Ask questions and share about your pet's health to help others.
My Lulu Purrl – female 2 yo Siberian – threw up her whole dinner last night and hasn’t eaten since. She disappeared under a bed until this morning. This kitty lives to eat! Won’t take anything today. I found a clear liquid thick puddle on the floor this am. She is lying on the floor. Not moving. And I don’t know if I should bring her to vets. We go to Jarrettsville. Could she possibly have a blockage? I have caught her chewing plastic in the past. But I don’t think she does it often. I have only once found a chewed piece of plastic.
Thanks, Krista 😢
Hi. I have a 17 year old cat( Approximately calico. She has elevated liver and kidney levels but not too bad and is on KD dry food but loves wet also. About 2 months ago she started grooming excessively. Now her front legs are brown , not white anymore and everwhere she sleeps she leaves brown stains. 2 vets have said it’s iron in her saliva .. she is on a very low dose gabapentin and she has gotten a bit better with the excess grooming . I have been told that all cats have iron in their saliva but why all of a sudden is it so much and is there anything to do. Fecal urine and bloodwork mostly normal
I cant get a picture because the website wont work on my phone for some reason but my cat lost one of his whole back claws, there is dried blood along the top of it should i be worried? He is sleeping rn and a little bit ago he was walking around like he wasn’t in pain, is this normal for cats? He got back from the vet about a month ago for an abcess on his neck from one of my other cats being a little too rough and bitting him, could this be the same issue of the cats playing too rough and his claw got ripped out?
hello,
In most cases this isn’t a problem that I worry about. But, infection can happen, and litter boxes are inherently dirty.
So, the best option is to seek veterinary care for an examination and perhaps antibiotic soak, or oral antibiotic option.
We will see about getting the photo option fixed.
Happy Holiday
krista
Colin to Dr. Krista : May I pick your Brains?
Dear Dr. Krista,
I’m writing to ask your advice about a stray cat I found last month. See images attached.
But first I want to thank you for the polyp videos you made, which were refreshing, as well as impressive.
One of my strays was snoring, so I was eager to pluck out a polyp hiding behind his soft-palate. (He didn’t have one, but I’m gratefully alerted for the future.)
Last month I found a stunted stray ginger cat outside a 7/11 in North Thailand, where I’m a self-financed Christian missionary.
Can you help me diagnose, and treat the problem?
At first I thought it was simply FVR / Calici and chronic snuffles.
But when I opened her mouth, she had only 4 teeth in her head!
Yes, she had calici tongue-ulcers, but little sneezing, no ocular discharge, and has been eating like a horse from day one. She’s happy and bright in herself, apart from the ugly sore nose.
Her mandibular Ln were big and hard, so I put her on antibiotic tablets, with a little dexamethasone (actually 2.5mg Prednisolone tab. daily.)
Then after a week or so I sedated her, and examined her mouth more closely, no observable polyps (drat!) but one of her molars was loose and covered in calculus, so I pulled that one out, and cleaned up the remaining molar and two premolars, otherwise the poor thing would have zero teeth.
There was of course gingivitis and pharyngitis, but pink, not red like “dragon-mouthed cats” on dcf.
For the last month I’ve given her a course of floxacilin (30 days) with amoxycillin, and tried all sort of creams on her nose and lower eyelids which. as you can see, are raw and sore.
Her Ln are almost normal now, +but that nose is no better+, and she tries to rub as though it is itchy.
(I made up creams mixing; 10% flours of sulphur, betamethasone, ivermectin, and vaseline)
There’s a temporary lessening at best, but no lasting improvement.
So what is your differential for her?
In NZ where I locummed, cat leprosy was common (Mycobacterium from mice and voles) so that was my diagnosis, but the floxacillin has made no impression.
I’ve trimmed her claws and taped her fore paws to stop her making her nose raw.
I’m stuck, and thought of asking you Doc.
I’d guess she’s 3-4 years old, confident, unvaccinated, entire, lived wild all her life eating left over fast food, and possibly DCF from neighbours.
