Sebastian is having a very hard time, need advice please!

Hi all,

I am very glad that I found this site, and if I could run our current issue past you any ideas or advice would be very much appreciated! Sebastian is our oldest cat, 14.5 year-old Chantilly, and about 2 weeks ago he was very warm, lethargic, just not himself, also saw him peeing on our French doors, so I took him to the vets and he has ALWAYS gotten so stressed out doing that, more than any of our other cats, but he had to go.

His temp was normal, they found nothing bad on his physical exam, gave him fluids and a shot of Convenia in case something was going on, did bloodwork and some of his kidney levels were slightly elevated, but not bad and they said many things could cause that. They also shaved him because he was matted and that freaked him out, between that and the vet visit he hid in an alcove in the kitchen for days; we didn't think much of it but when it went on we called the vet and they said it is common for older cats to be stressed etc., so we let it go a bit. He was drinking but not eating too much and they said it could be from the shot, but Saturday I had had enough and said "he needs help, something isn't right here", and took him to a local vet so he was closer and not as stressed by a long car ride, and they found out that he was severely constipated!

They were closing, and didn't want to give him an enema and leave us with the mess at home, so I went to a 24/7 vet even farther away (more stress!), they kept him last weekend and "unclogged" him, did some more bloodwork and said one kidney level was moderately raised, but otherwise was okay. He came home from there Sunday night, hid again, drank water and ate hard treats but not much wet food, so we were back to where we started, but a few days ago he got sick with an obvious upper respiratory infection, watery eyes, sneezing, congested, very lethargic so last night I took him to the local vet as they said he would need a different antibiotic (Orbax) as Convenia didn't work for that, gave him some more sub fluids and also liquid pain meds and we brought him home and I set up a large dog crate that we keep the "newbie" cats in to introduce them to the rest, and we have him in there so we can access him when needed.

Well, he is very weak and listless, we are syringe feeding him and also water and liguid vitamins plus an herbal kidney product from Pet wellbeing kidney support gold, but it is so hard seeing him so listless, he is dead weight when we lift him, he just lays around, and we know that he has been very stressed by all this but really hope that we can get him jumpstarted again with food and water; none of the vets gave us any reason to think this is the end for him, but he looks so weak and lifeless, and we know the sickness plus the meds can really be hammering him, and are doing all we can for him, but we are so very concerned for his welfare, and keep reminding ourselves that the tests were all pretty good, he gets very stressed and is very sick right now, and hope that he is going to come back to us, and if this is his time to go that he goes peacefully, but we don't think it is, but seeing him weak like this is really tough!

If anyone has ANY insight or can add anything please feel free, we are going to take him Saturday to the local vet for a checkup and they are going to teach us how to give him sub fluids. It is just so tough to see the little guy so lifeless and weak!

Thanks in advance, sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much info as I could....

Well we had 2 encouraging things happen last night-he actually stood up, it took him a long time, but he stood up and went to his water bowl and took just a few sips but that is a plus! And 4:00 this morning I came downstairs and he was standing in his litter box, meowing, and when I went to help him he really had peed a LOT so he had the strength and knew enough to go in the litter box, so those are two very good signs I think that we are hopefully slowly getting him back! He just still lays around, but he is getting so much meds and force feeding him is so stressful but we have to get food, vitamins, water and his meds in him, so we will continue to do that and then just let him rest and get stronger. It is just so very heartbreaking and stressful on us all to see him so weak, but we are doing what we can and are very happy with those two signs we observed!

Les26 said:

 
Well we had 2 encouraging things happen last night-he actually stood up, it took him a long time, but he stood up and went to his water bowl and took just a few sips but that is a plus! And 4:00 this morning I came downstairs and he was standing in his litter box, meowing, and when I went to help him he really had peed a LOT so he had the strength and knew enough to go in the litter box, so those are two very good signs I think that we are hopefully slowly getting him back! He just still lays around, but he is getting so much meds and force feeding him is so stressful but we have to get food, vitamins, water and his meds in him, so we will continue to do that and then just let him rest and get stronger. It is just so very heartbreaking and stressful on us all to see him so weak, but we are doing what we can and are very happy with those two signs we observed!

