New here, searching for answers, sick kitty:(

Hi folks,

I have a 5 year old cat, indoors, that started acting lethargic late last week. He was in the care of my daughter and mom while we were gone. Over the weekend he seemed really ticked that we had left and my mom brought her small dog...so we thought it could have been a depression ticked off thing. We kept a close eye on him and it continued throu the weekend so we took him to the vet tonight.

No vomiting, no sore spots, the vet said he did not feel any blockages, he does have a temp of over 104, lethargic in the sense that he is not as playful, just laying around, but will still purrs and such. He will take some food and water if brought to him, but he will not go get it. That was the first sign since he is normally 19 lb. He did lose about a pound over the past few days.

The vet put him on amoxicillyn with a steroid to eat more and said to keep an eye on him..if it doesn't change, we are looking at $400 worth of xrays and blood tests.

I am at a loss. I cannot figure out what would bring this on in otherwise a very healthy indoor cat.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

I'm sorry that I cannot help. It could be so many things. You have to be very, careful not to let your cat loose anymore weight even if he needs to. Loosing too quickly can be fatal to a cat because they can develope fatty liver disease. If he is eating when you bring it to him, that's great. Even if you need to feed him cooked chicken breast of something to stimulate his appetite, please take the time to do it. Hopefully, your vet is taking the correct course of action and the antibiotics will kick in and he will be feeling better.

Just a thought....

Do you have any indoor plants? Many indoor plants can be toxic to cats.

HI folks,

thank you for the responses. He will not eat people food at all. He will not touch any kind of meats, etc and is very picky about dried food. He does eat a chicken main based dry, he won't even touch wet.

As far as plants, no. We have the same plants we have always had for the past 4 years and they are not toxic.

I am just at a loss..I don't get it. He is purring and he just ate and drank a little. The vet did give him a shot of the anibiotics about an hour ago. The fever without vomiting, etc is just strange.

It's just so odd and I am at a loss.

If the vet gave us more to go by, I wouldn't feel so odd about it but he didn't even seem to have any ideas to float around. Just let's give him the meds, watch for 2-3 days then a full work up.

I have no problem if the workup is needed...but I would like to not overdo it since it is so expensive.

When they are left in the care of strangers, sometimes they are at such a loss. They begin to look for you, in all corners, in all nooks and crannies, they get anxious, they may find something in a long-lost corner and eat it or just from the stress of their world changing so drastically they may become ill for no other reason than the separation and the change.

My vet calls it NDW (not doing well) fevers of undetermined origin that can never quite get pinned down.

I would urge you to try and get him to eat any way that you can- baby food- chicken or turkey flavored- boiled chicken (see if he will lap up the broth) try plain yogurt, shredded cheese, cream cheese, anything that you can possibly think of that is safe for him to eat

Did the vet take any blood while you were there to do a full work up of blood values? If not, I would start there in addition to the antibiotic and steroid. A discrepency in one of the values from the norm would give you a starting place or perhaps even a diagnosis. If the blood work comes back normal then you can consider other tests. Blood work should also show if he is fighting off an infection.

Good luck. I hope that your cat recovers his good health soon. I know how worrisome it is when they are unwell.

Kathryn

Thank you for the reply. He is eating his dry food and my mom said I should add some cod liver oil pill to the dry...good idea? He has eaten a little 3 times today. I will try to get him to eat some more. You would think this big guy would like people food, but he hasn't touched any in the four years I have had him.

I agree with you about the attitude funk. I used to have a grey tabby that would ignore me for 3 days everytime I went to visit my grandparents.

Piggy was with my daughter and my mom that he knows well, and in his own environment...but I think the little dog, which he normally can handle..was too much for 5 days straight...together with us gone.

He seems happy now..I am just still at a loss.

Thank you for telling me about what your vet said...I guess kitty fevers can happen too. lol

Hi Kathryn,

no, he has not done any bloodwork yet. He said to give the meds 2-3 days to see how he responds. Is there cause for concern with that?

Background, we have had cats my entire life and I work with a cat rescue and foster kittens most of the time. I have seen a lot...I have just never seen anything like this.

Originally Posted by MrPig

Hi Kathryn,

no, he has not done any bloodwork yet. He said to give the meds 2-3 days to see how he responds. Is there cause for concern with that?

Background, we have had cats my entire life and I work with a cat rescue and foster kittens most of the time. I have seen a lot...I have just never seen anything like this.

Click to expand...

No, I don think it is cause for concern, just that it is something that he could do while waiting for the antibiotics to take effect. The initial blood panel would have a cost involved but it is the starting place for all other tests, and with that one done, then you could decide if you needed to do x-rays or other tests rather than do all of the other tests at the same time and then find out that the others weren't necessary. The blood panel would provide information on how well his kidneys, liver, pancreas and other important body functions are performing. Since he has a fever, that indicates his body is probably fighting off something. Cats will also purr when they are in pain, so he may have something happening internally.

Is there a possibility that he was tripped over, or had an altercation with the dog and has an abcess forming that hasn't been found yet? The three times I have seen similar behaviour in my cats each had three different causes: one was an abcess that formed over a few days and until it formed and pointed we didn't know what was wrong other than the lethargy and fever - blood work identified an infection and so we treated that; another was an intestinal inflammation - cause unknown - that was identified through barium x rays, and the third was pancreatitis that was identified through blood work. All three presented with lethargy, reduced appetite, low fever, and in the case of the intestinal inflammation, some vomiting.

Good luck, and I hope that the antibiotics do the trick so you don't have to worry.

Kathryn

Hi Kathryn,

the vet viewed the situation as this...as with what a pediatrician would do for a child, give antibiotics and see what happens in a few days, this is how we would start with Piggy. Not many doctors would order up a complete workup without more to go on...so this is what he offered as well.

All the other costs invloved would have been around $400 to start, when he said the antibiotics and first visit = under $100 could very well treat the problem.

He did do a thurough check of his body and checked him very well physically. He only purrs when his belly is rubbed, as always. We talked to my mom and daughter and there were no tripping, etc issues while we were gone. The cat is also as big if not bigger than the dog she brings over and Piggy is well used to other animals. So we did think about trauma in that sense but cannot find anything to support it.

Within an hour of coming home, he was already up and walking around. He already seems a lot more alert, holding his head up, paying attention to things ...just all around a lot better and back to his happy self.

We will watch him for the next couple of days and see how he does. If nothing changes, the blood workup and such will be done asap.

My Buddy did something similar a couple of months ago. He just didn't get out of his cat tree one day and wouldn't eat even if I took him to his bowl. Buddy doesn't miss any opportunity to eat, so I took him in that day. He had a temp of 105. They did a CBC and it was normal, but he seemed to be in pain to palpation of his tummy. The vet put him on an antibiotic and gave him Metacam for pain and he was fine within a couple of days. She doesn't really know what was wrong, but he is fine now. I hope that is your experience with the pig. Becky

Hi Becky,

thanks for the info. Piggy is doing much better and just about back to his old self. He is eating a lot today and moving around normal. His fur still seems a little seperated and fluffed, but other wise even his facial expressions are more relaxed. I will relax once we get passed all the meds and it doesn't come back. lol

Good news. Glad to hear he is better. Becky