Since October I’ve been feeding her raw chicken frames, tinned sardines, vitamin syrup, and no DCF.
She loves raw chicken :), and eats whatever I put in front of her and still looks for more.
Apart from her nose you would not think she was ill in any way.
Thanks for your advice.
Colin
PS. For some reason, Depo-medrone has been taken off the market here, not even local vets can get hold of it.
Colin Melbourne English missionary in Asia
https://www.born-again-christian.org/news/
https://www.born-again-christian.org/news/ไทยคริสเตียน/
https://www.born-again-christian.info/aboutus.htm
https://www.born-again-christian.com (Asian languages)
Hello!
Thank you for helping this kitty.
I am happy to help, but a few things are important to remember; I do not know all of the local diseases to your area. We live in very different places and animals get exposed to different diseases in different places.
Based on the history and response to treatment so far I think the antibiotic was warranted and may need to be provided every so often to manage secondary infections due to severity of the cats condition.
I also think that there is a chance this could be one of the following:
Infection (fungal or bacterial)
Immune mediated (pemphigus/lupus)
Or cancer (squamous cell, etc)
To diagnose these you may need biopsy or cytology. I would try to resist treating without some ability to rule something out. (Steroids and fungal infections can make things worse).
Please keep us posted. Very best of luck.
Krista.
Dear Dr. Krista,
Thank you for your quick response 🙂
Yes, I’m aware of the dangers of cortisone therapy, but living in the mountains, I’m limited to kitchen table surgery 🙂
I do also liaise with a kind local lady-vet, who supplies me with whatever medicines I need.
She too is stumped, and I’ve been here three decades plus +and never seen anything like it before.+
I tried mixing miconazole in with the various creams I concocted, like you concerned it could be a fungal disease. But I find flours of sulphur cures both mange and ringworm here, if applied gently and persistently enough.
Yes, the spectre of Squamous cell carcinoma looms, but she is remarkably bright and active.
Almost no sneezing or nasal discharge.
The “Rodent ulcers” that I’ve seen look different, and usually just the lips, and the ulcer has a thickened rolled edge: This one is different.
+Doc., have YOU seen anything like this before?+
I should mention, she had a lick granuloma on her hip, but that has healed now, with flea-bathing, and the steroids she’s been on. (I don’t like using fipronil, ie. “Poison your pet to poison its parasites”. Not a sound strategy.)
Can you ask around for me please if any of your colleagues have seen a nose like that, despite over a month intensive blunderbuss therapy? Feel free to post the images on a specialised dermatology group if you know of one.
Colin
Dear Dr. Krista,
Thank you for your comments. Your mention of locality sparked a line of new thoughts.
Most of my vet jobs have been in the tropics (Jamaica, Arabia, Singapore etc) where venomous creatures are commonplace (Toads, insects, scorpions, spiders, centipedes, and snakes).
I’ve seen Arabian horses lamed by a centipede bite, a rare Arabian Oryx die from a snake bite.
One characteristic symptom I’ve noticed in cats of spider bites is intense, frantic licking of the cat’s body. It is continuous until the toxin effect subsides after a few hours, so mild sedation is called for. It’s clinically distinct from the CNS effects of agricultural toxins.
This cat has lived around a 24 hour 7/11 shop, and the bright lights at night attract swarms of termites and beetles: Cats love eating termites, +but so do; scorpions, snakes, spiders, centipedes, and toads+ that live in drains.
Just this week, my other strays brought two live snakes as “love gifts”, one was a harmless Tree-snake, the other a 60cm Red-necked Keelback (small, but whose venom is nonetheless as deadly as the Banded-Krait’s!) (See attached snap I took of “Chatty” offering a cute-little Keelback present to me.)
https://thailandsnakes.com/red-necked-keelback-venomous-mildly-dangerous/
Doctor Krista, It’s possible what we are looking at is a cat recovering from a bite, or sting, on the left nostril by a snake, scorpion, hornet, spider etc.
