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What's wrong with my cat? UPDATE

spurgemasturspurgemastur Member Posts: 5,655 ✭✭
edited September 2006 in General Discussion
She's a slender tabby mutt, about 10 years old, and has always been a fast, active cat. She still chases flies and sometimes gets them.

Recently I've noticed that she's avoiding jumps. If she wants to get to the bathroom vanity she uses 'stairs': floor to edge of bathtub to top of toilet tank to vanity, whereas in the past she'd just leap straight to the vanity. I've also seen her make false starts at jumps that she would have made easily a year ago. Today she missed on a jump to the top of the coffee-table....about 28 inches high--which should be nothing for her. She's more inclined now to get her front paws onto the surface she's shooting for and climb up or jump her hindquarters into position (she seems to have no problem doing this).

She has no hesitation about jumping OFF of a high object and I don't see her doing anything that suggests pain. She's eating and dirtying her litterbox normally (maybe misses a bit more often than she used to when peeing), and she's getting the same food that she's always gotten, except that we're spoiling her with wet food a couple times a week rather than a couple times a month, lately. All of this has come on within about the last three months.

So what is it? Old age (seemed to come on very fast for that)? Neurological problem that impedes her jump? Or is she just losing her eyesight? This last idea seems most plausible, but I can't forget that I've seen her chasing flies within the last week.

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

UPDATE: thanks for the good words and advice.

The vet's diagnosis: she did something to pull or pinch or twist or sprain something. All the vet found was tenderness in the lower back. Give it time.

I could spend $30 on an anti-inflammatory if I felt like it, or go cheap and give my cat one child's aspirin every three days (but no more!), but most pets (and probably humans) are probably over-medicated (the vet and I shared this opinion). If she's not doing better in two weeks we'll think about a metabolic problem.

She's already looking more like her usual self and jumping better, so I think the vet got it right. My girlfriend told me the cat did a body-slam against the wall a few days ago while trying to get a fly...it could very well be that she twisted or strained something then.

Kitty, kitty: you are no longer a flexible adolescent; you have to use more care.
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    n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    Possibly arthritis.....Have her checked at the vets.....Its easier to get down than it is to get up....The action for the hip is different...
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    bigdaddyjuniorbigdaddyjunior Member Posts: 11,233
    edited November -1
    The peeing thing is likely a urinary tract infection. That could explain the lack of jumping too if a blockage is developing.
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    whiteclouderwhiteclouder Member Posts: 10,574 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Put your mind at ease with a short visit to the vet. Sounds like an aging cat to me, but a vet will know for sure.

    Clouder..
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    He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,951 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    She definately needs to vist the veternarian. Probably arthritis and urinary calculi (stones) are fairly common in cats and can be serious if not treated. At 10 she is not a kitten any more, but should have a lot of good years left. Treasure every minute of them!
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    spurgemasturspurgemastur Member Posts: 5,655 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thanks all.

    The vet gets a call in about 30 seconds.
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    Slow_HandSlow_Hand Member Posts: 2,835
    edited November -1
    Although most likely a stretch here, cats develop feline pancreatitis rapidly, without warning and apparently for no cause known to veterinary medicine. It's not generally a fatal disorder but it is increasingly more uncomfortable for the cat as time goes by and if left untreated is eventually fatal. Diet is believed to be one cause, no matter how properly the cat is fed. Lack of exercise may be another. The diagnosis involves blood tests and stool samples and several days of intravenous feeding is the prescribed treatment. Again, most probably not but a trip to the vet is definitely in order. Don't procrastinate.
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    Tailgunner1954Tailgunner1954 Member Posts: 7,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    You can spend a $100 to 500 at the vet, or $.02 on a home cure (37gr of lead, injected in the right ear).
    At some time in every pets life, this choice has to be made, spend the money or end the suffering. Only you can decide when the choice has to be made.
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    n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    Tailgunner....

    First off, one needs to find out what is wrong...as as for the decision, I will pay a freakin vet to do it with an injection rather than YOUR method...

    And besides that, how do you know, in your infinite wisdom, the cat is suffering?...
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    He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,951 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Now Beth, chill out, I will give tailgunner one to the head and he will be out of his misery. The cat deserves a doctor.
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    bgjohnbgjohn Member Posts: 2,275 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Take your cat to the vet and find out what's wrong. It's probably arthritus.(sp?) Our cat lived to be 19. When she was 13 she got run over by a car. Her hip was broken but healed on it's own. It was less traumatic than being operated on. We Put her in a cardboard box and 3 weeks later she jumped out by herself. Cats are amazing.
    JM[^]
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    n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    He Dog...

