Chickster Growling at butt - Page 3

Thank you all. I will definitely implement all of these things and ask about compounding into a treat. Pills are just looking way better right now. I had to cut a small mat out of her under mane this morning and brush all of it, it was so gummy even after washing it. It's like bubble gum! My mother was having a fit at me across the house saying I was destroying her beautiful mane and not to cut it off and ... augh, I was trying to be calm and quiet around Chickster so as not to set off another episode and finally had to snap at my mother, who hushed. Then I went and quietly explained what I had done. This mat was small and had to be cut out, it didn't destroy anything and brushing it would've hurt her.

She is playing with a leaf right now and I am going to try to get some sleep, but otherwise things are going fine. No fits yet today Though Mom's starting to look like a different story

Well, just a quick update. Things are seeming to go pretty well. I'm narrowing down her medication to every 24 hours, nearly, so each morning at 8 she gets her 1ml of Amytriptyline and that's all. She doesn't need it every 12 hours, and usually a fit will start around 8AM each morning. Mom says overnight she is quiet and has no fits while I'm at work, so that's good. She has still not harmed herself thankfully. Yesterday morning was crazy, she got really riled up in a fit and it was time for her medicine, and I had to actually leave her alone to get her out of a hiding spot, caught her at the foot of the steps and she fell over on her side, ears flat, screaming hissing crying because I had a sweater to drape over her, she was way too wild to put my hands on. She even took a swipe at my foot. She was MAD. But once I got my hands on her she calmed down, and once in the bathroom, she turned into a little kitten. So weird.

She went poop overnight and it was a wonderous thing to see, so I will use this thread as my journal so I can keep a log of what happens when. So she went poop and pee, and I'm a little concerned that either the side effect of sleepiness has made her hold her bladder OR it is causing urine retention as she's going to pee, but it's more pee and less often.

Otherwise her poop was not too hard nor too soft, felt ok to me. She ate a bit this morning, I think she doesn't like the Sensitive Systems as much, wondering if I should go back to the SmartBlend Chicken and Rice formula she was eating...but don't know.. Something else I've wondered, she has round eyes (as you can see in her pics here at the cat site) and her pupils are fully dilated more often than not. Of course in sun or bright light, or if she's chasing something, they will contract to slivers or whatever, but I was curious if that's something I should keep an eye on....

Anywho thank you for all the vibes and thoughts and concern

Aahhh, good. I am glad to know that is a Tortie trait. She is the first Tortie I've ever had, so the attitude is new to me and I mean the attitude minus the fits She had a VERY great day today, I was very proud of her. She was such a sweetie. I love my new vet for sure!

Well, just a quick update. Chickster is still doing the 12 hour fit thing, right before her medication time (8-9AM) I am thinking we may be able to start back to every 24 hours because it's 9:30 and she's knocked out. Of course I am starting to wonder, I am here and off work for the weekend and she's fine, but during the week at night when I have to go to work, she has fits. Hmmm....

in any case, I talked to the vet today about switching her to pills and we decided to do it, so now I have little tiny blue pills to give her. 1/2 of the Amytrip every 12-24 hours. While we were talking about the liquid she mentioned a half of 1 ml (.5) ... I said, no, I've been giving her 1ml.... that's what the bottle said?

O.O come to find out, I somehow completely disregarded the Amytrip label and assumed it was the same as the prednisone, (1ml) but it was actually .5. The poor vet saw the horror on my face and said Noo! It's alright! There's room there for that, it's ok. I said Oh, well, this must explain why she sleeps all day and half the night. She laughed and said, "She's haaaaaaaaaappy"
But I was HORRIFIED. How could I DO THAT!?!?!?

In any case, NO MORE LIQUIDS!!! yay! I still have a couple of mats to get out of her beautiful fur, but she has been a very good girl today. That liquid was getting too stressful for either of us. I did let the vet know I tasted that stuff myself and the chicken flavor was BS, she laughed, and told me there was a sweetener in there. I told her you can't taste any sweetener (I thought cats can't taste sweet?) and it's just as bitter as can be.

So, for right now I've been given the OK to give her a tiny bit of miralax a couple times a week, her stools are hardening up again and coming out in nuggets. Her peeing is normal. She's not a big water drinker, so this is part of the problem. She's been getting small pieces of honey roasted turkey and loves it but I don't give her much because of the salt.

The vet was hoping we would see a true decrease in the fits, and while we kind of have it's not what she was going for, so our next step after these pills will be the diet change to grain free wellness core. If that doesn't work I don't know what. But she will be going in as soon as I get extra money for a check up which should be within the next few weeks.

She is bouncy, happy, and incredibly lovey dovey! Mom suspects it's separation anxiety, which I dismissed right off the bat because she'd never acted like that before, but now I'm not sure.

Another interesting tidbit, she is actually trying to STOP her attacks on her own. She believes once she starts having one I give her the nasty medicine, when in fact it is just TIME for her medicine. So the last 2 days she has Rawr'd and growled once and hid under the kitchen table and tried to calm herself down. Poor girl.

Thanks guys!

No Otto, that's ok.

