hey everyone,
my 8 (soon to be 9) year old kitty, Christopher Robin, has been exhibiting some strange symptoms and I'm not sure what to do.
It all started a few weeks or maybe a month ago when I noticed that he was trying to hump his sister more frequently, and would take his penis out more frequently. (He had always done this occasionally, but the frequency noticeably went up. Also I had only seen his penis a handful of times in his whole life, but now I see him taking it out sometimes a few times a day).
I also noticed that he sometimes seemed sort of 'twitchy' in his hind legs, particularly if i pet him in that area. (He would sort of kick them or his body would 'spasm' slightly).
After monitoring this for a little while I checked his gums and saw that he has a gum infection around one tooth and the gum is red and swollen (even though he had a dental cleaning 9 months ago...). I thought maybe the strange behaviors were a result of discomfort from the tooth and booked him a vet appointment.
We went to the vet where they examined his tooth and said that there was no way to tell whether the behaviors were related to that or not until they extracted it. They gave him a general exam (listened to his heart/lungs, took his temperature, felt his body) and said everything else seemed normal except that his lymph nodes seemed large, but said that seemed like a normal reaction to the gum infection.They prescribed a painkiller and sent us home, scheduling a tooth extraction.
That evening and especially the following day, I noticed that my cat started licking himself a lot in a sort of frantic way. I also noticed that his twitching/spasming got significantly worse, and now it seemed that he was sometimes sort of uncomfortable in his lower body (crouching in a weird way and more frequently licking his penis, both after humping and after urinating). I contacted the vet and they said these were not known side effects from the medicine.
When he was still behaving that way the following day (lots of frantic licking but not in one particular part, just all over his body, as well as sort of crouching, humping, uncomfortable lower body behavior), i took him back to the vet. Another vet examined him (felt his legs, etc), and they did a full blood panel. The vet said that all of the results were normal (though we're still waiting on the thyroid result which won't come back until tomorrow night) and that his behavior was most likely stress related. She prescribed a natural supplement meant to help relieve stress (Zylkene), and sent us home.
I have spent the last 48 hours or so at home with him, trying to keep an eye and see what he's up to. Have added the supplement to his food, and spent a lot of time petting and cuddling him, trying to help him relax. It has not yet been that long, obviously, but I am concerned that these symptoms may not be as simple as stress. I noticed this morning, for example, that he was twitching as soon as he woke up from a restful sleep by my side (a time when I would think he would be particularly relaxed).
I also noticed that his breath has gotten quite bad, though that of course could be from the gum disease.
I've scoured the internet but am not finding much about this combination of symptoms. Has anyone experienced this type of lower body discomfort/agitation with their cat? Could this be a result of stress or tooth pain? Or is there anything else I should look out for?
A few more notes (sorry that this is so long, I'm just trying to give the most possible information):
1. I am aware of Feline Hyperesthesia, and some of the symptoms do seem to be like that, but the humping, penis licking, overall cleaning don't necessarily seem related.
2. He has probably been somewhat stressed on and off in the last month or so as I went away for 2 weeks between Christmas and New Year's and I also had a visitor staying with us for a few days about a week ago. Still, I'm not sure this would cause penis licking, etc.?
3. The symptoms did seem to get worse after the vet visit which might point to stress, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me that all of these would be stress-related? He has never been a stressed kitty before, either.
If anyone has experienced some or all of these symptoms with their kitties or have any ideas about it, I would greatly appreciate that. He is scheduled for a tooth extraction on Friday, Feb. 1, and I kind of would prefer not to take him back to the vet before then if that is indeed causing him stress, but I don't want to neglect anything urgent and I am generally concerned about what could be going on.
Thanks so much for reading!
my 8 (soon to be 9) year old kitty, Christopher Robin, has been exhibiting some strange symptoms and I'm not sure what to do.
It all started a few weeks or maybe a month ago when I noticed that he was trying to hump his sister more frequently, and would take his penis out more frequently. (He had always done this occasionally, but the frequency noticeably went up. Also I had only seen his penis a handful of times in his whole life, but now I see him taking it out sometimes a few times a day).
I also noticed that he sometimes seemed sort of 'twitchy' in his hind legs, particularly if i pet him in that area. (He would sort of kick them or his body would 'spasm' slightly).
After monitoring this for a little while I checked his gums and saw that he has a gum infection around one tooth and the gum is red and swollen (even though he had a dental cleaning 9 months ago...). I thought maybe the strange behaviors were a result of discomfort from the tooth and booked him a vet appointment.
We went to the vet where they examined his tooth and said that there was no way to tell whether the behaviors were related to that or not until they extracted it. They gave him a general exam (listened to his heart/lungs, took his temperature, felt his body) and said everything else seemed normal except that his lymph nodes seemed large, but said that seemed like a normal reaction to the gum infection.They prescribed a painkiller and sent us home, scheduling a tooth extraction.
That evening and especially the following day, I noticed that my cat started licking himself a lot in a sort of frantic way. I also noticed that his twitching/spasming got significantly worse, and now it seemed that he was sometimes sort of uncomfortable in his lower body (crouching in a weird way and more frequently licking his penis, both after humping and after urinating). I contacted the vet and they said these were not known side effects from the medicine.
When he was still behaving that way the following day (lots of frantic licking but not in one particular part, just all over his body, as well as sort of crouching, humping, uncomfortable lower body behavior), i took him back to the vet. Another vet examined him (felt his legs, etc), and they did a full blood panel. The vet said that all of the results were normal (though we're still waiting on the thyroid result which won't come back until tomorrow night) and that his behavior was most likely stress related. She prescribed a natural supplement meant to help relieve stress (Zylkene), and sent us home.
I have spent the last 48 hours or so at home with him, trying to keep an eye and see what he's up to. Have added the supplement to his food, and spent a lot of time petting and cuddling him, trying to help him relax. It has not yet been that long, obviously, but I am concerned that these symptoms may not be as simple as stress. I noticed this morning, for example, that he was twitching as soon as he woke up from a restful sleep by my side (a time when I would think he would be particularly relaxed).
I also noticed that his breath has gotten quite bad, though that of course could be from the gum disease.
I've scoured the internet but am not finding much about this combination of symptoms. Has anyone experienced this type of lower body discomfort/agitation with their cat? Could this be a result of stress or tooth pain? Or is there anything else I should look out for?
A few more notes (sorry that this is so long, I'm just trying to give the most possible information):
1. I am aware of Feline Hyperesthesia, and some of the symptoms do seem to be like that, but the humping, penis licking, overall cleaning don't necessarily seem related.
2. He has probably been somewhat stressed on and off in the last month or so as I went away for 2 weeks between Christmas and New Year's and I also had a visitor staying with us for a few days about a week ago. Still, I'm not sure this would cause penis licking, etc.?
3. The symptoms did seem to get worse after the vet visit which might point to stress, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me that all of these would be stress-related? He has never been a stressed kitty before, either.
If anyone has experienced some or all of these symptoms with their kitties or have any ideas about it, I would greatly appreciate that. He is scheduled for a tooth extraction on Friday, Feb. 1, and I kind of would prefer not to take him back to the vet before then if that is indeed causing him stress, but I don't want to neglect anything urgent and I am generally concerned about what could be going on.
Thanks so much for reading!
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