I know from personal experience that such wounds provoke Type 4 cell-mediated immune responses, (cf. acute inflammatory antibody responses) and so are very slow to heal. (My neighbour was blinded in one eye by reaction to a Hornet sting.)
With neoplasia, I’d expect this cat to be inappetent and “ill”, but she’s bright, eating well, and purring loudly by my side as I type. So I’m leaning to the insect, arachnid, snake bite, or sting idea for now.
It’d be nice to have the luxury of lab-work and histology, if it were available and reliable, but I’m old-school trained, and content diagnosing on sensory data alone.
I certainly considered your Pemphigus differential, but she would have responded very well to the prednisolone 2.5mg/day according to this paper and others:
https://www.veterinary-practice.com/article/feline-pemphigus-foliaceus
Thank you for helping me brainstorm 🙂
I will update you on her recovery.
Colin
“Princess” : 15th. March 2025, five month update…
See attached snap of her after five months, off the street, and in my care.
“That nasal ulceration doesn’t look any better!” You reply, and I have to agree, it’s very frustrating.
She is still happy, bright, and eating every meal I present her with.
She’s tiny, but the Top-Cat of my six strays.
When stared at by another feline, she stares back silent & unblinking, and if eye-contact is maintained, she gives a paw-slap to the cheeky chappie, as if to say, “You do NOT stare at a Princess like that you commoner!”
The flea season has begun here in the tropics, so I shampoo her weekly, and rinse with Carbaryl 5% flea and tick powder. She enjoys the soothing effect of shampoo and warm water, and then after a rub down with a towel, frolics in the garden to dry out quickly.
The only medication I’m using is 2.5mg of prednisolone tablets every few days according to how irritated she is by the sore nose. A serous fluid runs from it occasionally, but isn’t continuous. She sneezes about 3 times a day, that’s all.
Now, to business;
My working differential has been Trauma/FVR virus at the top since I’ve ruled out; neoplasia, cat leprosy, rodent ulcer, etc. (see previous posts).
Now, with the passage of time, I’m almost convinced it is caused by FVR/Feline Herpes virus, primarily because of the photo you see on this article, it looks almost identical to Princess;
https://pro.dermavet.com/feline-cutaneous-herpesvirus-clinical-and-therapeutic-aspects/
Compare that with the pictures of her, I’ve already posted in this thread.
Notice particularly the tiny black specks around her mouth and eyelids. I’ve highlighted them in RED.
They have been a constant feature, which I previously confused with food debris/blood from eager gobbling of her raw chicken and sardines meals.
But now I’m pretty sure they are the cellular debris (eosinophils and monocytes from Herpes (FHV-1) infected epidermal and mucosal cells from her lips and eyelids.)
So finally, +there’s my diagnosis+ (I feel better already!)
Feline Herpes poses no danger to humans, and my other healthy strays will have developed natural immunity long before “they found me”.
So towards a better treatment… The article suggests;
Q/
Antiviral Treatment:
Famciclovir currently represents the reference antiviral in the treatment of FHV-1 infection. Its administration at a dosage of 40 to 90 mg/kg two to three times daily has proven effective in controlling clinical manifestations. The duration of treatment must be adapted to clinical evolution and can extend over several weeks. Monitoring of renal function is necessary during treatment due to the molecule’s nephrotoxic potential.
Other Options:
Other molecules can be considered in the therapeutic strategy. Azithromycin, administered at a dose of 10 mg/kg once daily for 10 days, has shown some efficacy. Topical treatments, particularly daily application of acyclovir or imiquimod used two to three consecutive days per week, can usefully complement the systemic approach.
/Q
Which sounds hopeful, but I can’t get those medicines here in the mountains on the Burmese border.
Please can you help with that Dr. Krista?
1) Famciclovir (Nephrotoxic warning noted. I’ll need several weeks supply.)
2) Azithromycin
3) Acyclovir or Imiquimod.
Happy to pay the cost and postage to finally get this precious creature better. (PM/email me for postal address, and how to pay you.)
