Let's See Your Cats!!!

Don’t you think about driving my Taco

 

Since about mid October, the cat litter does not clump worth a shit (un intentional pun). I have tried a could different brands, still the pee doesn’t clump good. The last time I bought litter, I asked another lady who was also buying litter. She told me she noticed the same thing. Anyone else’s cat litter not clumping good?

 

Can’t say we’re having this issue. We were using arm & hammer multi-cat but now switched to fresh step.

 

Awesome name! That was one of my favorite comic strips of all time.

 

Mine has been fine. I use the Simplicity Plus brand from Costco. As far as I can tell, it's as good as the premium brands and way, way less $$$.

 

Yeah, that was my favorite strip too. As far as the cat, well, that name just fit.

 

Advice needed.

Minnie (male cat about 10 years old)
He has had on and off issues with pooping outside the litter box. This has been mostly occurrences while we are no home. This morning he was kneading "his" blanket on the couch and and letting out some alarming throaty calling noises, so my wife went to check on him and as soon as she got there he got into the pooping position and let it rip.

• We increased the number of litter boxes from 1 --> 2.
• I clean both boxes 2x a day, so there is never more than two bathroom uses.

I'm at a loss of what else to do. Some other things that I have noticed are:

• He always wants to eat our house plants. (we do our best to keep them out of his way but sometimes we move them to clean and he munches on them when they are within reach)
• His drive to play has significantly decreased.
• He accidentally got stuck in the bathroom for about 7-8 hours last Wednesday. (after vomiting Tuesday night following over consuming a house plant)
• Wednesday night following the bathroom incident through this morning his water consumption and food intake have greatly decreased, he's eating and drinking about 1/4 the amount he usually does. (so we started feeding him some soft food to just get him to eat something)
• He is not as vocal or needing affection as he was before last Wednesday.

So, what do I do with this cat?

 

@Toyko Joe I did a quick Google search with your cat's symptoms and came up with this from "ask a cat vet online"....hope it can help.

There are a number of different things that I would be considering if your cat were on her way to see me. The things that I would be considering are:






1. Hairballs –







You obviously know what these are. Hairballs are fairly common in cats. If there is a wad of hair that is sitting over the pylorus (the "drain" that empties the stomach) then food will just bounce right back down when the cat eats. It can take some time for the hairball to be either brought back up or to pass through the intestines. These do not show up well on x-rays as they are not dense enough.






2. A foreign body.






This acts in much the same way as a hairball in that it can obstruct the pylorus and prevent food from moving through. I have taken some odd things out of cat's stomachs - ribbons and ear plugs among them. They do eat the strangest things sometimes.







Cats like to play with strings and ribbons and they can be particularly problematic. What can happen is that the ribbon goes down into the stomach and one end gets knotted up into a big ball. If the ball is too big to fit out the pylorus, it gets stuck there. The danger is that a tail of ribbon may slip out into the intestines. If you have a big ball in the stomach and a tail out in the intestines, the intestines will try to move the tail along, but cannot. Instead, the intestines will "plicate" up around the tail of ribbon. Think of a hair scrunchy - that is what happens to the intestines. The ribbon is now all tightly pulled up in these scrunched up intestines, and it can then saw through the intestines! This is very serious! As you can imagine, if the ribbon does saw through the intestines, it is not only very painful, but also can be fatal. I am worried about this because it is so serious, and is a possibility with your kitty.





Again, an ear plug, string or ribbon would not show up on plain x-rays.


Here is more about foreign bodies in cats:

http://www.michvet.com/library/surgery_gi_foreign_body.asp








3. Another possibility is that your cat could have gastritis.





This is an inflammation of the stomach that could be caused by having eaten something she should not have (plant leaves, or anything rough or indigestible).


If you think of rubbing sandpaper across your wrist for a few hours, you can imagine how raw your skin would be. The same thing happens to the inside lining of the stomach when a cat eats something indigestible like a ribbon. The stomach will try hard to digest it, and get quite raw in the process. Treatment involves resting the stomach by giving only easy-to-digest foods and medication to act as a "band-aid" to raw ulcerated areas.




Here is more:


http://www.petplace.com/cats/gastritis-in-cats/page1.aspx






4. Cholangiohepatitis/pancreatitis -




This is an infection in the area of the pancreas or bile ducts, which can occur for no known reason. This is called cholangiohepatitis and pancreatitis. This comes on suddenly as you have described with no known cause. It causes fever, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Blood work and x-rays aid in diagnosis, and treatment involves hospitalization, fluids and antibiotics.







With treatment for cholangiohepatitis, often, the cat is hospitalized to get these treatments intravenously (into the vein) using a catheter. This is particularly true if the vomiting prevents oral fluids or antibiotics. Pancreatitis can be very serious, and can even be fatal if untreated. Cats with this are very sick, lethargic, reluctant to move, and nauseated.





Here is more:http://www.petplace.com/cats/cholangiohepatitis/page1.aspx






5. A further possibility is that your cat is starting to develop Hepatic Lipidosis (Fatty Liver Disease).



Let me explain how this can happen:


If an overweight cat decreases her food consumption by approximately 30% for as little as 2 weeks she is likely to develop hepatic lipidosis. Also, if a fat cat stops eating completely for 2-3 days she is likely to develop hepatic lipidosis. It can also happen in slim cats, but not as commonly.







