How old is he? Can he move properly without pain? Can he jump? How is his behaviour in general. Did it change?
I’d suggest a visit to your vet, to make sure he isn’t in pain or has other problems that make it hard for him to leave your bed.
If he is healthy and can move normally – does he have reason to leave your bed? Where does he get food, play time, cuddle time?
My previous cat lived on my bed for a few weeks when he was 24, was blind and had dementia. It started with him not being able to jump my on my bed or jumping down. he woudl sort of climb on it and to get down he woudl stand at the edge and meow until I helped him down.
Offering him a stair didn’t help. So I helped him up and down at the beginning. But he slowly lost the ability to find his way around the room and stayed more and more on my bed. He just wasn’t able to find his way around the room anymore.
I guess any limited space would have done, but he would cry out if I wasn’t close, and my bed was always his favourite place. So it was the easiest this way.
Hello,
Does he eat wet or dry food? If he eats wet food you can add a little bit of water to every portion.
My cat didn’t drink out of her water bowl… possibly because it was too close to her food bowls. But she started drinking out of my water cups/glasses… so I placed some for her in the rooms and she uses them.
I have a fountain too, but it is only used when I clean her cups.
Otherwise you can use things like the water that’s left when you cooc chicken and there are also special fluids for cats with UTIs. (I think from Royal Canin?)
If he is completely blocked and the local vet doesn’t have the possibilities to help him an she dan’t get the cat to an emergency vet…
as hard as it sounds, putting him down can be the best option, as the death due to a blockage is extremely painful. If he can’t urinate at all his bladder can rupture and in the long run if the bladder is always to full – even when he can urinate a bit, the kidney will fail, too – together with everything that can cause. Pain, dizzyness, nausea…
There is not something one can do at home with a complete blockage.
I wish the ebst for your sister and her cat and really hope they can help him.
Hello,
No it is absolutely not unrealistic. When we get feral cats at our shelter we try to treat them as best as we can, too. Obviously there are things that you can’t do with feral cats like you can with tame ones. But still we were still able do give daily fluids and feed them with a syringe, when they wouldn’t eat on their own for most of them.
However for this it helped a lot that they are usually in large crates, as this makes daily handling a lot easier. We place them in pillow cases to feed them or give them fluids. Most stay calm when they can’t see.
Also, a lot of needed exams can be done under anesthesia. Ultrasound (except heart), xray, bloodwork, urin analysis…
Not all treatments can be done with ferals, but there sitll is a lot of possible. That also depends on how far you are willing to go, and how stressfull daily handling for him would be. Most, while obviously hating to be forced daily, were still able to build trust after treatment or even with ongoing treatment. However it is helpful to have a second person do to the “bad” things.
Hello, just saw this :).
How did the surgery go?
I only knew one cat that got a TECA on both sides due to chronic changes in his ear canal skin. It was always inflamed and extremely itchy. One side even had a tumor in it. Both surgeries went well, but he had to wear a cone for a while, because he always wanted to sratch.
After complete healing he was no longer itchy and loved being touched. before that was painful for him.
I hope your cat heals fine, too!
Hello,
I just found your question. Have you found a solution for your cat yet?
We had a cat at our shelter, that was found with an infected mass inside their ear canal. The mass was removed, but it wouldn’t get better. It was smelling bad and pus could be seen. When the mass started growing back, his whole ear canal was removed.
Maybe that is an option for your cat, too? It helped Tony a lot. No more itchy, smelling, hurting ear. Altough he had to war a cone during healing, but after that he was the happiest cat.
I wish the ebst for your cat.
Hello,
I just can repeat what Krista already said.
You need to get them to a Vet, and if you can’t afford that try to get help from shelters or similar.
There is no way for us to know the reason why your kitten is sick, a vet has to take a look at it. Especially if now a second one is sick you should get them checked.
Not eating and being tired can be the first signs of cat flu, of gardia (altough here they usually have diarreha first), kitens with FIP can show those signs too – but all of those are just examples, there can be much more reasons and they usually are accompanied by other symtoms.
And all of them need to be seen by a vet, they can cause severe damage, even if they manage to heal on their own or can even lead to death (except FIP, which sadly is always deadly…).
Please get them to a vet, only they can help the kittens.
Best luck to you!
Hello,
thanks so much for your answer and the nice words. Malnutrition would be definitly possible, it’s nearly winter here and they were thin when we got them. Maybe it was too much for the gi tract after not getting much for some time.
What additional diagnostics would you have recommended to do? I think bloodworks could have been an option, but what parameters? Just the large profile or other tests (besides FIV/FelV)?
I added the xRay. I was only present at the ultrasound, where I couldn’t see air. The xRay shows air in the stomach and colon. But otherwise everything is just… filled – theres not really something visible. Kidney and Liver could be seen in the ultrasound and looked normal. The “swelling” on it’s belly is the fluid that wasn’t absorbed – altough it felt a bit harder that a fluid bubble under the skin usually does.
The other one is still fine, active and playing, starting to eat on it’s own. Purring and cuddly. Yesterday we got the 3rd littermate, the mother is nowhere to be found until now. I haven’t seen the new one eat yet, but it was hungry when i fed it with a syringe – and it liked it. So I’ll just feed it a bit too, just not as much. That’s also nice for bonding. But it ate what was in the trap – so it knows cat food. It’s still very afraid, so I guess it will mostly come outside when I’m not in the same room.
We also got another one, a little male that the fidners named Nero – same area but not same place – but same age (a bit younger possibly) and also black furred. But this one is in bad shape, too. Very calm and tired. Lying most of the time. It’s just skin and bones, dehydrated. I haven’t seen it eating or using the litter box yet – and since the other two use it and the towel it lays on is wet sometimes I think it doesn’t really go. But it is able to stand and walk – I think it’s just to tired/weak to do so without need. This one is also fed every 3-4 hours and gets fluids. I heard him sneezing, so maybe it’s getting cat flu.
All were treated against internal and external parasites and no diarrhea until now from the new ones.
Thanks again for taking your time to read my wall of text(s) and answering so detailed.
Hello,
I know it has been a year by now. But Ezra is back at the shelter for a few months now, since her new owner died.
She roams free at aour station now, as she won’t really find a new home (but is obviously still up for adoption). When she came back another epilepsy medication was tried, but with same solution than before, so it was stopped.
Her problems still remain. And now that she moves freely we can often see her “seizures”. She nearly always falls down from where she sleeps during that. Luckily she mostly sleeps on the lower things. When she falls down she wakes up, but sometimes will just lie there, looking absent – as if she only slowly realizes what has happened.
What I noticed too – she is extremely sensitive on her whole back and sites. When you touch her there, her whole fur will twitch (rolling skin syndrome?) and/or she may start licking herself or hands in reach and/or scratching with her hindlegs in the touched spots (seems like a reflex caused by touching her there).
However she still demands attention and loves cuddling.
A while ago she as started pulling out her fur on the left and right site of her back symmetrically on small areas. Blood works came back fine, the skin is fine, too. No parasites either. It looks like she is grooming herself, like cats soemtimes do with their theeth, but she starts pulling her fur during that. I think she pissibly has some sort of “frong feelings” there?
So I’m just curious if you could find something?