About 9 months ago, our 9 year old male cat "Sam" would vomit and poop in various places around the house. He is an only cat, btw. At first, we would come home or get up in the morning to find vomit (mostly partially digested food) and then feces close by. My first thought was that he was vomiting so hard that he would have a spontaneous bowel movement. This would happen about once a month or so.
More recently, we would find vomit close to his litterbox and then a "trail" of feces leading into adjacent rooms. After about 4 or 5 of these occurances, I took Sam to the vet. The vet's initial exam didn't reveal any obvious health problems, but rather suggested that he was possibly have seizures. He told us to just keep an eye on him for awhile.
The frequency of the vomit near the litterbox and pooping around the house episodes increased to about 3-4 /month. One of the times I happened to see Sam in his litterbox apparently trying to have a bowel movement, but was having difficulty. In fact he looked like the whole back end of his body was convulsing as if he was straining to poop. He didn't have BM, but as he exited the litterbox, he vomited right where we have found vomit many times before. He then started walking toward the adjacent room, but I shut the door to keep him in the room where his litterbox is. He seemed like he was in a little distress, but not too bad. He then turned around and went back to his litterbox and again tried in vain to have a BM. When he got out, I decided to clean the box as it had some older waste in it. By the time I finished, he had pooped on the floor on the other side of the room. He then went back to his litterbox, but again, nothing but false activity. I cleaned up his "accident" and went to dispose of it in the garage and by the time I returned, he had defecated right where he was lying on the floor! That was the end of that "episode", which actually lasted about 45 mins. He seemed more himself after that.
I took him back to the vet and they put him on Phenobarbitol and he has had at least one of these episodes per week since. The vet checked his blood for common issuses and took x-rays to look for signs of constipation. Three days ago we started giving him Laxatone to see if he needed help with his BM's, but just today he had another episode that lasted over 30 mins! Luckily this time he didn't poop on the floor, but he must have made at least 20 trips into his litterbox to try and poop. At one point only diarrhea-like liquid would come out and then finally he did have a BM, which again seemed to end the episode.
Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Sam otherwise is healthy and a good kitty.
I forgot to mention that whereas the Vet has diagnosed these episodes as seizures, Sam doesn't exhibit any of the classic seizure symptoms during them such as paddilng, twitching, thrashing, falling over, etc. His sometimes slightly disoriented, but not always.
More recently, we would find vomit close to his litterbox and then a "trail" of feces leading into adjacent rooms. After about 4 or 5 of these occurances, I took Sam to the vet. The vet's initial exam didn't reveal any obvious health problems, but rather suggested that he was possibly have seizures. He told us to just keep an eye on him for awhile.
The frequency of the vomit near the litterbox and pooping around the house episodes increased to about 3-4 /month. One of the times I happened to see Sam in his litterbox apparently trying to have a bowel movement, but was having difficulty. In fact he looked like the whole back end of his body was convulsing as if he was straining to poop. He didn't have BM, but as he exited the litterbox, he vomited right where we have found vomit many times before. He then started walking toward the adjacent room, but I shut the door to keep him in the room where his litterbox is. He seemed like he was in a little distress, but not too bad. He then turned around and went back to his litterbox and again tried in vain to have a BM. When he got out, I decided to clean the box as it had some older waste in it. By the time I finished, he had pooped on the floor on the other side of the room. He then went back to his litterbox, but again, nothing but false activity. I cleaned up his "accident" and went to dispose of it in the garage and by the time I returned, he had defecated right where he was lying on the floor! That was the end of that "episode", which actually lasted about 45 mins. He seemed more himself after that.
I took him back to the vet and they put him on Phenobarbitol and he has had at least one of these episodes per week since. The vet checked his blood for common issuses and took x-rays to look for signs of constipation. Three days ago we started giving him Laxatone to see if he needed help with his BM's, but just today he had another episode that lasted over 30 mins! Luckily this time he didn't poop on the floor, but he must have made at least 20 trips into his litterbox to try and poop. At one point only diarrhea-like liquid would come out and then finally he did have a BM, which again seemed to end the episode.
Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Sam otherwise is healthy and a good kitty.
I forgot to mention that whereas the Vet has diagnosed these episodes as seizures, Sam doesn't exhibit any of the classic seizure symptoms during them such as paddilng, twitching, thrashing, falling over, etc. His sometimes slightly disoriented, but not always.