Colin
Colin Melbourne English missionary in Asia
https://www.born-again-christian.org/news/
Here’s an update on what “Princess” looks like today, after 3 months in my care.
Desperate for progress last week, I sedated her; cleaned up her face, trimmed her whiskers, and extracted all her remaining teeth, (there were 8, not four, with their roots, see snap attached,) just in case it’s an atypical case of “screaming cat-mouth”. Which is caused by feeding cats dry cat-food, and packets of Monsanto pet-sludge, instead of what Carnivores were created to eat: Raw meat and bone in the form of whole animals and arthropods.
She’s still a happy pussy, and eats whatever is put in front of her; suffers occasional calici/FVR snuffles, has mild pharyngitis, but her mandibular LN are now back to normal size, +BUT that nose ulcer is no better,+ and no worse.
Again, I could not palpate, or see, any polyps in her mouth or nasopharynx, but I don’t discount the likelihood of smaller polyps in her anterior nasal passages causing this. Perhaps as reaction to FVR, sting, trauma etc.
She’s still head-shy, it’s as tender as it looks, but she likes to rub her face with her front paws, and on objects, as though it itches.
I’ve ruled out neoplasia because she’s so well in herself, and her lymph nodes returned to normal after an antibiotic course.
Demodex, ringworm, and mange are common in strays here, and they’re easily cured with gentle application of home-made flours-of-sulphur and ivermectin creams. She’s had all that routine therapy, so I discount those. This is distinctly different from such cases.
The black specs are food remains, not scabs.
My differential diagnosis is now, in order of likelihood;
Nose trauma/FVR that has caused tiny nasal polyps.
Insect sting, spider, or snake bite inside her oral cavity, or on her face,
“Screaming cat-mouth” (aka. Commercial “pet food” toxicity. She could have lived on pet food poached from neighbours’ pets.)
Atopic allergy. (She licks her body fur all over, in long sessions until it’s wet with saliva, despite bathing and de-fleaing her.)
Cat leprosy, (Mycobacterium from rodents.)
Rodent ulcer (Ought to have resolved by now.)
Leishmaniasis. (Very rarely reported but present in SE Asia)
Suggestions for therapy welcome 🙂
Colin
Update Feb 1st. 2025:
This is the state of “Princess’s” nose on Feb. 1st 2025 compared with when I found her in early November 2024.
An example of one of those many conditions vets struggle with!
She’s bright, happy, and still eating whatever I offer her, but I’m keeping her on mainly raw chicken, as the lysine in the meat is supposed to have some antiviral activity. Her alimentary system is working perfectly. She has no teeth, but still manages to make short-work of raw chicken frames I chop up for her! (I could make a video of her eating one to post here, but it’d be a big file, and may overload your forum software.)
No cough despite the seasonally cold weather here in the mountains. I let her sleep with me indoors.
I give her three day courses of Amoxycillin and predisolone crushed in her food, now and then, when she appears snuffly and bunged up. I also clean her nose daily, and it seems to be less tender now. You’ll notice her left nostril is almost fully occluded in the latest picture, a baby-sized cotton-bud clears it, but makes it bleed, so I feel bad hurting her.
She’s putting weight on, and her mandibular LN are only slightly enlarged. Not surprising considering what we see here.
She still licks her fur all over, somewhat manically, she’s often soaking wet with saliva when I pick her up, and of course this symptom subsides when she’s on prednisolone.
My differential has not changed, and I welcome good advice.
Colin
Colin Melbourne English missionary in Asia
https://www.born-again-christian.org/news/
Hi Krista,
I discovered your YouTube videos yesterday and found your advice on cat care incredibly helpful. My wife and I are caring for our 18-year-old Birman cat, who is in stage 4 kidney disease with significant muscle loss. She’s also struggling with constipation and has other health issues, including high blood pressure and a heart murmur.
