Scully is not feeling well :( Need a hand please
 

I seem to be cursed with my dear pets always getting sick or something bad on weekends when is harder to get a hold of a vet...

Well this noon I noticed Scully not the same, nothing really bad but you can tell by the look in her eyes and the way she lies down.
She had some food in the morning but by noon she was regurgitating and I know she's been wanting to vomit. She doesn't have a fever.

Now during the evening she asked me for some food but when I put the food in the bowl and she tried to eat she had a vomiting reflex and she could not eat at all.

The only thing that has changed in the past 30 hrs is the litter. I changed from regular grainy clumping litter to pine and I haven't seen her pooping.

She's been wanting to be with me a lot, she's sleeping next to me while I'm sitting writing and I know she's not feeling well so I try to comfort her more than usual.

When I adopted her she was constipated and the vet gave her a tonic lax remedy I don't know if it's the same this time. I gently massaged the sides of her belly already tonight and I think she farted >.<

Is there anything you would advice at least for tonight?

I plan to take her to the vet on Monday but is Saturday night :(

Note: My apologies I just realized I posted this on dog's health section.

Did you do a gradual mixing switch of the litter or a complete switch all at once? Has she peed in the new litter?

Do you have any of the original litter left to offer her in a separate box? Even if it's a regular cardboard box w/a plastic bag as a liner.

How was the consistency of her last poop? Normal or a bit dry?

Does she normally vomit hairballs?

Sounds like she might have a hairball she's trying to work up or she's constipated :shrug:

Does she like butter? Offer her about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp butter to lick up see if that helps pass something one way or the other :fingerscr :goodvibes:

Thanks Growler :)

I took her to a 24/7 vet today Sunday. She is nauseous mos of the time since this started the vet found no signs of obstruction or even poo on the way.
I changed all the litter to pine but last night in my efforts to help her I setup a box with the usual litter and she tried going and peed a little.

She seems to be in very good shape (not eve overweight as I thought she was) only abnormalities found were a mild abdominal discomfort, nausea, and a little dehydration. She got fluid injected under the skin of her back to rehydrate her and a shot to settle her stomach, a pepcide. We also got a blood exam to discard any possible kidney or liver problem although she's young and results came really well no signs of that just a very slight increase of white cells, vet told me not enough for an infection most likely for her swollen belly.

Now, here's the thing... I was told not to feed her for the next 24 hrs not to upset her stomach then go on an easy to digest diet of chicken and rice... Buuut she barely had any food yesterday and still no food until tomorrow and she's asking for food already :( (well I'm glad she's hungry)
Isn't it too long to go without food?

And yes, she vomits hairballs a lot or just vomits some foodie sometimes twice a week or once or 3 and some weeks nothing but yeah in general she's a pukey missy. I can't give her dry food because she tends to vomit way more with that.

I think she likes butter a little.

[QUOTE=Koteburo;961340]I was told not to feed her for the next 24 hrs not to upset her stomach then go on an easy to digest diet of chicken and rice... Buuut she barely had any food yesterday and still no food until tomorrow and she's asking for food already :( (well I'm glad she's hungry)
[B]Isn't it too long to go without food[/B]?[/quote]

Yes. Your vet is treating her like a small dog, not a cat. Lots of vets make that mistake and it frustrates the hell outta me. She needs to eat, and if she's hungry, absolutely give her food. The longer she goes without, the riskier it gets. But don't give her rice. Chicken, sure. Or some plain chicken baby food. Does she like eggs? You could scramble some eggs with butter and give her a bit of that.

Now I'm the one with an upset belly >.<
She doesn't like eggs, she just licks the taste of butter in them so I'm going to try the chicken baby food and see how it goes ;)

Thank you <3

You can also feed her just plain cooked chicken for the next 24hours until her stomach settles.

What brand/flavour do you normally feed?

If you think it's a hairball obstruction, you should be grooming her 2x/day. Is she an obsessive licker? If she's shorthair use a brush, but a comb if she's longhair. You certainly don't want her ingesting any more hair until she has a bowel movement.

