Hello thank you for taking the time to read this. It will probably be a bit long but I appreciate it. Looking for some opinions, or someone that maybe has dealt with this before. Love my little cat to death and want to make sure I am doing the best thing for her. Lola is a 10 month old, 9lb spayed dm shorthair female. She has recently been diagnosed with plasma cell pododermatitis AKA pillow foot. I would like to provide her background and what has been going on with her up to the point where we are now. Maybe all of her symptoms contribute to something or someone has gone through something similar.
I found Lola when she was 4 weeks old. It was a hot summer day and she was running across a busy expressway almost getting hit by a bunch of cars. I knew I had to pull over and get her. I was on my lunch break at work at the time and knew I couldn’t take care of a very young kitten so I called a local animal shelter and they were able to take her and said she would go to foster until she was 8 weeks old. She was pretty dirty, had fleas, and symptoms of a URI mostly very goopy eyes (she could barely see poor thing). I wanted to eventually adopt her and fast forward 4 weeks they called and said she had just returned from foster and was up for adoption in the next couple days after they complete her surgery to have her spayed. We went to the shelter and adopted her right away.
About 2 days after we adopted her, she started throwing up in the evening and it continued into the night. I was extremely concerned and took her to the emergency vet in the middle of the night and nothing was really found there. They thought maybe parasites or inflamed intestines, but all test results ended up coming back normal (blood, fecal tests, xrays). Don’t really have an answer here as to what caused it but she was put on Hills I/D prescription food. When we tried to switch to regular food some time after, the vomiting happened again (although not as serious) so she stayed on the I/D food for a few more months.
We treated her eye infection with antibiotic ointment. There was no sign of conjunctivitis, but green and yellow discharge was coming out of both eyes. It went away and she was much better, but this has been a bit of a reoccurring issue. It is now more so in the form of a white discharge that we clean maybe once a day from both eyes. We recently treated it again and it has helped a bit. Possibility she has FHV, but has not been confirmed. Also was told the tear drainage ducts were probably blocked and could be causing the discharge and crusties she now gets. Vet doesn’t seem overly concerned about it, but can treat as needed with ointment.
Lola has always kind of peed a lot. When she was little it was up to 10 times a day. The vet at the time said it could be that she isn’t quite able to concentrate her urine yet, but as long as it was always in the litter box it is most likely fine. She is now at about 4-5 times a day which I think still might be a bit much. We recently did a urinalysis to make sure things are ok and that came back all normal.
Maybe 2 months ago we noticed a very slight limp and dry paw pads. At this time we now take her to a cat only hospital. We were given an anti-inflammatory to take for 2 days and told nothing was out of the ordinary. A month passes and I notice blood on the floor and an ulceration on her paw. Then notice a couple of her pads are now pretty swollen. Went back to the vet and was now told she has plasma cell pododermatitis. It is in 3 of her 4 pads. Before this all happened we were able to transition her to Purina Pro Plan food so I also wonder if that triggered something. Also really could have just been a coincidence.
The vet wants to try a round of prednisolone for 10 days. 5mg twice a day for 5 days and 5 mg for 5 more days. I am not sure if I feel comfortable giving her the steroids. I am not even sure how much her feet are bothering her as she still runs around like a crazy girl, absolutely loves to play, eats and drinks fine. I know she is maybe in some slight discomfort as she sometimes holds one of the paws up when sitting, and occasionally shakes her legs after jumping and then licks them. She also definitely does not like us touching them either. I guess my question is, would you give your 10 month old kitten a dose of steroids in this situation after what she has experienced so far? I really don’t want to give her something that can make her sick or have any possible long term ramifications. It’s only for 10 days, but my understanding is these drugs can be pretty powerful. Has anyone had a cat that they were able to find a solution without the use of drugs or maybe had some concurrent condition that was treated and this went away? I will do whatever it takes to make her feel better, but would like to have all the information I can get before making the decisions. If you have made it this far thank you again for taking the time to read this.
I found Lola when she was 4 weeks old. It was a hot summer day and she was running across a busy expressway almost getting hit by a bunch of cars. I knew I had to pull over and get her. I was on my lunch break at work at the time and knew I couldn’t take care of a very young kitten so I called a local animal shelter and they were able to take her and said she would go to foster until she was 8 weeks old. She was pretty dirty, had fleas, and symptoms of a URI mostly very goopy eyes (she could barely see poor thing). I wanted to eventually adopt her and fast forward 4 weeks they called and said she had just returned from foster and was up for adoption in the next couple days after they complete her surgery to have her spayed. We went to the shelter and adopted her right away.
About 2 days after we adopted her, she started throwing up in the evening and it continued into the night. I was extremely concerned and took her to the emergency vet in the middle of the night and nothing was really found there. They thought maybe parasites or inflamed intestines, but all test results ended up coming back normal (blood, fecal tests, xrays). Don’t really have an answer here as to what caused it but she was put on Hills I/D prescription food. When we tried to switch to regular food some time after, the vomiting happened again (although not as serious) so she stayed on the I/D food for a few more months.
We treated her eye infection with antibiotic ointment. There was no sign of conjunctivitis, but green and yellow discharge was coming out of both eyes. It went away and she was much better, but this has been a bit of a reoccurring issue. It is now more so in the form of a white discharge that we clean maybe once a day from both eyes. We recently treated it again and it has helped a bit. Possibility she has FHV, but has not been confirmed. Also was told the tear drainage ducts were probably blocked and could be causing the discharge and crusties she now gets. Vet doesn’t seem overly concerned about it, but can treat as needed with ointment.
Lola has always kind of peed a lot. When she was little it was up to 10 times a day. The vet at the time said it could be that she isn’t quite able to concentrate her urine yet, but as long as it was always in the litter box it is most likely fine. She is now at about 4-5 times a day which I think still might be a bit much. We recently did a urinalysis to make sure things are ok and that came back all normal.
Maybe 2 months ago we noticed a very slight limp and dry paw pads. At this time we now take her to a cat only hospital. We were given an anti-inflammatory to take for 2 days and told nothing was out of the ordinary. A month passes and I notice blood on the floor and an ulceration on her paw. Then notice a couple of her pads are now pretty swollen. Went back to the vet and was now told she has plasma cell pododermatitis. It is in 3 of her 4 pads. Before this all happened we were able to transition her to Purina Pro Plan food so I also wonder if that triggered something. Also really could have just been a coincidence.
The vet wants to try a round of prednisolone for 10 days. 5mg twice a day for 5 days and 5 mg for 5 more days. I am not sure if I feel comfortable giving her the steroids. I am not even sure how much her feet are bothering her as she still runs around like a crazy girl, absolutely loves to play, eats and drinks fine. I know she is maybe in some slight discomfort as she sometimes holds one of the paws up when sitting, and occasionally shakes her legs after jumping and then licks them. She also definitely does not like us touching them either. I guess my question is, would you give your 10 month old kitten a dose of steroids in this situation after what she has experienced so far? I really don’t want to give her something that can make her sick or have any possible long term ramifications. It’s only for 10 days, but my understanding is these drugs can be pretty powerful. Has anyone had a cat that they were able to find a solution without the use of drugs or maybe had some concurrent condition that was treated and this went away? I will do whatever it takes to make her feel better, but would like to have all the information I can get before making the decisions. If you have made it this far thank you again for taking the time to read this.