sick kitty

Originally posted by kfleck

But because the vet can't seem to really find anything else wrong with him I am leaning towards thinking that he was just heart broken that we left him for so long. You would think that a cat would drink out of the toilet or the fish tank if it got thirsty enough. It isn't like there wasn't a drop of water to be found in the house. Does anyone know of any cases of severe depression in a cat that almost killed the cat?

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I have heard that Siamese cats can become extremely upset if they are separated from their owner for long periods, and I have an example.

The cat we have now, Snowball, is part Siamese and Snowball's companion, Midnight, (passed away 2 1/2 years ago) was a Siamese mix. Whenever my son was away from home for a few days, both cats would get very upset. There was one particular time when my son was gone for two weeks. Both cats got extremely upset, and actually spent those two weeks in my son's room, where they seemed to be waiting for him to return. The only times the cats left my son's room were when they needed to eat, drink or use the litterbox and then they would quickly return to my son's room and resume their watch. The cats even seemed to be grieving, but neither one was so depressed that they were in danger of dying. Once my son was home again the cats were ok.

OMG I cannot believe how heartless your neighbor was!! Your poor kitty, and poor you! I agree, they should be responsible for vet expenses.

I agree, your neighbor should be responsible for the vet bill, anyone with a heart would have checked in at least once a day. This is why I pay a petsitter to come in, it's $20 a day but at least I know my boy is taken care of.

OMG, poor cats! Kfleck, I agree with the others. Take your neighbor to court and force her to pay ALL vet bills until your cat gets better.
Personally, I wouldn't forgive someone who would do something like this to me or my pets. Who would?

Thanks for all of your support. I went and picked up my kitty last night. btw.. his name is Simba - someone was asking. He is short hair, peach and white in colour. The other one is named Sabrina. She is short hair also, almost pure black with a white patch on her tummy. Anyway, he kind of perks up and sniffs food a bit but he still won't eat or drink. He is still labouring to breathe. The vet consulted with four other vets on this case and they can't figure out why he is still having problems breathing because all of the tests came back normal (ie: no fluid on the lungs, blood counts were normal, ecg was normal, etc.). At least he was still alive this morning. We were worried we would wake up to a dead kitty. I think he has slightly improved though since yesterday and he looks 100% better since we found him Monday afternoon. Since he was on iv and got hydrated he has gained a lot of water weight and looks a lot better. He is also stronger than he was two days ago. He used to love yogurt so I put a bit on his lips for him to lick off but he still wouldn't lick any on his own. I put some of his food in the blender with water and used a syringe to get some of it into his mouth. He ate quite a bit that way. I just hope as he gets stronger he will eventually start to eat and drink on his own.

My husband was histerical when he found Simba. He was crying and yelling and running around the house all upset and swearing at our neighbours. We called the vet immediately and took him down. He went over to the neighbours to talk to them later that evening. He said that she started to tear up when he told her about the condition of our cat. She ligitimately felt bad about it. She said she would have come every day if it wasn't for the house alarm she was afraid she would set it off. I wish she would have told us that she was afraid of the alarm. I would have told her to just leave the alarm off then and just lock the door! The part that really upsets me is that she said that on the fourth day when she went over the water bowl was dry. She filled it up that day and then never went back. How did she think there would still be water six days later if it was empty on the fourth day??! I haven't spoken with her yet myself but I will and I will give her a piece of my mind, don't worry. I don't think we could ever take them to court though. Our kids play together all the time (always at my house). I don't know why I trusted her to watch my cats because I certainly don't trust her to watch my kids even for one hour. He daughter has been at my house for three hours before when she finally calls over looking for her. She hadn't even realized that she was gone. They let their daughter rider her bike in the street in front of their house when she was in kindergarden and they weren't even out there keeping an eye on her. They are lazy, ignorant people.

Forgot to mention that there was lots of food left when we got home. I had no idea that they would go through that much water so fast - perhaps lots evaporated. We left out a huge bowl of water (plus I thought someone would be checking on them). And there is the fish tank and the toilet seats were left up. We feel just aweful for not calling more and making it more clear to the neighbours that they should check up on the cats every day. I know they were to blame, but I can't help feeling it was partially my fault for not making sure they were better taken care of.

