3 yr old, 1st health issue

My cat Sasha, a 3 yr old neutered male, is having difficulties. He is normally a ravenous eater. He comes to me three times a day and insists on being fed. He then proceeds to gobble his food till it's gone.

What happened: Saturday he woke me, as he does every day, to be fed. He did lunch. He did not ask for supper. He did not eat what was offered. Never happened before. Sunday he did not wake me but he did eat his breakfast. He ate his lunch. He did not request or eat any supper. Monday he did not eat breakfast. He threw up a tiny bit that morning. Stomach fluid and a few bits of Sunday's lunch.

I took him to the vet Monday at 10am. A thorough routine exam showed nothing to be wrong. X rays showed everything to be in order. He stayed overnite to await results of a multi panel blood test. Yesterday morning I picked him up and was told all the blood work was normal. The tests for a couple of diseases wont be available til today. He had not eaten at the vet's at all. He had been given Diazapam on Monday to stimulate hunger to no avail. He got a second injection just before I brought him home.

He tore into his food bowl when he got home but did not eat alot. He had not urinated at the vet's but did so in his own litterbox within ten minutes of getting home. It took him a long time to do it. Maybe three or four minutes. I encouraged him to eat throughout the day but each time he only ate a minute amount. Less than an ounce probebly. Last evening he took a lot of time to urinate then had difficulty with a bowel movement. He got out of his box and realized he was carrying a half way ejected lump with him. He did leave more in the box. It distressed him terribly. I had to help him before he soiled the living room carpet. (The kitchen tile was no big deal).

He acts a bit sluggish but is otherwise normal. He seems to want to eat but just can't do it. Constipation maybe?

Variables: I changed his litter (which he shares with his adopted brother) to Special Kitty. He used Scoop Away before. I did make the transition gradually. Over three weeks time. It is probebly 90% Special Kitty now.
Marlow, his brother is not as "neat" as Sasha is in the litter box. Sasha sometimes has to tidy up the box before he will go in. Psychological issue?
The other cat moved in permanently only one month ago. He has been tested for everything and vaccinated long before he came in at all. They get along ok except for an occasional dominance type playing. Nothing violent. They both slept with us in our bed last night. They are both former feral kittens. Marlow is one and a half years old.

The vet is going to call today with the rest of the test results but I suspect they will come up good. I will talk to her about the BM issue when she calls. The vet is a young lady probebly just out of school. She is very kind and thorough. She seems to care very much. At this point I am very impressed with her.

It's a long post but I was trying to cover a lot.

Vet called. All is normal. except for the eating and litterbox issues Sasha is normal. He is sleeping on my lap as I type this.

Getting him a new litterbox and will fill it with the Scoop Away litter.

I hope our new cat Marlow isn't the issue with him. We are very fond of both.

Did the vet do a urine test? A three year old male, who is having problems urinating sounds like crystals or some type of urinary issue.

The deal here is this is nothing to wait about. A cat should not take 3 or 4 minutes to pee. It is life threatening if not treated quickly.

PLEASE! Call the vet and have this done today. We are looking at a long weekend with Christmas. Your kitty needs to be seen today.

Something isn't right about him and he's telling you in his own way (and you are very observant to see it btw). If they did x-rays, did they see impacted stool? And did they do a urinalysis? The one part of your post that caught my eye was the fact that he took so long to pee once he got home. If he's straining, it could be either from a UTI or crystals. I've had cats with completely normal blood work and x-rays that have had both of these.

If this is urinary tract related, consider adding a drinking fountain to encourage him to drink more water. Keeping a lot of moisture in their systems goes a long way to avoid urinary illnesses.

Have 3 litterboxes in your house if you don't have them already. Some cats don't like to share and some need a separate box for pee and poop.

Sending that you can figure this out and help him to feel better!!

I just set up one new litterbox with the dusty Scoop Away that we used til just the last few weeks.

The vet did see impacted stool on the Xray but said since he had a BM last night constipation could be ruled out. I personally would like to see him dump a little more. They could not have done a urinalysis be cause he did not urinate while he was there. She told me this.

I assumed that since UTI is so common and he did not urinate during the 24 hrs he was there that she would have considered the possibility of UTI. We did not, however, discuss UTI specifically. he has not urinated in over24 hrs. I will call her and ask.

As I mentioned, he seems eager to eat. He just stops after a few kibbles. I think he may be doing water the same way. He has always been a good water drinker. Taking good long drinks. Now he approaches the bowl and does his "claw the floor" ritual, but only takes short drinks.

He did pass some gas this morning. I took that as a positive sign. You should see his face when he does that. It embarasses him.

I got him some chicken. That is his favorite food. He gobbled some down but I did not give him alot. He would have eaten more had I offered.

Holy cow, he has not urinated in over 24 hours? You do not need to have the cat pee to get the urine. He can be cathed. My cat was. And he was only there a few hours before the dr. would not wait any longer.

