My cat is sick...is this fatal?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

And may be dying. The last few days I noticed yellow puddles in the bathroom (where she spends most of her time) and figured she was peeing all over the place. She’s always been good with the litter box but still it looked like pee so I didnt worry. Then last night I noticed she looked very scruffy and was completely bony. I realized she hadnt touched her food in days. She began making retching noises and then puked up a puddle of yellow FOAM. She now can barely move and has began occasionally meowing in a raspy whiny voice. She no longer chases or attacks anything, one side of her body doesnt appear to be functioning well, and while she will not touch any food, she does drink water.

She is a kitten approximately 3-4 months old. She is strictly an indoor cat, however when we found her 2 months ago she was a stray. She has not had any shots or vet visits yet. We are keeping her illegally because in my building cats are not allowed. They have an emergency vet here 24 hours a day but I am afraid to call because I’m going to get in trouble for having a cat. (remember I live on a military base where everything is tied together…a vet can and will get us in trouble.)

Does this condition sound life and death? If it does I will risk it and call the vet. If not, if it is something that can be treated at home or stabilized at least until Monday, when I can have a neighbor take her (so noone sees where I live…some buildings here allow cats) then I will do that. So please, cat owners, cat experts, or vets, how serious is it?

2

Oh, I forgot to add…last night was not the only time she vomited. All the yellow puddles are in fact puke, not pee, and she is vomiting occasionally today as well. The vomit is always foamy and yellow.

3

Take the cat to the vet, like NOW. In fact 15 minutes ago.

4

Most local vets have emergency numbers where they or another vet can be reached 24/7- even in military towns. I’m sure an off-base vet would have such a number. I understand your concern about getting into trouble, so-

Call your neighbor NOW. Look up an off-base vet and get the emergency number. Call immediately. Have your neighbor take the poor baby in ASAP. It sounds like she is very, very ill. (Could she have gotten into some kind of cleaning or bathroom product? The vomiting sounds suspiciously like poisoning.)

Kittens don’t last long when they get that sick. You need to get her medical attention RIGHT NOW, or you may lose her.

5

Well, you can either have no kitten because you got found out and had to give her to a new home, or you can have no kitten because THE KITTEN WILL BE DEAD.

I am not a vet. I would not consider myself an expert on feline diseases. But if you want a shot at outcome number one, CALL THE VET. Yes, right this minute.

And now for a cite from http://www.citycatdoctor.com/emergencyOrNot.htm

You. Pick up phone. Call vet. NOW.

6

Gah, I’m sorry, that cite applies more to diarrhea. But the point is, kitty WILL go to the vet right now.

7

Aside from the yellow vomit and half-parylized, it sounds like what happened to one of my mom’s cats - his urethra crystalzed over, and his bladder expanded to the side of a baseball before we got him put down.

Is he urinating blood? If it’s the same thing as what my mom’s cat had, it sounds like he’ll need to be put down.

There is always hope, tho. So, go to the vet AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

I hope kitty will pull through. If not, I’m so sorry. it’s so hard to loose a pet.

(pardon typos - just got done getting my car out of tow.)

8

I’m in japan so calling an offbase vet isn’t really an option, since I can’t speak japanese and don’t have a phone book for off base. But yeah I’m going to call the emergency vet since you all seem to agree that this is serious. (Not having had a cat before I wasnt sure.)

As for poisoning that’s what I’m afraid it could be. There isnt anything she could have eaten though as far as cleaning chemicals goes. There are none anywhere near her since we’ve had her, since she prefers the bathroom to be her home. She hoards stuff in the bathroom like paper and corn chips but never eats either. So I don’t know what she could have eaten. I am also worried about a possible stroke…I know that’s rare in young animals but the way half her body seems almost paralyzed reminds me of a rabbit I used to have who in his old age suffered a stroke and exhibited the same symptoms (including vomiting).

9

Have you taken all cleaning supplies and toiletries out of the bathroom, then? Because even relatively harmless (to humans) stuff can be poison to kitties. Soap, shampoo, deodorant- all of them can make a cat ill. Even licking cleansers and whatnot off of bathroom surfaces could make your kitten sick. They’re a lot like human infants that way.

If there is anything she could have eaten/licked in the bathroom, make sure you take it to the vet with you so that they can treat her properly.

I really hope you are calling the vet RIGHT NOW. (If your neighbor lives on base and is a good friend, you might be able to have her/him take kitty in, to avoid difficulties.)

10

My cat is sick…is this fatal?

Naw, you’ll be just fine. The cat, on the other hand …

11

My cat had that and she ended up diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome.

Your cat is severely dehydrated though and really needs a vet since she can’t keep down fluids herself they will need to give them intravenously. I got my cat to the vet first thing and she had still lost 2 pounds from the dehydration!

