Sick cat being aggressive

Hello!

I am a new poster here, but I am seriously worried about my cat. 

Background information:

RJ is 4 years old.  She is mixed, with Russian blue dominant.  She has had cloudy eyes since birth; our vet thinks that she was exposed to a virus in utero. She is able to see. 

RJ is currently recieving vet visits bi-monthly. She has been going to the vet for the last 3 months due to excessive vomiting. She has had an x-ray, blood work, and multiple stool samples.  She is currently medicated with 1/4 a tablet of Metoclopromide, due to her vomiting.  She was losing weight rapidly, but for the last 2 months she has been maintaining weight at 8 pounds.  There is no indication of kidney issues.  Her liver was slightly enlarged, according to the x-ray.

She was unable to keep any hard food down, so we have been feeding her wet food (3 feedings daily) and treats early am (4:30 am, due to getting up for work)  to help combat her vomiting.  This, in combination with the medication, has made it so she doesn't vomit as often, maybe 3 times in a week.  She became constipated, so she is also getting a teaspoon of Laxatone everynight.

RJ refuses any wet food that isn't Friskies.  So, that is what we provide for her.  We have tried every wetfood brand from Petsmart and Walmart, but that is all she will eat.

Current issue. 

For the last 4 hours,  she has been extremely anti-social.  She growls and hisses at our other cats and at me.  (Which is highly abnormal behavior, as she is a very friendly cat).  The other cats don't have to be near her.  If she can see them, she growls.

She has been drooling.

She has also been hiding in her cathouse.

She has only ate one meal today, and refuses treats.

Her coat is sleek, she has no nasal discharge, her eyes have no discharge.

I am at a loss at what to do.  Any suggestions?  I think I am going to call the vet tomorrow.

I'm really hoping a more experienced person can chime in here. But my advice is to get her to a vet as soon as possible.

Has she been peeing recently? Bladder stones are life threatening if there totally blocking urine. Now, I don't know what's going on, but it sounds serious.

If there is any chance she has something contagious, you need to isolate her from other animals.

Is she injured? Will she let you touch her at all?

I don't know what's wrong with her, but I would not wait on this.

Thank you for the quick response.  She isn't injured.  When we gave her the medication, she didn't give any indication that she was injured.  She let me pick her up, wrap her in a towel, and she allowed my boyfriend to give her the medication.  She did urinate about 11:30 am Central time (its 1:30 am Central now)  and may have urinated without me noticing since. 

She is an inside cat, and nothing has indicated that she has something contagious.  We will be consulting the vet very soon (in a few hours) to hear his opinion and what he thinks we should do

However, I feel we might be missing something.  She has been maintaining weight, but these behaviors are seriously concerning me.

Again, I appreciate the reply. 

You're welcome. Good luck, and keep us posted?

Update:  She left her cat home, and came to me.  She refused to eat any of the Whiska treats I had for her, so I grabbed some Greenies, and she has eaten three treats. 

She is not growling at me, nor at the boyfriend.  She hasn't interacted with the other cats.

I will update this when I have more information.

Any suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Good luck with your little one and hope you get some answers at the vet. Cats tend to become aggressive when in pain, I've never heard of one being like that when just unwell. Let us know how you get on please!

This sounds like given the symptoms and nothing showing up on blood work like IBD.  My cat has the same symptoms when he would have a flare.  He is also a very friendly cat and the only time I heard him hiss, other than when I would try to syringe feed, was when he was having a flare.  He hissed at my other cat because she wanted to play and she jumped up on the end table by me and looked at him like he was crazy.  My cat also has constipation issues which is why I think I went through 6 years of vet hopping before I found a vet that treated him for IBD because most cats have diarrhea with it.

Wet food is much better for him anyway, much easier to digest than dry food.  It's also lower in carbs which is better for a cat all the way around.  The Friskies pates aren't a bad food, there are of course much better foods but they aren't bad.  They are certainly better than not eating.  My cat gets a small daily dose of a steroid to control his but there are others who have found non medicinal ways to control it, either thru diet or homeopathic remedies.  I would bring up the possibility of IBD to your vet.  He may not of thought of it because of the atypical symptoms and also his age.  IBD more commonly first presents in middle aged cats but my cat was only 18 months old when he had his first flare.

The slightly enlarged liver is worrisome it could mean the inflammation is also in his liver.

Thank you  poppysmummy for the well wishes

Update on RJ:

 She is doing much better this morning.  She spent the whole night growling at any cat near her (so, we separated the cats for the night), but she had to sleep near me.  More specifically, in my hair. This morning, she is back to her old self.  She isn't drooling. She wanted food.  She hasn't hissed or growled, and is currently snuggling with her best friend, Mitch, on the top post of our tall cat tree.  Its a day and night difference.

 Denice, thank you for the informative post. 

