New cat hasn't eaten in a week, has made zero progress!

[catpack]

What a gorgeous girl! And, good to hear she didn't have a terrible experience at the vet!

I do want to ask...
You mention her getting vaccinations. Are you talking about like a Rabies vaccine and upper respiratory vaccine? If so, I would suggest NOT doing these right now. You want her healthy, feeling well and no fever before considering vaccinating her.

Fluids, antibiotics and medications to address any illness are of course ok.

 

[catlover73]

I agree with CatPack about waiting on the vaccines if the cat still has a fever or any other sign of illness. When my Starbuck was a baby she had ear mites, an ear infection and a URI the vet put off doing any vaccines until she was no longer sick.

When my 1 1/2 year old Casey was a kitten and I took him in for his first vet visit the vet made us wait to do his last vaccine because he had a URI and an eye infection.

I am not a vet but based on the advice I received from 2 different vets I would wait until that fever is gone to do any vaccines. This is definitely something I would discuss further with the vet,

 

[artiemom]

What a sweet, poor kitty!  I feel so bad for her--and the life she had.. Thank God you guys came around...

She was probably bullied, when they were trying to mate her. Probably locked her in a cage with a male...poor thing...

I do not like to use this word, but I really do hate  some people....

that is animal abuse!!! ABUSE!

poor thing spent her entire life in a cage....no wonder why she is hiding.. she is terrified of you guys...

who knows what else she has been through...

I am so glad you guys have her...she will now know what love is....

I feel like reporting the original owners to the ASPCA for animal cruelty...

As far as the vaccinations...I agree with the other posters that they can wait a while...She needs to be strong in order to get them..

Her fever needs to be gone... cats and people can have a reaction to any vaccine; a fever and feeling blah is common. 

You want her healthy for the vaccines..

I think she needs the antibiotics, especially if she is running a temp...hopefully the appetite stimulant will be helpful.. if it is mirtazpine, it should...she may become more vocal and hyper from it though..if this was used..It is all ok--just a very common side effect to that med..

She is a sweetie....but she looks terrified....

Glad you have the kitty tuna...

Solid Gold has a really good line of canned tuna for cats. You can get just the plain tuna, or it can be mixed with mackerel, sea bass, etc... while you do not want her to subsist entirely on fish, it is a good start..who knows what kind of junk she was eating before....

Bless you guys for taking her in...

Any more questions/ concerns; please feel free to contact us...I know I can speak for all of us when I say that we are wishing this little one the best in life, for no and forever....

 

[blackcatfan]

What a gorgeous girl! And, good to hear she didn't have a terrible experience at the vet!

I do want to ask...
You mention her getting vaccinations. Are you talking about like a Rabies vaccine and upper respiratory vaccine? If so, I would suggest NOT doing these right now. You want her healthy, feeling well and no fever before considering vaccinating her.

Fluids, antibiotics and medications to address any illness are of course ok.

I agree with CatPack about waiting on the vaccines if the cat still has a fever or any other sign of illness. When my Starbuck was a baby she had ear mites, an ear infection and a URI the vet put off doing any vaccines until she was no longer sick.

When my 1 1/2 year old Casey was a kitten and I took him in for his first vet visit the vet made us wait to do his last vaccine because he had a URI and an eye infection.

I am not a vet but based on the advice I received from 2 different vets I would wait until that fever is gone to do any vaccines. This is definitely something I would discuss further with the vet,

Ah my mistake, apparently the vaccines ARE coming once she gets better. Just confirmed it with my partner! 

 

[blackcatfan]

 
What a sweet, poor kitty!  I feel so bad for her--and the life she had.. Thank God you guys came around...

She was probably bullied, when they were trying to mate her. Probably locked her in a cage with a male...poor thing...

I do not like to use this word, but I really do hate  some people....

that is animal abuse!!! ABUSE!

poor thing spent her entire life in a cage....no wonder why she is hiding.. she is terrified of you guys...

who knows what else she has been through...

I am so glad you guys have her...she will now know what love is....

I feel like reporting the original owners to the ASPCA for animal cruelty...

As far as the vaccinations...I agree with the other posters that they can wait a while...She needs to be strong in order to get them..

Her fever needs to be gone... cats and people can have a reaction to any vaccine; a fever and feeling blah is common. 

You want her healthy for the vaccines..

I think she needs the antibiotics, especially if she is running a temp...hopefully the appetite stimulant will be helpful.. if it is mirtazpine, it should...she may become more vocal and hyper from it though..if this was used..It is all ok--just a very common side effect to that med..