I had gotten the doses to every 24 (8AM) hours and she wasn't having a fit in between, but I screwed up and missed a dose (I'm so stupid) and we had to go back to every 12 hours (8AM, 8PM) because her fits increased.

I'm also concerned about her having these episodes during the week when I get home from work. It's immediately after I get home, grab a cup of coffee and sit down at the computer. It's also right near her medication time. BUT on the weekends it's not like this, like this morning she is cozying on my bed and has been there with me from 10PM until 9AM this morning (She got up to go pee or something, she moved)

Even stranger is I can distract her with a toy, but no matter how long I play with her it only seems to pause the fit. Whether it's 5 minutes or an hour (yes, an entire hour or more) once I stop and go back to doing something else, she continues out the fit as if I had never distracted her. It only -pauses- it. It's very strange.

I'd really like to get back to every 24 hours because that would be the least amount of medication to give her. Every 12 hours seems so harsh but I will do it if I have to. I know it's not a lot of meds but it still troubles me.

I will mix up a bit of Miralax for this morning. And if I hadn't been such a fool the liquids would have been much easier to give. A half of a mL is much less than a full mL ...... and a lot to get into a squirmy growling kitty

And yes, I was relieved when the vet was telling me it was fine, there was a leeway there, and she spent a good amount of time trying to calm me down and make sure I knew it was OK. But geez, how stupid can I be?

A funnier note: The ladies at the new vet are so sweet, one put the label on the pill bottle crooked and chided herself for sending me home with a crooked label. This is how detail oriented these people are. I thought it was great.

Yes, I told her all of that. I was amazed she sat with me for so long (I was up there to pay on Boo's bills) and they come out (once they're free) and sit and talk with you and don't charge you anything. I just love this place.

Interesting. Neurological. That sounds logical because of what's going on. Does anything like this ever end in having a cat's tail amputated? I'm not sure why that popped to mind, but I know Bobbie Jo, the bob tail cat outside, she shivers her nub sometimes when she sees me, and I just wonder why her tail was amputated.

Rambling, sorry. I gave her her 1/2 pill and it went SWIMMINGLY!! She swallowed it with no problems, I gave her a little syringe of water slowly to make sure she wasn't hiding it and wala, all done. She's sitting in her window.

Giving her that nasty medicine could also be a trigger, yes? I mean it irritated her to no end. Hm. I will do some research on this.

Thank you Otto

Thank you mrsgreenjeens I will keep it in mind, and thank you so much for offering. I have a small bag downstairs but may need more. She wasn't interested in it at all.

It's 12AM here and she got her medication a little while ago. She's currently having a fit though it's not as aggressive as the last few. I feel like she's upset with me for not going to bed sooner as I usually do even on weekends. So I'm headed there now. She didn't take the pill so well this time and spit it out, it was half melted so I got another half of a pill and that one went down sweetly, though she'd already tasted the bitter and was foaming a bit. She is just very unhappy with me right now. Hopefully bed time will fix that!

Just a quick update, gave her some Miralax Sunday night, her pills are back to every 24 hours, no fits, much less foam if any and she's taking her pills like a champ. She is still kind of lazy-dazying around on the bed and didn't bother to move when I accidentally draped a thin fleece blanket over her, but she's eating, pooping, peeing.. the fits are a no show right now.

So it's every morning at 8am, a half of pill. Afterwards she sort of twitches her tail about, but I'm wondering if that's more of a "...I'm so mad I could have a fit, I can't believe I'm being forced to take pills" thing, or an actual fit thing.

I got a pill cutter (5 DOLLARS? It's a RAZOR BLADE.) but it's not cutting exactly in the middle so I have to refine it a bit, which is wasting small amounts of pill which will eventually add up, but these are small blue round pills and have a chippy coating on the outside.

Anyway, things are going well! 17 dollars for 2 months of pills (30 pills 1/2 a day, 60 administrations) is a great deal for me.

I've wondered this too, perhaps she was drooling out so much of the liquid she wasn't even getting enough. Or perhaps it metabolized too fast? Pill form would be slower to metabolize I would think? I know nothing about it though.

She's still doing well. We had a storm last night and she went and hid, but no fits.

I am hoping that is all the tail twitching is, now it's hard to tell whether she's annoyed or beginning a fit :T

I am glad I switched to pills, and thank you for recommending pills. Liquid was a serious headache, and I severely miscalculated my cat's attitude towards me. I figured she'd maul me but she is very gentle. She's all hiss and no bite (usually )

Thanks LDG for the info!

I really am about to go nutty. I am not understanding this at all. She is now having fits AFTER each time I give her half a pill. She's done it for the last two days, she's swallowed the pills, and she's fine AFTER the fit, never again until in the morning, but I'm not understanding this and she's driving me up a wall!

She actually got a hold of her tail this morning but only seemed to catch it in her mouth. I feel of her tail throughout the day to make sure she hasn't injured it. And she hasn't, so far.

After medicating this morning she immediately left the bathroom and started her fit. I corralled her back into my bedroom and opened the window and laid on the bed while she sucked on her toe, I petted her and she looked out the window. She was fine. Until my mom hollered to ask me something and I had to get up, then she got some water and started the fit again.

