Tuffy woke up just shaking and shivering

Tuffy was sleeping next to me on the bed and he woke up just shakeing and shivering, could it be possible he was dreaming and got scared? After he was awake for about 5 minutes he was just fine again. It was really strange to watch, he was shivering like he was freezing cold.

Tom these kittens have had such a rough start in life there is no telling what is wrong with them. I sound like a broken record, but they need a vet. If the original owner cares anything about them, then she should pay for you or your wife to get them to a vet to be seen. Reading your posts about them really makes me ill. It is nothing that you have done, just the apparent lack of regard for such a fragile life on the owner's part that makes me feel this sick feeling.

I would continue to keep these babies warm, fed, and stimulated.

I am sorry hissy, I am asking about the stray cat I have adopted, I should have made that clear I guess, not any of the little babys. The vet thinks tuffy is around 3 years old from his teeth he is the same one that was sneezing blood yesturday, today he has been ok again though.

I don't know the history of your situation, but if you can possibly take him to the vet, I think you should. Sneezing blood is a pretty serious indication that something is wrong! And if he's also having chills (which is what the shaking sounds like), he's not a well kitty.

Most cats are so good at concealing illness that, by the time you see obvious signs that they feel sick, it's almost certainly time to get 'em some help.

Hi, Tuffy has been to the vet so many times since I found him that its his second home lol. He don't even mind the ride and going to see the vet anymore.

A little history, when I first found him he was in horrible shape, both eyes inner lids were almost shut with tons of yellow junk coming out of them, same from his nose, infact his whole face was covered in yellow junk from his eyes and nose he had to breath with his mouth open. He had horrible diarea from worms and other parasites, really bad ear mites, he was so dehidrated and starved he was just a little bag of bones, he was only 5.4 lbs the first time he went to the vet. His little rear end was all inflamed and brite red, and a mess from the watery diarrhea. When he came up to me I didn't even want to touch him at first. But it took about 2 seconds to feel sorry for him so I want into the motor home [we were camping] and found him some meat scraps to eat. I had a heck of a time with getting him to eat because he could not see the food or smell it, I had to put little pieces in his mouth at first till he figured out what I was doing. So when he was all done eating he climbed up on me, I was in a folding chair by the fire, it was getting cold at night by them, and he curled up and fell asleep, well I cryed and knew I couldn't leave him there to die, So home he came with us.

I had to keep him in the garage in a big dog carrier becase he was so sick that he couldn't be near the other cats we have I made him a litter box in the back of his "house" and he had water and food with him. He spent many days in the garage all alone except when I would check on him and give him his antibiotics. I spent alot of time getting him cleaned up as best I could, He never complained one time about being there all alone, he never cried or got upset to being locked up, Its like he knew it had to be like this for a while. Well all this started in early August, since we already had 4 cats my intentions were to find him a new home if he even lived.

Well he hung on and slowly started to improve, I think he was in the garage all by himself for about 2-1/2 weeks. Anyway he is now 10 lbs and doing normal cat things and he adopted me as his owner before I realized he was here to stay. He was on three coarses of antibiotics since august, he still has some breathing problems, still sneezes junk all over, has very bad coughing attacks and it took til just a few days ago that he seems to be able to smell again. The vet says he will always have breathing trouble because X rays show perminant damage to one lung from something. But all through this he never had a high temp which just floored the vet the first day she saw him I don't think she gave him much of a chance of making it that first time she saw him, but he proved them all wrong. All the girls at the vet love to see him come in, they can't believe how far he has come and how well behaved he is, I can take him out of the pet carryer and sit him on my lap and he will sit or lay there all on his own just watching everything going on.

Thats why I named him Tuffy after all he has been through and he out wrestled our youngest cat who thinks he is Mr macho and outweighs Tuffy by about 4 lbs. I was laughing so hard watching this that after Rusty gave up and ran away Tuffy came over by me all proud so I picked him up and said you are a Tuffy aren't you so the name stuck. I keep telling the vet that he still has all these problems but she don't know what to do for him any more. Yvonne thinks maybe I should take him somewhere else for another opinion which I might have to do. I don't believe for a minute that sneezing all this junk up and alot of blood that one day for at least 3 months is not a sign that there is still something going on and 2 times now he has climbed up on me while I was in bed just shaking and shivering.

He eats great and goes to the litter box just fine, he loves to chase cat toys and sit in the windows and watch the birds and squirles, and chase the other cats around and he gets jealous if I pet any of the other cats, he falls down and rolls on his back when I am trying to walk anywhere and bugs me till I carry him around with me. So in otherwords he is my little buddy and I am his buddy. I just feel so bad for him when he sits and just coughs and coughs these real low wet deep coughs moving his little head from side to side on each cough, I have to be carefull when I pick him up that I don't push on his chest to hard or it makes him cough, and then he sneezes all this junk all over the house and himself. I can't believe that much stuff can come out of his little nose. I told the vet how much he was sneezing up but I think she thought I was making it sound worse than it was, so right on cue Tuffy started to sneeze right in front of the vet and had 1-1/2" long boogers all over the exam table, I just said see what I mean and she laughed.

So that is where he is at right now, getting along great but for the coughing and sneezing and now the shivering now and then, After getting a couple humidifyers going he hasn't sneezed up any more blood. Sorry for writing a whole book about Tuffy but I think that any cat lover would enjoy Tuffy's story. He still amazes me sometimes when I think back to when I first saw him. Tom and Tuffy [who is sitting here watching me write about him]

What a precious little boy Tuffy is! Your love for your kitties just shines through in your posts, Tom!

