Tuesday 11/5/2013 8:00AM My cat isn't eating or going to the bathroom and is laying around crying

As mentioned by others giving a medication that is not prescribed by your vet is not a good idea. Even though it is a broad spectrum antibiotic and can be used for uti's, it can react negativily with other medications that your cat may be on. Also as stated unless you have a scale for measuring there is no accurate way to guarentee the exact amount that is being given. When it comes to pharmacuticles things can get very complicated. If you already have the amoxicillin than I would give it to Sammy as directed.

It is good that Sammy is drinking. Since he seems to like running water, you might want to consider buying a water fountain for him to help to encourage him to drink water as he is getting over everything that has been going on now, and also to help to promote him and your other cats to drink when everyone is healthy.

For eating, not sure if you have tried it or not but sometimes warming up their food can help. It will make it more smelly and attractive to them. Also if you haven't already you might want to try a can of fancy feast. Most cats find fancy feast to be irresistable, I would go with one of the classic pate non fish flavors. Also not sure if it has been mentioned here or not, but you could also try some gerber meats baby food. You want the stuff that is just the meat with nothing else added. It is not something that you want to feed on a consistent basis, since it is missing essential things like taurine that cats need. But for a kitty that is not eating and isn't feeling well the important thing is to get them to eat what ever they may be willing to eat.

Hopefully your boy will start feeling better, he is a very handsome looking guy. As for the vet if she is still insisting on the surgery, you may want to consider getting a second opinion. I know that you guys are trying to get things in order for the new place you will be renting, and that can make money tight. A second opinion will be cheaper than surgery and if the second vet recommends surgery also, it is at least peace of mind before making such an important decision for your boy.

Finally if Sammy still doesn't want to eat you may need to see if he needs an appetite stimulant, or you may need to assist feed him. I am sure with the pain that he is in he doesn't want to do much and the antibiotic could be making him feel nauseous which can make him not want to eat. Also one last thought that came to mind with feeding. My boy when he wasn't feeling good after being diagnoised with ckd would not eat much on his own. I did find that if I added some water with the canned food, warmed it up and held it under his head he would eat a little bit for me. It wasn't much at one time, but I would continuously offer him food and it would add up.

Cephalexin is a cephalosporin.

Amoxicillin is a peniciilin.

Totally different pharmacological classes.


As to the urethral spasms, I'm not at all convinced removing a chunk of the urethra is the answer. Here is discussion of management of FLUTD (including the spasms) at the VeterinaryPartner website: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=612

No mention of pu surgery, though it does say it can take a few weeks for the very painful condition to subside.

And if he doesn't start eating at least half the calories he needs by tomorrow, you need to start assist-feeding him whether by hand, spoon, or syringe. Cats are not designed to use fat stores for energy and nutrition the way people are. Their livers can become flooded with fat, and it becomes circular: they don't feel hungry. This is called hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver disease, and it in and of itself is life threatening. But if managed before it's a real problem, it too is very treatable. The "cure" is food. Small amounts frequently.

Strongly agree with the other posters about substitution of medication:  Matt is not a vet, dogs are not cats.

If Matt is doing this to save money;  penny wise pound foolish.

If he is doing this for other reasons:  well, that's an issue for a different kind of Forum (Dr. Phil/Ann Landers/Carolyn Hax).

juliepierce said:

Matt is giving Sammy instead of the amoxicillin pills he's giving him capsules we had for our dog. It is 500mg cephalexin and he is dumping powder out and getting it to 125 mg.

Does this make sense?

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Absolutely DO NOT do that. OMG - please contact your vet BEFORE you do such things.

At this point, I am in complete agreement that the PU surgery is questionable at this point. I would suggest going to another vet for another opinion before doing such a drastic surgery. I am so very, very sad and sorry for your cat. He looks very, very sick in those pictures, depressed and in pain, not moving. I am so sorry - but in all honesty - I could not bear it and if he were mine, he would be in the hospital until he improves. He needs to be watched around the clock, IMO, at this point. Poor baby.

I had already logged off but ran back to the computer to add in my thoughts as I am very, very concerned. PLEASE CALL THE VET, immediately,, asap, and tell them what your BF did with giving your cat the dog Cephalexin 500 mg. dosed down by his own accord. This was very foolish to do and may have put your cat in distress on top of what he is already dealing with :shame:. Sorry - but make that call.

If u truly care bout your kitty take your kitty to the vet pronto and lose the boyfriend.

Why do you have leftover antibiotics to begin with? That's contributing to microbial resistance.

Why is your cat "on" amoxicillin yet your boyfriend is giving a cephalosporin?

tinykitkatt said:

If u truly care bout your kitty take your kitty to the vet pronto and lose the boyfriend.

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He is her fiance, not her BF. He cares about the kitty - it is his cat. He appears to just have no common sense when it comes to caring for them. I just hope this kitty doesn't pay the consequences of foolish decisions.

Two things to do immediately, in this order.  1) Take the poor kitty to the vet, as he/she is obviously in pain and must resume eating very soon.  This is very serious.  2) Lose the boyfriend.  This is also serious.  

Thanks for your care and concern. 

I took Sammy back to the vet and she said that the meds that Matt was giving Sammy would not help or hurt him.  She said to give him the meds she prescribed in the order she prescribed and then went over them again. 

I went to the store and bought a can of cat food that the first 3 or 4 ingredients were meat.  Sammy won't touch it.  I don't know what else to do about him eating.  I tried feeding him canned food the other day warmed up with a little water and NO cat in my house would eat it.

Sammy isn't even moving now... it is both sad and frighening. 

The vet said that if the meds don't work this weekend then Monday we will have to hook him up to a catheter and then the surgery the next day or alternatively put him down.

