Trying hard not to worry...

I am blessed enough to have a vet who makes "house calls" -- I discovered her last year when I had to put my beloved older cat, Hemingway, to sleep --it was so much better to be able to be with him at home. Since then, we have retained her as our regular vet for our two remaining kitties, Lois, and Lil Britch.

Lois, my calico (hence the handle ), has ALWAYS been VERY devoted and needy. I do not mind this in the least -- it does become difficult when we go out of town because she truly suffers from my absence. We DO keep them at home and hire people to come in to care for them. She and Lil Britch are NOT really pals -- my husband had her before we got married 4 years ago -- and I think she DOES miss Hemingway. Anyway....we went away a couple of weeks ago on a cruise...when I came back, Lois was VERY needy -- she was also exhibiting some strange behavior -- smacking her mouth -- like something in there was bothering her. She had done this once before - right after Hemingway passed away -- and we called the vet who said her mouth was absolutely fine - no teeth problems, etc -- I was not present for the exam, my husband was. It ended up stopping so we weren't overly concerned at that time.

So - today, I was able to tell the vet when she came that I've noticed there's a decided difference in the stools in our litter -- some look normal, others look hard, smaller, sometimes round, etc. I noticed a small droplet of blood outside the litter box one morning as well. She sleeps on my head every night and I did notice some little "noises" coming from Lois' tummy area which my vet said is not very normal for cats. She drew some blood to test and gave her an examination -- she grimaced when she got to the kidney area because she detected a hard "mass" but then when she began to move on to the colon she thought it was just the top of the colon because her colon felt very packed - she is constipated, we believe. We are treating her with under-the-skin hydration, will put her on some wet food, and the vet called in a prescription for a kitty laxative for her. The vet says she is 90% sure it is nothing more serious than this -- not that the constipation isn't serious, but I'm hoping it's not something like kidney disease, cancer, etc -- she is absolutely normal in every other way - eating, grooming, playing, purring, etc. She has ALWAYS been into water - faucets, sinks, even the shower - she actually GETS IN after I turn it off and it's still dripping...

I will absolutely collapse if the blood work shows something more serious

Has anyone experienced anything like this??

My Callie has hard stools from having kidney problems. I have never noticed blood in her stool, but I do know sometimes it's painful for her to poop. I increased her wet food serving and add plain canned pumpkin to her food and it really helps her stool soften and pass easier. It's still harder and drier than normal, but at least it's not painful for her.

I haven't experienced anything like this, but I don't think constipation and kidney trouble would be that closely linked, at least not in the beginning stages. Perhaps you'll find she has IBS, possibly triggered by the stress of missing you and Hemingway. That might cause a noisy tummy (it certainly does for me!) Just as with people, IBS responds well to the right diet, and sometimes to medication.

I know you are scared to death, and I would be, too. It's perfectly natural when we love our cats and don't know what's wrong. But I honestly don't think that constipation, lip-smacking and a rumbly tummy generally add up to anything as scary as cancer. I'm terrible at it, but at these times, rather than displaying our anxiety, we're supposed to project a calm, positive attitude — so Lois picks up on it and feels calmer, too.

I'm really writing to tell you that I'm so impressed with how well you know your cats. It's clear that you are so in tune with your Lois that, whatever she has, you're going to nip it in the bud and give her the best possible care. You're so observant and connected to her, and you're doing all the right things. They say that the earlier you spot the problem, the better the outcome.

Calicos form such deep bonds with us, don't they?

For me, there's nothing worse than the anxiety of waiting for test results. I really feel for you, and am hoping you get the blissful relief of good news very soon. In the meantime, hang in there, and trust your instincts. You've got great ones!

Thank you SO MUCH -- YES!! Lois is tremendously bonded - my husband says that when she is sitting with me, she gets her "imperious, Mommy is MINE" look on her face.

And THANK YOU for helping to ease my mind a bit -- I have been thinking the EXACT same thing -- that I should project calm and healing thoughts to her -- and I thought about the IBS being a possibility -- because, of course, I have looked up everything under the SUN on the internet so I can continue to obsess on it!

We have given her two doses of the meds as prescribed, got some wet food for her and changed the dry to "hair ball formula" which I'm told is better in these situations.

Should have the blood work results today...I will check back in after I hear from the vet.

Thanks so much again for your responses and yes, Bunnelina, the calicos are really special, aren't they?

Love your pic, by the way -- I have to figure out how to put one of my Lois by my name!

How is Lois doing today? Did you get the results back?

My Callie that has the poop problem is a tortie, and she and I are extremely bonded. I agree that if you're calm, your kitty will be calmer. They will pick up on any nerves or uneasiness we're experiencing.

I'm glad I could help you, CalicoLois! But I'm anxious to know about Lois's test results. Please keep us posted. (I'm just like you when it comes to waiting....)



