Cat Chat Feline Forum

Oh poor girl!

Before I start I must say, I thought I was quite original in naming my youngest cat Molly. There are so many cats on here called Molly that maybe we need to start a Molly club lol.

However. Yes, in your place I'd be quite worried. This bout of mood swings, after her op, would seem ominous and I'd persist with the vet about keeping a close eye on her. This doesn't sound right.

There are a lot of people on here who can advise more than I can about cancer; you've come to the right place. I hope your girl comes through this ok and if she'll let you, give her a fuss from me - and my Molly.

She has a steroid injection every 6 weeks to try and keep it a bay and I am wondering if this has anything to do with it as when I took her last week to get looked at she topped up her steroid injection but it was not due for a top up for another 3 weeks.

Back in the 90s a terminally ill cat of mine had steroid injections and these picked her up for a few days but then she would go back to her usual sleepy self. There was no mood change.

But your girl sounds far feistier and healthier than that, and there are people on here who know more about modern steroid therapy and hopefully can advise more.

And, as before, always a pleasure to meet another Molly and hope the lass gets through this, bless her!

I guess it could be the steroids, my old Minnie was on steroids for a different reason (and orally, daily), but they did make her a little restless. Hopefully things will return to normal as the effect wears off, but I think I would be asking the vet more questions as well. I wish I had something more useful to offer.

I agree, I would persist with the vet. I don't have much experience of cats on steroids, so can't comment on that. But cats are so good at hiding illness that we usually have to go by subtle changes in behaviour, and this sounds much more than "subtle". If there are no other external causes, the next most likely cause is her health. My vet always says very often as a first point of call they have to rely on the vigilance of the owners in noticing slight changes, even if the symptoms aren't obvious. You are clearly a vigilant and caring owner, and I think it's time your vet recognised that you know your cat, and that these are more than slight changes, and did some more tests.

Well after a two hour battle of wits to get her in last night I have returned to the vet, he took some blood samples heart rate ,temp,etc and said she is doing great. So I will wait for results which should be tomorrow.
Thanks for all the replys and words of advice and kindness

I was glad to read to the end of this thread and learn the encouraging news that all Molly's vitals are good! Hope the test results are just as encouraging.

I am sure I know more about toddler humans than I do about cats of any age, but I am often struck by how much the cats I have known resemble toddlers in their behavior. In particular, cats seem to share with human toddlers the exasperating trait that once they have discovered some one thing that drives you batty and makes them the center of all your attention, they will latch onto that behavior -- no matter how negative -- and monomanically repeat it and repeat it, just to keep producing the exact same effect -- namely, you dropping everything else to spend hours fussing over them and them alone!

It also seems to me that cats will find a way to do this following an episode of intense care and worry, and when things return to normal, they up the ante on getting your attention back. Clever -- although for most kitties, it does backfire a bit, because they find themselves at the vet (I have yet to meet a cat who truly enjoys a trip to the vet.

In the past, I have sometimes gotten cats to break out of some negative "jag" they've gone on by doing something surprising myself. Something ridiculously surprising -- like doing a dance and singing loudly when the cat knocks yet another glass off the bar counter. Or turning on the hair dryer. Or, as with any temper tantrum, simply ignoring it in favor of shutting the door and having a bath.

I realize that is hard to do with a cat who has had a real medical episode, but maybe you can come up with some non-scary way to "have in intervention" with Molly's new "habit." Like an electric torch? A new toy? Catnip sock?