    Chill out?...why? did I come across as angry?....I dont get angry with dumb animals, only with jerks....now dumb jerks?...different story entirely...
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    Tailgunner1954Tailgunner1954 Member Posts: 7,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well BR (and He Dog) as I didn't say to go out and shoot the cat NOW............., I did say that it's a decision that must ultamatly be made AT SOME POINT.
    As far as WHO does it (puts the animal down), what does it matter to the animal? Have I ever had to "take care of busness", Yes. Do I enjoy it? * NO. Middle aged dogs that have been stepped on by a horse (crippling spinal injury), dogs that have been hit with a hay mower and had both front legs cut off, cats with feline distemper, young dogs that have been (vet) diaginosed with a incurable blood disorder, horses with broken legs, horses that had gouged a eyeball out, colts that had leg deformities (not everyone can afford 2-4 surgeries on a 2mo old horse @ $2000 each with no guarentee of sucess) dogs that had reached the ripe old age of 18, dogs with crippling arthritus, are just a few that quickly come to mind.
    So get down off your high horses and accept the realities of the world. Put to sleep is put to sleep, dead is dead, regardless of who does the deed.
    BTW, I probably spend more money at my vets office than most people spend at their kids Dr's office.
    PS, I've also signed DNR orders at "human" hospitals, so perhaps I'm just a cold blooded realist, not a pie in the sky dreamer.
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    n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    Your first sentence said it all...

    quote:You can spend a $100 to 500 at the vet, or $.02 on a home cure (37gr of lead, injected in the right ear).


    And that sentence GAVE the impression the decision was to be made now before the vet visit..

    quote:So get down off your high horses and accept the realities of the world

    realities of the world?...I work for a breeder..DUH!!...and who does it DOES matter...the vet injects and you can hold your animal,...your shot can miss, or do we want to even go there as to what happens next?...
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    spurgemasturspurgemastur Member Posts: 5,655 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Tailgunner1954
    You can spend a $100 to 500 at the vet, or $.02 on a home cure (37gr of lead, injected in the right ear).
    At some time in every pets life, this choice has to be made, spend the money or end the suffering. Only you can decide when the choice has to be made.


    Well, the battle that followed this post notwithstanding, I've made that decision with other pets (ok, so I used a vet and some phenobarbital rather than the lead) and it's always sad, but it's also usually pretty obvious when it's time. It clearly is not yet Jezebel's time. So the vet will see one of her old clients again.
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    He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,951 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Tailgunner, After over 30 years working in animal husbandry, I guarantee you I have made that decision many times. A bullet would be better if you were far in the field and the animal was suffering badly. For an uncomfortable pet in its last days, the barbituate is far more human.

    Did not mean to jump too hard, but man your post sounded pretty callous.

    Spurgemastur, please keep us posted. I for one like cats a lot, have two of my own, and recently lost my best pal of 14 years.
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    dcon12dcon12 Member Posts: 31,941 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have had to put one dog down and I did it with a bullet. I did not like it but I had already spent more than I could afford at the vet. I did not enjoy it in the least. I have had to put down numerous cattle and I did not enjoy that either. I never "want" to put down any animal but I have had to on occasion. I have had to shoot some cattle that had been hit on the highway. The cop would not do it. Circumstances require you to do what is nessesary. Don
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    The LawThe Law Member Posts: 2,287 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:He Dog...

    Chill out?...why? did I come across as angry?....I dont get angry with dumb animals, only with jerks....now dumb jerks?...different story entirely...

    I bee's thinkin' both of y'all eat sheet...sheet eater's...!...'Course I's also think both of y'alls has sex with cockroaches too...Cockroach f'arkers...!...I's also think y'all make a fine couple...y'alls offspring will be wonderful...COCKROACHES...[:X]
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    whiteclouderwhiteclouder Member Posts: 10,574 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Do a think yer givin' proper respect to a cockroach, Lawman? I don't, they got their pride, ya know. [:D]

    Clouder..
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    spurgemasturspurgemastur Member Posts: 5,655 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Tailgunner, that was pretty callous. I think BlackRoses and He Dog were in line to jump all over you. I know that there are times when difficult decisions are all you have, and I believe that there are times when the best choice amounts to shooting an animal, but I think that those are mostly the exceptional cases. For my beloved cat, 37 gr of lead injected to the right ear is about the last option I'd take.

    That said, I don't think you meant badly by your comments, so I'm not going to get PO'ed about them.
    -sp...
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