Freaking out vs "this is normal"

I feel like I am familiar with so much about some things cat health related, particularly kidney disease. But when it comes to my cats it all goes out the darn window. And then it's all just panic.

Miss Sara Bear puked a couple times today. I didn't see it because I wasn't home, but my mom told me about it. She kinda did the "puke analysis" for me and said it looked like partially digested food. She did this twice. I'm gonna keep an eye on her after we feed them dinner tonight. 

I guess I should be happy it wasn't the foamy vomit. That just breaks my heart to see that.

I'll see how tonight and tomorrow morning go, hopefully she'll keep her food down. Of course Pea-Pea puked this morning too, and after hearing about Sara I got all freaked out. But Penelopy had some hairballs (analyzing that particular puke almost made me puke). Sara has had hairballs in the past but thinking that's not it.

Even kidney cats just have "off" days though, right? She is still eating, so that is good. Of course one of my thoughts was "what if she's not pooping?" That's one of the downsides of multiple cats, can't tell who is doing what. The pee habits are a bit more recognizable, but not the poop habits. As far as just doing weird things, the only out-of-the-normal thing about her lately is because she's hanging out in the bathroom 90% of the day. But that's because the vent is there and it's the warmest room in the house. Well, except with her blocking the vent it's not. And of course she gets really mad because the Triad (Oscar, Oliver and Pea-Pea) always follow me into the bathroom.

I know just how you feel.  Having multiple cats, including one with kidney disease, is "difficult" at best .  

Hopefully all has resolved by now.  With Sara still eating, that is a very good sign for a kidney cat, so I'm thinking  maybe she just eat something that disagreed with her, or gobbled it down, or something totally unrelated to health   As for her being constipated, wouldnt' her appetite be off if that were the case?  At least a little?  I guess that would depend on how bad it was   I know with my girl, if she has to strain at all, that WILL cause her to throw up as she's exiting the box, so I just dose her with Miralax everyday, like clockwork, to try to avoid that. 

Yes, kidney cats definitely have "off days".  Too many of them .  Callie had a Vet visit about 10 days ago, and still hasn't seemed to recoup. it WAS pretty stressful, because she got groomed while she was there too, and while she enjoyed her bath, her temp dropped to 93 degrees afterwards .  I honestly thought we were going to lose her , but they put her in a warming box for a couple of hours and she bounced back like a champ.  However, she still hasn't regained the same great appetite she had before.  It's good, but not AS good.   So SHE has been throwing up the froth a couple of times now.  We had to start up the Famotudine again, darn it. 

Anyway, hopefully Sara hasn't had any more episodes. 

Nope, haven't seen any more puke anywhere. And she ate her dinner quite happily last night. No pukies = happy mommy. 

Sara makes me worry so much. She hides things better than anyone. Lucky, my little guy that I lost in November, was completely the opposite. He never hid anything from me. Sara had an abscessed anal gland not long ago, and the only reason I found out about it was because I took her to the vet due to paranoia over her getting finicky for a couple days. It was not long after Lucky died and well, it didn't take much to make me paranoid. After I found out she had something so unexpected wrong with her, let me say that didn't help with the paranoia! She has such a fluffy butt and even though the hair immediately around the abscess was gone, the rest hid it. And she's not a long-haired cat, she just happens to have a fluffy butt.

Oh, and her T4 had spiked up to 11! I felt like such a horrible mama. I think it was due in part to being forgetful with her methimazole while Lucky was sick. My vet assured me that while it may have been in part related to that, that all on its own would not have made it so high.

They ARE a worry, especially when they are chronically ill .  And when you've got TWO of them sick ...   I can see how some meds might not always get dispensed as they should.  All you can do is the best you can do and that's it

Glad you haven't found any more puke piles . 

 I can relate, this morning I got up to clean the litter box and Midi had a bad case of runny bum. His poops are always solid, if you don't include the time be was on antibiotics. I was worried about him all day at work. I came home and he was hungry and happy to see me, and no more diarrhea. I hope it is just a bug. I hope Sarah is ok 

Sara decided today she didn't feel like eating. It took me a couple of tries to get her to take her pill this morning. She ate a tiny bit but she hasn't wanted any of it since then. Almost acts like I'm torturing her if I put it near her! I gave up. I told her she could have today. I'm trying to determine at what point I should let the paranoia take over. Tomorrow morning? Or the morning after? It's one of those two.

Hopefully I'll be able to get her to take her pills this evening. Hopefully she'll eat dinner with the other cats. Maybe the k/d wasn't appealing for some reason.

I hope Sara eats and takes her pills tonight! I know how you feel, I am very paranoid about Chessy eating and taking his pills. Kidney disease kitties are really hard. Let us know how it goes!

Thank you. I'm worried, she's acting a bit odd, seems kinda grouchy. Reminds me too much of how Lucky got right before I took him into the vet to get checked out - only to find out he had Stage IV renal failure Lost him two months ago today. I'm not ready for this. I guess life doesn't care if I'm ready or not though.

I hope she's ok!  

If I close the door to the room she is in, so no other cats can get in, I am eventually able to coax her to eat her treats (pills). I brought her some food since I wasn't sure if she'd go to the kitchen on her own, and she's eating it! It's Nutro-Max, not her k/d, but I don't care at this point.

Oh no, I am hoping it is nothing serious. sending Sara healing vibes 

Glad she's eating something! Hope she feels better tomorrow and goes back to her regular food.

