Cat with various issues…and the vet “doesn’t understand what’s going on”?
Question: Cat with various issues…and the vet “doesn’t understand what’s going on”?
Hey guys, could do with a little professional help, bit of an awkward one.
The cat is 2 year old tom. About 6months ago he had stones completely blocking his bladder. He was taken in, catheterised, all sorted and sent home. Has peed like a trooper since, no problems. For the last six months on and off he has experienced the same repeating symptoms.
-Weight fluctuation, he seems to gain a lot, but without getting “fat” he seems kind of bloated for weeks at a time, then slims down in a matter of days. Then back again.
-Dark irregular stools. he received various medications for this for 4ish months after having the stones (he was peeing freely but had not been for a poo for 8 days at one point.) Lactulose and pain killers, cystease to help reline his bladder (as best i can recall) something somewhere helped fix him up a little, he now goes every 3-4days, and medicaation was stopped to see if his system would return to normal itself.
- Bald patches around two ‘nipple’ type protrusions on his lower belly, they look red and sore. This happens frequently, but clears up quickly and the vet has not seen it up to yet.
He is an outdoor cat, at the vets request as they think the stones were caused by stress and this will releive it. His behaviour doesn’t seem to have changed at all, he is friendly and playful, inquisitive and mildly oblivious to his weight gain. When he had the stones he was only ever in pain on the litter tray, but it was easy to spot, he does not seem to have any pain now, but he does spend a much longer time digging around the litter tray before going number for a poo.
He is not outdoors all night ever, and is rarely out all day. He does not eat a lot, he is on prescription diet dry food to prevent stones (will he have to be on this forever?) he is on the dry food because he would not eat the wet at all. Today special litter was left at 9am, he hadn’t used litter tray by 4:00, so took him to the vet so they could get a sample, but his bladder was empty so no joy. The vet said take him back in a month and see how he goes, because they don’t know what’s causing the problems. His poo is becoming darker each time, and the vet said he’d gained an awful lot of weight – but he only eats about half of the recommended amount of prescription food for his size as it is, and he is on a strict diet at home. The only vet suggestion was that someone else is feeding him too, but it seems unlikely to me as when he is out he is mostly in sight, and it just doesn’t seem to answer everything else..
Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this, i honestly just tried to keep it basic. Any help would be gratefully appreciated, by myself and Frankie the cat. x
Answer:
Answer by sunni01134
I am sorry that I do not have true advice other than it sounds like he is dehydrated at least a bit. I would get a second opinion. I had a kitty who went through the bladder crystals, and he successfully went 7 years after with no problems, but an office cat of mine got them at age 6 and had to be put down
The whole crystal thing seems to have no real rhyme or reason. Just want to let ya knwo your not alone! Good luck to you and Frankie!!!
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You need another vet. Outdoor cats are MORE stressed out, not less. And you need to keep him in to make sure you know exactly what he’s eating. Any vet that says “I don’t know what’s going on” needs to be ditched in favor of a more experienced vet.
I’d shift him to totally indoors. You have no idea what chemicals he’s being exposed to outside (lawn treatments cause neurological damage to squirrels and kill birds, they are applied by people who have to bag their shoes to keep from getting it on them–that stuff is highly toxic). It’s possible that repeated exposure to pesticides, chemical fertilizers, rat poison, WHATEVER is in your area is causing problems with him. Moving him to indoors would remove all exposure he’s being given.