One sick kitty...

So, our cat is sick. And we don’t know what’s wrong.

I noticed last week that he wasn’t eating much, moving less. His back legs seem stiff, and he seems more bored than anything else. Not hurting, I hope, but clearly not OK.

This is the same cat that goes ape shit at least once a day, bouncing off the walls and generally making a nuisance of himself. The same cat that freaks out every night at bed time, biting our feet, tearing around the apartment, and generally making a nuisance of himself. The same stupid cat that greets me at the door when I come home, falling all over himself, making me trip, and generally making a nuisance of himself.

We adopted Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, First Viscount Nelson, First Duke of Bronté, KB (Kitty for short) in January, 2007, after returning home from our honeymoon in England. The folks at the shelter said he was about 3 1/2 years old then, a stray tom with a beautiful cream coat, big round eyes, and a crazy streak. They did, after all, name him Head Games.

So, he’s not particularly old. We feed him good food (though he often prefers human food, like crackers, lettuce, and corn on the cob). He’s not allowed outside. We got him toys and fancy kitty litter, and now we can add to that a big heaping plate of worry.

We took him to the vet on Friday, where a physical examination and a blood test showed nothing, except maybe something that might be pancreatitis, though at the levels in his blood, it’s unlikely or something. Got his urine sample today (not a pleasant ordeal, believe you me); we get the results in the morning. We got special wet food from the vet’s that he’s eating a good amount of. He doesn’t appear to be getting worse, but he still won’t eat his own food, and he’s not really getting better. The vet said if he doesn’t get better in a couple days, they’ll run some more diagnostic tests, ultrasounds or x-rays or something.

I guess the point of this OP, beyond showing y’all what a cute kitty we have, is to hear your stories, if you have them. Does this sound like something that happened to a cat you know? I guess I prefer to hear happy stories, but … yeah. It’s all very sad, and I miss him gnawing on my elbow in the middle of the night.

(This thread reminds me that I haven’t uploaded pictures of him in a long time. I have some awesome ones of him eating his veggies somewhere.)

Best of luck to your very handsome Kitty! I enjoyed looking at the pics. Keep us updated on his progress.

I’m so sorry to hear about your kitty feeling under the weather. He sure looks like a charmer. Don’t be afraid to check with another vet if you feel like your vet may be missing the mark. They’re like doctors – not every one is going to spot every thing every time. In the meantime, maybe your vet could give him some **subcutaneous fluids **to make sure he’s staying sufficiently hydrated. A kitty can go some time without food, but if he’s feeling too crappy to drink enough, he could get into big trouble very quickly.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that the famed kitty constitution (as in “physical hardiness,” not legal document) gets your little boy through this.

I agree with getting the SubQ fluids but disagree with cats being able to go awhile without food. Certainly there have been plenty of stories of cats surviving without food for weeks but when you have a sick cat that’s normally a little overweight and it stops eating, in just a few days it can develop a condition called hepatic lipidosis which can be worse than the initial problem that made him stop eating.

Re: the second opinion, I hate to go by second hand incomplete info on a message board but I think the OP should either go back for the additional diagnostics, especially the ultrasound, or see another vet. Pancreatitis in cats is a little more difficult to diagnose than in dogs but I believe their are newer more specific tests that can be done. There are other problems, like bile duct obstruction or gall bladder problems which may present similarly but are usually better diagnosed with an ultrasound.

Good luck with him.

Thanks for all of the good thoughts and information.

I took him back to the vet today. His urine test showed a UTI, so I took him into get an antibiotic shot. The vet (a different one, though same practice) checked out his bladder and made sure he wasn’t “blocked up,” urinary-wise. I couldn’t see exactly what she did, but I’ve never heard Kitty make such noises. While I was there, we did the x-ray, too. I just wanted to know if there was anything wrong, rather than waiting to see if he gets better in a few days or not; I’m a really hardcore worrier (it’s genetic), so I just needed to get it over with. They’re sending it off to the radiologist, but nothing seemed particularly wrong. His bladder looked fine, his stomach looked fine, no obvious blockages. There were some maybe white spots on the pancreas, which could be bad. We’ll know in a couple days.

But when we got home, and he hopped out of his carrier – he was walking almost completely normally, and he turned his nose up at his fancy food and went right to his normal food and started chowing down. I cried, I was so happy. He’s seemed a lot friskier today in general. So, fingers crossed.

He’s now busy napping in a sun beam.

deleted duplicate post

Hi, I just saw this as I was entering my own MPSIMS cat thread.

I hope all will be well with your cat, and with you. :slight_smile:

"Jack"

ETA: Okay it looks from your latest post that things are better. :smiley:

your kitty is bootiful.

My kitty at age 14, had kidney failure. Started with the not eating and not moving. kept getting prgressively worse. Vet couldn’t figure it out. gave us laxatives and kitty would lick up and wouldn’t do no good. got worse while I was on a business trip for a week, came home to skin and bones. promptly freaked out, took to vet. diagnosed with kidney failure - they could only make him comfortable for a couple of days. Get back ashes. Menu foods recall. Bastards - he had been eating their food for months.

Just saw new notes - glad your kitty is better. I guess in the grand scheme, mine is too.

That’s one beeyootiful kitty, glad he’s more himself.

There’s also something called FUS(Feline Urinary Syndrome) which is a recurring UT condition that affects a cat similarly to the way that a UTI does.