I would strongly recommend you and Tuffy visit a new Vet, preferably a Feline Specialist!

Thanks to whoever fixed my long story.

I can't really put my finger on whats so special about him, He is not the cutest cat we have or the smartest, Maybe it was god working his magic, I got to help save Tuffy and Tuffy has done alot for me by trusting me right from the start.

That weekend we were camping some piece of garbage stole Yvonne's old old Blue bike and the next day Tuffy found me so in the end I think we came out way ahead, we found Yvonne another old blue bike and I also have Tuffy.

What a fantastic story. You should be so proud of yourself for what you have done. It would be great to see a picture of Tuffy if you had one.
Im no vet but I agree with the others, it sounds like this shivering is obviously related to his other illnesses.
Id go to another vet aswell, even though your vet knows his history, a fresh pair of eyes might be able to see something new.
Good luck with your special little boy and I'll look out for pics!

Tom, have you taken Tuffy's temperature when he's woken up shivering? A normal temperature would be between 100.4° F and 102.5° F. He might be running a fever, and have the chills, as CarolPetunia suggested. Getting a second opinion isn't a bad idea.

Hi, In reality the vet don't have any more history on him than I do. The first time she saw him was when he was close to dying.

No I never have taken his temp, I have never done it so I don't want to end up hurting him by not knowing what I am doing.

She knows alot about him since then but we have no idea what he has been through before that. She said for all she knows he could have lung damage from being in a house or barn fire from the smoke. A little out there I thought but I got her point. Yvonne wonders if he just has allergys. But I don't think allergys would make him shiver.

I don't think they ever did much blood work on him eccept for lukeimia I think it was when he first went to the vet. He was negative so she thought he might have some chance of coming around. She basicly said that if he had been positive for whatever test it was that he almost for sure would not make it. I have all the papers from the vet here, I can look back and see what was all done to him.

Tuffy just climbed on top of me and curled up shivering like he was looking for a spot to warm up. I felt his ears and they feel really cold. So I put him in his bed and covered most of him up with a old sweater. He seems to have stopped shivering but I guess I need to be a little more forcefull with the vet about him.

I wonder if he still has some kind of infection going on. There is definatly something going on with him.

Aww, poor Tuffy! Bless his little heart , don't you wish he could just tell you what was wrong? I agree with the others, that maybe a visit to a new vet is in order, or you could even just call a few others and see what they have to say. Let us know how it goes, okay?

Originally Posted by AshleyNicole

Aww, poor Tuffy! Bless his little heart

, don't you wish he could just tell you what was wrong? I agree with the others, that maybe a visit to a new vet is in order, or you could even just call a few others and see what they have to say. Let us know how it goes, okay?

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Shivering can be a symptom of cold sensitivity.
Here is a link for symptoms, It might help.

Link

I stopped by the vets today about Tuffy, I have to take him in tommorow afternoon to get checked out closer. They want to make sure he don't have a temp or any other signs of a infection.

I asked about doing some basic blood work on him and she said it would be a good idea if thats what I wanted. The only blood work was a test for that lukeimia [sp?].

She thinks he may have to be on a pill to help him breath easier because of the way his lung looked on his X ray.

He was shivering again last night so he crawled under the blankets on the bed next to me, he must be cold because he hates being covered up otherwise.

I'm so sorry to hear about Tuffy. I hope the vet figures out what's wrong and can help him.

Good luck!

Tuffy didn't have a fever today. They took some blood for a CBC and a blood chemistry [S.A.] They are going to call tommorow and let me know what if anything they find.

She said if he gets the bad shakes again to give him a little corn surup and see if that helps him. I am assumeing that a blood sugar is part of the blood work, at least I hope they check it.

Prayers! You be strong and calm for them...talk to them constantly. Our best healthy vibes are being sent!!!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Tuffy. Hopefully the vet will get to the bottom of his problem.
This is just an idle thought, but could the shivering be a "learned behavior" to get attention? We had a dog years ago that my grandfather used to dog sit. Grandpop believed in giving dogs a shot of blackberry brandy to "chase away the cold"!!! We got back from one 9-day trip to find the dog "shivering" in front of a kitchen cabinet every time we let him in after a trip to the backyard. It turned out that Grandpop had stored the bottle of brandy in that cabinet while we were gone. I've heard of cats doing the same thing, e.g., limping when they know they're being observed, although the hurt leg or paw has long since healed.

Hi everyone, the vet left a message that Tuffy is a little anemic [sp?] and his white count is up, kinda what I figured. Anyway she wants to try vitamins and some different antibiotic but it is a pill so I don't know how I can get them in him. So far I haven't been able to. I will have to have the vet show me how to use one of those pill guns and try that I guess.

Liver and kidney were fine.

She don't know why he is anemic but she wonders if it is from fighting the infection for so long.

I am sad that he has to go through more meds but happy that we are getting to the bottom of things.

Have you read this thread? http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60850 There are also treats you can buy at vets' offices (made by Bayer, and called "Bay-o-Pet" here, though they might be sold under another name in the U.S.) that you can open up and hide the pill inside. If the pills don't work, inquire about liquids or subcutaneous injections (which your wife should be able to give without any trouble - she's a nurse, isn't she?)