She is a sweetie....but she looks terrified....

Glad you have the kitty tuna...

Solid Gold has a really good line of canned tuna for cats. You can get just the plain tuna, or it can be mixed with mackerel, sea bass, etc... while you do not want her to subsist entirely on fish, it is a good start..who knows what kind of junk she was eating before....

Bless you guys for taking her in...

Any more questions/ concerns; please feel free to contact us...I know I can speak for all of us when I say that we are wishing this little one the best in life, for no and forever....

When we read the ad for her we really did not have any idea we'd be getting a complicated cat at all. Not that it is a problem for us at all, we chose her because she called out to us and was indoor only and very near by. 

That is a good theory about her getting bullied by mates. We don't know if she was locked in a cage all the time, but it really REALLY looks that way. I actually found the owner's username on a cat forum, and looked through all her posts from between 2010-2016. Not ONCE does she ever mention the cat she gave us. She mentions all her other cats, NEVER is the one she gave us mentioned. So its not concrete, but we believe that our little girl was locked in a cage with males to pump out kittens and not really fussed with. This particular breeder is a fan of British shorthairs, and ours is a British longhair. Maybe she didn't care for her because she was a longhair? Who knows... 

We are so glad this cat has found her way to us as well. She will never have to worry again about anything bad for her happening to her now that we are around. 

Thanks for a heads up about the mirtazpine (if thats what she's got), will keep an eye out in case she gets hyper! Do you know how long it usually takes to work? 

She really is a sweet girl. We are in the UK so I'm not sure if they do Solid Gold here but will have a look tomorrow. Have got her a sachet of tuna cat food for tonight that smells pretty strong so hopefully that's enough. 

I will definitely post about any queries I have here! This forum is really fantastic, I don't know what I would of done without it! 

 

[catlover73]

That is good news that the vet is not going to vaccinate a sick cat.  Hopefully the appetite stimulant will get her to eat better soon. It is great that you are willing to be patient with her.  I agree with Artiemom that it really seems like there is some abuse in her past.  Just to give you some hope about your cat and her fears I am going to share a story about a cat I had years ago.

I adopted Baby T when she was a young adult after some ass abandoned her in a friend's pick up truck in Chicago in the middle of winter.  My friend's took her inside when they found her but were in a no pets apartment and their landlord threatened to evict them over it. When I found out what was going on I asked my landlord if I could take her. I was renting a basement apartment in someone's house at the time.  My landlord said yes so I went and picked her up.  When I got her home and let her out of the carrier she immediately buried herself in my roommates dirty laundry pile. She would not eat anything and I had never dealt with this before. She also had a nasty limp and one of her legs was bright red and swollen.  Despite her fear of people I took her to the vet the next day.  I thought she was a kitten because she was so tiny and skinny but she was an adult.  The vet treated her for an infection in her leg and gave me some tips to try to get her to eat.  The vet did an x-ray because of the bad limp and we discovered that she had been physically abused and had broken bones that had healed wrong.  The incorrectly healed bones were not causing her pain at this point. The limp went away on it's own. The vet told me to start feeding her baby food on a long spoon because she was probably scared to eat due to the abuse.  I went out and found a very long handled spoon somewhere and was able to get her to eat this way.  It took about a month before she was completely comfortable eating off a spoon without any contact.  Once this happened the vet told me to transition to wet cat food off the same spoon.  I did this for another month.  After this I put a mix of wet food and baby food on a plate and let her eat alone in my bathroom. I could not be around her with the paper plate at first because she would refuse to eat. Even though she would not touch it initially she always had access to dry food because I had other cats. Because we did not want to scare her more my roommate did not touch her laundry pile for two weeks. We were the same size so we shared my clothes and just shared the extra laundry cost. Baby T did bond to the other cats pretty quickly but it took a lot of time and patience to get her to realize she was now safe. She would only explore the house when we were asleep.  My poor roommate actually put a litter box under her bed for the cat so she did not have to leave the room to use it.  Over time Baby T learned that people were safe and her confidence kept growing.  She turned into a very affectionate and loving cat.  Over time she would actually let people pet her when I had friends over.  She had some fears surrounding men and was scared of my hubby at first when we moved in together.  They developed a great strong relationship and he could carry her around.  She never let me carry her around and really did not care for me picking her up in general.  When we moved to our current place in 2001 T and my hubby had bedtime rituals. Baby T passed away in 2001.  I learned a lot from the time we spent together.