Currently, we’re feeding her a mix of wet food (chicken broth, chicken, pumpkin, and egg yolk), and providing SubCut fluids (50ml/day), along with the following supplements:
– Epakitin (0.5g/day)
– Pet-Tinic (2ml/day)
– Lactulose (3ml/day)
– Phos-Bind (0.2g/day)
– Potassium chloride (0.19g/day mixed in the broth – though we’re concerned she’s not getting the full amount since she’s unable to finish the broth).
– In addition, she’s on Amlodipine (0.25ml/day) to manage her high blood pressure.
Despite this, her weight has decreased significantly over the past year. She was once 3.3kg, but a year ago dropped to 2.5kg, and three weeks ago, it dropped again to 1.8kg, despite our best efforts to feed her.
A week ago, we had an enema done at the vet, which relieved some diarrhea, but there was still hardened stool near her anus. We’ve been massaging her abdomen and anus daily to stimulate defecation, and were able to help her pass a large, hard stool last Wednesday. Since then, she’s only passed small amounts of stool – mostly liquid or dark – and has had a lot of difficulty.
Today, we used a Pedia-Lax suppository (1ml), and after about 30 minutes, she passed a larger stool with dark liquid diarrhea. The stool was slightly hard, dark, and very smelly. She’s now very exhausted and resting, but did purr a bit before falling asleep.
For hydration, I gave her 10ml of SubCut fluids before the suppository to prevent dehydration. We’ve seen three different vets, but none have been able to provide lasting relief.
We’re reaching out for advice on whether we’re on the right track and if there’s anything else we can do to help her feel better and poop more easily. Any suggestions, given the circumstances, would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for your time and any guidance you can offer.
Warm regards,
Joel and Sonia
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your cat.
I think that the question is how to help manage the constipation? I think that the weight loss and progression of the kidney disease is Kelly part of the problem. Have you checked her thyroid function? I typically see these older cats having this disease develop with the others your cat has. This disease also causes muscle loss. But this one has an available treatment option.
I think that you should recheck your blood work and see if’s his might be part of the reason for the constipation.
Also try to encourage play and exercise. It will help her fell better and eat better and also help the internal muscles that assist the colon and avoid constipation.
My senior, male, neutered, diabetic nebelung cat is experiencing constipation, I had recently slowly changed his diet to a raw based diet from royal Canon diabetic pouches,, as i was put off from the vet scientific diabetic diets in the end due to one day reading the ingredients and seeing that my cat was needing something more or potentially he was lacking something, I say this as he was starting to mirander outside like a Billy goat eating all the graass that he could in our backyard. Coincidently, Boof started flickng his head and scratching at his ears, the next day after noticing his discomfort and that he still hadn’t defecate (day 3) i took him to a neighboring vet as our usual vet was fully booked out, I could see crusty brown specs in his ear and a discharge, the vet I took him to gave, me pmp drops to administer 3 drops per ear twice daily for 7 days. She didn’t want to try to much else due to him being a diabetic and also a new patient,
One day later when I was cleaning boofs bedding a spider
Like bug had come out onto our carpet,
I took a photo of it,
It’s definitely some type of tick not sure if it cpmr from out of his ear or if it has anything to do with his constipation.
Boofs appetite has been great this whole time aswel.
Although after eating I have noticed him somewhat whining ND groverling like his pain 🙁
He also vomited twice after having dinner. (biley foaming substance liquid)
On day 5 I took vet into out normal vet who assessed him, she gave him a 24hour anti nausea injection, and assessed him, she said to resume giving lactolose maybe a little bit more and aswel with the subcut fluids,
And still nothing,….
The vet called today to see how Boof was I explained to her that he wants to go to the toilet but just can’t, and his looking pretty squeamish again,
She explained to me that because of it being 6days now with no bowel movements that it can get Boof pretty sick potentially, she explained that instead of taking a stab in the dark and guess that they would breed to take xrays ect bloods and mannualyl remove all feces that’s stuck in him and it would cost $800. Due to Christmas coming up and the overall rise in the cost of living and the renting crisis here, I am just stuck for money at the moment that kills me to say, I have tried vet pay with. No luck…
Is there anything I can try at home please, it’s not at all a situation where I don’t want to pay anyone, it’s by far the opposite and I’m hoping that a friend of family member will reply to me after asking for a lend, which I never do, and I never would expect or be suprised if anyone can help,
My boy means so much to me,
I just gave Boof a 5ml enema of lactulose and more subcut fluids
Is there anything more that I can do please 🙁 🙁
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your cat.