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Hi there

So hard for you and him!  The bottom line he has been through a LOT, both in terms of stress but also illness, constipation etc, and the cold he got is also hard on him and stressing him out.  Most important is to keep him hydrated and fed.  That's great you will learn hot to give sub q fluids, it really isn't hard in a cooperative cat, and feeding him is important too.  I would consider asking your vet for Hills A/D, a very special high nutrient and almost impossible to resist wet food that we give to sick cats.

Secondly, his cold needs support, possibly eye cream if his eyes are involved, steam bath in the shower if he is congested, and as your vet prescribed, anti-biotics to make sure he doesn't get a bacterial infection.

Stay in touch ok.

StephenQ said:

 
Hi there

So hard for you and him!  The bottom line he has been through a LOT, both in terms of stress but also illness, constipation etc, and the cold he got is also hard on him and stressing him out.  Most important is to keep him hydrated and fed.  That's great you will learn hot to give sub q fluids, it really isn't hard in a cooperative cat, and feeding him is important too.  I would consider asking your vet for Hills A/D, a very special high nutrient and almost impossible to resist wet food that we give to sick cats.

Secondly, his cold needs support, possibly eye cream if his eyes are involved, steam bath in the shower if he is congested, and as your vet prescribed, anti-biotics to make sure he doesn't get a bacterial infection.

Stay in touch ok.

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THANK YOU Stephen for your reply, it really helps us understand this better! I think I was just so afraid that he would get kidney or liver problems from being so sick and lifeless and not eating/drinking, that might not happen but for some reason I got that idea stuck in my head....so we are syringe feeding him and it is the A/D like you said, plus a vitamin gel and also the Kidney Support Gold from Petwellbeing, I read wonderful stories about that so we are trying that and it only has 4 ingredients in it but they are immune boosters and is supposed to help regulate his thirst and appetite and weight etc. The vet also suggested steam to open him open, we might try that soon too. We give him a good amount to eat and drink, but between being so congested and force fed he spits some up, so we try to go slow and don't want to give him too much; we'll try to space it out over the weekend better since we'll be home.

I think seeing him so sick, not eating and drinking and so listless and watery eyed and congested really hit us hard, and I was very worried for him, but I talked it out with my wife and said "we've seen him not well for about 3 weeks now, BUT he only got this URI Tuesday, so he is only sick with that for a few days. Before that he was eating a little bit and eating treats and drinking water, but not since this URI."  My wife said "I think we have to give him time, keep him away from going to the vets as it stresses him terribly, and keep doing what we're doing, and I think we'll get him back, he's been through so much stress". I hope she is right!

If he is peeing now on his own because of the water that we are giving him, does that mean that he is not dehydrated? 

Thanks so much again!

the non eating could be caused by the antibiotics 

Les26 said:

 
If he is peeing now on his own because of the water that we are giving him, does that mean that he is not dehydrated? 

Thanks so much again!

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Hi

As to hydration, peeing is an indication he may not be dehydrated, but it isn't proof.  Better to pinch gently the shin between his shoulder blades using your thumb and index finger, and then pull the skin gently taught away from him, like lifting it away fro his back and then letting go. It should basically snap back like a rubber band if he is well hydrated.  The slower it returns the more dehydrated he is, and if it sinks slowly and never really goes back into position he is dangerously dehydrated. 

Its hard for cats to eat when they're stuffed up because they can't smell their food and therefore won't eat it.  This makes the steam baths important, and also non-medicated saline drops fro a drug store, just salt water, a pediatric nose drop, and a couple of squirts in each nostril 2x a day will also loosen his nose up and can improve his eating.

Lastly, watery eyes (as opposed to gooey) suggests a viral infection in the eyes and there are specific eye drops for this, expensive but worth it.

Keep up the good work, keep him fed and hydrated and work on unclogging the nose.