I don't know what else to do..

and this is Matt's cat.  He cares for him deeply.. He just does stupid stuff sometimes. 

We cannot afford to take him to the hospital. No one will let us make payments. 

Please explain how I / we can get food and water into him.   I don't understand.

Care credit?

A little history .. Matt and I have been together for 11 years.  When we got together I had Oreo 1.. she passed away last year and was 18.  I also had Rusty.. who passed away a long time ago (kidney issues).  In the early years we were together but not yet living together I found a stray cat who Matt took (that was when Rusty was sick).  He named him Sammy.  Then after a while we moved in together and he brough home Oreo 2 (the white cat above who we call 02). The person he got her from had left her alone in her house for almost a year.  She didn't use the air conditioning and made sure she had water and food.  We also call our white cat Psycho Kitty cuz I believe something mentally happened to her when she was alone.  Her owner moved in with her boyfriend who was allergic to her.  That's why she was alone.. her owner couldn't find someone to take her and she was also trying to sell her house.  Matt found out about it and brought her home (even tho I said no cuz Oreo 1 and Sammy weren't getting along, (in the end they did because I changed my behaviour and didn't keep 01 in my room exclusively which was making sammy jealous). Anyway O2 was brought home shaved cuz she didn't clean herself  and I fell in love with her.  01 loved her too   it worked out good.  We eventually moved into a house.  We had a huge backyard so we decided to get Jack who is a pitt, lab, chow mix  from someone at work who had puppies.  My daughter Amber had a friend who took one of the siblings who eventually I had to take because her friends Dad didn't like him (he's a sweetheart) his name is Duke.  Before we got Dukey Amber wanted another dog.. I thought ok 2 dogs isn't bad.. so she had a garage sale and raised money to get Cooper, our border collie.  After that is when I had to take Dukey so he didn't get abused. My daughter ended up getting pregnant (around which time Matt and I got layed off from work.. 4 years  ago).  Her boyfriend joined in the airforce and they couldn't take the dogs cuz they were to expensive to ship.. That's how I ended up with so may dogs AND cats. They now live in Alaska.  Oh yeah Charley.. the grey cat above Matt also brought home.. 3 months ago we got Tigger, our kitty from my aunt whose next door neighbors outdoor cat had kittens. I wanted to take the Dad but the neighbors wanted to keep him so a couple of weeks later he had kittens and that's when I decided to take one.. if I couldn't have the dad (who was nice and friendly and super soft) then I would take his kitten.    I'm an animal lover!!! I spoil them.. which I know isn't always good.. 01 passed away at age 18 last year from kidney failure and old age. Now Sammy is deathly sick, I'm sick (2nd time in 3 weeks - I'm normally healthy).  and we are moving next Friday.  My limit on cats is 4.. just so you know I'm not crazy.  I'm 42 and Matt is 43.  My daughter is 21 and Matt has a son who is 12 and whose name is Jacob. 

After being layed off for 2 years we finally got good job - I work as a clerk in a childrens hospital and he at Toyota as an IT guy. We lost our house which is a whole different storey.. suffice it to say we got screwed by the mortgage company.  We are still recovering monitarily from being unemployed for so long and we got evicted from our house (which we were expecting because we had taken them to court.. another source of our debt).  The only problem with the new house is that we have to put in a fence. There is a really big yard though so there will be plenty of them to play.  There is my history.. now here we are and our Sammy is sick..

I really want to help Sammy.. Matt does too.. Please continue to help...

At the pharmacy, ask for a syringe for giving a baby liquid medication. Or use an eye dropper. Get unflavored children's pedialyte. Syringe very small amounts of fluid into the side (cheek) of his mouth very frequently. Or use the eye dropper to put drops of the pedialyte into his mouth.

Buy chicken babyfood, Beechnut if you can find it, Gerber's if you can't. PLAIN MEAT. Mix it with water, and use the syringe or dropper to put some in the cheek. Make sure he swallows it. You can try just 1 ml at a time. But you're pretty much at the point where he needs half his daily caloric need to not get fatty liver disease. So if you want to save his life, you're not going to get much sleep. :heart2: He needs fluids and nutrition to heal.

You can also just use your finger to swipe a little babyfood into his mouth, but make sure he swallows it. You'll have to do this repeatedly. Given a jar of babyfood is 2.5 ounces, he'll need at least a full jar, better if you can get more into him.

Ok I will do that ASAP. What if he still isn't peering by Mon should I do the surgery?

juliepierce said:

Ok I will do that ASAP. What if he still isn't peering by Mon should I do the surgery?

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Has he urinated today?

juliepierce said:

Ok I will do that ASAP. What if he still isn't peering by Mon should I do the surgery?

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If he isn't urinating and the vet says he's blocked, maybe the PU surgery is a good idea. If he will continually block in the future, PU surgery can save his life. But if he's peeing and not blocked, he doesn't need the PU surgery!! It sounds like he just needs some time with the antibiotics, anti-spasmodic and pain medications.

Last time you thought he wasn't peeing, he had urine on himself and wasn't blocked. Is there any urine on him or the blanket in the tub?

Also, I don't remember if they gave him fluids before then sent him home the last time you saw the vet. If not, and if he hasn't ingested anything, he may not have anything to eliminate. He desperately needs nutrition and fluids. If you get a half a cup to a cup of water in him overnight, and he hasn't peed or eliminated any urine by tomorrow, then you have decisions to make.

Given he's so weak, sub-q fluids would be the easiest, and it is not hard to do when kitty is compliant. Maybe tomorrow call the ER vet or your vet (do they return calls on Sunday? Ours has an answering service and will get back in situations like this) to ask about that, since it seems like he wouldn't complain about it....