My point in sharing this that getting the medical issues fixed will go a long way toward things moving forward in your relationship.  Your baby will forgive you for making her go to the vet.  It may take time and patience but your baby will learn that she is in a safe place filled with love.  Just let her dictate the pace at which this relationship moves.

 

[talkingpeanut]

When we read the ad for her we really did not have any idea we'd be getting a complicated cat at all. Not that it is a problem for us at all, we chose her because she called out to us and was indoor only and very near by. 
That is a good theory about her getting bullied by mates. We don't know if she was locked in a cage all the time, but it really REALLY looks that way. I actually found the owner's username on a cat forum, and looked through all her posts from between 2010-2016. Not ONCE does she ever mention the cat she gave us. She mentions all her other cats, NEVER is the one she gave us mentioned. So its not concrete, but we believe that our little girl was locked in a cage with males to pump out kittens and not really fussed with. This particular breeder is a fan of British shorthairs, and ours is a British longhair. Maybe she didn't care for her because she was a longhair? Who knows... 

We are so glad this cat has found her way to us as well. She will never have to worry again about anything bad for her happening to her now that we are around. 

Thanks for a heads up about the mirtazpine (if thats what she's got), will keep an eye out in case she gets hyper! Do you know how long it usually takes to work? 

She really is a sweet girl. We are in the UK so I'm not sure if they do Solid Gold here but will have a look tomorrow. Have got her a sachet of tuna cat food for tonight that smells pretty strong so hopefully that's enough. 

I will definitely post about any queries I have here! This forum is really fantastic, I don't know what I would of done without it! 

I'm so sorry this happened. I strongly suggest that you report this self-proclaimed breeder.

 

[blackcatfan]

 
That is good news that the vet is not going to vaccinate a sick cat.  Hopefully the appetite stimulant will get her to eat better soon. It is great that you are willing to be patient with her.  I agree with Artiemom that it really seems like there is some abuse in her past.  Just to give you some hope about your cat and her fears I am going to share a story about a cat I had years ago.

I adopted Baby T when she was a young adult after some ass abandoned her in a friend's pick up truck in Chicago in the middle of winter.  My friend's took her inside when they found her but were in a no pets apartment and their landlord threatened to evict them over it. When I found out what was going on I asked my landlord if I could take her. I was renting a basement apartment in someone's house at the time.  My landlord said yes so I went and picked her up.  When I got her home and let her out of the carrier she immediately buried herself in my roommates dirty laundry pile. She would not eat anything and I had never dealt with this before. She also had a nasty limp and one of her legs was bright red and swollen.  Despite her fear of people I took her to the vet the next day.  I thought she was a kitten because she was so tiny and skinny but she was an adult.  The vet treated her for an infection in her leg and gave me some tips to try to get her to eat.  The vet did an x-ray because of the bad limp and we discovered that she had been physically abused and had broken bones that had healed wrong.  The incorrectly healed bones were not causing her pain at this point. The limp went away on it's own. The vet told me to start feeding her baby food on a long spoon because she was probably scared to eat due to the abuse.  I went out and found a very long handled spoon somewhere and was able to get her to eat this way.  It took about a month before she was completely comfortable eating off a spoon without any contact.  Once this happened the vet told me to transition to wet cat food off the same spoon.  I did this for another month.  After this I put a mix of wet food and baby food on a plate and let her eat alone in my bathroom. I could not be around her with the paper plate at first because she would refuse to eat. Even though she would not touch it initially she always had access to dry food because I had other cats. Because we did not want to scare her more my roommate did not touch her laundry pile for two weeks. We were the same size so we shared my clothes and just shared the extra laundry cost. Baby T did bond to the other cats pretty quickly but it took a lot of time and patience to get her to realize she was now safe. She would only explore the house when we were asleep.  My poor roommate actually put a litter box under her bed for the cat so she did not have to leave the room to use it.  Over time Baby T learned that people were safe and her confidence kept growing.  She turned into a very affectionate and loving cat.  Over time she would actually let people pet her when I had friends over.  She had some fears surrounding men and was scared of my hubby at first when we moved in together.  They developed a great strong relationship and he could carry her around.  She never let me carry her around and really did not care for me picking her up in general.  When we moved to our current place in 2001 T and my hubby had bedtime rituals. Baby T passed away in 2001.  I learned a lot from the time we spent together.

