Poorly Kitty

I have a 7 year old female cat who is usually full of beans but this morning she wasn't herself. She sounds in pain when she meows and is dribbling. She will take a drink of cat milk but hasn't eaten and hard food. Could it be toothache or swollen glands? I am worried about her as she has lost her sparkle and don't know how to help her?

She definitely needs to see the vet. It could be anything really, but if she isn't eating she needs medical attention as soon as possible. I don't think it's an emergency vet right-this-second situation but you should try to get her seen tomorrow.

Try to get her to eat something soft, like canned cat food or meat baby food (make sure it doesn't have garlic or onion) or ground-up cooked meat.

Hi,

Cats often do a very good job of hiding the fact they don't feel well so when they are actually showing symptoms it usually means they are fairly sick, or at least sick enough that they can't they can't hide it anymore, and it is certainly at this point that they need a vet.  There could be a variety of medical problems from teeth problems, a wound or sore in her mouth, something could be lodged there, but there is only one way to help her at this point and that is to get her to a Vet as soon as possible.

Whatever is bothering her is likely to get worse without treatment, and the earlier you seek treatment the faster (and cheaper) her course of treatment may be.  It's sunday so you may not have much in the way of options today but I would call your vet first thing Monday am.   If you don't have a vet you may want to call some friends with pets who lives near you and can make recommendations.  Good luck, i hope she feels better soon and let us know what happens ok :-)

Stephen

Thank you Willowy, I am going to take her to the vets tomorrow anyway but wanted to see if anyone could advise me as to how to help her tonight. She is cleaning herself (for the first time today) but still sounds throaty when she meows :-( She is also looking a bit stiff now so perhaps she has the equivalent of a cold. Hopefully we can get her seen tomorrow. Thanks again for the response.

Thank you Stephen, you have echoed my initial thoughts. I am really quite concerned about her so she will be sleeping with me tonight so I can monitor her and will get an emergency appointment with my vets in the morning. Thank you so much for the reply and I will certainly keep you updated on here.

I'm glad you plan to see a vet tomorrow.  I hope your cat is a little more comfortable.  If you can try her with what Willowy has suggested and she still doesn't want to eat, see if you can get her to take anything soft and maybe with a strong smell like canned fish  (as long as it is not in brine / salt water). You can try feeding a little wet food by finger or from a spoon if this helps her to show some interest.  It is very important you try to get her to eat, esp if she hasn't eaten since yesterday.

Are you able to handle her to have a feel of her belly, and to look at her tongue and gums?  It could be she has abdominal discomfort, but also if her mouth is painful she will not want to eat.  Cats can get gingivitis (bleeding gums) just like people, and this can also develop in to sores on their tongues and tonsilitis. Does her breath smell normal, as if not this would also be important to tell the vet.

I hope your vet is able to find out what is bothing her tomorrow and she gets well soon. 

Thank you MServant. She will let me touch her and seemed a bit tender around her ribs earlier but it is her throat that seems to be the area that is causing her the most pain. Her tounge is normal in colour and her breath isn't smelly. She is sound asleep at the moment but when she wakes up next I'll try and get a better look in her mouth. She has a real glossy shine to her coat usually but it's started to look a bit dull as the day has gone on :-(

Dribbling could be tooth pain or it could be an indication of nausea.  I would recommend a Vet visit to get to the bottom of this.

It's pretty hard getting a good look at the back of a cat's mouth, even when you have one like mine who will oblige by opening wide if you offer a arm to bite.    If you can at least have a look at the edges of her gums by pulling her lips down a bit that will give a little more information.  Another possibility could be something she has eaten, or got stuck though if something was stuck in her gullet I would have thought she would cough or try to remove it in some way.  Any way she could have managed to eat string or anything?  Last year Mouse got himself a rather long bit of ribbon without me noticing and was ever so slightly off colour and off his food until he sicked it up a good few hours later.  I was lucky he brought most of it up.  Some smaller chewed up sections showed up in his litter tray a day later. 

I hope you manage to get a vet appointment early tomorrow.

Hi MServant, fortunately Marley is a goo mummy's girl and trusts me to pull her about a bit when needed. She has some swelling to the left side of her mouth which would explain why she hasn't been able to eat any meat but she is still drinking the cat milk and water. It also makes her sore throat seem a bit more understandable, having suffered severe tooth ache myself I remember it hurting my glands too. She is seeming a bit brighter now and has come up for a cuddle so I am hoping that I can get an early appointment tomorrow for her to see her favorite vet. Thank you so much for posting your responses, you have all been fantastic and helped me to understand what signs to look out for. I will update my thread tomorrow to let you know how Marley Moo gets along :-)

I am glad she has come up to you for a cuddle.  Poor little Marley.  As she is 7 and not eaten for a while it worries me: if she hasn't eaten today other than the kitty milk please try to get her to take some food.  You could wet it down with water to make smooth so it easier for her to lick and swallow.  It is important for cats to eat or their livers can be damaged quite quickly and this would make her even more sick than she is now.  Once a cat hasn't eaten for a while they start to feel nauseous and that puts them off wanting to start eating again so between that and the pain she is in she will need to be encouraged.  You could try putting a little whetted down food in to the opposite cheek to the one that is swollen.

I have managed to find my kitty medical box which had some tiny syringes in it so I have mashed some kitten food up and given it to her that way, she is in obvious pain as was complaining but at least she has had some food, she has retreated to her warm radiator seat but mummy can sleep knowing she has had some dinner - we managed a little under a sachet :-)

   You are a great cat parent, it isn't nice to have to do that, especially when your cat isn't happy and in pain.  She is very lucky you are with her.  May you both keep safe tonight and manage to get some sleep.

Lots of good vibes for seeing the vet tomorrow.  

Thank you :-) She is my baby and has been with me from day one so I couldn't be without her now. It is heartbreaking to see her so upset but fingers crossed for tomorrow (I have a sneaky suspicion I will be up checking on her every few hours) Thank you so much for your advice and support tonight :-)

Hi all, I just wanted to update everyone on how my Marley Moo is doing today. We had a trip to the vets today and it was confirmed that she had toothache. She had a shot of antibiotics and painkillers and came home her old self. She is currently taking pride of place fast asleep on mummy's pillow (after eating a feast fit for a queen) Thank you all for your advice and support last night :-)

Yay I'm glad she's feeling better, congrats!!!

Great to hear you got to the vet and Marley is now comfortable and snoozing on your pillow.  Here's to the antibiotics doing their job and her staying well.  Did the vet say if she will need any dental work or will they just check once the antibiotic has had a chance to do its work?

Glad you were able to get into the vet.  Are they going to extract the tooth that is giving her problems?

They are going to take another look next week but hopefully she can keep the tooth :-) My vets are amazing and have known her her whole life so she was in the best possible hands today. She is continuing to look better hour by hour :-)