The last few months, Shimmer has been acting out in strange ways. I have taken her to the vet three times, each time, being told “She’s not fat, she’s just likes her food.” She is three years old and 16 pounds! We do not have chunky cats here- it’s just not something we worry about. I took her back again and was told she has URI so they gave her a shot of Covina. Didn’t work- took her back a third time and was told it was “probably allergies.” To heck with that, this time I took her back in with every intention of doing full blood work or whatever it might take to get to the bottom of her issues.
Shimmer is a lovely calico girl. She has attitude and she loves you UNTIL you pick her up, mess with her, or give her meds and then she turns into the feral cat from hell! So this time, I held her during the exam and we finally discovered what was wrong with her- why she can’t breathe at night, why she is hardly eating (I know 16 pounds- but I never saw her eat that much.) She has really bad stomatitis- so severe that her throat was closing in on itself from the infection. I felt so bad, because although I can scratch her back and pet her- picking her up and doing a mouth exam is dangerous to say the least. They gave her a cortisone shot and I take her back in two weeks to get a second one if the mouth doesn’t start to resolve. I knew something bad was going on with her- especially yesterday when I pulled the warm clothes out of the dryer and she hopped into the basket (I thought she was going to sleep on the clothes, but she ended up peeing on them!) That’s a clear sign that something is wrong with your cat when she is peeing on soft things or peeing in the shower. I am glad I listened to my gut.
The poor girl. Yes, you know cats so your instinct is usually right. Good for you. Now Shimmer will be getting better one way or another. Is the removal of teeth likely? That’s what I understand usually solves stomatitis; otherwise, may it not keep coming back?
According to my vet, he likes to try the cortisone shots at least three times before going to full extraction. Sometimes, the cortisone will settle down the infection and it doesn’t return.
I currently have four cats I have rescued. 3 females and 1 male. All are wonderful friends and happy to be here and off the streets. The male follows me into the bathroom every morning when I first get up an go in there. While I command from the Throne, he immediately goes to the shower and pees down the drain—-just like Dad!!! I thought it was cute. Should I worry???
If this is normal behavior for him- no. It’s peeing where he is comfortable which appears to be in your presence. But if he has gone from using the litterpan to peeing in the shower unexpectedly, he could be trying to tell you something. UTI are common in males, mostly caused by stones. Sometimes, they will resort to extreme measures to let you know they are sick which is usually peeing in unexpected places. He would be peeing in short spurts not long streams if he was blocked, and he would be squatting and peeing, moving, squatting and peeing and moving because to go is so painful for them with a UTI. You can always put something over the drain one time to see what color the urine is- highly concentrated urine is a burnt orange or bloody looking pee- normal is almost transparent yellow.
In the world of the stray, when they pee on hard things (shower stalls counters tile floors it is usually health-related. When they pee on soft items it is generally stress-related and stress can cause UTI quite easily.