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Mooch isn't acting like herself.

post #1 of 24
3/19/10 at 6:38pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not sure whats going on and of course it's Friday night. This morning I noticed one of the cats had thrown up some foamy white stuff, almost mucous I think. A little while later while I was bathing the baby I heard Mooch crying and then found more throw up. After the baby and I came home from being out for about an hour I found more of this. Just small, quarter to half dollar size spots, some trailed out.

Mooch has been sitting in the same position all day (different spots), where they tuck all their limbs under them but have their head upright. I did notice that one time she went to roll to her side then stopped and went back into that same position. Maybe like her belly or side is hurting?

She's not come to sit in my lap; she's named Mooch for a reason, but then I was on the go most of the morning. She will sniff my hand a little and let me pet her, but she's hiding in one of their cubes now where she can't be seen too well. She was making a noise in there (I couldn't tell if she was scratching or what, the cube is upside down so that could be it) and it got both my attention and Noodles'.

I can't think of anything she could have gotten into. Last Wednesday she was at the vet and treated for worms along with getting her rabies and Feline Panleuk/Rhino/C/C vaccine updated. She's been fine since then.

I don't know that she's eaten or drunk today. Their food lasted longer today so that makes me think no for eating. I haven't tried to feed her. I thought of opening some can food for her and Noodles, but if her belly is off I thought that might not be a good idea. I don't know that she would eat rice. All I have is some brown rice; can she eat that maybe with some chicken broth to entice her to it? Not sure chicken broth would have things that are ok for her to eat?

I'm getting concerned. I feel so bad and guilty. I've not been paying her the same attention she's used to since the baby came. I used to fall asleep on the couch with her every night; we've not done that since I had the baby. She often comes to get in my lap here at the computer when I'm trying to just sit down for a quick minute. She's often overbearing in her looking for love.

Any advice? I see from their website that my vet's northern office is open tomorrow. I live a good distance from there but of course I will go in if the can see us.
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post #2 of 24
3/19/10 at 6:54pm
It's possible that Mooch has a hairball causing her trouble. All that unproductive vomiting...and the pain could be caused by gas. Sometimes a hairball gets lodged on it's way out the other way, and can cause a lot of vomiting and gas buildup which is very painful.

Once when this happened to Tolly he was screaming with pain, and it turned out to be gas and a hairball not moving fast enough.

I speak from experience with similar symptoms, but if there is no improvement by morning most definitely get her seen right away.

Has she eaten? Peed? Pooped?
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post #3 of 24
3/19/10 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 
It's hard to tell if she's the one eating or using the box or if it's Noodles. I haven't noticed a particular one leaving where we have the box.
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post #4 of 24
3/19/10 at 8:01pm
How old is Mooch?

When's the last time he had bloodwork done?

Any signs of constipation in the litterbox? (super hard poops, hard turds, etc)

Could be grooming more due to stress and a furball that won't come up.

Other things can cause vomiting foam, lack of appetite (kidney disease). Can see vomiting with thyroid disease, diabetes.

Good thing you'll be trying to get him into the Vet tomorrow. Be as firm as you can that he really needs to be seen and you really don't feel it's best to wait (if they're booked up). Keep us posted.
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post #5 of 24
3/19/10 at 8:37pm
These are the symptoms Elsa had with an intestinal blockage. Definitely have the vet check for that too.
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post #6 of 24
3/19/10 at 9:04pm
Thread Starter 
Well a few minutes ago I saw Mooch go into the litter box. After she came out DH checked the box and there wasn't so much as a tinkle in there.

She did come to me to get some lovin but she wouldn't jump into my lap. A couple times she moved like she was going to, but then didn't. Poor baby. Wish she could talk to tell me what's wrong!
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post #7 of 24
3/19/10 at 9:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_food_lady View Post
How old is Mooch?

When's the last time he had bloodwork done?

Any signs of constipation in the litterbox? (super hard poops, hard turds, etc)

Could be grooming more due to stress and a furball that won't come up.

Other things can cause vomiting foam, lack of appetite (kidney disease). Can see vomiting with thyroid disease, diabetes.