I am so confused and my nerves are a wreck, and I know she's absolutely fed up with it because she is grunting loudly like a big exasperated sigh during her fits, as if saying "What in the HECK is going on, I'm so tired of this!"

I'm really starting to wonder if this isn't something to do with her bowels, because I know after I take my medication in the mornings, my bowels wake up (Sorry, TMI) and perhaps that is what is happening with her. I gave her a tiny bit more miralax yesterday and am hoping to see some change in her poop, whenever she decides to poop again.

Now she's cleaning herself, and the fit seems to have passed. Altogether I'd say that lasted (minus the distraction and the petting) about 5 minutes. I watch for cues from her, and her tail's twitching annoyedly again.

As soon as I get the check in the mail, I am taking her back to the vet. I have such a bad feeling this is going to get worse before it gets better.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I'm looking for ways to comfort/distract her during these fits or before one comes on. I see the petting works, but I have to keep at it. If I stop and walk away she starts up again. I just wish I could find something that didn't involve me gluing myself to her backside for 2 hours, either with play or petting. IF I go bed, she'll come up and lay down and the fits won't happen, but my schedule doesn't work that way. Should I just change my schedule and go to bed earlier (I work 3rd, so I stay up until 10-11AM, maybe noon) like directly after giving her the medication?

Sigh.

Her stools are nuggets usually and they're hard. I've been brushing her and she's never vomited a hairball but may pass some, though I've never seen them in her poop. I've given her miralax twice =This week= but so far no change. So today I went out and got her a toy from Petco, the Play N Squeak Tail Spin Mystery Tail Cat Toy, which she is absolutely going nuts over and near about to break it as she drags it around the house with her!! ( http://www.dog.com/item/play-n-squea...:referralID=NA) I also bought some Nutro Senior Food, the Chicken and Rice Formula. It was shaved down from 15 bucks to 5, and I thought we'd try it. Almost bought some Royal Canin "Selective" but it was 12 and we haven't had great success with RC.

I dropped a couple pieces on the floor for her and as much as she loves LOVES LOVES this new toy, she stopped and gobbled up the Nutro. She LOVES it. I've never seen her this excited to eat since she was eating Hill's C/D. SO, I mixed just a very small amount into her bowl and will slowly change her over. She pooped overnight, but it was hard.

So we will see about this food change, she refuses the Wellness Core. I asked the vet to call me and I'll go over the food with her. Soon I'll have her in there to get checked from top to bottom, no worries. especially her bowels. I'm concerned about mega colon and tons of other stuff.

Thanks and the stupid pill cutter actually split perfectly in half this time! I do try to keep my hands off it as much as possible because the coating is already thin and chippy, and we had a bit of a tussle over taking it this morning but she's doing great right now. Le sigh, pills, liquid, it's a no win situation some days.

Yours looks nice Otto. I just picked this one up from the pharmacy: http://www.amazon.com/Safety-Shield-.../dp/B000BNZTM0 Apparently it takes a little finesse (sp, hehe) Chickster reaaallly loves this toy guys. She hasn't played with a toy like this since I got her that ball stuck in a circle tube thing. So happy. Finally bed time

It feels like I hit the jackpot, yes. It just hurts me so bad when any animal seems unhappy and knowing I can most likely change it and can't figure it out makes it worse. The Nutro is still enjoyable today as is the toy, but I am giving the meds now.

I hope she doesn't break this toy, it was a bit expensive but worth it, she is dragging it everywhere once she catches the mouse tail... this is why I buy her dog toys because she tears up cat toys LOL! Only thing I could creatively add to this toy is either a remote to keep it playing while I'm away or a motion-activated sensor to keep her playing. As it is, it turns off after 7 minutes. What cat only plays for 7 minutes!?

With this cutter, slower works better and you're right, I set it down on top of the pill gently, let it rest, then apply pressure slowly. It's cutting more evenly, but not 100% yet, still, better than I could do with a box cutter.

She just took her pill and I even felt her swallow it. Minimal drooling. I'm hoping she gets the hang of this, she's very smart. "Hey, if I swallow it fast, she lets me out of the bathroom faster!" And now she has her toy to get back to.

Talked to the vet this evening, she recommended switching to Prozac. But said it is my decision. The amytrip doesn't seem to be working as well as she'd hope and she said we may never find something to completely resolve this. That's disappointing, but I also need some back up on this: I received my check from the insurance company and my first priority is to get Chickster a CBC and an x-ray of the back half of her - hips, bowels.. My friend tells me this is a waste of money but she's never had a CBC and I want to know what's going on with her bowels.

Friend knows I've been having money troubles and told me not to go crazy like I "did with Boo". Which was kind of hurtful. The price of all this will probably be about 200 dollars or so. What are your thoughts? I would figure a CBC and an X-ray would be a responsible thing for a pet owner to do once you had the money......

I'm doing it anyway, it is just really hurtful to hear those things. She has plenty of pets, too. So I really don't understand that. *sigh* Anyway, I am hoping the prozac helps a bit better...