This morning Simba was licking his paw which is a good sign becuase he hasn't wanted to groom himself for the past two days.

btw.. the vet bill totalled $680.00.

I would calmly drop the vet bill in your neighbor's mailbox or hand and tell her you'll take payments if necessary. I would also let her know that if my cat dies for this, she WILL be taken to court for cruelty to animals which is a crime. There is an additional fine of up to $250.

I would love to put her in a room without water for 6 days.

Originally posted by Sweets
I would calmly drop the vet bill in your neighbor's mailbox or hand and tell her you'll take payments if necessary. I would also let her know that if my cat dies for this, she WILL be taken to court for cruelty to animals which is a crime. There is an additional fine of up to $250.

I would love to put her in a room without water for 6 days.

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I agree.

I hope Simba starts eating on his own soon.

I'm so sorry that your neighbor didn't take better care of your cats.

This just pisses me off that she promised to take care of them and then only went once in 10 days.I would probably be sitting in jail right now,cause I would have been over there on her.There is just NO excuse for this.Why didn't she mention the alarm when you talked to her,or why couldn't she call you since she had your number??

I hope he gets to feeling better soon.

A friend of mine went out of town for 3 days and asked me to come and make sure her animals were taken care of.I told her it wasn't a problem and not to worry that I didn't care a bit to do it.She did pay me,which I would have done it for nothing,but she had the money to pay me and I needed money,so it all worked out.She could have gotten a neighbor to do it I'm sure,but she said she knew she could trust me and would feel a lot better if I came and done it.I went twice a day for 3 days to feed her cats,dog,and fish.I made sure everyone was eating and that they looked okay.

Heck I even had a neighbor that went out of town for a few days and asked me to look after her Lhasa Apso while she was gone.The dog was fine the first day I went back there,she was eating and everything and going out to potty.The next day,the dog was really ticked off that she wasn't home and tried to eat me everytime I went in the door.LOL.I STILL went in to make sure she had food and water,but could NOT get the dog to go out.Sooooo needless to say she had a mess when she came home,but I told her the dog went NUTS on me after the first day because I guess she was mad because she was gone.BUT I STILL WENT.
I went back there the day my neighbor got home and the dog was fine with me then.

I am glad that simba is on the mend however slowly. To be honest I dont think I would trust anyone with my lot. Its not that I dont think they would care for them or come in an feed them and all that (even though it seems that is a big problem by what i have been reading). I would just be scared that something would happen to them and to put that responsibility onto to someone is a big deal. I am in the fotunate position I guess of only having 4 cats and rarely go on holiday. This year (last year!) I visited my sister in Vietnam and they all had to go into a cattery. I wasnt happy about it but at least I knew they were safe, warm and fed.

I'm speechless. Why didn't your neighbor mention the alarm when you called, and how could anyone with kids and pets be so irresponsible? My niece has been working as a petsitter (dogs, cats, horses) for a number of years, to finance her way through college. She checks on the animals at least twice a day, and in some cases sleeps over. We've left JC twice, and paid a friend's daughter to come and feed him, clean the litterbox, and stay with him for an hour or so every day. In addition, my mother-in-law came over every morning and evening to check on him and give him attention. I simply can't believe somebody would leave the cats for six days without checking on them! I probably would never speak to the woman again.

That is awful
I know I would be in jail now cuz I would have went over there after getting my cat seen about and left in a sherriff's car

How stupid can people be? There are only 3 people that I trust to keep my boys when I go out of town, my brother, my sister and my Dad rest his soul he can't watch them any more I always would come home and the boys have gained weight from too many treats but that's okay I can live with that.

I am so sorry that your baby and you have to go through this because of the ignorance of another. I hope that your baby continues to improve. I am praying for you and for Simba

Simba started to eat on his own late Wednesday night. We were so relieved. He even drank a bit out of a bowl. At least we don't have to force feed him anymore. He hated that and probably figured, if this is what you are going to keep doing to me I might as well eat. At first he had to be encouraged a lot to eat. I put food on his paw so he would lick it off we had to keep petting him to re-assure him. This morning I opened up a small can of soft food and he came right over on his own and ate half a can. Then I put him in the tub with the tap running a bit and he had a nice long drink of water. He has even started to go down to the basement on his own to use the litter. For the first few days we were keeping a litter box right next to him. He is still a bit weak and has lost quite a bit of muscle mass, but he has been improving each day.

