swollen face and no appetite

Hello everyone,

My cat is almost 16 now and she seems to be having some serious problems. First off, I have tried to take her to a vet, but she hasnt had her shots since she was a kitten (my parents didn't want to do it for her and 16 years ago I would have been 3 years old). This means no vet I have access to (within a 4 hour drive) will take her. Not to mention if I try to travel with her she pees all over her little carrying crate.
Anyway, we had a heat wave and it was about 45C for weeks, with no air conditioning and not much of a breeze. I dont think she liked that very much. It has recently cooled down. A few weeks ago one side of her face got swollen and her eye on that side looked like it was coated in a milky substance. This has happened once before, but it seemed to resolve itself. This time it burst and leaked pus out. During this time she wouldn't eat. All she would take was small amounts of can milk or water. Now she will eat a little, but not even 1/4 of what she used to eat daily. She has gotten very thin, you can see and feel her bones. She walks with a stagger and when she meows she sounds crazed or something. She doesn't sound at all like she used to. I'm not sure if she is recovering or not. I don't want her to suffer. Does anyone know what might be happening to her, or what I can do for her?

She really is going to need to see a vet. She should have a senior panel done, and such. When they start to get up in age it can be any number of things thats going wrong. and the eye thing, not good. sounds like a fairly bad infection.

I would agree that she needs a vet, and not having her vaccinations all her life, should not have a bearing on this. After all she is 16 years old- please tell your parents if they want her to stay in your life, a vet visit is a really good idea-


Good luck!

She needs to be seen by a vet! She has an infection...

I don't suppose there would be a traveling vet around? Some vets do have a traveling unit. Or, maybe a critical care (emergency) facility? They should have the facilities to quarantine her if that's really the reason that they won't take her.

This cat is most likely nutritionally starved and probably dehydrated too.For all of the time she had the infection she didn't eat and this is the second time this cat has had the same infection too. Thin? You can feel her bones? She walks with a stagger ? She sounds crazed? Your cat is starving to death right before your eyes. Do you understand that she doesn't eat because she can't and leaving it up to her to eat what she can, however she can, is allowing her to slowly starve to death and there's nothing she can do about it because she can't? You have to start feeding her soft foods and fluids often. A vet may give an antibiotic for the infection but your cat is too run-down to do anything else.

Your cat needs immediate assistence...cats can not go without eating, they don't live off their fat like we humans can, instead their livers quickly shut down - they develop Hepatic Lipidosis, and the longer they go without eating, the less of an appetite they have to eat. At this age, she could have several things going on at once..none of which can be diagnosed without an exam and blood work (besides the obvious, I agree, your cat is starving, and I'm sure dehyrated as well).

She needs a vet asap, this is urgent at this point.

I live in a community of 40 000 in the middle of nowhere Canada, there are 2 vets here and the next community is a 4 hour drive if you drive fast. There most certainly isn't an emergency service for animals. Humans have a hard enough time getting emergency care. The 2 vets here won't look at her, I have tried. I have given her fluids and soft foods but she won't eat them. I don't know how to make her eat them. It's not like I'm TRYING to starve my cat or something. All she would eat is canned milk and water and I would offer her a multitude of foods, anything she would eat but she doesn't want anything. Well, she does eat some soft foods now. She eats about 1/4 of a small can of cat food a day and I don't know how to get her to eat more. I mush it up a lot for her too. I will try to take her to the vet again (this will make it the 3rd attempt in the last few weeks) but they keep refusing her. They tell me all they are willing to do for her is put her down. They won't even examine her or anything. I think it's cruel but this is an isolated community and they get to do what they want to do. It's not as if they're going to lose any business. I've even asked them how I can help the cat eat, like I've seen pictures of people nursing their cat with a bottle like thing and cradling the cat but he just says "you need to get that equipment off of me, and I need to prescribe for it, but for that I'd have to inspect her, and she hasn't had her shots." Apparently this makes her a "risk for contamination". If I can't do anything for her and she's going to suffer, and all the vet will do for her is put her down, then I'm not sure what my options are. I don't want to see her starve or suffer. She's been with me since I was 3 years old. I love her.

I'll put her in her carrying crate thing and find a car and make that 4 hour drive to another city. It's bigger than we are, they probably have emergency animal care. She stresses out in that cat crate, my worry was that in her condition it'll just worsen the problem. But I guess if no one will see her here and I can't do anything for her it can't make the problem much worse.

I am sending you a pm with the address of an assist-feeding group, they can help teach you what you need to do, and where to get the feeding syringes, which do not have to be prescribed (unless Canada is totally different than the US).

It would be a start, but I wish I had a solution for you, as she really does need vet assessment (which I can tell you are trying to get).