@ Growler

She is so picky Growler she doesn't like even chicken breast. It's really hard to feed her usually. I have to feed her many times a day in small portions or she will reject the food. I'm going to try chicken again and see if she accepts it and also the baby food.
Of all the cats I've known she's the pickiest ever. I was feeding her Friskies canned but recently after reading about all the things added to those foods I've been transitioning to a better quality food like Wellness canned (I tried raw but she didn't like it and she can't have dry food at all also not a big fan of dry anymore)
She seems to like turkey flavors.

@catlover2
You're right. I need to be more dedicated to her with the brush. I have something very similar to the furminator. She's a shorthair. I think she has a hard time with hair balls although she doesn't seem to groom as much.
But for sure I dont want her ingesting that extra hair. I'll follow your advice and brush (I also have a regular brush for short hair cats)

Thanks to each one of you Growler, catlover2, sugarcatmom for taking the time. Scully is tired and sleeping, breathing normal, no vomit, no poop yet though. I'll pray so she's better in the morning and give her chicken (hopefully she will accept that food):pray:

How is Scully this morning?

Geesh, :wall:, some vets :wall:. Cats should never go 24 hours without food. Cats do not process fat stores into energy through their liver very well. As a result, fat builds up in the liver causing a fatty liver and a very sick cat.

Geez! What a night. I never went to sleep. I tried to feed her, she barely ate and then she just kept getting worse. In the morning she was starting to act like a wounded animal so we called her regular vet and there we go first thing in the morning.
He saw her we told him what they did to her yesterday he was a bit puzzled because he said that wouldn't help much (what they did there)
So after checking the blood test and Scully had fever by the morning he gave her a shot of antibiotics and another for fever/pain. He told us if no improvement then further tests but for today we'd do that.
One hour later at the most Scully started being herself again. She ate twice since then, she explores our place as usual, being snobby as usual, her eyes are open, even the way she lies down as her normal self.
OMG what this people put us through on Sunday and Scully! Not to mention the outrageous bill. Her regular vet was way more effective and for half the prize.
Sigh... But the most important thing is she's getting better. I will be more careful with her bowl maybe I let it dirty or something and she grabbed a bacteria.
I think she pooped a little already :thumbs up

Thanks for asking Loves4 :) Now send Scully good vibes so she'll keep recovering as good as so far :goodvibes:

On a side note: The pine litter is amazing as was mentioned on a thread, but for now I got rid of it and went back to the old one so Scully won't hesitate to use it when she feels the need.
So long pine litter it was a nice dream and you're truly amazing :'( hehe but kitties come first.

I am so glad she is on her way to being her old self :thumbs up. Sending lots of :goodvibes: that she continues to do so.

Glad to hear that Scully likes the Emerg vets too:laughing:..sorry that is unkind but they do that to us don't they. I am glad she is feeling much better and is eating again. patti

Good to hear Scully feeling better :goodvibes:

[QUOTE=Koteburo;961651]He saw her we told him what they did to her yesterday he was a bit puzzled because he said that wouldn't help much (what they did there)

..........

OMG what this people put us through on Sunday and Scully! Not to mention the outrageous bill. Her regular vet was way more effective and for half the prize.[/quote]

Just a comment on the E-vet, it is pretty standard to give fluids to a cat coming in with dehydration and what may look like constipation especially combined with vomiting, as they lose fluids fairly fast that way & cat's don't replenish their fluid levels as much or in the same way as dogs or humans do.

Much of that high bill is the cost of having a veterinary team available 24 hours/day, they also don't have access to your file from your reg vet at all hours so much of the time they are dependant on what you tell them as far as history/symptoms/normal behaviour etc


[QUOTE=Koteburo;961651]On a side note: The pine litter is amazing as was mentioned on a thread, but for now I got rid of it and went back to the old one so Scully won't hesitate to use it when she feels the need.
So long pine litter it was a nice dream and you're truly amazing :'( hehe but kitties come first.[/QUOTE]

You need not get rid of it, if you still have it you can use it to fill the bottom 1/2 inch of the box & use the old stuff on top that way Scully, in particular, would be able to get used to the change gradually & you're not wasting what you've already bought :)

Glad to hear that Scully is now on the road to recovery. :thumbs up :goodvibes:

I'm glad to hear that Scully is doing better! :goodvibes: for a quick and complete recovery, Koteburo!

I'll try combining litters again.
And yeah if your kitties accept pine I would recommend it too. It really fights funny smells.

