Hey everybody, reaching out here because I’m desperate. My 3 year old exclusively indoor male tuxedo cat has come down with a mysterious illness. He is anemic right now - The veterinarian took a urine sample and there were lots of destroyed red blood cells in his urine. His gums are pale, and he is extremely lethargic. He’s also, for lack of a better term, seemingly “spaced out”, acting strange and staring into space for long periods of time. He is however, eating normally.
He has isolated himself in our kitchen and wouldn’t come out for several days. He’s now kind of venturing out into the house again, albeit slowly.
Last Thursday, the vet ran some bloodwork and says that she does not believe that he has a blood parasite. He doesn’t have fleas.
We don’t have any food out that is on the list of things that a cat could have eaten that are toxic. No plants that are toxic.
At first, the vet thought he had a urinary tract infection, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case. When the vet touched on his bladder, he moaned very loudly. However, he did not have a blockage because he urinated in his cage at the vet’s office. He has been urinating normally ever sense.
He didn’t poop for several days starting last week and is now pooping again. His poop had a little bit of blood on it after this several day constipation, but the vet wasn’t that concerned about it, because she thought it could be attributed to being constipated. I’ve been examining his stool ever sense and I haven’t seen another stool with blood on it.
They also ran the blood work for a cancer screening and he doesn’t appear to have any kind of cancer.
I am a metalsmith and so my other thought was maybe he got into some of my powdered metal or metal clay. I know zinc and some other metals are toxic to cats, so I’m extremely careful with not letting him in my studio, however last week he did sneak in for a few minutes. I investigated the entire area for signs that he had gotten into something but I didn’t see anything that looked like he had gotten into any of my material.
We are sending some of his bloodwork off to have a panel to search for possible metal poisoning. I apologize if I’m using the wrong language on this, I just don’t know how to explain everything.
Anyway, I’m devastated and I’m trying to figure out how to help him. I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with their cats. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
He has isolated himself in our kitchen and wouldn’t come out for several days. He’s now kind of venturing out into the house again, albeit slowly.
Last Thursday, the vet ran some bloodwork and says that she does not believe that he has a blood parasite. He doesn’t have fleas.
We don’t have any food out that is on the list of things that a cat could have eaten that are toxic. No plants that are toxic.
At first, the vet thought he had a urinary tract infection, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case. When the vet touched on his bladder, he moaned very loudly. However, he did not have a blockage because he urinated in his cage at the vet’s office. He has been urinating normally ever sense.
He didn’t poop for several days starting last week and is now pooping again. His poop had a little bit of blood on it after this several day constipation, but the vet wasn’t that concerned about it, because she thought it could be attributed to being constipated. I’ve been examining his stool ever sense and I haven’t seen another stool with blood on it.
They also ran the blood work for a cancer screening and he doesn’t appear to have any kind of cancer.
I am a metalsmith and so my other thought was maybe he got into some of my powdered metal or metal clay. I know zinc and some other metals are toxic to cats, so I’m extremely careful with not letting him in my studio, however last week he did sneak in for a few minutes. I investigated the entire area for signs that he had gotten into something but I didn’t see anything that looked like he had gotten into any of my material.
We are sending some of his bloodwork off to have a panel to search for possible metal poisoning. I apologize if I’m using the wrong language on this, I just don’t know how to explain everything.
Anyway, I’m devastated and I’m trying to figure out how to help him. I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with their cats. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
