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Here's our little buddy Bandito (right) massaging David Hasselhoff (left): Bandito is 5 years old and he's our smallest and most athletic cat. We feed them solid gold indigo moon dry food before bedtime, and wet food (wellness) in the afternoon. We have 3 big litterboxes which are cleaned regularly and make sure their water changed regularly too. Recently, i.e. in the last 3 days, Bandito has been staying on the ground. He hasn't slept in our bed at night like all of our three cats normally do, he's been hiding in odd places (he normally hides from the vacuum under the bed or goes there when he's shy or anti-social) and he's walking slowly/stiffly, not eating anywhere near as much as normal, not playing or interacting with the other cats. Him and David Hasselhoff are BFF's and always cuddle together but not right now. He's also not grooming himself. I got home last night and sat down on the couch, and my wife said she was really worried about him and wanted to take him to the vet. Fine! So we found a 24-hour pet hospital (since it was 5:30 Friday and all the vets closed at 6) and took him there. While he was in the examination room he tried to jump about 2 feet onto a chair, and missed it. This is really unlike him since he can make five foot jumps normally. Fortunately the vet was there to see it. The nurse took his vitals and the vet came in and looked him over, said he was definitely acting strangely but looked ok, And gave him x-rays and a pain injection. They took bloodwork too, and said the x-rays look fine and physically he looks fine apart from his behavior. They gave us some oral pain medication for him too. I asked if they had any idea what was up, they said no. I asked what would happen if the bloodwork showed nothing, they said 'ultrasound and MRI'. He's a skinny cat and I haven't noticed this but the vet did say 'his belly feels a little flabby'. They couldn't get urine but he's been going to the toilet normally. The x-rays did show some food and in his digestive tract so that looked ok. Now it's Saturday, the bloodwork *should* come back today apparently, but they said 'if it's not back give us a call by monday'. I picked bandito up and he lay in my lap for a bit on the couch without much resistance (cat drugs possibly) as I fed him some food and then gave him more cat drugs. Here's Bandito now, hiding alone and under the bed:  Can cats act like this and get better? Should I call the vet right now and ask for an update? Does 'waiting until monday' sound dumb?
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Nov 8, 2014 22:58
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| # ? May 13, 2024 21:35 |
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The bloodwork should tell you a lot. My cat started having seizures a couple of weeks ago and I thought for sure we'd need an MRI, but bloodwork and urinalysis told us everything. If it helps, my cat had a similar problem when she was around the same age (maybe 3 or 4, it was a loooong time ago), and it turned out to be a minor infection. She didn't miss jumps, but she was really lethargic and didn't try jumps that she was normally good at. She took antibiotics and one round of subcutaneous fluids, and she was back to normal within a few days. I'm hoping that's all it is in Bandito's case as well. If your vet didn't seem concerned, then try to relax and baby Bandito as much as you can. I know it's stressful and you're scared, but give kitty cuddles and the tastiest food you can find for him, and keep your fingers crossed for Monday morning. Please keep us updated. Your kits are super cute. 
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Nov 9, 2014 02:29
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The vet said blood tests only showed a high white blood cell count. We took him in again last night and he got a hydration shot, an antibiotic "it might be an infection", they said, and a painkiller. The weird thing is, the vet said 'in my 30 years in a pet hospital I've never seen anything like this. Could be a spinal problem since he's walking so stiffly'. Bandito also tried to jump onto the same chair again, and failed again at the vet last night. Really sad. We hope it's just an infection. Anyway, my wife just IM'd me to say he jumped up to the bed and jumped off it without wiping out. I'll hang out with him when I get home this evening.
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Nov 10, 2014 18:53
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redreader posted:The vet said blood tests only showed a high white blood cell count. We took him in again last night and he got a hydration shot, an antibiotic "it might be an infection", they said, and a painkiller. The weird thing is, the vet said 'in my 30 years in a pet hospital I've never seen anything like this. Could be a spinal problem since he's walking so stiffly'. Bandito also tried to jump onto the same chair again, and failed again at the vet last night. Really sad. Darn, I was hoping you'd have a more definitive answer. Fingers crossed that it's just a minor infection. Is his vision OK? Please keep us updated; you'll be in my thoughts.
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Nov 11, 2014 05:39
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Maggie Fletcher posted:Darn, I was hoping you'd have a more definitive answer. Fingers crossed that it's just a minor infection. Is his vision OK? Thank you for your kind words He's doing a lot better! This morning he jumped up onto the bed, then off again later without wiping out. He's walking a lot more normally. He's still not his usual self and we did dial down on the pain meds... but he is still not himself yet. It's only been one day though so he'll probably be fine. I'll update this thread again if he doesn't get better, otherwise assume little Bandito is doing ok. It was pretty weird to hear the vet say 'lol IDK', and hopefully it was just an infection that they couldn't figure out the location of. I'm not sure about his vision but his eyes look normal apart from a bit of extra goop, and he hasn't been cleaning himself so that's possibly the goop cause. Also his eyes look really alert and this whole time have been the main sign to me that overall he's ok. Edit, a few days later: He's totally fine. gently caress that vet dude, he wanted to give our cat an MRI and ultrasound, and it was already 900 bux just for a 'eehhh IDK' diagnosis and some antibiotics, as well as 'we hope this helps' shots and painkillers which just made him act even weirder redreader fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Nov 13, 2014 |
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Nov 11, 2014 06:57
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