Essentially what happens is the body goes into a state of starvation, and a signal is sent out that the body must mobilize the fat stores to provide energy.



Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a signal about how much fat to mobilize and fat cats have a lot... so it all gets sent to the liver to be converted from fat into glucose. And the liver gets overwhelmed and shuts down. This leads to nausea and vomiting, which means the cat won't eat, and the body tries to mobilize more fat. The cycle continues and the liver gets into more trouble.





Often, an underlying problem like cholangiohepatitis (an inflammation of the liver and bile ducts) could have been the initial reason for the loss of appetite. Or it could be something as simple as a hairball or dental pain ... but the consequences of not eating or eating very little are serious.





I will add some links with further details:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1455

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1327&articleid=217






I often prescribe appetite stimulants when treating this problem. A common one is cyproheptadine which may work, but can take a few days. I have used it for years, but more recently started using a new appetite stimulant in cats that I have had great success with. You could ask your veterinarian if he or she can get ahold of an antidepressant for humans called Mirtazapine (Remeron is the trade name in Canada).




Here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirtazapine



It has been used as an appetite stimulant in cats and dogs for the last couple of years with great results. You would use it instead of the Periactin (cyproheptadine).









Now, as to what you can do at home for your cat...you can do is try to get some calories into her in a liquid form - that way she is getting nutrition at the same time as fluids.





I suggest opening a can of tuna *in water* and offering the liquid.





Also, you can pick up Clam Juice in most grocery stores (sold in with the V8 or the canned tuna) and mix that with some water.





You could try Lactose Free milk (Lactaid is the Canadian brand). Whiskas makes a tetra pack of "Kitty Milk" that is lactose free milk with flavouring added.





You could try getting some human baby food in meat flavours (check that there are no onions or garlic in the ingredients) and mix that with warm water and offer that, or syringe it in little bits into your cat's mouth. Beech Nut makes a line of baby food that has nothing but meat (beef, chicken, turkey or veal) in it.







If you cannot find this, you could find another meat baby food - just read the label carefully to be sure there are no onions, onion powder, garlic, or garlic powder in it.





Offer her some canned cat food, and mix it with water to make a slurry if she won't eat it.





Boil a chicken breast and then put it in the blender with water to make a baby-food consistency gruel to offer.





You could pick up nutristat http://www.agri-med.com/site/255063/product/NUTRST-4.25 It is a calorie-dense paste that you can syringe into them to get maximum caloric impact from a given volume of food.





Here is another link to ways to encourage cats to eat:

http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/fatty_liver_2.htm

It has some good suggestions.





I do think you are going to need to take her to see your veterinarian to have her examined. If she is vomiting today, or getting more depressed, then you should consider an emergency vet today. Otherwise, please take her to your vet tomorrow morning as soon as they open.

 

Take him to the vet!

We have a cat who has a condition that leads to crystals forming in her urine. This makes it hurt to pee, and she began to associate the box with pain. The result was accidents all over the place. We got the crystal thing taken care of with DL-Methionone tablets (acidifies the urine and keeps crystals from forming), but after many years she still has accidents whenever she isn't feeling well. As she gets older she's been getting constipated and has to strain to poop. This probably hurts too, and we have had several out-of-box experiences with dookie. Have you tried to watch him taking a crap to see if he's struggling?

The bottom line is that abrupt changes in behavior usually mean that there is a problem. Might be minor, might not, but best to deal with it early before bad habits result. Time for a vet visit in my opinion.

...and you need to deal with the houseplant issue. Many are very toxic to cats.

 

I agree, especially when Toyko Joe mentioned eating house plants, which might point to gastritis. From the cat vet online description = This is an inflammation of the stomach that could be caused by having eaten something she should not have (plant leaves, or anything rough or indigestible).

 

He is not straining when he poops, however; when he kneads sometimes he goes into a trance and will now allow us to touch him and cries when we do, he also sometimes he secrets from his anus and his penis appears, then he dismounts and cleans himself up.
The house plants he is eating... Are "non-toxic" to cats --> Petunias

 

Thanks for the links, reading up on the gastritis.

 

Well something is wrong, and speaking as a healthcare professional I can tell you that the internet is a lousy diagnostic tool. People either think that every ache and pain is cancer, or they have cancer and ignore it because some article said is was just gas. He really should be taken to see a vet.

 

I vote for a trip to the Vet.

 

From what you described, gastritis was my unprofessional guess, so I hope it's something minor. I would recommend following the advice given in the last paragraph of the cat vet online diagnoses.

 

Thank you for the help!
I will continue the next two-to-three days with adding soft food to his diet and monitor his water intake, today other than the poop on the couch thing I thought he was looking and acting a bit better. The real crappy thing about it is we are 3 weeks away from moving 3000 miles, so the transitions are going to continue to be stressful on the little guy.

 

This sentence of the last paragraph may be pertinent too -- "If she is vomiting today, or getting more depressed, then you should consider an emergency vet today".

 

I agree 100%. I think a trip to the vet is in order, sooner rather than later.

 

No additional vomiting after Tuesday night, and then it was just once.