Good thing you'll be trying to get him into the Vet tomorrow. Be as firm as you can that he really needs to be seen and you really don't feel it's best to wait (if they're booked up). Keep us posted.
Mooch is 5 years old. Any blood work she or Noodles had done was before I adopted them at age 10 weeks. See my above post about the litter box.
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post #8 of 24
3/19/10 at 9:10pm
She could have a bladder problem.
My Coco would go in the pan and not go.
She also would throw up.
You need to see the vet.
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post #9 of 24
3/20/10 at 3:10am
She does need the vet as soon as possible. Does she seem to have a fever? Are her ears hot? It could well be a hairball, or just a tummy upset that will pass, but not eating, pooping or peeing plus clear vomit are signs that something is definitely wrong. And she is telling you that too, as you can see. Good luck, I hope you get it sorted. I have just had two weeks of fever, not eating and constipation with Wellington, and I know how frustrating it can be.
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post #10 of 24
3/20/10 at 3:38am
Thread Starter 
I will be calling the vet first thing this morning. Mooch's ears are cool, but now twice I've seen her go in the litter box to come out having done nothing. It's 6:30 am here so I have a couple hours till I can call.
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post #11 of 24
3/20/10 at 4:39am
I took Magnum to the e-vet once with similar symptoms, they were in the middle of tests when he threw up the biggest hairball ever, jumped down and started fighting the clinic cat for its food, but they were worried about it being kidney disease
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post #12 of 24
3/20/10 at 6:21am
When you've seen her recently in the litterbox trying to go but no luck, can you "tell" if she was crouched down in the position to pee or poop? Females usually have their bum down lower to the litter when peeing; when they're going to poop, their back end is little higher up.

Often when you have a cat in which something is off, it's best to separate them into a room by themself; with their own litterbox, food, water; that way you can better monitor what they're doing/not doing - otherwise it's often difficult to distinguish things from what the other cats might be doing/not doing.

Please express to the clinic when you call that this is an emergency-type situation; she's not eating, not as active, goes into litterbox but no results........and if for some reason they can't get her in, you need to find an clinic that will......today, ASAP. If no clinic, find an emergency Vet clinic. It's really critical.

If she's 5 yrs, she should have full bloodwork done as well, plus likely xrays of the abdomen to look for an intestine that might be full of stool or a blockage. She likely needs some fluids, too. And most critical, she need a urinalysis; to check for infection and crystals. They need to rule out things like kidney disease (even young cats can get it), constipation/obstruction/furball, impact to the liver from not having eaten in some time (liver enzymes done as part of the bloodwork should show this).

Make sure to tell them that you get the sense that her belly is tender. Hopefully a good Vet will be able to start off by palpating (feeling) her abdomen and tell right away if she's full of poop -- but an xray will still need to be done as 'feeling' can only tell so much.

It's also possible that she swallowed something and it's obstructed her, too.

If she's not been eating through the night, I'd take her food away now. In the event that there is some kind of obstruction and they need to do surgery today, there's no sense in her eating anything.

Keep us posted.
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post #13 of 24
3/20/10 at 6:30am
Hopefully by now you are at the vet. Be sure to let us know what you find out, all paws crossed for Mooch!
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post #14 of 24
3/20/10 at 3:44pm
Thread Starter 
Took Mooch to the vet first thing this morning. The vet says UTI. She gave her some fluids and an antibiotic by injection. Since then I've seen her exhibiting more of the symptoms of a UTI I've always read about on here. She was much more 'perky' at the vet's but since coming home has been mostly sleeping in her kennel or still trying to use the litter box. The vet said that if by Monday she's not any better to call so they can do an x-ray but she did not feel the need to do it just yet.
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post #15 of 24
3/20/10 at 5:05pm
here's hoping Mooch has a good night, and you too. UTI's are so worrisome (been there, done that) and I know you won't relax til you see a nice pee ball.

I know you're keeping an eye on her - and, do you have an e-vet you can run to if things don't progress over the weekend? That said, my boy got better so fast with his initial injected antibiotics and a pain shot and a course of baytril. FWIW, my vet had me bring him in a week after the antibiotics were done, for a urine test. Dante had struvite crystals, but, crossing fingers, Hills CD seems to have done the trick to now.

