A few months ago my cat became almost lethargic, she was foaming at the mouth, puked a couple times, pooped on the floor (that never happens), was off balance to walk and didn’t want to be touched. We took her into the emergency vet and they kept her for three days. The did x-rays and blood work. Her levels were slightly elevated but nothing crazy. The x-ray showed maybe and obstruction in her stomach but nothing too big. They kept her on an IV and under observation for the weekend. On Sunday, they did bloodwork again and an additional x-ray and everything came back fine. They couldn’t determine what caused any of this. It has happens a couple more times since then, same exact symptoms but today it seemed like she couldn’t even hold her head up all the way. Thankfully this only lasts about a day and she is back to normal. Any idea what could be causing this or what I should be having checked out? I’d appreciate any help I could get. I should mention she is an indoor cat only. We have two other cats and a dog and they are all fine.
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Random Illness
- Thread starter Kmc1031
- Start Date
I don't know for certain but I suggest going around your house looking for anything that your cat could have gotten into that made her sick. Don't just look for "poisons" but also things like house plants or leftover food that might have been left out for her to find.
If you use a topical flea treatment, are you sure that you are applying it in a place where she can't lick it off?
Rat poison?? Don't forget that, even if YOU don't use poison to kill mice, a mouse that has eaten poison might come inside where a cat can catch it and be "vicariously" poisoned. That happened to our family dog, many years ago. There was a farmer, nearby, who put out poison to kill rats and one of those rats came into our yard where the dog got hold of it. It nearly killed the dog and it took him weeks to recover.
Do you use any kind of household insecticides or sprays to repel bugs? Even if you use so-called "natural" products.
There is no such thing as a "safe" or "natural" insect product. It's an oxymoron. How can something that's designed to kill be "safe?"
There are a lot of foods which you might not think of as harmful to cats but really are bad for them.
Grapes. Raisins. Onions. Garlic. Sugarless chewing gum or candy.
Plants to look for that you might not think are bad for cats.
Any kind of "lilies." (Major!) Aloe Vera. Pothos ivy. (Any kind of "ivy" or vines.) Sago palm. Dieffenbachia (AKA: Dumb cane.)
I'm not trying to make an exhaustive list. I'm only suggesting things to help you think like a detective.
There are several illnesses that can make a cat sick like that but nothing comes to mind which would make a cat so acutely sick then get better after a couple of days. The first thing that comes to mind is something in the environment.
Also, even if you do find that, for instance, you have a bad houseplant it is possible that one cat will get into it but others will not. Some cats are just more curious than others and get into trouble in places where others won't.
If you use a topical flea treatment, are you sure that you are applying it in a place where she can't lick it off?
Rat poison?? Don't forget that, even if YOU don't use poison to kill mice, a mouse that has eaten poison might come inside where a cat can catch it and be "vicariously" poisoned. That happened to our family dog, many years ago. There was a farmer, nearby, who put out poison to kill rats and one of those rats came into our yard where the dog got hold of it. It nearly killed the dog and it took him weeks to recover.
Do you use any kind of household insecticides or sprays to repel bugs? Even if you use so-called "natural" products.
There is no such thing as a "safe" or "natural" insect product. It's an oxymoron. How can something that's designed to kill be "safe?"
There are a lot of foods which you might not think of as harmful to cats but really are bad for them.
Grapes. Raisins. Onions. Garlic. Sugarless chewing gum or candy.
Plants to look for that you might not think are bad for cats.
Any kind of "lilies." (Major!) Aloe Vera. Pothos ivy. (Any kind of "ivy" or vines.) Sago palm. Dieffenbachia (AKA: Dumb cane.)
I'm not trying to make an exhaustive list. I'm only suggesting things to help you think like a detective.
There are several illnesses that can make a cat sick like that but nothing comes to mind which would make a cat so acutely sick then get better after a couple of days. The first thing that comes to mind is something in the environment.
Also, even if you do find that, for instance, you have a bad houseplant it is possible that one cat will get into it but others will not. Some cats are just more curious than others and get into trouble in places where others won't.
Last edited:
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
Thank you, the only thing I could remotely tie this to is that we are re-doing our floors and the padding dust from the carpet we pulled up. Plus she claws at the remaining padding where the moldings are missing and plays with chunks of it. I thought maybe she may have swallowed a piece but it seems weird that it’s randomly happening like once a month. This all started about the time we started the floors so I’m constantly washing and steam cleaning them (just water) but who knows maybe it could still be that.
If she's playing with pieces of foam padding and eating them you'll probably find evidence in the litter box.
It's doubtful (but not impossible) that dust or debris from your remodeling would have effects that occur more than once. She would get sick from construction dust. You would clean it up then there would be no further problems. It wouldn't happen two or three times in a row, like this.
Can you plot out the days she got sick on a calendar or something? Maybe there is a pattern.
Example... If you live in an apartment building where an exterminator comes to spray common areas, you might be able to match up the times when the cat gets sick with the times when the exterminator comes.
Pyrethroid insecticides that exterminators use often cause symptoms you describe... vomiting, foaming, unsteadiness, lethargy and diarrhea. Cats are especially sensitive to certain kinds of products that exterminators use.
Another thing is that, even if YOU don't use insecticides, there could still be some residual products left over which were concealed by the carpet but were exposed when you tore out the old stuff.
You're, pretty much, going to have to get out your Sherlock Holmes hat and start doing some detective work.
It's doubtful (but not impossible) that dust or debris from your remodeling would have effects that occur more than once. She would get sick from construction dust. You would clean it up then there would be no further problems. It wouldn't happen two or three times in a row, like this.
Can you plot out the days she got sick on a calendar or something? Maybe there is a pattern.
Example... If you live in an apartment building where an exterminator comes to spray common areas, you might be able to match up the times when the cat gets sick with the times when the exterminator comes.
Pyrethroid insecticides that exterminators use often cause symptoms you describe... vomiting, foaming, unsteadiness, lethargy and diarrhea. Cats are especially sensitive to certain kinds of products that exterminators use.
Another thing is that, even if YOU don't use insecticides, there could still be some residual products left over which were concealed by the carpet but were exposed when you tore out the old stuff.
You're, pretty much, going to have to get out your Sherlock Holmes hat and start doing some detective work.
Did your landlord have an exterminator over? My cat Mau died a few days ago 15 hours after they sprayed my home. The tech told us no way it killed her. She is currently necropsy and I’m waiting on results. I’m devastated.
She’s a 7 years old.