Just a question, because I've read the rest of the posts, is it possible that this could have started as a problem with her teeth? I remember what Candy was like when she had a dental problems - her face swelled up and she refused to eat as well, and she was obviously in a lot of pain. Any longer with that and she would have hit abscess country - this seems to be quite a severe infection, might it have started in her teeth? I know that mouth and nose, eyes and ears are all interconnected so is it possible that infection would have spread? It certainly sounds that way to me if all she is wanting is very soft food. I'm so proud of you for wanting to help your kitty despite the difficulties there. There are lots of people in the world who would just give up there and then. I really hope you get the help your cats needs and deserves.

I think there's a good chance it started with her teeth. When she was eating normally and regularly sometimes she'd do some erratic things...like be eating and then all of a sudden jump back and run away from her food like it had bit her back or something. But she has done little erratic things like that all of her life from time to time and it never led to anything else and she's always been ..from what I could tell.. a healthy happy kitty. Now with the emergence of the possibility of it being tooth problems I wonder if when she jumped back from her food like that it had caused her sudden pain. I'm pretty sure her teeth are causing problems.

I am glad you care about her enough to make that journey. She must see a vet, even if they decide they can do nothing. But there are probably things that can be done, and you would never forgive yourself if you didn't do all you could for a cat you have loved all your life. I hope it works out for her and for you.

I sure hope kitty gets to the vet and they can make her better.

I'd go one step further though and report the vets in your area that won't see her. I would make such a fuss they would never refuse to see an animal again. They don't deserve any respect.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I sure hope kitty gets to the vet and they can make her better.

I'd go one step further though and report the vets in your area that won't see her. I would make such a fuss they would never refuse to see an animal again. They don't deserve any respect.

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Hmmm. And vets talk to vets who talk to vets...... and it goes around that so and so is a troublemaker. Not exactly the label one wants in walking into any vet's office and asking for help. Expecially in a small community.

Again, I say I would report them. It could go two ways - the way June describes OR they may actually hesitate in future to refuse to see ANYONE'S animal - whether it be yours or not.

Theirs is not professional conduct IMO and should definitely be reported to the veterinary overseers.

IMO it's rather like not reporting sexual or inappropriate behaviour from a doctor because you don't want him telling other doctors about you ratting on him. Sorry, don't buy that argument.

Originally Posted by LilleKat

Just a question, because I've read the rest of the posts, is it possible that this could have started as a problem with her teeth? I remember what Candy was like when she had a dental problems - her face swelled up and she refused to eat as well, and she was obviously in a lot of pain. Any longer with that and she would have hit abscess country - this seems to be quite a severe infection, might it have started in her teeth? I know that mouth and nose, eyes and ears are all interconnected so is it possible that infection would have spread? It certainly sounds that way to me if all she is wanting is very soft food. I'm so proud of you for wanting to help your kitty despite the difficulties there. There are lots of people in the world who would just give up there and then. I really hope you get the help your cats needs and deserves.

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I think we all agree, that this is stemming from the mouth, whether it's inflamed gums or rotten teeth or any number of other things that can occur in the region of the mouth. That's one problem but the cat is not going to get to the point of having anything fixed in the condition she's in. What happens when a cat is offered food and doesn't eat? Do you leave it at that? You go to a vet , try and find out what is causing the lack of appetite, but if you're still faced with a cat not eating,unless this is remedied, and soon this can compound into numerous other problems that are life-threatening. The cat needs to eat, and if it doesn't want to then you assist the feeding process. This is first and foremost, and this is crucial.

My first thought was a abcessed tooth and the horrilbe crying is because she is in horrible pain and believe me I bet she has a high fever, a animal with a high fever will not eat.
Please !!
Please! get her to a vet she has many more years to live with good care. Right now she is suffering more you can imagine .

Originally Posted by Yosemite

.IMO it's rather like not reporting sexual or inappropriate behaviour from a doctor because you don't want him telling other doctors about you ratting on him. Sorry, don't buy that argument.

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Argument? Misinterpretation. There are alot more laws in place for the protection of people in such situations then there ever have been for animals(unfortunately) and because of this, people have more resources at their disposal. People with pets do not. If a person can get a slight judicial rap on the knuckes for dragging a dog behind a car it's just one indication of how inadequate the laws regarding the welfare of animals are. This attitude( again, unfortunately) spreads into the veterinary community. If, through misdiagnosis or carelessness , a vet causes the death of a pet he is only responsible for the cost to replace that pet. So if a person got a pet from the local animal shelter for $35.00, all the vet has to reimburse the owner is $35.00.
A person once told another how he readily complained whenever the service at a restaurant , he regularly frequented , wasn't up to par. How he told the waiter just what he thought of the food and whatever else he didnt find adequate. " I'd never do that " replied the other and when questioned why, replied " because I used to be a waiter and I used to see how waiters would spit on the food given to people like that". Which reminds me, how's your restaurant experience been?

I don't eat out. I do expect to get service/goods for the money I spend though since I work hard to earn it. I will do so in a polite manner as long as that approach works. When it doesn't work then I take more serious measures.

I personally would report this vet immediately. Having said that, this is deviating greatly from the purpose of this thread and I'm as guilty as anyone, so I shall stop there.