Bunnelina thought nothing of waking me up in the middle of the night (by smacking me in the nose) so I could pet her and tell her how fabulous she was! I suspect I'll never be owned by such a cat again. She was such a gift.

No test results yet -- if I don't hear from her by noon today, I'm going to call...

The good news is....we have poop!! And...it would appear the "smacking" has stopped - she hasn't done it since we started the meds and the under-the-skin hydration (which I HATE having to do by the way!)

I'll pop on with the results as soon as I have them!!!
She is in my lap right now as I type this, butting me with her head and PURRING LOUDLY!

I haven't dealt with the problems you describe, but I know how stressful it is to wait for test results. Here's hoping you get an easy diagnosis. Let us know. My thoughts are with you.

Thanks for checking in. Happy to hear she's doing better!

When you do the hydration, do you warm the saline? I stick mine in a sink full of bath-warm water for awhile, so it feels nice and warm under my cat's skin. Doing it cold must be very uncomfortable.

If the big needles are bothering Lois and you have to keep doing this, ask your vet for No. 18 needles, if you got the bigger, No. 20 size.

I learned my sub-Q technique partly at the vet and partly from Anitra Frazier's book, "The Natural Cat." She has a brand-new edition, and it's a great resource for health, behavioral, and nursing advice. She takes a holistic approach, which my vet is skeptical of, but she really understands feline health and nursing from the cat's perspective, and she's helped me a lot over the decades I've used her books.

Anitra says that the No. 18 needles are easier to use and just a bit slower than the 20s.

She reminds us to keep in mind how bad it feels for a cat (or a person) to be dehydrated (headache, weakness, nausea), how soothing the treatment is, and how quickly it works. And it's still about projecting good vibes the whole time, too!

I hope this helps!

One of my babies suffers from constipation.... not to the point of not being able to go, but to the point that he has a hard stool and there has been blood on the outside of the stool.

My vet said to give him additional fibre (which is prolly partially the reason yours recommended hairball formula which does have increased fibre) and told me to just add some physillium fibre to the wet food. Perhaps you may want to talk with your vet about that as well..... I've found that it works wonderfully and it is very cheap.

We've had blood on the stool once since then (bout 8wks or so).

I hope there is nothing more serious going on, and that you get the results soon.

All the good vibes worked!!!!! Just got off the phone with the vet -- all blood work looks just great!!

Bridget -- that is my real name and you spell it the same way I do!!! Thanks for the good thoughts!

Bunnelina - Vet says just to finish the bag we have now -- and warming it is a GREAT idea! She says we may just need to keep up the little kitty laxative (well, not really laxative but you know what I mean) we're giving her now. I told her we'd had some "box success" in the last two mornings so she was very pleased to hear that. My vet is very into the holistic medicine so I'm sure she would love it if we grabbed up that book! I call her my "earthy crunchy" vet.

Snake Lady - yes, that's why we switched over to the hairball formula -- I was also not feeding wet food which we will start doing now - I was always under the impression dry was better...boy, was I wrong!!

This is wonderful news! News like this makes us all feel better and more optimistic.

You're lucky to have such an open-minded vet. Here in Boston, the nearest vets that offer any alternative or holistic medicine are at least an hour outside of the city.

Enjoy your lovely lap cat! And do let us see a photo sometime!

Great news! Also, don't forget to up the canned food and that will help her, too.

Thanks everybody -- yes, Stephanie - we're upping the wet food -- she's doing loads better -- and we DID start warming up the fluids before doing the "under the skin" treatment and now it almost seems like she's ENJOYING it! LOL

I'll see if I can upload a pic!

I think I can only do it from a photo sharing site and I'm not sure I have any Lois pics on my webshots page! Only on my hard drive...

I'm SO glad to hear your news, and that Lois likes her hydration better now. "The Natural Cat" is a great source of wisdom.

To post my photos, I signed up on Photobucket.com and uploaded a few low-res photos. Then I copied the "image link," I think onto this site. I don't get any spam from Photobucket, and the process was pretty easy. I still had to resize some photos because they were huge, but that was simple, too.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing Lois. I would especially love to see her "Mommy is MINE!" expression... your husband needs to document that!

Yes, it's very funny! I actually have a shot of her in our home office -- she has her paw on my blackberry (which is on the carpet, plugged in for charging) and the expression is definitely "Mommy's blackberry, therefore MY blackberry"!

Just read this thread - so glad things are looking up for Lois. It's crazy how wound up we get when waiting for answers... and how intense the relief when the results come back clean. *whew!*

It's good that you're going to be feeding your kitties canned foods now. One of the many problems caused by kibble is chronic dehydration. Our little house-cats are descended from desert animals who evolved to get their moisture from their prey, so they don't have a strong urge to drink water separately.

I look forward to seeing pics!