A little more background information:  She was on a diet of hard food, Blue Buffalo, with a can of wet food fed to her as a treat once or twice a week.  She went on a hunger strike.  She completely stopped eating for several days and was losing weight fast.  She refused hard food. She was also vomiting on an empty stomach, and the vomit was foamy.  We tried the wet food, and she would eat that.  We thought she might be diabetic, but test came back negative.  The vet said that enlarged liver might have been a result of her lack of eating.  She still vomits, but only before her first meal.  And she does it a few times a week.  We found that giving her a few treats in the morning helps her stomach.   We thought she might be having a build up of stomach acid, leading to her vomiting.

The vet said she might have IBS.  Is that the same as IBD?  The idea of a flare up fits, because she was very unwell last night, and seems to be well this morning.   I will ask the vet about IBD.  

Thank you all a bunch for the support!

Her anti-social behavior, hiding, drooling, all point to her being in distress or pain in some way. Typical behavior towards other cats especially. Obviously or at least very likely stomach/intestinal issue going on, and the canned food is much, much easier to digest than the dry, causing her to vomit less often.

Typically but not always, IBD/IBS symptom accompanying the vomiting is runny/loose stools. You don't mention this.

Is there any chance at all that she has access to something that is poisonous? Plants, fertilizer, etc? Just a thought.

I'm thinking also that it might be a good idea next for the vet to do an ultrasound in case there is something he can not feel.

IBS is a little different than IBD.  It usually doesn't involve inflammation.  I really think one or the other is what is going on with your kitty and constipation can be part of it, it is for my cat.  The constipation is caused by lack of motility, the loss of motility is caused by thickening of the intestinal walls caused by inflammation.  http://ibdkitties.net/  is a very good website that explains what IBD is and some of the remedies for it both medicinal and non-medicinal.  My vet recommends Miralax for the constipation.  It is much easier to give then the Lactolose because it is a tasteless powder that can be mixed in with food.  You can start with 1/8 teaspoon twice a day and adjust the dosage.  It works by drawing moisture into the intestines.

Given the chronic nature and the waxing and waning of symtoms I really believe that this is something worth pursuing.

One of the difficult things about diagnosing IBD/IBS is that there can be many different causes of the intestinal inflamation that leadss to vomiting, diarrhea, etc. So vets usually diagnose it by a) looking at symptoms and then b) starting treatments from least aggressive to increasingly more aggressive as needed.  If a treatment works then a positive diagnosis is made.

Examples: some cats have serious intolerances to certain food ingredients including common proteins like chicken.  SO a very non- aggressive first treatment is to put the cat on a special diet, often one that has "novel" proteins that the cat has never eaten before (like duck or rabbit) and that they have no intolerance to.

If this doesn't work then they often go to the next treatment, and so on until something (hopefully works).  If nothing is working then a definitive diagnose can be made by doing a biopsy of the intestines, but this is usually last resort as its invasive, etc.

As catwoman said, you didn't mention the stools which would commonly be very loose with IBD.  When you discuss IBD with your vet, and if switching off friskies isn't an option, then you may want to discuss another treatment that is fairly non-aggressive, and if that helps, that will further help you obtain a positive diagnosis.  Or, you may be lead towards something else.

Please let us know what you find out and good luck!

Thank you all for the responses.

Her stools were very hard before we started her on the Laxatone about one week ago.  We took samples to the vet, and they had specks of blood in them.  The vet stated that it was because the stools were so hard.  Her stools have soften considerably since putting her on the Laxatone, and have had no blood in the sample since.

She only eats Friskies wetfood.  We keep many varieties on hand.  She prefers the chicken, chicken and liver, and beef and liver.  She turns her nose up at any food that hasn't been processed.  She will not eat cooked or raw chicken.  (For example, if I bake chicken, she will not take a morsel from me.  I could leave the plate unattended and she would not eat any of it.)

Also, currently, she isn't being aggressive.  She is cuddling with another cat, and she has stopped drooling.

Catwoman

we do not keep any plants nor do we garden.  We have no fertilizer inside the house.  We also keep cleaning supplies in a cabinet so cats can not get into it.  As such, we don't believe its a poison issue.

We are considering an ultrasound at this point.  Our vet doesn't have the equipment, so we will have to get a referral to another clinic.  We are also concerned about the cost.  I have read that the procedure was quite expensive. But, if we need to do it, we will to get her healthy.   

Denice

we will talk with the vet about possible IBD.  Thank you for the website.  I am browsing it now.  The only concern I see is that her stool was hard, not diarrhea.  Her stool only became hard though after a few weeks of her current medical treatment, so I am wondering if it is a side-effect (when I did an internet search of the medication, it listed constipation as a possible side effect for human patients)  or a complication of her mysterious condition.

Stephenq

Her stools were hard, but now have normal consistency.  She has had novel protein before this happened, her favorite dry food was duck hardfood. http://bluebuffalo.com/cat-food/wilderness-duck?pf=1&type=dry&animal=cat       I noticed that blue buffalo also has duck wet food.  I don't think we tried that particular flavor, but, she had refused the other samples of that food.  It might be worth picking some up and seeing if she takes to it. 