In my experience constipation in cats is always secondary to something else. And in fact very few are actually constipated. It is absolutely imperative that someone competent palpate your cats abdomen or take an Xray to confirm the constipation before you treat for it. People always think it’s constipation and it’s usually poor dietary intake, cachexia or poor muscle mass and usually a few other things.
Constipation in cats feels like a colon full of hard distended feces. This should be confirmed by a rectal exam. The problem with getting this diagnosis incorrect is that all of the things you try to treat it will make everything else inherently worse. Do not give your cat anything until you confirm this and figure out why it happened.
My guess might be you don’t have the diabetes adequately controlled and therefore you are losing muscle mass. This includes the gi tract which can no longer push feces out of the body.
Please find a vet you trust for your cats care.
My cat got a large lump under his jaw that formed over night. The vets are closed and the emergency vet is too far and expensive. My parents say they will take him monday but is it safe to leave it untreated for two days? *edit, i should mention the lump is large and does not seem to be causing pain, he is acting normal anyway. I cant tell if its warm or not thou
Hello,
If it truly happened overnight then it is most likely infection. If he is acting normally it may not need to be addressed today. But I do recommend it be seen asap. The longer infection sits the more difficult and dangerous it is.
I’m saving a small 8-10 week kitten. We found her while we were walking our neighborhood, she was crying for help on the side road/gutter. She has a hurt right leg. We have caught her and made sure that she was alone…we visited her for about 1 week (feeding and winning her trust) and new we had to help her ASAP. We got a trap and trapper her and took her home. We don’t have much money since I have already saved two other feral kittens in the neighborhood and kept them both. I won’t get into that since that is not my purpose on here. But we have taken Lola (the new found kitten) to get x-rayed and started her shots. I’m at my wits end because we took her to AM/PM Vet to get the x-ray and they simply said that she has no broken leg and that more than likely she would need the leg amputated but to give her two weeks. They did not offer any advice what to do. So, we took her back and this time they (another vet at AM/PM) said that it was a mis diagnosis. I have been spending lots of time with Lola and massaging her leg and I think she has been able to move it more than when we first brought her home. She is totally comfortable with us at home now and I think she is healing but I’m not sure if what I am doing is causing more harm. I’m doing my best to keep her confined in a cage, but I do take her out to bond with her and play and massage her leg. So today, I saw your video putting a splint on Penelope and I think that is what I should do also. I believe the symptom you mention is possibly what Lola is experiencing. Should I take her to another vet specialist who can give hopeful advise? Can you please give me advise on: What to do and What Not to do? I’m doing the best I can but finding it difficult because I have saved two other cats (Mango is 3 years now and MaeLa is 8 months – they were both feral kittens when I saved them. It has been two weeks now and I know time is of the essence to help Lola with her leg. Please help me with advice from your experiences.
Hello
Thank you for helping this kitten. It sounds like you are doing everything you can to help her. Kittens this young can have miraculous recoveries from the most extreme trauma. As long as she is eating, drinking and urinating and popping and playing I would just let her heal and grow. There is honestly not much more that you can do. I never rush to amputation unless the leg is causing a problem. As long as she stays inside where she is safe having a non functional leg won’t hurt her. Massage and allowing her to play in a cage is fine. I just wouldn’t want her running and jumping in a room, or off a bed or couch as it might worsen the injury. I also have to say that I worry about rabies. I have seen a few young kittens be injured by a rabid animal and this puts humans in danger. I don’t know if this is a problem in your area.
Keep doing what you are doing. Lots of cats do great and live long happy lives with one or more imperfect legs.