Cats are very very good copers. By the time the cat exhibits symptoms that it is not feeling well the cat has been sick for some time. This is a survival mechanism in the wild so predators will leave it alone but in my house it just delays vet treatment.

12

Tell me you’ve already gone to the vet. You DO NOT let an animal suffer like this.

Cats normally don’t like showing pain: when they’re sick, they prefer to hide somewhere. The fact that the cat isn’t moving means it must be ill indeed.

Daniel

13

Your cat is dying a slow and painful death. Find a vet.

14

It is possible that your kitty’s been poisoned, but it’s also possible that she has a disease. I had a similar situation with a stray kitten I found and took in. After I’d had him a few weeks (and kept him strictly indoors), he started refusing to eat. (No throwing up, though.) I took him to the vet, and, sadly, the verdict was feline leukemia, something he’d obviously been exposed to before he came home with me.

I just wanted to point out that this may not be a result of something you have in your home. I imagine you’ve gone to the vet by now, though, and will know what it is shortly. I sure hope your kitty’s okay.

15

Please please PLEASE tell us you got kitty to a vet. Heck, if need be, you can tell TPTB that you found a sick kitty on your doorstep if you’re not supposed to have her.

The cat needs a vet. NOW.

16

I hate to sound like a bitch, but you said in another thread that you don’t plan on keeping this cat when you move in a year or two. Why don’t you find it a home now, while it’s still young and actually has a chance, if you can’t even take her to the vet you aren’t doing her any favors, get her a home with people who can look after her.

17

Just tell the vet that you came across a sick cat on the road.

Lying is justified because that poor baby is SUFFERING and you are morally obligated to do something about it. Either take the kitty to the vet, or, if you really can’t, (gulp–I don’t recommend this lightly) put it out of its misery.

Poor thing. :frowning:

18

Pardon me - but your cat is puking foam, can’t move, is losing weight at an alarming rate, and you have to ask if the cat needs a trip to the vet?

Go! Now! If you’re still reading this thread, when other people have said that, then you really aren’t thinking very well. MOVE!

I’m sorry, but this just strikes me as a rather poor way to go about this decision. And it seems like you should have found it much easier to make than you have.

Poor kitty.

19

It sounds very much like feline panleukopenia (distemper), which is almost always fatal. She should have had shots a long time ago. Or toxoplasmosis, which is a horrible way for a kitten to die. Please get her to a vet right away. Step up to the plate and take responsibility - you are trying to protect yourself by not taking her because you aren’t supposed to have a cat in the first place. Well, suck it up and own up to your obligations. You took this cat in and now you have to deal with it. It’s not fair of you to ignore her very obvious illness because you want to cover your ass.

If the military vet plans to “get you in trouble,” he’ll do it after caring for your cat. So call him.

20

It also sounds a lot like FIP, unfortunately. Nasty, nasty disease, and there’s usually nothing we can do for the poor animal but put it down. That makes it even more important that you go straight to the vet, before that poor baby suffers a second longer.

For your future reference, I’m going to give you some pet care advice, and I’m going to try to restrain myself. I’ll warn you now, though, calls like this make me want to jump up and down screaming obscenities into the phone.

The next time you find a stray, either find someone to take it immediately (someone who will get it proper care and can legally have it), or drop it off at the animal shelter. If you can’t take it to the shelter because of language barriers, go to the base vet and ask for help getting the kitten a place to be. Odds are excellent that the vet will try to adopt it out, or help you get it to the shelter, or at the very least euthanize it before it starves to death on the streets or dies of disease. Do not keep a cat locked in a single room by itself, and most certainly do not deprive the cat of needed medical attention in order to make your life easier.

If you ever are in a situation where you can have a pet, pay attention to stuff like whether the old food is gone when you go to put more food in the bowl. Loss of appetite over 2 or more feedings is cause for concern. If you find puddles lying around, smell them and check the texture. Yes, it’s disgusting, but if you’re not prepared to sometimes do disgusting things, you’re not prepared to have a pet. If you’d bothered to smell the stuff you were cleaning up, you would have known right off those puddles weren’t urine.

As for vet visits, puppies and kittens need routine checkups and vaccines, just like human children. They get their first shots at 6-8 weeks, with boosters every three weeks after that until about 4 months. They also need to be checked for parasites, and kittens need to be tested for diseases like feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency. Then they need boosters every year. If you are not getting this done, you’re an irresponsible pet owner. For sickness and emergencies, use a little common sense: if you’d take a toddler to the pediatrician for the same symptoms, take the cat to a vet. If you’d take said toddler to the ER, take the cat to a vet RIGHT NOW.

Please, please tell me you’d take a toddler to the doctor for the symptoms this poor kitten is showing, even if it would get you in trouble.