Thank you so much to each one of you!
Keep the good vibes coming today she ate 3 times and went poop once! Woot!
She also played with Mulder a little and with her black string a bit.
Whew!

Yikes! That's scary, I'm glad she is feeling better!

How is Scully today?

Still keeping you and Scully in my thoughts and sending :goodvibes:

Playing is good! :highfive:

Thank you so much...

My concerns are not over yet...
Scully has been eating the past 2 days, she used the litter. In the mornings she comes to my room and meows a bit or jumps on me asking for her "breakfast" however I notice her depressed, am I being paranoid? Maybe, but she doesn't seem to want to be with us as much, maybe she's upset about the visits to the vet, the shots, the rides in car and walking a few blocks.
I don't know... She's not too cheerful and since she was recently sick I tend to worry. Now she wants to be in a box most of the time and she doesn't move as much (not that she was awfully active before) but she's less active. We try to play with her, sometimes she does, sometimes she just ignores the attempts to play :(
I don't know, she eats and pees and poops, she even plays with Mulder a bit but :( She's not quite the same I'm sure of it.

koteburo,i am glad she seemed to be on the mend.
cats do not get vindictive,she's not upset with you,maybe it's just a reaction to antibiotics etc..
also,like i was with my rocky,if they have health-problems you seem to notice every little change and worry about it.
you said she got a shot of antibiotics,it was not the one that supposed to be good for 2 weeks,was it?

[QUOTE=chico2;962533]koteburo,i am glad she seemed to be on the mend.
cats do not get vindictive,she's not upset with you,maybe it's just a reaction to antibiotics etc..
also,like i was with my rocky,if they have health-problems you seem to notice every little change and worry about it.
you said she got a shot of antibiotics,it was not the one that supposed to be good for 2 weeks,was it?[/QUOTE]

Yes chico, she got the shot of antibiotics that's supposed to be good for 2 weeks. Could this be the cause of her melancholic mood?

:thumbs up I would be willing to bet on it !! Sounds like she just needs some time to relax and get over it!! :laughing: cats are funny that way! they dont forget that easy! and it is stressful on them going to the vets..

If everything else is good I would wait it out and see how she appears in a few days...

Cindy

koteburo,i don't know enough about the 2-week shot to give you advice,don't even remember the name,but i know we once had a thread about it,maybe someone else remembers where it was.
i would keep a close eye on little scully,which i am sure you already do:fingerscrfor scully and you..

[QUOTE=Koteburo;962547]Yes chico, she got the shot of antibiotics that's supposed to be good for 2 weeks. Could this be the cause of her melancholic mood?[/QUOTE]

Could it have been Convenia???

I don't allow my vet to give my cats this shot as there are some nasty side effects: I would take her in for blood work to see how her organs are functioning.

[url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57265&highlight=convenia[/url]

[QUOTE=Koteburo;961651]he gave her a shot of antibiotics and another for fever/pain. [/quote]

Sounds like Scully got both a Convenia shot and a steroid injection. These could most certainly be the source of her mood change, or perhaps whatever it was that was making her sick to begin with is still effecting her. I gotta say, I really hate it when vets automatically reach for these injectable meds without sound reason to do so. These are not benign drugs and can have serious side effects. Convenia can cause deadly anemia, and steroid injections sometimes result in diabetes. Here is a previous post on Convenia: [url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57265&highlight=convenia[/url]

Hope Scully feels better soon.

Whoops, sorry Love4, didn't mean to duplicate your post! Eating breakfast and typing at the same time isn't one of my strengths.

She had blood work with a slight increase in her white cells in the results.
This morning she came to my room, pawing and scratching the floor right and left of the bed which means feed me and has become music to my ears. I fed her (Now I add water to her foodie) that was around 6:30 - 7 AM. Around 9:30 AM she asked me for more (I was thrilled), then she had a play session with Mulder and she's walking around a bit more, being herlself more.
Yes, she got that 2 week antibiotic and I think it was rough on her system but it seems to be helping her. She seems to be on the right track like Cindy said.

Girsl, guys, thank you for the support and for taking the time to think what could it be.
We'll see if Scully keeps improving as she has:pray:

Thank goodness :thumbs up :goodvibes:

koteburo,what a relief,i was very concerned when i read about the convenia,it looks like scully was one of the lucky ones,no bad reaction.:thumbs up