Feral Cat Behavior

Been on a bit of a roller coaster ride lately with Prowler and the ride isn’t finished yet. About four days, I noticed she was acting off. Withdrawing from the activity in the house, and when the other cats came near her, she would hiss and growl at them. Unusual for my ambassador kitty. I put her upstairs in the quarantine room so that I could see if she was okay. She started throwing up, small amounts of white foam and mucous. Bending her head to eat, I could see that she wanted to, but unable to swallow, everything was coming right back up. I went and got ¼ tab of pepcid, using a pill pusher, I placed the pusher in her mouth and set the plunger. She reared back, and the pill came flying out of her mouth, projectile vomiting not good.

I rolled her on her back and looked into her mouth. No signs of infection, tongue was pink and happy, nothing visible in the back of the throat, nothing under her tongue. I stroked her throat and she bit me, then gulped hard and long. Scared she had a foreign body stuck in her throat, I made an immediate vet appointment with a nearby vet, not my normal one. They examined her, told me she had subnormal temperature, then had to retake it three times before they got it right! It was a new girl. Poor Prowler. When the vet came in, I requested bloodwork, and x-rays. Bloodwork I was told would take three days. GRRR.. Prowler presented depressed, lethargic and nauseous throughout the exam. Diagnosed with gastroenteritis, and esophaghitis. Vet expressed concern that the rugal folds were showing on the xray as all bunched up in folds versus smooth and following the stomach lining. When asked what caused this bunching, she was unable to tell me.  Prowler is full of stool and it isn’t going anywhere. Nothing that shows up on an x-ray (metal or bone) shown in her esophagus. She was given two injections, a anti-emetic and an antibiotic. Then home we went with several bottles of pills- prednisone, metaclopromadine and carafate.

Overnight, Prowler got decidedly weaker. She took to hiding from me when I would come upstairs to check on her, probably due to a combination of NDW (not doing well) and not wanting to have any more pill slurries in her mouth. Her esophagus was so inflamed, pills would just make her spit them up. All her meds were given dissolved in water by a feeding syringe. She was not eating anything. Her whiskers were drooping, and when I gently pulled down her lower eyelid, there was no customary liquid tears filling up the well, another indication she was extremely dehydrated despite me pushing fluids.

Finally, I decided enough is enough, regardless of the drive it might involve, I needed to find a qualified feline only vet! I called an emergency 24 hour clinic and asked them for a reference to a good feline only specialist. I was given one phone number to Corvallis Cat Care Clinic. I called immediately and spoke with the front desk telling them the situation. They made an appointment right away and before we left, I stopped at the other vet clinic and picked up the x-rays and clinic notes. I also brought all the medication with me.

Upon arriving at the clinic, I was instantly impressed! There was a large sign on the door that said Absolutely no cats allowed in the waiting room unless inside a carrier! I don’t know how many times I go to vet offices and watch with amazement as people bring in cats in cardboard boxes, wrapped in blankets or towels, or even inside purses.

The reception area was warm and welcoming. Issues of Catnip, Vet Journals and Cat Fancy were spread all over the room. A beautiful orange and white cat(Chester) came over to say hello to me. I would find out later that Chester has CRF and he is used regularly to teach other cat owners how to give supportive fluids and insulin (though they use saline) because Chester doesn’t have diabetes.

The exam room had a glass door not a solid one, with drapes that you could pull across for privacy. There was a large window with bird feeders outside and cat perches inside. Taking Prowler out of her carrier, I placed her on one of the perches where she curled up looking wide-eyed at the world outside.
The vet tech was thorough, kind and kept copious notes on a computer that slid out from under the exam table. I would find out later that the vet reads all the notes before she even ventures into the room. THAT really impressed me, because most vets I have dealt with, ask the same questions that were already asked.

The vet arrived and her handshake was strong, but when she turned to Prowler (who she kept calling girlfriend) her hands were gentle but persuasive. The exam was so detailed, and all the way through, she talked to me (and prowl) never talked down to me at all. Prowler had a high fever, stool in her colon, and no urine in her bladder. The vet examined her then sat with me and we discussed the options this might be:

Hairballs (doubtful)
Constipation (definitely)
Reflux esophagitis (another definite just based on the amount of retching Prowler was doing)
Virus (at the time two other kittens were presenting similar symptoms)
Bad food (though I am religious about checking expiration dates)
Pancreatitis- only confirmation would be a separate blood test that had to be sent to Texas
Foreign body obstruction (a strong possibility because of Prowler’s attraction to plastic)
Lymphoma

Prowl was given Anzemet, the vet ordered her own blood work (said it would get back a lot faster than 3 days!) She gave supportive fluids 180 ml LRS and I was given a pet enema to give later “if needed.”

Enema given, small return, no urine output except for about a dime size. Prowler still not eating, hiding inside the carrier or under the futon. Stayed up most of the night monitoring her.

Saturday-
Vet called early in the morning. Bloodwork is back! YAY! Looks like whatever is wrong with Prowler is bacterial. WBC is 125,000 Neutrophils, Lymphocytes and Monocytes were elevated. She wanted to see Prowler stat. Prowl was given sub q’s Vitamin B Complex, Buprenex for pain. I had told the vet that the few times Prowler tried to eat, she was grinding her teeth (in pain)  Prowler also got Baytril injection. I asked the vet if we were going to lose Prowler. Prowler is flat, that is the only way I can explain it. This once spirited, adventurous cat now lays in my arm like a Ragdoll would.  The vet told me “Not if I can help it, we won’t.”

When we got back home, I fed Prowler ham babyfood. She ate!! Not much, but she ate! The vet also told me something interesting. When cats get as sick as Prowler is, and they are vomiting. It is not advisable to feed them their normal food. Because if they are retching or vomiting, they will develop an aversion to their normal fare and not eat at all when they get better. She advised I buy Ham or Veal babyfood, venison or buffalo, or even give Prowler some of the Alaskan salmon and halibut we have in our freezer.

Prowler still is flat, she still has a fever, and will probably do a hard sleep as her pain meds might make her drowsy. She didn’t sleep much last night neither did i. I have Cole, Taylor and Matuse also retching, and I am wondering what in the world this damn thing is? Vet suspects bacterial infection. I hope she is right. She was also able to finally do a cystocentisis and get some urine to spin.

I guess stay tuned, the ride continues.

On another sad note, we had to take Chloe back to the kennel where we got her. She kept running off and although she didn’t stay gone long, she would still end up on the road! Lei was starting to follow her as well. We didn’t want to be responsible for her ending up a speed bump, so we decided to let her go back to Fran. I miss her so much. Darn you would think that over three acres would make her happy and her swimming in the creek so she could duck under the fence and go exploring wouldn’t be necessary!

10:30 p.m. force fed 15 cc’s of pureed baby food with supplements

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 at 7:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.