My point in sharing this that getting the medical issues fixed will go a long way toward things moving forward in your relationship.  Your baby will forgive you for making her go to the vet.  It may take time and patience but your baby will learn that she is in a safe place filled with love.  Just let her dictate the pace at which this relationship moves.

This story is so beautiful. What an amazing turnaround for that cat. I hate to hear/see cats with bad starts in life, but it brings me so much joy when these cats find hope and someone to help them. Baby T sounds absolutely wonderful. Thank you for your inspiration, I know in my heart that this will bring us all closer together, even if she is a bit scared at first. I really cannot wait until she opens up and for probably the first time in her life, knows what it is to feel safe!

 

[blackcatfan]

I'm so sorry this happened. I strongly suggest that you report this self-proclaimed breeder.

I will be honest: one of the reasons we are hesitant to confront her or report her, or even list our cat's name, is because this woman's husband seems like quite a tough bloke. They both know where we live, and we are frightened they'd come to our door or something like that. I'm pretty sure if we find any concrete evidence that our cat has been mistreated by them (like something they just couldn't explain away) we will take it up

 

[catpack]

Mirtazapine works pretty quickly. You should see evidence within 2 doses usually.

 

[artiemom]

 
I will be honest: one of the reasons we are hesitant to confront her or report her, or even list our cat's name, is because this woman's husband seems like quite a tough bloke. They both know where we live, and we are frightened they'd come to our door or something like that. I'm pretty sure if we find any concrete evidence that our cat has been mistreated by them (like something they just couldn't explain away) we will take it up

That is really understandable; especially in this day and age....wow...what a couple of losers....

Yes, please be careful.

Mirtazapine works really fast and lasts for 3 days. 

I wonder how your kitty would react if you brought a cage into the bedroom? I mean, as a possible 'safe' house for her. 

You could just make it soft and homey for her. See how she reacts to it. 

If she was caged her entire life, then she may not know how to act in 'freedom' and may be scared to death of 'freedom'. 

If you notice the cage seems to get her agitated, then I would immediately take it away; but it was just a thought...

Now I know why she was not interested in playing, even with wand toys...she never knew how to play...she never learned how to...poor thing..who knows what horrors she underwent...

I kind of wish the Vet would check her out to see if and how many scars she has on her body...just so you may have an idea of her history...

This cat never knew love.. what a shame...

 what shall we call this little one? any ideas? 

thanks

 

[artiemom]

possibly a name could be something like Lazarus, (rising from the dead)--her prior life.

She is a female so how about Laura???  something symbolic

 

[blackcatfan]

 
That is really understandable; especially in this day and age....wow...what a couple of losers....

Yes, please be careful.

Mirtazapine works really fast and lasts for 3 days. 

I wonder how your kitty would react if you brought a cage into the bedroom? I mean, as a possible 'safe' house for her. 

You could just make it soft and homey for her. See how she reacts to it. 

If she was caged her entire life, then she may not know how to act in 'freedom' and may be scared to death of 'freedom'. 

If you notice the cage seems to get her agitated, then I would immediately take it away; but it was just a thought...

Now I know why she was not interested in playing, even with wand toys...she never knew how to play...she never learned how to...poor thing..who knows what horrors she underwent...

I kind of wish the Vet would check her out to see if and how many scars she has on her body...just so you may have an idea of her history...

This cat never knew love.. what a shame...

 what shall we call this little one? any ideas? 

thanks

We're unsure were we'd get a cage, we also have had to spend A LOT more than we thought we would for her medications and injections so we can't really afford a cage at the moment. Lazurus seems like a great name to refer to her by on here  

 

[blackcatfan]

I have a few updates already!

When went in today to collect her in the carrier for the vet her whole food bowl was empty! She had finished the entire bowl! On top of that, she also finished the spoonfuls of baby food set on another plate! We were absolutely overjoyed about it. The injection she got to eat really worked! So that is one worry about fatty liver disease defeated.

On to her fever: Her fever has ALREADY dropped to a normal level which is fantastic, She needs one more injection to keep it down and then she's completely better again. The fever could of been holding her back a lot (and I know physical conditions can stop feliway from working) so things should be looking up after Monday when we are free from the vet visits for a little while.