Thank you all again for the answers and info! I started to get concerned that he hasn't haD a bowel movement all week, but he hasn't been eating much only what we syringe feed him which is a decent amount plus he had the enemas last weekend so he was completely empty, so I called the vet that had kept him over last weekend and talked to them about it. They asked me if we were giving him the two medicines that they had given us, Cisapride for prevention of constipation and a stool softener Enulose and we haven't been; we gave him some of the stool softener the other day but layed off the pill for whatever reason, perhaps thinking he would start going since he was peeing, but the woman at the vet said to start giving them to him and if he doesn't have a bowel movement in 24 hours he perhaps should be rechecked, so that was our fault I guess. We hate the thought of taking him back, but if he has to go he will, plus he has to go to the local vet next Wednesday night for a recheck. I guess we (especially the wife) thought perhaps he was getting too much medicine, but maybe he does need this too. We also were given an appetite stimulant to give him every 72 hours, and we gave him that today. We just hate the fact of "overloading" him with meds, but he HAS to poop soon! 

Thanks again for the advice, and any about this post would be appreciated too! He had the meds about an hour ago, and is laying in his cage and has been meow crying off and on for a bit now, maybe he has to go, or the meds are getting to him, or EVERYTHING is getting to him, he's been through a LOT!!! Maybe he has a belly ache from all the meds?

Cisapride is usually given a few minutes before the meal and over use can cause bloating and diarrhea, but as a rule, sick cats benefit from medicine, and are not made worse by it.  Any vet can palpate his intestinal tract with their hand and tell you how much stool is in him, and if its hard or impacted.  It's hard to say if he's constipated again or if he just hasn't filled up, but not giving him the meds could cause the constipation again.  One question to ask to ask is, is the constipation an anomaly, diet connected (not enough fiber?) or something else like megacolon?  These are questions for the vet.

The medicines you describe normally dont cause belly aches but could.  A related question is why has he not regained his appetite? What food does he eat by the way?  And why is he in a cage?

Here is a link on cisapride.  https://www.vetinfo.com/cat-constipation-cisapride.html

Another vet visit sounds in order.

Thank you for the response. He used to eat Fancy Feast, but has been on Hills a/d for the last week. The vets think he might not have much an appetite because of being so sick and stuffed up, plus the antibiotics may be killing his appetite. He is in a cage, a very large dog cage, so that we have access to him, otherwise he would hide somewhere and we wouldn't be able to get him out when needed. Plus we can see exactly what he is doing in his litter box this way, we have 9 other cats so we don't know who is doing what but this way we know what he is doing!

We gave him some plain lowfat yogurt to help calm his stomach and put some good bacteria back into his system, and he has calmed down. I don't know why he was so upset before, but he calmed down now. He seemed to be very stuffed up again, plus all that he is going through I think he's disgusted with things right now. 

I also looked up natural treatments for constipation in cats, and came across pureed pumpkin, olive oil, aloe vera juice and petroleum jelly of all things. Years ago, we had a cat that got paralyzed with a herniated disc, and we were told to give her pumpkin which seemed to work. I'm just not crazy about giving the poor guy so many different pills and meds....but we want to get him eating again and pooping; he did go to his water bowl several times in the last few hours and drank a little, not much but at least he is showing interest in it. He also stood up and was giving my wife "lip" this afternoon like he used to, he feels a bit heavier and on the whole IS showing improvement, but he needs to eat, drink, and poop on his own soon!

We are learning a few things that might help him improve. We started to realize that while we had to have him confined to a cage so we could access him it seems like it is depressing him; he started to cry when he was in his cage, but stop when we took him out, so we are going to get some type of "fencing" so we can corner off a good sized area of a room and let him have more room, plus he might be associating the cage with the cages at the vets, so that is one change coming! We have a Cape Cod house so there isn't much choice as to where we can do it, but a good section of the living room should work and give him a sense of "freedom".

