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Hi all,
I have been reading this site for years and found it very helpful. This is my first time posting. I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how concerned I should be about my cat Paige who is acting like she feels uncomfortable a lot of the time but doesn't really have any other symptoms.
For background, I had two long-time cats who both passed away a few years ago from intestinal lymphoma. About six weeks ago, I adopted Paige from the local shelter. They estimate she is about 3 years old. She had been found as a stray and was very pregnant. She gave birth to a large litter (six kittens) in foster care and stayed with them until the kittens were weaned. The shelter then spayed her, and we adopted her a few days later. When we took her in, she was recovering from the spay surgery and also had enlarged mammaries with mild mastitis. A vet visit also revealed that she had giardia. (We were surprised, because she did not have diarrhea.) She seemed visibly uncomfortable a lot of the time - somewhat lethargic and often sat in a hunched posture. We assumed this was because of the mastitis and giardia.
We treated Paige for the mastitis and giardia, and kept her movement pretty restricted for a week or two. Her mammaries returned to normal and a fecal antigen test a few weeks later was negative for giardia. Overall she has improved a lot: she has a great appetite, is friendly and playful, and uses the litterbox regularly. She no longer seems lethargic, and has not vomited or had diarrhea, and has gained a small amount of weight (she was underweight when we got her). But she still seems uncomfortable a lot of the time. She often will sit in a hunched position, swallow, and shift her weight around. She seems to have a hard time getting settled and gets up and shifts around a lot while she is trying to sleep. It looks a lot like the way my cats with intestinal lymphoma acted, except that Paige doesn't have any other GI symptoms. I've also notice that her poop smells unusually bad (also something I remember from my lymphoma cats) and that she runs around howling for a few minutes after having a bowel movement. Since I have not had her very long, I can't tell whether any of this is new or unusual for her.
I have an appointment to take Paige back to the vet next week, but I'm worried that since she doesn't really have many symptoms, a basic exam is not going to show anything. I am pretty convinced that she is in pain or discomfort, but it's also possible I'm reading too much into her behavior because of my experience with the other two cats.
I'd be grateful to hear if anyone has had a similar situation or if people think I am over-worrying. Thanks in advance!
I have been reading this site for years and found it very helpful. This is my first time posting. I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how concerned I should be about my cat Paige who is acting like she feels uncomfortable a lot of the time but doesn't really have any other symptoms.
For background, I had two long-time cats who both passed away a few years ago from intestinal lymphoma. About six weeks ago, I adopted Paige from the local shelter. They estimate she is about 3 years old. She had been found as a stray and was very pregnant. She gave birth to a large litter (six kittens) in foster care and stayed with them until the kittens were weaned. The shelter then spayed her, and we adopted her a few days later. When we took her in, she was recovering from the spay surgery and also had enlarged mammaries with mild mastitis. A vet visit also revealed that she had giardia. (We were surprised, because she did not have diarrhea.) She seemed visibly uncomfortable a lot of the time - somewhat lethargic and often sat in a hunched posture. We assumed this was because of the mastitis and giardia.
We treated Paige for the mastitis and giardia, and kept her movement pretty restricted for a week or two. Her mammaries returned to normal and a fecal antigen test a few weeks later was negative for giardia. Overall she has improved a lot: she has a great appetite, is friendly and playful, and uses the litterbox regularly. She no longer seems lethargic, and has not vomited or had diarrhea, and has gained a small amount of weight (she was underweight when we got her). But she still seems uncomfortable a lot of the time. She often will sit in a hunched position, swallow, and shift her weight around. She seems to have a hard time getting settled and gets up and shifts around a lot while she is trying to sleep. It looks a lot like the way my cats with intestinal lymphoma acted, except that Paige doesn't have any other GI symptoms. I've also notice that her poop smells unusually bad (also something I remember from my lymphoma cats) and that she runs around howling for a few minutes after having a bowel movement. Since I have not had her very long, I can't tell whether any of this is new or unusual for her.
I have an appointment to take Paige back to the vet next week, but I'm worried that since she doesn't really have many symptoms, a basic exam is not going to show anything. I am pretty convinced that she is in pain or discomfort, but it's also possible I'm reading too much into her behavior because of my experience with the other two cats.
I'd be grateful to hear if anyone has had a similar situation or if people think I am over-worrying. Thanks in advance!