The bad side is she is basically as scared as she was now when she first got her. She has began to hiss if you come near her. It's very hard to watch, but we are hoping now that the fever is passed and with the Feliway working for a good few days now she should be easy enough to get to come around. The vet confirmed with us that she actually had the fever BEFORE arriving here (apparently you can still if its an infection or stress induced by the temperatures it reaches) It is not possible to tell whether the previous owners knew about the fever or not we can't say. There's every chance they did know and knowingly gave her to us to take care of it, or simply didn't care. Maybe her behavioral issues that came from having a fever are what made them give her away. We don't know. There was a delay and we get her full medical history on Monday now instead of today, so we're very curious to see whats actually went on here!

 

[molly92]

Wonderful! I'm so glad you saved this sweet girl. I actually think the hissing is a good thing. She's feeling well enough to communicate with you! She's not saying she doesn't like you, she's saying ahe does not want you to take her to the vet! When the vet visits are over for a week or so, she'll start to let you closer. She may always be nervous around strange people, but I agree that she is going to have a very special bond with you because you saved her. She's already going to start noticing that being in your home has coincided with feeling better (she won't make the connection that the shots are what helped, so the vet is still going to be feared), and she is going to be very grateful for that.

 

[blackcatfan]

Wonderful! I'm so glad you saved this sweet girl. I actually think the hissing is a good thing. She's feeling well enough to communicate with you! She's not saying she doesn't like you, she's saying ahe does not want you to take her to the vet! When the vet visits are over for a week or so, she'll start to let you closer. She may always be nervous around strange people, but I agree that she is going to have a very special bond with you because you saved her. She's already going to start noticing that being in your home has coincided with feeling better (she won't make the connection that the shots are what helped, so the vet is still going to be feared), and she is going to be very grateful for that.

I never realised that about the hissing! Thank you for pointing it out. It does feel a bit bad when she hisses, but if that means she is feeling better that is great! I can't wait until this is over and she starts to come around.

One worrying thing is that the bed she was in before i lifted her into the carrier she will now refuse to go in. I set it where she likes to sit and she will hide behind rather than in it, whereas before she seemed very comfy inside it. I think she has made a negative connection between being in the bed and going to the vet. Do you have any tips to get around that or should I ignore this until she is more comfortable in general then try to get her to like the bed again? 

 

[talkingpeanut]

I will be honest: one of the reasons we are hesitant to confront her or report her, or even list our cat's name, is because this woman's husband seems like quite a tough bloke. They both know where we live, and we are frightened they'd come to our door or something like that. I'm pretty sure if we find any concrete evidence that our cat has been mistreated by them (like something they just couldn't explain away) we will take it up

Understood. Is there any way your vet could make a complaint? It's great that you saved this girl, but the other cats in their care must also be suffering.

 

[blackcatfan]

Understood. Is there any way your vet could make a complaint? It's great that you saved this girl, but the other cats in their care must also be suffering.

I will talk to my partner about it, but the vet doesn't actually seem to want to get involved. I've not met the vet, but my partner says the vet basically acts like they don't want to comment on the situation whenever its brought up. They are confirmed to have at least 4 or 5 other cats (listed as breeders on their website) but who knows how many they have that they don't care about, like our cat, who was never mentioned or listed anywhere despite also being a breeding female! By the looks of it, their shorthair breeders are very well looked after, given raw diets and cuddles all the time. I think these people are bias, they will care for their shorthairs (their favourite breed) and do whatever they can for them, yet any longhairs they may have are getting locked in a cage and given basic things. 

Who knows what's going on, its all such a weird situation we cannot say for sure. I wish I could say something so badly. I emailed them telling them that there is no record of our cat being spayed with the vet they listed and they replied very aggressively saying I was a liar. This was after aggressively telling me we should not take the cat to the vet. 

I dread to think what would of happened if we never took her to the vet. Her fever could of went out of control. Imagine how hard it would be for our little cat battling a fever for weeks and weeks and us never knowing whats wrong! 

 

[talkingpeanut]

I agree; it could have been awful. So glad you listened to your instincts and took such wonderful care of her.

Whether these people take better care of their other cats or not, they have abused at least one. They should not be allowed to be breeders or pet owners.

 

[blackcatfan]

I agree; it could have been awful. So glad you listened to your instincts and took such wonderful care of her.

Whether these people take better care of their other cats or not, they have abused at least one. They should not be allowed to be breeders or pet owners.

I would love to name and shame them here or go to one of the forums that they post on and post what has happened, but again, we are terrified. It kills me to think how many cats could be having a similar experience to our cat but we are terrified they will ruin our lives if we speak out or even worse, try and take our cat back, even by force