Have a vet appointment next friday.

So I am taking two of my boys to the vet next friday. It's just for a check up but also Gotham seems to have a really bloated stomach as of late, it's always been kind of bloated but I always thought it was just fat or something but now its not looking like fat. Then Varley would sometimes pee and poop outside the litter boxes but its gotten so much worse in the last month. I was wondering if you all would have advice for me to as to what question I should ask the vet or things I should tell the vet.

Doing anything outside of the litter box is not good. It could be a urinary problem, crystals, etc or stress/anxiety. How long have these problems been going on for?


As for your other kitty, have you dewormed them lately? Is one possibly pregnant? Could be a stomach cryst. Or just suffer from bloat.

I would get them in as soon as you can and tell the vet how long its been going on, if they have previous issues like this, if there is anything you can do to fix it, etc.



Best of luck! Let me know how it goes!

The problem of the litter box has been going on for about 2 years. For those two years it was always a on and off kind of thing it wasn't all the time he would do it but now it has turned into an all the time type of thing. I have tried switching out litters and litter boxes. I have tried changing the depth of the litter.

I don't know if he has been dewormed, the shelter where I got him last year said that he got dewormed.

I will keep you all up to date but the earliest I could get into the vet was next Friday.

How does the tummy of the cat with the bloated tummy feel? Is it like a balloon filled with water or firmer?

As for the out of the box elimination---cats get in the habit of eliminating and it is tough to change it. I've had to re-train a cat before by secluding them to the bathroom with the box for a day or so like I did when I first got them. That helped one cat remember but the other one it did not.

For the box issue you might consider a lower side on the box. I'd also try some puppy house training pads to put near the box. That will at least make the clean up better. I had to do that with a cat who absolutely refused to get in the box but would agree to use the pads. 

Gotham bloated belly feels like a balloon filled with water soft.

I might have to try locking Varley in my room to try and get him to use the litter box. I tried the pee pads and he would go on them my only problem was the other cats would try and bury the the pee pads so I may try and tape the pee pads to the ground so they stay flat.

Rogue22912 said:

 
Gotham bloated belly feels like a balloon filled with water soft.

I might have to try locking Varley in my room to try and get him to use the litter box. I tried the pee pads and he would go on them my only problem was the other cats would try and bury the the pee pads so I may try and tape the pee pads to the ground so they stay flat.

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Your vet will probably do some tests to see what the fluid in his abdomen might be. Is there anyway you can get Gotham in sooner than Friday?  Ask for a full blood test and see if they have a way to evaluate the fluid to see what is in it. The appearance of the fluid alone may not be enough to say what it is.  Vets go first with the most likely reason but it is important to have more information than their first gut diagnosis.  These two articles provides some background. I have learned that the issue can be super complicated. I think most vets might not be able to tell you right away what the fluid is. They will be able to look at a smear under a microscope and tell you what kind of cellular activity is going on too.

 

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/cardiovascular/c_ct_ascites

http://www.cat-world.com.au/Cat-Health-Collection/ascites-in-cats.html

I wish I could get him in sooner then Friday but I don't have much free cash til I get paid on Friday. those are some great articles I just have one question he really doesn't have the other symptoms other then the bloated belly. He just turned one so I am kind of scared though that it might be FIP.

Rogue22912 said:

 
I wish I could get him in sooner then Friday but I don't have much free cash til I get paid on Friday. those are some great articles I just have one question he really doesn't have the other symptoms other then the bloated belly. He just turned one so I am kind of scared though that it might be FIP.

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It is scary. My vet told me that FIP is a mutation of a common virus that kitties get. And for some reason, it mutates in some cats. But it has very specific qualities and specifically is sticky and full of fibrous proteins.

My vet put some of the abdominal fluid on the table and tried to see it if would stretch. It didn't, but then she ran tests too. There are other peritonitis causes too and other reasons for the fluid build up.  The mix of cells in the fluid will lead toward some ideas. They look for funky cells that suggest cancer or bacteria which can be a clue as to what started the fluid build up in the first place. An ultrasound will also suggest whether there is some reason to do exploratory surgery. 

Ultrasound might be able to show something but my vet, for example, said she can read an ultrasound to see what generally is going on but she's not an expert at reading subtle changes. So I wonder if that is a common thing. It could be that some general practice vets are very good at reading ultrasounds though.   

Okay got back from the vet. Everything turned out fine. Gotham had an ultrasound done and the vet saw nothing abnormal just fat so I have to cut his food intake down. Then they did a urine test on Varley and they found no infection so its more then likely stress/anxiety. So it was one of those vet visit where no news is good news. 

A relief and good news on all counts!