I'm so glad he is eating on his own!!! Sounds like he will recover, couldn't have better news to start the new year.

and it really sucks that your neighbors cannot be trusted. I am a pet-sitter and my clients hire me because they know I love animals and do this for a business. They know that this is my specialty and even though they have nice neighbors (many with pets) they are NOT pet-sitters and my clients don't want to impose on them.

I have heard so many horror stories of people relying on neighbors to check in on their pets (to save money I guess) and then end up paying big $$$ in vet bills after finding out their neighbors didn't really care to check in on the animals.

If I have to go away myself, I will have a recommended pet-sitter come in (probably a competitor) or board them at a good reputable facility.

SO SORRY this all had to happen to your kitties.

I've never heard of any pet sitting business here. If I would have been thinking I would have asked my babysitter to watch my kitties for me. She only lives half a block away from us. I know she is reliable, gosh, she has only been watching my kids for me for two years! We are so mad that we didn't think to ask her first. I'm sure she would have been over twice a day with her son to pet and check up on the cats. Hind sight is 20/20! We used to ask my Aunt to do it but her husband has become quite ill recently and can hardly walk anymore without falling down. My uncle was usually the one to come over and check the cats and the house. He thinks he can still do stuff on his own and I didn't want him coming over and killing himself in my house trying to check on things for us so I didn't even want to mention it to them this time.

Still give your neighbor the vet bill. The being scared of the alarm is a pitiful excuse. She risks a life because she's too chickens**t to brave a house alarm? Excuse me? If she's that scared she should be kept in an institution.

I read this thread with interest. I think Hissy pointed out that any time a cat goes without food for 24 hours or more is a dangerous situation. Your cat's symptoms describe Fatty Liver Disease (Hepatic Lipidosis.) A feline metabolism that goes that long without nutrition starts to consume its own fat cells. These fat cells build up in the liver and in no time at all, the liver becomes "clogged" with fat cells and starts to shut down. I don't read where you mentioned any test results other than x-rays. Did your vet do bloodwork? If not, perhaps you should considering having that done. A cat with liver trouble will have elevated liver enzymes. I am not at all surprised that your older cat suffered when the younger one didn't. Is the older cat overweight? FLD tends to strike older, obese cats. (There are more fat cells to consume.)

It is a very good thing that he's eating and drinking again. I urge you to pay strict attention to his eating habits. If the cat did suffer a bout with FLD, it can relapse.

I might suggest too, that you can keep a keen eye upon the coloring of the insides of his ears, the white of his eyes, and also the palate. If any of these areas seem especially pale, or yellowed, please take him to the vet asap. These are both signs of liver disease.

Yep- I agree with the above post. Check for blotchy gums, and if the cat becomes lethargic in any way get Simba to the vet quickly! I am glad Simba is eating on his own now. He more than likely could not smell the food therefore would not eat it. Your neighbor may be "sorry" but she also should be ashamed! I would be so furious with her, I would be in jail by now I believe for what I would do, which would be to slap her hard once across her face for being so careless.

I am sorry to hear about your kitty. Its great that he seems to be getting better now.
When I go out of town I leave at least 3 giant bowls of water and food out for the cats. Also, I ask a friend to check on them. That way, in case the friend has an emergency and cannot get to the house, the cats will always have enough and water to last them at least a week if not more. You never know what may happen to your friend or yourself in your absence.
Ususally I take a giant bag of cat food and cut open the top of it and make a "kitty trough" out of it. I take baking pans and large mixing bowls and pots and fill them up with water to make sure there is enough to go around.
I do not leave the toilet seats open. I have this fear that my kitties will go to drink out of the bowl and slip head first into the bowl and get stuck and drown. I have never heard of this happening, but I am paranoid about it.
Good luck nursing your kitty back to health. Sending good vibes your way!