Oh, does Mooch drink well? Anything you can do to encourage her water consumption is a good thing. I've got a fountain for my two - they do seem to enjoy their water more now. Good luck, and please let us know how things are going in the morning.

Icklemiss, that was a great story about Magnum - I can just see the whole picture of a worried mama driving oh-so-fast to the e-vet, tossing your credit card in the general direction of the cashier while racing into the exam room, and then kitty just deciding to toss that hairball right then...why do these things always happen on the weekends, middle of the night or on holidays? But, thank goodness Magnum did toss that hairball then.
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post #16 of 24
3/20/10 at 8:15pm
Thread Starter 
So far she's mostly sleeping but I've seen her head to the box and make nothing several times. We had dinner at my mothers so I've been gone the last few hours. She's still kind of sitting like she doesn't feel so good. I want to just lay on the floor with her and comfort her; but the baby keeps needing my attention. Poor Moochie. It's as hard to figure them out sometimes as it is the baby. I'm so tired myself.
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post #17 of 24
3/20/10 at 8:24pm
feel better soon Mooch
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post #18 of 24
3/20/10 at 9:22pm
So Vet gave antibiotic injection; I assume she always prescribed 5-10 days worth of oral antibiotics for you to give as well?

So Vet did a urinalysis, I take it?
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post #19 of 24
3/21/10 at 4:44am
I hope Mooch gets over this nasty thing quickly.
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post #20 of 24
3/21/10 at 7:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by darlili View Post
Icklemiss, that was a great story about Magnum - I can just see the whole picture of a worried mama driving oh-so-fast to the e-vet, tossing your credit card in the general direction of the cashier while racing into the exam room, and then kitty just deciding to toss that hairball right then...why do these things always happen on the weekends, middle of the night or on holidays? But, thank goodness Magnum did toss that hairball then.
Yes, it was an expensive night, paid for testing for the vet to come back and say yes, it must have just been the hairball. Got home someone had taken our parking space, parked in visitors parking and woke up the next morning to find the car stolen so we had to pay the deductible for getting the lock and steering column/ignition fixed when they found it and then when the evet faxed the records to my vet she called to laugh at me because I always over worry about the cats and she found the vet's hairball story funny. Their clinic cat is also fairly mean so she was amused by Magnum stealing its food because most cats would need vet attention for touching its bowl
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post #21 of 24
3/21/10 at 6:54pm
Thread Starter 
DH said Mooch tinkled while I was getting groceries tonight so that's an improvement! I tried to give her some can food to maybe help stimulate her appetite. She took one lick and that was it. Still haven't seen her drink. I was planning on calling the vet in the morning but she does seem a little better. Still acting like she is hurting and kind of weak I guess. Not sure now that we've seen her 'go.'

Any idea how long it usually takes for the antibiotics to help? The vet said the injection would last her 2 weeks.
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post #22 of 24
3/21/10 at 7:13pm
Sometimes the shot does not help.
It only helped Coco for 2 days instead of two weeks.
Are the meds clavamox in pill or liquid form.
If you my Coco got sick on them and the infection did not go away.
It took Baytril to stop her bladder problems.
She had them for over 2 years until we put her on baytril forever.
She also had stones that were dissolved with S/D.
Then she was put on C/D.
The food did help.
I hope your cat feels better and it will not be a ongoing thing like Coco was.
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post #23 of 24
3/22/10 at 6:05am
Thread Starter 
Our vet just called us to check on Mooch. We had some small improvements overnight.

Mooch came to me for some love twice last night but couldn't/wouldn't jump in my lap so she just laid by my feet. She eventually did jump up on the couch and spent the night there. I gave her some can food and she licked it for a couple minutes. The vet said to try watering it down; so I did and she ate a bit more. When I came back in the room she'd put one of her toys on top of it. She always 'burys' her food after she's done.

The vet gave me a couple options. If I don't see her drink any in the next couple hours I will be calling to bring her in again. I'm going to try bringing a bowl of water to her like I did her food and see if that helps.
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post #24 of 24
3/22/10 at 6:34am
Aww....poor Mooch. Sending healing vibes and hope that you continue to see some improvement.
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