Help!! Is this an emergency vet or regular vet situation?

hypochondricat · May 22, 2016

My sweet 8 year old lady (domestic shorthair, indoor) has been having some loose, VERY smelly stools for the past day or two. Always in the litter box, though; eating and drinking have been totally normal, energy levels/play levels normal. Tonight though she suddenly started crying (short little meows, the same as her "OMG I have a hairball!" noises) and paced around the room before finally pooping ... on her scratching post. Again, the stool was somewhat loose/runny but not completely liquid. (And I'm now realizing I'm a dummy, and should have saved some for a vet sample.)

In hindsight I realize that she did try to use her box but I was in the room with it, so she might have felt she couldn't? Or just couldn't wait? But she has NEVER, in 8 years, pooped outside the box. I'm very worried.

Obviously something is up. But it is Sunday night, so my options are emergency vet or waiting until tomorrow morning. Is this likely to be serious enough to merit emergency vets? Again, she ate normally today and drank water and such, nothing seemed weird except that I've had my eye on her because of the aforementioned really smelly loose poops.

Help me, Obi-Wan TheCatSite, you're my only hope! Thanks in advance...

sidneykitty · May 22, 2016

If this were me, I'd wait until the morning but I'd call first thing and get in tomorrow to check it out because its been happening for a few days. I'd keep a close eye out for dehydration and any changes. Does she have any other symptoms? Is there blood in the diarrhea or is it black and tarry or is she vomiting?

Have you changed her food recently?

hypochondricat · May 22, 2016

-No changes in food; I think she was maybe getting a few more treats than usual but she has had and tolerated those treats before. (For the record, she gets a half can of Iams wet (one of the fish flavors) once a day and otherwise free-feeds Iams dry food/indoor cat variety.)

-We did change the location of her dish because she seemed unhappy eating far away from the humans...maybe that was an early sign of something, I don't know.

-No blood in the loose poops/diarrhea, they are the normal brown color or maybe a little lighter.

-No vomiting since a hairball incident probably 3 weeks ago, but she's a hairball-prone kitty in the early spring.

If she has other symptoms I haven't been able to distinguish them from her usual day-to-day weirdness.

She hid under the sofa after the poop incident but is now doing happy meows and headbutting my boyfriend and wondering why we won't feed her.

stephanietx · May 22, 2016

When did you move the feeding dish? That might be causing stress for her.

hypochondricat · May 22, 2016

We moved her dish about two, three weeks ago, to the room where she spends most of her time. She seemed (for a cat, anyway) pretty thrilled about it, but who knows.

We held off on feeding her tonight but will try moving the dish back to its old spot in the morning. Though actually, I will try to get the vet's advice before feeding her again. She loves her water glass and has been drinking from it as much as usual, so I'm not worried about severe dehydration. Thanks everyone for your advice -- the emergency vet is quite a long ride away, while the vet is a short walk, so I didn't want to subject her to that if it wasn't absolutely necessary! Fingers crossed for a peaceful night!

kittens mom · May 22, 2016

hypochondricat said:
My sweet 8 year old lady (domestic shorthair, indoor) has been having some loose, VERY smelly stools for the past day or two. Always in the litter box, though; eating and drinking have been totally normal, energy levels/play levels normal. Tonight though she suddenly started crying (short little meows, the same as her "OMG I have a hairball!" noises) and paced around the room before finally pooping ... on her scratching post. Again, the stool was somewhat loose/runny but not completely liquid. (And I'm now realizing I'm a dummy, and should have saved some for a vet sample.)

In hindsight I realize that she did try to use her box but I was in the room with it, so she might have felt she couldn't? Or just couldn't wait? But she has NEVER, in 8 years, pooped outside the box. I'm very worried.

Obviously something is up. But it is Sunday night, so my options are emergency vet or waiting until tomorrow morning. Is this likely to be serious enough to merit emergency vets? Again, she ate normally today and drank water and such, nothing seemed weird except that I've had my eye on her because of the aforementioned really smelly loose poops.

Help me, Obi-Wan TheCatSite, you're my only hope! Thanks in advance...

Call and leave a message so you have the best chance of being in line first for an open slot or cancelation.

hypochondricat · May 23, 2016

Update: They were able to get me in at the vet first thing this morning. The little one has a clostridium infection and some impacting of her anal glands (probably because of the few days of loose stools). Vet expressed them, so she should have less discomfort. They haven't totally ruled out underlying conditions but since her weight and appetite are good, they are optimistic that it's just the bug and nothing more.

I did not know cats could even get clostridium, but now her symptoms make total sense.

Thank you everyone! You all were the only reason I got any sleep last night

stephanietx · May 23, 2016

So glad you go to the vet quickly and hope your kitty is feeling better soon!

sidneykitty · May 23, 2016

Oh, good!! I'm so glad you got in and got a diagnosis so quickly! Hope kitty gets better soon.

Help!! Is this an emergency vet or regular vet situation?

hypochondricat

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sidneykitty

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hypochondricat

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stephanietx

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hypochondricat

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kittens mom

Kittens life was lost to a negligent veterinarian.

hypochondricat

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stephanietx

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sidneykitty

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