weight loss, can't control bladder.. lethargy

[felixkitty]

Hi,

I am not sure how old my cat is. I bought him from a shelter that really was NOT sure what his age was. They marked him as being between 5 and 6 years old when I got him, but said he could be much older or younger. I have had him for 5 years now.

He's always been pretty slow. He's never really liked playing. And laying around and sleeping all day has been normal for him since I got him.

Recently, I was petting him and realized just how skinny he'd gotten. I didn't really notice how much weight he lost, and it seemed like it happened over night. I can feel every bone in his spine and hips. Most of the time he won't move more than five feet. I had to buy him wet food, because he wouldn't eat dry food, and I have to bring food and water to him or else he just won't eat or drink. He has lost bladder control.

I really don't know what's wrong and I'm really worried. I know I need to take him to the vet, and I will be taking him to a low cost vet tomorrow, but I'm getting so impatient, because every day he seems to get worse and worse. I haven't been able to take him, because I can't afford an urgent care for pets, I just started a new job TODAY (bad timing, i know) where I"m in training from 9-5 and my vet was closed all weekend, including today. I discovered how skinny he was Friday.. and on Saturday I realized that he was refusing to eat and drink.. and now he can't control his bladder. My boyfriend can take him to the vet tomorrow, but I don't have any availability, especially with a brand new job that I CANNOT afford to lose.

Has anyone ever had something like this happen? Anyone have the slightest clue as to what is going on?? Am I going to have to put him down, I'm so worried. :-(

[nanamouse]

I don't have many answers here, although the fact that he is peeing too much is better than not enough. Perhaps diabetes? If your BF will take him to the vet that is the most important thing, oonce you get a diagnosis there are several members here with experience in many chronic conditions who can offer support for his treatment. I hope it is something treatable, please update us on howit goes, and welcome to PetLovers.

[e1beth1]

Your boy may be suffering from kidney problems or diabetes, he'll need blood work when he goes to the vet. I have found that our local shelter are horrible at correctly guessing adult cat ages and usually say they're younger than they really are. Your vet will give you a better estimate on his age. I wish you guys the best and please let us know how his vet visit goes today.

[special]

kidney problems, diabetes and hyperthyroid are the first that come to mind. I'm sorry your beloved boy is so sick, and the timing is so difficult.

Any of these illnesses, while not curable ARE treatable with maintenance medicines/treatments.

Blood work will be the first thing your vet will want to do for diagnostic purposes.

Welcome to petlovers, and thank you for adopting from a shelter.

Please do come back and let us know what happens. We care.

[felixkitty]

He is staying at the vet and being watched.. I found time in between my work schedules.

Hopefully he will be okay, but things sounded a bit hopeless. The only thing she mentioned was jaundice. Then was talking about liver failure as a big possibility. He is usually a beautiful white cat, with pink paws and ears.. but right now he's covered in pee and his skin is pale and yellow. I am very worried. :(

Thank you for the support.

[nanamouse]

Thanks for the update, we're pulling for him to get better.

[special]

He is staying at the vet and being watched.. I found time in between my work schedules.

Hopefully he will be okay, but things sounded a bit hopeless. The only thing she mentioned was jaundice. Then was talking about liver failure as a big possibility. He is usually a beautiful white cat, with pink paws and ears.. but right now he's covered in pee and his skin is pale and yellow. I am very worried. :(

Thank you for the support.

Aww, I'm sorry things are looking so bad, I know you must be sick with worry.

There's lots more that can be done for liver diseases now. The liver is, unlike the kidneys, a regenerative organ, so if he's not too far gone, he may pull through yet, with treatment.

All paws crossed on my end!

[Julia423]

I'm looking forward to hearing how the kitty is doing. It's hard when you love your cat and he's so sick. I'm glad to read that you were able to get him to the vet.

Paws crossed here too!

[RoxyGirl]

I'm so sorry to hear your kitty is sick.

I will be keeping him in my prayers.

Please keep us updated on how he is doing.

[felixkitty]

So I just got him back from the vet yesterday. The place I left him was pretty awesome considering the price. He was there for almost a week and they charged me only $30 including the medicine and prescription cat food they gave me for him. (They were also giving him IVs and shots).

For $30 I really can't complain (they run off of donations). Anyway, I got some medication for him that I'm supposed to give him twice a day and some special food..

She told me what to do, but we were so excited to get him back that we might have missed something.

I don't know how to feed him the pill without it being completely uncomfortable for him. I feed it to him, but he spits it out and won't just swallow it. So we have to keep trying until finally he just chews it up which can't taste very good. If anyone has some suggestions on that, it would be cool. He also has some prescription food. It's in a can and I've just been feeding that to him.

I also found a soft cat food that has almost no fillers; pretty much all meat and fish called "BLUE" if anyone has had a good experience with that? (my vet recommended i only feed him soft food for the next few weeks)

And my cat seems to want to eat his cat litter so I bought him some called Feline Pine. (Wow, he's being spoiled back to health).

They didn't tell me for sure whether he'd live for much longer but I am happy to have him. He still can't control his bladder and won't eat much. I have a box for him that I made him a make shift kitty bed in until he can use his other one without covering it in pee, and I put it on my bed with me last night so he can sleep with me. :-(

Hopefully the pills will help him.

Thanks for the responses, it's been very sad to watch him digressing.