We also fed him by me sitting down and him in my lap, and Deb sitting next to him on the sofa and feeding him and giving him water with him prone and it seemed to work better and was much easier than when I would either stand or sit and hold him; he was almost choking at times that way, plus I was squeezing his stomach that way and it was very hard on my upper back and shoulders, so this way seems better. It takes longer but it is better!

As I type this he is in the bathroom with my wife who just steamed it up with a hot shower, in hopes to help steam him open. He is still very congested at times, but seems to be improving. We hope to get him not so congested so he gets interested in eating on his own; this morning he actually did go to his bowl of wet food and seemed interested but then stopped and was "sniffling", but he did pee again but still no bowel movement. He got the most food this morning that he has had since we started syringe feeding him Wednesday night, thanks to the new feeding "technique", plus the stool softener and Cisapride, so we'll see. 

Let's hope these things help! My wife said when she opened the cage door he walked right out on his own which is a big plus!

THANK YOU for your help and interest in him, it really helps to talk to people who have seen similar things!

Les26 said:

 

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You can also get non-medicated pediatric saline drops at a drug store and give him a couple squirts in each nostril 2 to 3 times a day. Steam bath can help a lot too!

I made an appointment to have a vet come to the house tomorrow night to check up on him, rather than go through the stress of putting him in the carrier and taking him to even the local vet, as that would further spiral him downwards! We ARE seeing signs of good things in him, since we took the cage down and gave him more room he is not as upset, and last night I heard "rumbling" in his intestines and we could also smell gas, so hopefully he will go potty soon! I think this is a pretty complex problem that he is having, but no vet found anything majorly wrong, so hopefully we can unravel some of the issues going on, get him over his upper respiratory infection, get him to eta again etc. He DID go to his bowls last night, looked at them, cried, but walked away, but he is at least showing interest despite the fact that we have been syringe feeding him. We'll see what she says tomorrow night; a woman at work here uses her and says that she is very good! 

I think that having a vet come to you is a much better option. Poor little guy doesn't need more stress now. I hope he is ok

Zed Xyzed said:

 
I think that having a vet come to you is a much better option. Poor little guy doesn't need more stress now. I hope he is ok

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Thank you! Yes, he is older at 14.5, has been through the ringer, is SLOWLY  showing signs of improvement, we don't want to take him to any vet unless it is deemed absolutely necessary. He has always over reacted to vet visits his whole life, and having to go to 3 different ones in the last few weeks and stay overnight at one of them, well, that REALLY put him into shock!!!

I am sorry to say that our beloved Sebastian passed away tonight. When I got home from work, his left leg was tangled in the mini blinds above a chair that he somehow got the urge and energy to climb up; he couldn't even jump up onto a low shelf last night, but somehow he climbed this and got tangled in it. I rushed over to get him out, he was still alive and had given me one last "meow", it took me awhile to get his leg out, and he passed away as I held him crying. I raced him down to the vet, but he was gone already. The vet said that cats will do crazy things when they know they are dying, perhaps he was trying to somehow get out the window to "escape" his pain, but also he said there probably was something else wrong that we couldn't detect, maybe his heart or lungs, but he said this all didn't just happen in these last three weeks. I brought him home so my wife and I could say goodbye to him, we hugged and kissed him, cried, talked about the fun times that we had, how we have no regrets, none of us do....he gave us a lot of laughs and love and we saved him from an earlier death I'm sure living on the streets of Allentown, we had 12 GREAT years with him, did all that we could here at the end, but it turns out that it was just his time to leave this Earth and move on to the next life.

We shall see him again someday, and have tears of joy when we do. God Bless you little "Sea bass", you were a good son and we'll love you forever!

THANK YOU for trying to help us all who replied back.....

Oh no, I am so so sorry, rest in peace sweet boy

Very sorry to read this, may he rest in peace.

I'm so sorry that Sebastian passed away. You did what you could for him and he lived a good life with you.

Threads are locked after someone has suffered such a loss, as a sign of respect. We invite you to place a tribute at http://www.thecatsite.com/f/19/crossing-the-bridge as an enduring testimony to Sebastian when you feel up to it.