Thank you so much for contacting me – I appreciate it. Do you think it will be helpful to put the splint on her leg to straighten it out, so it heals that way? Or should I just continue doing what we are doing to help her without putting on a splint. We are doing our best to keep Lola from jumping up on sofa or tree I just bought her. Lola, I believe is now feeling safe and comfortable around us. So that makes me happy to see her feel safe and gaining weight. So, I have two other cats (3-year male and 8-month female) both are fully vaccinated, and Lola has already had her 1st set of shots. I’ve done lots of reading on how to integrate a new kitty, but I can’t find anything about a hurt kitten. Can you give some insight to this and perhaps some guidance. I am super greatly for your help/advise.
-Juan
Hello.
The picture helps. For these cases I apply a soft splint made from wrapped tongue depressors. I have a video on my YouTube channel. In general these cases need some rigid support that doesn’t go in so tight that it causes limb damage. Over a few weeks the leg might be able to be supported enough yo straighten out.
Hi again, I saw the video and it looks easy but I know it will not be. All the moving from kitty. I purchased this xtra small splint. Maybe use it for 8-10 hours during day and remove for massage and resting. The vet gave gabapentin but not sure I should give…maybe at night?
Is this considered a soft splint? Im also looking into physical therapy for kitty. What do you think ?
I’m trying to add picture of splint but not able to.
Hi, I am using a soft splint I purchased on Lola’s front right limb. Do I enclose her in a cage or small play-pin so she does not move around that much for a certain amount of time (two weeks)? I can’t afford feline physical therapy or to get them to look at her. I believe it is what “Wink” one of your videos had. I have tried to search and search for guidance and I can’t find anything. Lola is around 14 weeks now and has filled in. She is doing all that a little kitten would be doing except she only uses the 3 limbs. Please give some guidance on Splint Therapy (soft splint) such as:
* how long to wear the splint per day and overall duration (2 weeks, 3 weeks, etc).
* Do I limit movement? Do I close her in her cage, with food, water, toys and litter box?
* Do I give her any medication for pain or inflammation?
Please help me with your guidance or links I can read or view. Thank you so much
8 week old female kitten not defecting properly….several days. My 21 year old daughter (away at college) just got a kitten last Tuesday. She noticed the kitten wasn’t pooping but the kitten was trying but either nothing was coming out or a piece was stuck in and hanging of her rectum. Sometimes my daughter returns to the room where the kitten is and finds smears of poop. he took her to the ER and they gave the kitten an enema… which sort of worked a bit and the kitten did go on Friday (the day after). They wanted to do more such as an X-ray and give fluids but the cost was so high my daughter didn’t want to do that. Since then, the kitten is trying to go anywhere and everywhere but nothing coming out. Occasionally some poop smears are found. Thus far the kitten has been in decent spirits…. playful a bit and eating wet food (with a little aded water). Of course, I’m sure this will change fast. Last night the kitten tried to poop while sitting on my daughters lap. 🙁
We have an appt. on Tuesday afternoon at a local vet whom I use for my cats and I trust….. I’m worried we can’t wait til then to get her checked. Any suggestions on what could be going on? I’m worried its something more serious. Thank you so much for your consideration!!!
Hello,
I think that every 21 year old college person needs to rethink such a young pet. I also think that you should regard yourself as this kittens parent until she is spayed and fully vaccinated. Kittens, and anything this young are inherently fragile and vulnerable and need constant supervision and immediate veterinary care from the first days of adoption.
As far as being able to wait until Tuesday I cannot answer that with anything other than what I wrote above. The minute you fear there is a problem you should be at a vets office.
I hope she is ok
What is the cost to remove polyps in a cats nose ?
Hello,
These aren’t specific signs for anyone to offer a diagnosis. In some cases it can be a transient condition from a virus, a bad piece of kibble or even an unknown stressful event.
In others it certainly can be something more concerning like a blockage or organ/systemic condition like pancreatitis.
If your cat isn’t better call the clinic asap to try to be seen, or consider the ER for help.
Good luck.