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In this Discussion
- 1234 May 2012
- Cherry_Pie May 2012
- Clever_girl April 2012
- curt May 2012
- distant_shoe May 2012
- joey May 2012
- kdawg May 2012
- Leland May 2012
- Loose_Thread May 2012
- Matthew May 2012
- MirandaJuly May 2012
- Nick May 2012
- swamp_knobbler_mahan May 2012
- the_owls May 2012
- ThickeningAgent May 2012
- YoursTruly May 2012
- zin May 2012
Pet Concerns
Here is the thread where we can discuss our pet concerns.
I am concerned about my cat, Andy. (The last Andrew Peterson standing.) He wet the bed Friday night, so I took him into the vet at 7:30 Saturday morning. They suspected bladder stones and took an x-ray. No stones were found, but they DID find a mass in his lungs!! They sent the x-ray to the kitty radiologist and told me to sit tight- it could be a fungus, cancer, or nothing. Two days of deep worrying later I took Andy back to the vet and found out that the lung spots are benign aspirations. Phew! He has a bladder infection though, and they prescribed antibiotics and told me to switch to wet food.
Well, the wet food switch did not go over well. He vomited all night long (which if you know Andy isn't that unusual) but when I was cleaning it up this morning I found blood in one pile of puke. I had to go to work, but I called the vet and if he's not feeling better when I get home I'm going to take him back in this afternoon.
Poor Andy!! He has had such a tough weekend! Now I'm worried that he's vomiting up the antibiotics. I think I shouldn't change his diet right now after all, but the vet strongly suggested that I do. What do you guys think? I feel so demoralized and I have no confidence in my own decision making right now.
I am concerned about my cat, Andy. (The last Andrew Peterson standing.) He wet the bed Friday night, so I took him into the vet at 7:30 Saturday morning. They suspected bladder stones and took an x-ray. No stones were found, but they DID find a mass in his lungs!! They sent the x-ray to the kitty radiologist and told me to sit tight- it could be a fungus, cancer, or nothing. Two days of deep worrying later I took Andy back to the vet and found out that the lung spots are benign aspirations. Phew! He has a bladder infection though, and they prescribed antibiotics and told me to switch to wet food.
Well, the wet food switch did not go over well. He vomited all night long (which if you know Andy isn't that unusual) but when I was cleaning it up this morning I found blood in one pile of puke. I had to go to work, but I called the vet and if he's not feeling better when I get home I'm going to take him back in this afternoon.
Poor Andy!! He has had such a tough weekend! Now I'm worried that he's vomiting up the antibiotics. I think I shouldn't change his diet right now after all, but the vet strongly suggested that I do. What do you guys think? I feel so demoralized and I have no confidence in my own decision making right now.
Comments
1. Slow switch, definitely: for a couple of days, feed him mostly his normal food, with just a bit of wet food. Gradually (over like, 2 weeks, lets say) increase the amount of wet food, keeping an eye on barfing and holding back again if barfing starts
2. Other option: give him his normal food, but IN WATER. We do this to frank all the time to trick him to drink water when we want him to. He doesn't give a shit--he'll eat anything we put in his bowl. Cat may be more finicky, but you could try giving him his normal food but dumping a cup of water in the bowl first and letting it sit for a minute. If he eats it, great, he's getting water that way. Actually I might try this first, since it's easier/cheaper/not switching up his entire nutrient profile/etc.
Cats get bladder infections all the time. I learned this the hard way when I lived with a certain Mrs. Whiskers. They don't drink as much water as dogs do, naturally, because felines in the wild get most of their water from eating raw meat hunks (hence wet food actually being better for them). Who knows what canines in the wild get up to, but apparently they drink water more often.
Poor Andy! Gary's original namesake! Get that guy back on his feets!!
http://www.waggintails.com/p-9604-rad-cat-free-range-raw-turkey-cat-food.html
He still sometimes barfs but only when he eats too fast like a dingus.