[Kkye]

I don't know how to feed him the pill without it being completely uncomfortable for him. I feed it to him, but he spits it out and won't just swallow it. So we have to keep trying until finally he just chews it up which can't taste very good. If anyone has some suggestions on that, it would be cool.


what i always did when i had to get my cats to eat pills (dewormers in my case) was i would put the pill (one at a time) into a ziplock bag and crush it into as close as i could get to powder. i would then mix it with quite a bit of wet food (to "dilute" the pill and hide the taste) and then heat it up a little bit. it would take a couple rounds of heating and eating, because there was so much wet food to hide the taste, but eventually it was all eaten up and the cats were none the wiser. of course, i had to do it one at a time so as not to OD my kitties on dewormer.

try that :D

[special]

Felix is very lucky to have you as his beloved human. Clearly you will do all possible to keep him comfortable and loved.

I have some questions for you. If you don't know the answers, I hope you will feel free to call your vet and ask.

I really find it's easier to cope with a pet's illness if I know what's happening, from diagnosis to what the med is for and how long and why.

~What is Felix's diagnosis?

~What is the medicine called?

~What does the medicine do?

~ What should I watch for to know if he's getting worse?

~What should I watch for to know he's getting better?

Write down your questions, and the answers when you get them.

As for pilling, one effective way is to kneel on the floor and take Felix between your knees. Cross your feet behind you. Felix is facing out. Make sure you ahve everything ready before you start.

Get a bowl and put the pill and a dot of something soft that he might like, like yogurt or mayonnaise, even a bit of butter, in the bowl, then get in position with him. Facing out he will back away but back right into you.

Get the pill in your fingers and pry his mouth open with the other hand, push the pill back and to the side of his mouth with your finger. Immediately stick your finger in the yogurt and put a dot of it on his nose. He will involuntarily lick his nose and that will make him swallow.

A variation of this method is to get a small spoon with a little milk in it (water makes some pills dissolve too quickly) Put the spoon of milk (or water) in the bowl and hold the pill. Get him into position. With one hand near his jaw drop the pill into the spoon and pry open his mouth as you pick up the spoon. Open his mouth and tip the spoon, milk and pill into his mouth. Release his head quickly because it's difficult to swallow with his little throat stretched from having his head tipped up.

Again, quick with the treat on his nose.

I don't deny these methods take practice to go as smoothly as I make it sound. But once you master them you can pill any cat any time.

[special]

Thank you for keeping us updated!

[e1beth1]

special pretty much covered all my questions. The Blue brand food you are referring too is a very good food and not too terribly expensive considering. I would highly suggest their food, my cats won't eat it but that brand's dog food is what I feed my dog and she does great on it. The brand's name is Blue Buffalo and if you go to their website you might be able to get a coupon for their food.

[felixkitty]

I will come back to answer some of these tomorrow. I wasn't given a diagnosis or very much info when I picked him up. I was just told to give him his pills and feed him the prescription food. Like I said, it was a low-cost vet.. they're usually super busy, and it seemed like we were kind of rushed when we picked him up the other day.

I am having a hard time figuring out if he's getting better or worse.

:(

The medication he was prescribed is in a small bag that just says "amoxi". I give it to him once in the morning and once at night.
He was also prescribed a special food that I'm supposed to keep feeding him for now.. and then move onto the Blue when he's finished the prescription diet food.

I'm guessing the amox is amoxicillin, which I know is an antibiotic.. but I'm not sure what his diagnosis was. When I dropped him off, she mentioned jaundice and liver failure, but didn't confirm that when I picked him up days later.

I have to wait till tomorrow to call them for more answers, because they are closed on mondays. But I know he is suffering, and if I learn there isn't much we can do I might have him put down. I know he is in a LOT of pain.. anytime he walks somewhere he collapses after about walking 2 feet, starts breathing really hard and fast and then cries really loud. The breathing always worries me, because it's like he's panting like a dog. And i can see his lungs contracting when he breathes. And he is so skinny, it is just making me so depressed on top of that I'm pregnant so maybe I'm being overly emotional.. but it is so sad, I can feel every bone in his spine and his hip bones are protruding.. I put him in his cat bed and sit him on my lap or next to me everywhere i go and have been spending every second I can petting him, because I know he's in so much pain. I switch the blankets in his cat bed every day because he can't completely control his bladder. Maybe a sign he's getting better is that he did walk to his cat box to go to the bathroom earlier. He pooped, but it took so much energy out of him. :(

I will come back tomorrow night to answer after I talk to the vet clinic. I'm thinking about taking him to a full priced vet clinic so I can get some real answers.

I don't have tons of money, so that's why I picked the low-cost vet, but I guess you get what you pay for.. :(

Has anyone here ever had an issue with their cat eating it's cat litter? I don't know what his deal is, but for some reason he was eating it, and I have a feeling that's what made him sick in the first place. I'm going to pick up some feline pine since I know that's more natural. Right now I"m just using some basic kind of litter.

Thanks for all the help..

-Felix's mommy

[LuvPets]

I'm so sorry to hear about what you're going through with your precious kitty cat. You are being such a great kitty mom to him. Even though cats are frail, sometimes they can surprise us with their resilience. It does sound encouraging that he was able to get to the litter box himself and had a bowel movement. It should be helpful to get more information from the clinic. Please keep us posted. Sending up prayers for you and your Felix kitty.

[uwllv88]

It just broke my heart hearing what he's going through. If he's in that much pain then I think you may be right that it's time to give him that last loving gift and help him out of the pain he's in. It's not a good sign that he still can't control his urine or walk without a lot of effort and pain. I hope you've gotten some answers by now. Thanks for trying so hard to save this boy.