Cat Chat Feline Forum

So many may remember Shelly's thread, about her not eating for no sudden reason. Bloods and a scan showed nothing. She was fine again few days after it started, eating normally and being herself. Suddenly her appetite dropped yet again and now Shelly is hiding and running away. She has never showed this behaviour before. She wont let you approach her much and is always hiding. Vets have given us pain relief for now but we will be going back I suspect.

It feels as if she wants a quiet spot for her to slip away...

Oh, Diana, yes I do remember the stressful weekend you had recently

I am sorry Shelly is poorly again. I was so pleased when she picked up last time.

It is not unusual for them to hide when they feel unwell. I liken it to us wanting to take to our beds and be left alone. It does not necessarily mean there's no hope for your girl.

Can you get her to a vet today before getting into the weekend emergency situation?

Fusses to your girl. Hope she is ok soon

Val

I am not worried about emergency visits, I know I can call on them anytime. We are trying ourselves to get the pain relied down her which we are able to do. We are seeing if that will help. She is resting on my mums bed and I am able to stroke her. She is taking Buprecare atm every 8hrs. She is eating still, not as much though. She hasnt gone toilet so if she hasnt today then I will call the on duty vet.

I remember too, I'm so sorry - I really hope the pain relief helps her pick up again. Sending positive vibes. xx

Atm Shelly is still on my mums bed. She hasn't moved since 10am. She ate treats so I suspect she will eat when we feed the cats at 6pm. When I walk in, she seems agitated, worried even til I approach and stroke her, then she starts purring.

Her character is so off. Its just so worrying. If by tomorrow she is still same then we shall call in. She still hasn't gone toilet and my other girl Evie has been sleeping beside her since 11am.

Shelly pooped and wee'd. She ate and seems tad better although she is running away still, but when sleeping she is ok when we approach. She is purring but its a different pur. I wonder if the issue lies in the throat...what issues could you have there??

I'm sure this will have been checked but have you looked in her mouth? I had a cat growing up who aged around 15/16 was just like this for several weeks, he lost lots of weight and my parents were convinced he was near his end. However I knew he wasn't, and tried feeding him some chicken whilst closely watching him. He seemed to still like the smell and want to eat, but as soon as it was in his mouth he dropped it.

Turned out he had a huge abscess right at the back of his mouth affecting chewing and swallowing; he had about 4 teeth out and within days was back to his old self. He lived to the ripe old age of 20!

Hey well her mouth was looked at twice. The first time a vet covered her in blanket whilst the other looked. Nothing...no swelling, no redness her mouth was in good shape. Few days later mouth was looked at again, same conclusion. Two weeks ago when she first stopped eating, she was ok days later, eating really well. And now, she slowed down her appetite but is eating ok now. I wondered too and was sure it was the mouth but cause she ate still I then thought no. She had a dental in May and all was great. She had dry food today and I did notice bits falling out and now she is making a croaky pur and also when she breathes. Will speak to my vet again tomorrow, I dont want to stress her with the numerous appts.

Also may I add...we are giving her Bubrecare atm which has to go right into the mouth..yes she shows some restraint but she doesnt fight much and eventually relents. Whilst doing this she doesnt wince in pain or show she is in great discomfort. So that sounds as if her mouth is ok, wouldnt you agree?

It does sound like the problem is in her mouth/throat area. I say go with your gut feeling, I'm sure you would be happier overall with lots of appointments and getting the all clear than waiting and finding something. I hope you get to the bottom of it!

Poor Shelly

I don't know what else to add, other than do you have a lot of confidence in your vet? - even if you do, you could ask for a referral.

A few years back, I had numerous appointments with Kylie over an 8 month period for her eyes. The vet was convinced it was some kind of infection. Each time I took her back, they gave me a different eye cream. Then they prescribed Baytril tablets - they didn't do anything either. In the end the vet said he wanted to refer her to a specialist. The eye doctor took a scraping from Kylie's eye. She was gone 5 minutes looking at it under a microscope and said it wasn't an infection at all, but an autoimmune condition. The point is, if a vet was stumped but I knew something was wrong, going forward I would always ask for a referral sooner rather than later. The specialist charged £55 per 15 minutes + meds, so £165 (+£52 for eye cream). It was covered on insurance.

I have every confidence in my vet. I trust them completely. If it was her throat or mouth surely she wouldnt eat? We are able to prise her jaw open to syringe the Bubrecare under her tongue. Its so odd because 2wks ago vets checked her mouth and it was fine. I will be calling my vets now, also I have a recording of her purring. If I knew how to add it here so you can have a listen.

The symptoms sound soooo like my 16 year old Boris at the start of this year. He was very hit & miss with his food. Numerous vet visits found nothing until he went to a dental specialist. Xrays & scans eventually showed a deep seated infection in his mouth. He had several teeth out & long term antibiotics. It took a few weeks but I'm pleased to report Boris is in good health & eating well.

Nice to hear Boris recovered well.

Called into my vets and got an appt at 10.50am with the vet thats has been seeing her. She ate some fish but I noticed some bits fell out and it seemed she looked uncomfortable eating. I hope our vet figures it cause the specialist route will be expensive and most of them dont do direct claims. I just dont understand as before Friday she was eating perfectly as she did before after she recovered from loss of appetite.

Hi Diana, sorry I.missed this, I haven't been on CC all weekend. Fusses to your girl and lots of positive thoughts for this morning. Xx

We left Shelly at the vets. They will have a deep look at her mouth and teeth, should they not see anything then the will do an endoscopy, where they will put camera down her throat to check. If all comes back fine then more likely it is a neurological issue that ties in with the wonky walk she has and its now affecting her brain which inturn is altering her behaviour. Gotta call back at 5 to get update.

So really I hope we find something rather then nothing.

fingers crossed the vets do find something and you know what you're dealing with.

All paws here crossed for her. xx

Hoping you get some good news later

Thanks you guys. Will update once I know.

Update....so we kinda have good news. Vets had a look at her mouth, teeth and gums..was all fine. Next her throat, again all fine. So they checked back of her nose and they found some blood. How or why, we dont know. Possible infection, or knock to head which would explain why at times she would cower when we stroked her head. Or she could have ingested something. Vets are keeping her in and she has been giving a 2 week long antibiotic shot.

This could have affected her behaviour, her appetite and would explain that croaky purr.

Well, at least that's progress and a possible explanation. I really hope that they can now help her and she starts to get better. xx

Thanks Crewella. Hopefully we have got to bottom of it. When we get her back hopefully she will be much better.

Let's hope it is an infection and they can treat it, I guess it would be easier to treat than something neurological.

Fingers crossed they work out the problem and she is soon on the mend

If it was neurological then that would be hard to treat, yes. Whatever it was that caused the bleed, lets hope the meds treat it. I doubt she knocked herself as the day she started fedling off I was home all day and she slept most of the day in her bed.

Hi all, so Shelly is home now. Whilst at vets, she ate like a horse lol. Yep I knew she was doing much better once they said that. So we had a long chat with our vet....something caused the bleed at the back of her nose, they are unsure as to what it was as the was no foreign objects, nothing that showed. So if there was something, she may have sneezed it out or she banged her head or may have caught an infection. She still tad weary as she has had a lot done to her, but she is not hiding as much and seems to be on the mend.

Oh, I am so pleased, Diana! Xx

That's just brilliant - I'm so pleased for you! Give her a fuss from me.

Is she a cat flu carrier? The damage that flu leaves behind can cause bleeding at the back of the nose and throat.