You know I can relate to the panic when one cat doesn't act right so soon after losing one. Mook went off her food for about a week resulting in me force feeding her for two of them. Step back and really look at the situation and make the informed choice and go from there.

The reality is Mook was probably eating plenty. It was my warped perception of what was going on mixed with fear. Hugs to you and your kitties. It's still not the best of times for you. If in doubt call your vet and get their opinion.

I was so scared at the vet office today I kept mixing up the cats names and all kinds of oddball stuff. I'm not usually that inarticulate but I'm glad no one asked me a complicated question like what's your phone number. All I could think while waiting is please don't open the door to exam room 3. My mind is so much more at peace for taking Mook in today.

The thing that makes it so hard with Sara is so very much of this reminds me of what happened with Lucky before taking him to the vet and he was diagnosed the next day. I already know she has kidney disease, but I also know it can become something of an acute nature like it did with Lucky.

I think she ate some more last night after I went to bed. I had woken up in the middle of the night and saw her in the kitchen. Can't be 100% certain, she may have just been going to the water bowl in the kitchen (where the food bowls were).

This morning, I gave her a tiny spoonful of the food that I was feeding to the other cats this morning. Just to see if she'd eat it. She did, but she didn't finish it. Is there some rule that regardless of how much or how little is on a plate, they have to leave some behind? I swear that seems to be the case with my cats. Anyway, gonna warm up her k/d later and see if she will eat that.

I've noticed she takes her pills a bit better if I go into the bathroom with her and shut the door. It's almost like the other cats distract her too much to eat her treat.

I'm taking Sara to the vet in an hour. Sigh. She's gonna HATE going outside. Anyway, I have a feeling it might be a tooth that's bothering her. She'll eat a little bit, but not a lot. She will eat her pill pockets, normally she scoots them across the floor before finally eating them (or sometimes I swear she swallows them whole). But both times yesterday, and this morning, she'll pick it up, drop it. Pick it up, drop it. Over and over, while chewing a little bit. She will finally eventually swallow the thing.

She had an infected tooth before, so thinking she *might* have something wrong again in that department. She also hasn't eaten dry food for a couple of days, and I've been working from home and have full view of the food bowl that all the cats (except Maple) have access to.

Keep us posted. Hopefully it's just the tooth.

Anxiously awaiting your update (although I figure you're at the Vet's office right now ...hey, I'm impatient!)

She has a tooth resorption. The vet I saw today is the senior vet (mine is out till Monday). He will talk it over with the other two vets (including mine) since they have to take into account all the problems she has, but he feels the best thing to do is to have it removed as it is very painful. But he will discuss it with the other vets first, and then they will call me back on Monday with their collective recommendation.

I get the impression a lot of people would argue, because I didn't fight it at all, and just said to him, "It's about her quality of life." And he said, "Yes, exactly!" I don't want her in pain. I don't want to chance losing her either, but unfortunately it's one of those decisions that needs to be made. If they recommend it, I will have them extract the tooth. He wouldn't be able to do the extraction this week anyway so I would have to wait anyway. He's also the vet that mainly handles the extractions, has over 30 years of experience doing it, and can do it in less time (in other words, she'll be under for less amount of time than if one of the other vets do it).

The Cat Whisperer brought out some of the k/d samples to see if she would eat. She did exactly what she does here - eats a little then walks away. While the vet said there is a chance that this is not the cause of her not eating (since she has so many other issues), he believes that it most likely is.

I completely agree that is is QUALITY of life vs quantity .   If they know her issues going in,they should be able to take care of this without too much risk.  I think heart issues really are the worst to deal with, and she doesn't have those,right?  Poor baby, and poor you too, having just dealt with Lucky so recently

In the meantime,maybe you can get her to eat soupy wet food so all she needs to do is lap it up.  Maybe mix some cat milk into any wet food she shows an interest in to make it really lapable, or maybe JUST cat milk for awhile, IF she will drink it.  I'm talking a complete meal replacement milk, not a "filler".  They make both.

mrsgreenjeens said:

I completely agree that is is QUALITY of life vs quantity .   If they know her issues going in,they should be able to take care of this without too much risk.  I think heart issues really are the worst to deal with, and she doesn't have those,right?  Poor baby, and poor you too, having just dealt with Lucky so recently

In the meantime,maybe you can get her to eat soupy wet food so all she needs to do is lap it up.  Maybe mix some cat milk into any wet food she shows an interest in to make it really lapable, or maybe JUST cat milk for awhile, IF she will drink it.  I'm talking a complete meal replacement milk, not a "filler".  They make both.

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I actually have Clinicare RF, it's like kitty Ensure, which I'd ordered for Lucky. It arrived a couple days after he died. I may try to give her that in addition to what she will eat of the k/d. She'll eat a little bit, then stop. I just can't feed her every single hour in order to make sure she eats enough. I may do that. I didn't even think about it, so thanks for suggesting it

I've been taking small amounts of the k/d that I have and smashing it up and mixing with water. She will lick it up a little bit then that's it for awhile. Rinse and repeat many times

She has a heart murmur, that she's had pretty much since she's been going to the vet (I never took her before December of 2014). Like my vet says, it could mean something, or it could mean nothing. It isn't a bad murmur, and she's had no signs of heart disease at all. Thank goodness for that and *knocking on wood*. But, it's still a risk. I just have to weigh the risks against the pain she's in, especially knowing it will only get worse.

I obviously don't want anything to happen to her, and I know some folks would probably think I'm stupid for taking a risk. But she's not a happy cat right now, and I know it. I'd be a bad mama if I did nothing.