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Old October 26th, 2010, 12:41 PM
mike2000z28 mike2000z28 is offline
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4 month old kitten! 2 vets and no answers!

Basically a few months ago i got a kitten. He had his shots and this past week he had his booster shot on Wednesday, the saturday later he threw(no big deal), but then he stopped eating pretty much, but was still energetic. Sunday comes along and he is eating a tiny bit and still drinking and using the litter. This cat was eating like a horse for 2 straight months, and then bam out of blue, not eating all that much.

So after not eating really all that much on saturday night and throughout sunday, i bring him to the vet. She examines him and can't find anything wrong and he is playing in the office, jumping from the counter to the chair, etc. She gives me an appetite stimulant for him after they gave him a feeding with a syringe in his back. He comes home and eats a little, and then starts pawing at his face(his gums are a bit inflamed due to teething). Anyway he still lethargic compared to what he was, so i bring him to another vet and that was this morning. They ran a general xray, and a full blood test workup. Xray they couldn't see anything, and the bloodtest was completely within the norm. She gave me some painkiller medication with a syringe to dull his dental pain. He comes home and immediately starts to eat, and then like 2 mins later i think he threw up all the food, but i think because maybe he ate fast. Im at a loss right now as to what to do.

She told me the next step is to keep him overnight and inject barium into him and see if there are any blockages. Obviously thats big money as i just spent 400 bucks in the past 2 days in vet bills trying to figure out whats wrong. I hope its just the teething pain, but i think if he had any type of blockage, he would keep throwing up and he isn't. Also his blood tests came back perfect, so no signs of infection or higher enzymes from his organs.

Anyone else have any ideas? Does dental pain really make them depressed and loss of appetite?
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Old October 26th, 2010, 12:52 PM
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What do you feed your kitten? Have you tried offering anything else, like maybe some stinky canned Fancy Feast or plain meat baby food (no onions)?
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Old October 26th, 2010, 12:55 PM
mike2000z28 mike2000z28 is offline
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Offered him everything. When he does eat, he eats like he used to, but just not for that long. Wouldn't a blood test show elevated levels of enzymes if he had any type of blockage especially after 3 days of symptoms?
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Old October 26th, 2010, 12:56 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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The xray would show a blockage as it does show feces.

Yes, dental pain can cause a cat to stop eating, but normally they would be drooling too.

What are you feeding your cat? I highly recommend Kitten Wellness, canned, it is an excellent, palatable food that is easy for your kitten to digest.

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/produ...?pet=cat&pid=1.

And since you are a new kitty owner, here is about the best website for nutritional info on your cat. Please take the time to go through it, it is amazing what you will learn .

http://www.catinfo.org/
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Old October 26th, 2010, 01:07 PM
mike2000z28 mike2000z28 is offline
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See you can't find kitten wellness here (Montreal, Canada). I used to live in Philadelphia and in the US you can get pretty much anything and everything and Petsmart carries all the decent brands. I don't have any chain stores like that here, so when i go back home i bring a decent amount of catfood back. Theres a few places that sell wellness, but just the regular one that i buy for my older cat.

She gave him a general xray and not an abdominal one. She told me the only real way is through the barium dye test, but im hesistant since its big money.

I was feeding him Before Grain wetfood, with some kitten kibble and he ate it like a horse and before that it was holistic by eaglepack he was eating.

The troubling thing is i have read up so much, and i don't want to overly worry because he exhibits symptoms like more lethargic and loss of appetite, but it stops there and internally they couldn't find anything without digging deeper. He does have bad gas though and it only comes out when he uses the litter, thats new and happend as soon as he got his loss of appetite.
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Old October 26th, 2010, 01:18 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike2000z28 View Post
See you can't find kitten wellness here (Montreal, Canada).
You could try the Wellness Store Locator: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/store-locator.aspx and then call around to see if someone will order it in for you. But really, you don't have to feed Wellness Kitten, you could feed most of the Wellness flavours. Chicken in particular has a very similar nutritional profile to the Kitten one.


Quote:
Originally Posted by mike2000z28 View Post
I don't have any chain stores like that here,
Look for independant retailers that specialize in quality food. I'm sure some of our Montreal members can help you out with that.


Quote:
Originally Posted by mike2000z28 View Post
I was feeding him Before Grain wetfood,
BG canned isn't balanced for everyday feeding, that last time I checked. I would only give this once or twice a week to a growing kitten.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mike2000z28 View Post
He does have bad gas though and it only comes out when he uses the litter, thats new and happend as soon as he got his loss of appetite.
Does sound like something's going on with his digestive system. Perhaps adding a pinch of probiotics to his wet food would help.

In the meantime, he's gotta eat! Try the baby food with added warm water for a day and see how he does.
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Old October 26th, 2010, 01:27 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike2000z28 View Post
See you can't find kitten wellness here (Montreal, Canada). I used to live in Philadelphia and in the US you can get pretty much anything and everything and Petsmart carries all the decent brands. I don't have any chain stores like that here, so when i go back home i bring a decent amount of catfood back. Theres a few places that sell wellness, but just the regular one that i buy for my older cat.
As SCM stated, any Wellness, grainfree will do, I have found the that Kitten brand seemed to be preferred by the more finicky kitties.


She gave him a general xray and not an abdominal one. She told me the only real way is through the barium dye test, but im hesistant since its big money.

I was feeding him Before Grain wetfood, with some kitten kibble and he ate it like a horse and before that it was holistic by eaglepack he was eating.
BG is NOT nutritionally complete for a cat and cat's have a very exact nutritional requirements


The troubling thing is i have read up so much, and i don't want to overly worry because he exhibits symptoms like more lethargic and loss of appetite, but it stops there and internally they couldn't find anything without digging deeper. He does have bad gas though and it only comes out when he uses the litter, thats new and happend as soon as he got his loss of appetite.
A kitten should not stop eating, if they do, then you have to take it serious. Is he pooping? Peeing?. The bad gas sounds like a food issue. Jasper gets that if he eats ANY grains, or if he eats more than a few treats of kibble. He actually does best on a raw diet.
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Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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Old October 26th, 2010, 02:13 PM
mike2000z28 mike2000z28 is offline
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Yeah he will use the litterbox and pee. Its hard to tell if he is pooping since both cats use the same box. I don't think its a food issue for the simple fact he was eating wetfood for quite awhile before this happend all the sudden. Hes curled up sleeping in the cat carrier and has been like that after he came home from the vet. Is this a wait and see approach until more symptoms show themselves or can i clear up by itself?
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Old October 26th, 2010, 02:20 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike2000z28 View Post
Yeah he will use the litterbox and pee. Its hard to tell if he is pooping since both cats use the same box. I don't think its a food issue for the simple fact he was eating wetfood for quite awhile before this happend all the sudden. Hes curled up sleeping in the cat carrier and has been like that after he came home from the vet. Is this a wait and see approach until more symptoms show themselves or can i clear up by itself?
Sorry, I didn't realize that you had another cat. Can you separate them for a while. I think the "output" may tell you something such as some mucous, blood, runny or rock hard or pencil thin. I stand corrected BG is NOW nutritionally complete for cats. I must have been looking at an old can last week when I was looking for new cat foods. Can you check yours to make sure?

Bloodwork would normally tell the vet whether there is an infection that the cat is fighting and how the organs are functioning, won't tell the vet WHAT virus or bacteria, just that the immune system is fighting something.
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Cat maid to:


Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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