All of the things they said- put water on his kibbles, give him just a tiny bit of wet food and gradually less kibbles. They have sensitive stomachs and don't do well with change, but wet food will eventually help him get more water and have a healthy bladder.
Poor buddy!
dry food thus is often linked to UTIs in cats because they don't get enough water in their diet, because they don't naturally drink a lot of water, because they are dinguses
POOR ANDY!!
This vet said to return to his normal food until he's feeling a bit better, then slowly try to switch him to the wet food, i.e. you guys were right. The pet store lady told me to switch him to the wet food abruptly!
So much conflicting advice! So much worrying about my crit!
put a second (and third) water bowl for dude away from his food. i think we have read many places that water near food is not natural habit for cat. cats tend to like when they "find" some water you put for them in some cool strange other place. so like, some place "conspicuous" in some other rooms might entice the dude to take some more sips throughout the day.
(aside: is this really necessary for an indoor cat? i don't mind spending the $70 to know she is in good health, but imagine the chances of her getting a disease are slim.)
we learned, but already kind of knew, that she is OBESE and needs to lose 4lbs.
what's with these fatty no-water-drinking dinguses (dingi)?
Yesterday, Michael got a scratch on her lower eyelid when a weird neighborhood cat invaded the house while I was moving stuff downstairs. It was so traumatizing! (For me, not for her. She is an unflappable warrior princess.)
Are you supposed to take a cat to the vet for something like that? Do you apply neosporin?
I tried putting water dishes in sneaky spots like Alan said but so far he's not going for it.
I'm getting good at shooting antibiotics down his gullet without him spitting it all out.
I've never spent so much time thinking and talking and typing about my animal's bathroom habits! What have I become?!
neosporin on a scratch is good as long as the animal can't lick it off or it doesn't get in their eyes. I agree it's pretty traumatizing when you pet gets in a tiff. I was so protective of Tess and her toothless but otherwise tough-girl self... she had that natural alpha self confident vibe that would make other female dogs hate her and start shit with her, and because she didn't have any teeth she couldn't properly defend herself. absolutely traumatizing!
Prince takes a long time to adjust to even favorable changes, so I'd give Andy some time to think about his new watering holes. When I got him a cat bed he just avoided it fearfully for about two weeks, even though it's obviously something that is nice for a cat dude. DINGUS.
He also likes to lick a faucet, roll around in a wet bathtub, and splash his paws in an open toilet bowl. Dingus supreme.
Also for cats with more to love: go slow on the dieting, so they don't get fatty liver disease aka live pâté. It can develop in just a day.
Why he like to put his hands in that potty!?!?????!!!!!
I like it when I come home, my cat scratches the couch. I feel she is showing off for me.
Except I wish she WOULD NOT SCRATCH THE COUCH. I bought her a special pole but she doesn't touch it. I just keep her claws trim and curse her...
But the thing that is DRIVING ME CRAZYYY is Andre's new habit of waking up at 4:15 and racing around the house for an hour while occasionally meowing. He runs from window to window and back and forth across the bed. Maybe he thinks he's a rooster, waking up the farm? I don't know but I HATE IT! If I try to shut him out of the bedroom he just paws the bedroom door and cries loudly.
WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS ANIMAL???
I once had a cat like that. He didn't drink enough water and was super constipated. I fed him canned pumpkin, too.
Do you have a cat door? From my experience, having a cat door and leaving your bedroom door open when you have an outdoors cat allows for peaceful sleeping. My cat just does her thing. It's so mellow. Except today I tried to introduce her to a two year-old human and now I am left with two giant bloody scratches on my chest...
BMA- He used to drink water, but not anymore! I'll try filtered- that's a good idea.
YT- Kids are dummies. It's a sad fact.
Why won't you wrestle him?
Andy was the mongoose, I was the cobra. I even made hissing sounds to make it more realistic.