hook for any ongoing costs related to this problem.
I asked about trying Bitter Apple spray, to at least avoid having to put the nasty cone on him but I considered against it......that's delicate skin down there and I'm concerned that will make things worse.
They've claimed he's a year old...but I wonder if he is actually a fair bit older and part of this problem is just due to him being neutered later in life?
Has anyone ever experienced this?
By the way, I did very reluctantly give him 3 days of Metacam because I felt I had no choice......and he's been just fine. Every damn vet around these parts sings the praises of it and when I try to tell them that stuff is dangerous to cats they look at me like I'm from Mars and argue with me. I even told them about the website that's dedicated to those who've experienced tragic effects of this oral med in their cats and they all just say "well there's probably a lot of information that the owner doesn't know; like maybe the cat had an underlying condition and it shouldn't have been given due to that" or "maybe the cat was old and had impaired kidney function"
Thanks in advance. I am so frustrated and feeling very discouraged, that this problem will take weeks if not months to go away. He was fine for a week and a half........what made him start licking again i don't know. Maybe he was trying to lick the scabbed areas off?
Lisa
* the day after I got him I noticed him licking his penis area a lot; was concerned he had a UTI or crystals so took him to Emerg Vet. Vet looked at scrotal area, said it looked inflamed to gave him a shot of Metacam and prescribed (mostly because I begged him) him Amoxi-tabs 100mg twice a day for 10 days. Said his bladder was completely empty and didn't feel a UTI or crystals was the cause, he felt confident it was inflammation of scrotal area causing him to lick 'down there.' I watched him like a hawk for many days to ensure no issues with peeing; had good sized urine clumps in litterbox, never observed to be straining to pee or making frequent trips
* a week later I took him back to Emerg vet clinic as he'd started sneezing and I feared he had an Upper Resp Virus; although it was only sneezing and no other symptoms (appetite great, drinking well, no nasal or eye discharge, plenty of energy), I wasn't able to get him to hold still long enough to check his temp and worried that he might have a fever and I didn't know it. Having 4 other older cats I just wanted to be safe. Vet said he was fine, to just watch him. I had her check his scrotal area. He'd no longer been licking it. She commented that I should take a warm washcloth and try to soak off the scabbed areas (on each side of sac). I didn't see why; my view is that you don't go fussing with scabs, let them fall off on their own, why go messing with them? so I didn't do as she suggested.
*a week later I observed his scrotal area, looked great; no redness, hadn't been licking at it.
*3 days later (middle of last week), came home to find him licking his scrotal area. One side of it was very very red, almost raw looking. Took him to Vet. She gave him a shot of Convenia (14 day long-lasting antibiotic) and told me to give him Metacam for 3 days. I shuddered as she suggested this, I flat out refused explaining to her all of the horrible things I've read about it's use in cats. She argued with me; citing she'd been using it in cats for years with absolutely no ill effects. She was very clear that he needed an anti-inflammatory, no questions about it. After much deliberation, I felt I had no choice. She sent us home with a nasty plastic e-collar for him to wear. That went over like a lead ballooon. He got it off his head, once at home, in 5 minutes.
*next night I come home from work....now other side of scrotal area is very raw. I get him into MY Vet (who I couldn't get into the night before). He shows me how tight I have to tie the tie for the e-collar, says I didn't have it tied tight enough. I asked him for some Panalog cream and he agrees; to apply that twice a day for 10 days. I ask him "WHAT" is the root cause of this......how much antibiotics and anti-inflammatories are we going to pump into the cat when we don't know the root cause of the problem. He explained that from looking at his scrotal area, that when the neutering was done, the method they used to remove the fur on his nutsac was to basically "pull" the fur out. He says this is common though traumatic to the skin and he prefers to use clippers and clip ONLY the area that needs to be free of fur. Says they removed ALL of his fur to his scrotum and by doing so, this was leading to the problem.
NOTE: I did call up the Humane Society prior to going to the vet to ask them to explain what method of neutering they used; concerned that maybe he was having a reaction to an internal suture or something. they explained they use the "over the hemostat technique" - the "open method." I explained this to my Vet and he said that is the method he uses.
I've had a cone on this poor cat's head for 3 days. He's not able to drink water with it on (despite everyone telling me that he'd be able to) and has one helluva time eating dry food despite the size of bowl I use. I take off the cone twice a day to feed him lots of canned food (add water to it; concerned that he'll get dehydrated from going all day without being able to drink water). He's been getting better used to the cone but for a rangy young cat, it's really distressing to him. Today I left it off and watched him. He's only licked a couple of times. The areas are much improved but still quite pink. I've never EVER had this problem with a newly neutered male cat. I have spent about $500 so far; so much for the 6 wk post-adoption pet insurance I have; because I had to take him to the Vet within 48 hrs of adopting him, this "issue" is considered a 'pre-existing condition" and they're off the hook for any ongoing costs related to this problem.
I asked about trying Bitter Apple spray, to at least avoid having to put the nasty cone on him but I considered against it......that's delicate skin down there and I'm concerned that will make things worse.
They've claimed he's a year old...but I wonder if he is actually a fair bit older and part of this problem is just due to him being neutered later in life?
Has anyone ever experienced this?
By the way, I did very reluctantly give him 3 days of Metacam because I felt I had no choice......and he's been just fine. Every damn vet around these parts sings the praises of it and when I try to tell them that stuff is dangerous to cats they look at me like I'm from Mars and argue with me. I even told them about the website that's dedicated to those who've experienced tragic effects of this oral med in their cats and they all just say "well there's probably a lot of information that the owner doesn't know; like maybe the cat had an underlying condition and it shouldn't have been given due to that" or "maybe the cat was old and had impaired kidney function"
Thanks in advance. I am so frustrated and feeling very discouraged, that this problem will take weeks if not months to go away. He was fine for a week and a half........what made him start licking again i don't know. Maybe he was trying to lick the scabbed areas off?
Lisa