Again, thank you all for the ideas and suggestions.

Like your vet I think the blood is from the constipation.  Don't rule out IBD because of your kitty having constipation rather than diarrhea.  Patches has always been prone to constipation and actually has never had diarrhea.  I keep emphasizing that because I think that is why it took so long to find a vet that would consider IBD.  The other vets I took him to didn't consider IBD a possibility because of the constipation rather than the diarrhea.

Thank you all for the reply.

Catwoman:   I agree with you about her behavior pointing to her being in pain or distress.  I also agree 100% that wet food is easier to digest then dry food.  Its also great because it gets more moisture into her.  Her stools were hard.  We went to the vet last week (we usually go every other week to monitor weight and temperature) because I noticed blood in her fresh stool.  We took the sample with us.  The vet told us the blood was from the hard stool sample, and he prescribed that Laxatone be taken once a night, in a teaspoon amount. 

We don't believe she has had access to anything that is poisonous.  We have no houseplants, nor do we garden.  We keep household cleaning supplies in our kitchen cabinet, which the cat cannot access.

We are considering the ultrasound at this point too.  Our vet doesn't have the equipment, and we would have to have a referral to another clinic about an hour away.   We were also concerned about the cost.  My research showed that it was pretty expensive.  However, if its what is needed to get her healthy, we will have to do it.

Denice:

Thank you for the website.  It is very informative.  Our vet recommend the Laxatone because our cat refuses to eat any of her food with powders mixed in.  It might be worth a shot to see if she takes it better.  (We tried a powdered, tasteless multivitamin mixed in with her Friskies, which she refused to touch).  We will ask the vet about IBD.

Stephenq:  Our cat has enjoyed novel proteins. She loved the blue wilderness duck formula hardfood.  We cycled between that and the indoor cat recipe.  I noticed that blue wilderness also offers duck canned food, which she hasn't tried yet.  She has tried other flavors of the canned food.  It might be worth checking out.  Our major issue with trying new food is that she is a very finicky eater.  She will not eat any food that is prepared for us.  For example, I could leave a plate of roast chicken unattended and she wouldn't eat any of it.  She refuses any morsels of food from us.  She likes wet food (pate Friskies only)  dry food (high protein chicken, duck, or indoor) and certain cat treats.

Thank you all for your support.  Talking with you all has helped me greatly.   

Please delete the previous post.  The reply said that there was an error, so I had to type it all up again.  Then when I posted, my original showed up :O

Sigh, but anyways, thank you all

I have a limited education on IBD or IBS, the ones I have had in the past had runny poop, even leaking at times. But it sounds like Denice and others are more experienced than I am.

As for ultrasound cost, oddly, I recently found this can vary a great deal.

One of the vets we regularly use stated $180.00, while a vet we never use due to the higher costs and them not working with rescues and giving discounts stated $100.00.

Then one of the kitties I posted about that was diagnosed with a mass in her tummy, did a single view ultrasound (??) and only charged $25.00.

So check around for sure. Well worth it.

This can help tell alot by seeing her insides. Masses, inflammation, enlargements and so on.

Hi all!
 

I just wanted to update you.

I consulted the vet and he is going to give me Miralax for RJ.  We also talked about abdominal ultrasounds.  As he doesn't have the equipment, I had to call around.  The prices around here range from $120 to $700. 

Is there any thing I should be aware of when I get an ultrasound performed on RJ?
 

Thanks for the support!

The main thing with ultrasounds is the ability of the person reading it.  My vet has the equipment so she both gave it and read it.  When it's done somewhere else I'm not sure how it's done, if the vet gets the actual images or a report.  An ultrasound can be very useful in locating inflammation.  

If your vet gets the images than I don't think it matters too much where you go.  Did your vet give you a recommendation as to where to go?

He did, he recommended a $400 clinic and a $300 clinic an hour away. 

There is a clinic where I know the vet, who also has ultrasound cabilities.  My family has been going there for about 18 years.  I am thinking about choosing them, they are about $200.  They are a main competitor of the vet I  am currently going to.  (I started going to this vet when the competing vet went on vacation for 2 weeks.  His assistant recommended them to me.  RJ started having her issues at the beginning of his vacation.  My boyfriend and I stayed with the current vet due to deciding it would be for the best, as he is very competent, and has been seeing her since  her issues started.)  The competing vet spoke with me on the phone (he took the phone from the receptionist to talk with me when I called), asked specific questions, and just seemed to care.  The other two places  (the one the current vet recommended) didn't seem as...caring.  But I would think they would be just as competent.

We are trying to decide which would be better: the more expensive clinics that are further away, or the family vet who knows us and offers the personal touch.  I am leaning towards my personal vet.

I would probably go to the vet that I know and trust.   Also, even when they feel completely well, most cats get stressed out with the car rides so the shorter the better.  I know it's a little awkward because they are competitors but you know it's about the best for your cat and you are paying for a service.