I find it odd and scarey that your vet has not investigated this. Male cats at this age are notorious for crystals. This is usually not a simple "UTI". Your vet can check to see if his bladdar is full just by feeling his tummy. But no urine in 24 hours is a total red flag.

As I said before, a male cat not peeing is not a wait and see issue. It is a get to the vet and get treatment asap issue. They can die within 24 - 48 hours. You are looking at holidays now. I hope I have convinced you insist he be seen.

When the vet examined him she felt his belly. When she showed me the Xray she pointed out the bladder. She commented that it looked good and was empty. When I called back today she had already left. She will call me in the morning. The vet will be open on Saturday as well.

Mean time , except for litter box not being used, Sasha is normal. I probed his abdomin for any sign of pain. No adverse reaction. The vet knows that he has only urinated once since she first saw him on Monday.

i know the weather is probably horrid - but do you know where your ER vet is, just in case? And, any chance he's peeing somewhere other than the box?

Yes, I know where the ER is. I'm confident that wont be necessary.

I have scoured this house three times. Each time more thoroughly than the last. Flashlights, closets, under furniture, everywhere. Nothing. It's 7pm and Sasha is still acting as if there is nothing wrong with him.

Possible new issue; Marlow hasn't done a BM since yesterday afternoon. He urinated this morning but that's all. I have been checking the litter boxes and cleaning as necessary at least hourly since Sasha came home yesterday. The two boxes are still clean. I'm not worried about Marlow YET.

8pm and Sasha left a urine sample in his regular litterbox. He had just eaten more than he had been. Still not that much. Progress.

You know, I'm reading all the posts and thinking it just might be the litter switch - Marlow getting used to using litter and Sasha having his changed. If all the tests have come clean, then it has to behavioral/psychological.

I confess I will never understand that completely. I guess that's why cats are so appealing - they are such mysteries even after we've lived with them for years.

for them both ...

Sasha pounced on me at 6am this morning demanding his breakfast. Instead of muttering "damn it", I gave him a "good boy". I fed both he and Marlow the normal amount and both ate it all. Sasha tearing into his as he usually does. Sasha had also peed and pooed in the litter box overnight. I knew it was Sasha and not Marlow as soon as I saw the neat placement of the litter.

Looks like he's back to normal. Fingers crossed.

He used the shared litter box each time even though there is a new one with his old familiar litter in it. I was leaning toward psycho/behavioral but now, seeing what I have these last three days, I believe that not to be the case. I am still going to get an explaination from the vet about the possible UTI. She will call me this morning.Thing is, I think it was physiological but may never know what caused it.

I have my suspicions, but since they are only speculation I'll keep them to my self at this time.

I would be very concerned about several things here. I am glad he seems better, but:

just because a cat goes poop, does not mean he is not constipated. if an x ray shows poop impacted in a bowel that is a serious issue. Constipation does not necessarily mean he won't poop at all. It means he can't get it all out, the poop sits in the colon and creates a megacolon.

The only cure for megacolon is surgery.

The straining to pee issue has already been discussed but I second that it is a very serious thing.

I do not like this vet's dismissive attitude about things. You say she is young, and new vets ahve to learn, but I would think a young inexperienced vet would be more on the cautious side rather than so casual.

If there are other vets in the practice, I would ask that your cat be seen by one of them. In fact I would insist on a urinalysis being done, today, rather than spend the entire holiday worrying.

Keep us posted on Sascha, please

(edit) urine can be taken directly from the bladder. It's called cystocentesis. If the cat has an empty bladder, he can be given fluids, then wait a while, then take the urine sample.

I just spoke to the vet. She told me that if he were peeing outside the litterbox or making multiple clumps in the box then it would concern her. I did not mention in this forum that when he goes he does it all at once in one spot. The exact place in the box where he always has. He is drinking water normally again. He did not drink while he was not eating and he didn't drink very much yesterday when he was eating very little.

In retrospect, the time he spent in the box Tuesday afternoon doing his business may have been working on the BM more than the urination. He did both during the same visit and I did not actually have a stop watch on him. I did time him last night though. Urination only, 1min-20sec. This includes housekeeping.

I value everyones opinion here and I have dissmissed no ones opinion. I have been able to disscuss issues with the vet intelligently due to my education here. My concerns have been intelligently addressed by a trained professional. Sasha has been seen by four different vets. This vet is the only one that impressed me. Her thoroughness and thoughtfulness are probebly due to her inexperience. I want her to be the doctor for both my cats. Also, she has a cat herself.

PS; the litterbox has been busy all morning.

Both sasha and Marlow are a still 100%. Eating and using the litterbox normally. Neither has tried the new litterbox. Both are again drinking lots of water and peeing a lot. I'm confident any danger has passed.

I can speculate that the canned catfood they shared for lunch last Saturday and Sunday may have been the culprit. Marlow had the same symptoms but to a lesser degree. This makes sense because he should have been able to tolerate bad food better than Sasha. Marlow likely made a living from wild game and garbage for the first nine months of his life.