Hivemind- I need some help regarding my cat. Anyone with experience in such matters BEYOND heresay, please comment.
Basically, Spooky The Cat appears to be ill. In all ways she is absolutely fine- except one, and it's been going on a while.
She's an indoor cat, only ever having been outside twice in her life (both times when she got too curious of an open window), she's 13 (14 in January) and appears to be in perfect health- shiny eyes, good teeth, good coat, very few bugs, etc, bouncy, purry, you know the deal.
However- she has taken to shitting everywhere. It's not like she's incontinent- she just appears to be lazy. She doesn't piss anywhere except in her litter box, but she seems happy to shit wherever she's standing. The thing is, there's a bloody residue with the shit, and she vomits, 9 times out of ten, straight afterwards.
This is quite obviously driving me mental, what with two kids in the house. We've got to bite the bullet and get her to the vet- but experience has told me that my local vet is crap. Plus, we are concerned that it may be the End for poor Spoo, and frankly, we are unsure we can handle that particular jolt at the moment.
My wife rescued Spooky when she was two and a half weeks old and about to be drowned by an Irish farmer. She weaned her on bottled milk and she's a vital part of our family... and she doesn't appear to suffering at all, except when she shits.
Previously, she's had something called "mega-colon", but that was fixed with a dietary change. She eats ProPlan Chicken & Rice dry food exclusively, drinks plenty of water and, as I say, appears to in all other ways, in rude health.
Help!
Steev
From my cat-woman girlfriend:
Is the cat long or short-furred?
When it poos, does it try to hide; Does it do it behind sofas, under tables etc? If it does, then it's indicative of pain. Maybe an obstruction.
Things to try:
grass for indoor cats (to chew) to regulate stomach bile. The cat will eat it if it wants to be sick. It will make it vomit, and stop it bringing up bile from an empty stomach.
Petroleum jelly/vaseline on finger and cat will lick it off. will aid digestion, and possibly prevent vomiting. Eases passage of food through gut.
Oh, extra litter trays!
And put wayward poo in litter tray so cat knows to go there. (which obviously it does, but it couldn't hurt to reinforce).
She definately sounds like she has some kind of undiagnosed bowel or digestive condition.You dont say that she is losing weight because she is obviously eating as she has an appetite but its what happens after she has eaten it that is the problem.
How often is she pissing ?
Is she drinking more than usual or less ?
It seems like you have isolated the problem as a digestive or bowel problem rather than a urinary type thing.
Appreciate that i am not a Vet but i am a veteran of having had or looked after 7 Cats in 20 - 30 years plus cat-sitting for others.It could be that her shitting problem or rather the problem of shitting anywhere rather than using the litter tray is definately unnatural and i am reading this as some kind of attention seeking thing where she is trying to draw your attention to the problem.
My closest experience of this was one Cat who i had to feed in small amounts at a time because if i didnt she would eat it too fast and chuck it all up again and then re-eat it.This was never diagnosed but if i fed her with little bits at a time she was fine.It seemed like she had an eating disorder rather than an underlying health problem.
There is a very good Veterinary practice in Brighton in Norfolk Square -St.Francis Veterinary surgery - 01273 770800.
I am unable to recommend any other Vets because i havent had any experience of them but there are plenty to choose from .
Try doing some online research and find out if there is an particular vet or specialist with experience of this kind of thing and also try researching her condition or symptoms online.
Hope this helps.
Many, many thanks for all the above. I'm going to act on the above and am about to scare the fuck out of her by waving vaseliney fingers in her face. The last time anyone did that, about ten seconds later he stuck a finger up her arse, so grud knows what she'll do now. But in all seriousness, it's getting extremely worrying- so thanks for the comments.
Peterwolf- DID YOU GET MY PM YESTERDAY? I have access to last week's prog, the one that you missed, if you want a copy. But I can't find my messages here, so don't know if you got the PM, if you've replied, or what.
Steev
I read your post to the missus, who works full-time in animal welfare, worked as a Vet's assistant for years, and has owned innumerable cats, and after muttering about an intestinal blockage, she said: "The cat is not well, it needs to see a vet. If you don't trust your vet, take it to a different vet". Not very helpful, but she knows whereof she speaks.
Quote from: SpookyTheCat on 19 July, 2009, 05:51:15 PM
Many, many thanks for all the above. I'm going to act on the above and am about to scare the fuck out of her by waving vaseliney fingers in her face. The last time anyone did that, about ten seconds later he stuck a finger up her arse, so grud knows what she'll do now. But in all seriousness, it's getting extremely worrying- so thanks for the comments.
Peterwolf- DID YOU GET MY PM YESTERDAY? I have access to last week's prog, the one that you missed, if you want a copy. But I can't find my messages here, so don't know if you got the PM, if you've replied, or what.
Steev
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WHAT WAS THAT YOU JUST SAID ??
NO NEED TO SHOUT ! - I AM NOT DEAF !
;D ;D
I just sent you a PM [Not that kind a private message].Access your messages by clicking on PM on the right of the screen below your icon.I only sent it 1 hr ago.