Sick and Vomiting Cat, In dire need of Advice Here :(

Hey, I'm new here. My cat got a vaccination on Monday and just this Thursday got sick. He is 10 1/2 year old and he was having diarrhea and vomiting on Thursday.

He ate a tiny bit last night and was looking better, but right now he is vomiting again and appears to be constipated. His vomit is in small spots and looks runny and yellow-brown. Thursday his vomit had little specks of red in it.

When he uses the litterbox, he seems to have gas and all that comes out is runny diarrhea. Then he seems to be struggling to go more, but can't.

Now he won't even eat at all. Just refuses food and only drinks when I put water in front of him and wet his mouth first. He is also very lethargic and hasn't ate in 24 hours.

It is 10PM and the vet is not open and I can't get him in until Monday morning. I'm very, very worried and I don't know what to do or whom to ask. If anyone on here can offer some advice, it would be highly appreciated.

 

Sorry to hear that...
My advice get him in to see a vet ASAP I would go to an emergency vet clinic if you've got one around....cats can get dehydrated VERY quickly especially and older cat...and it sounds like he doesn't feel well at all and may be an allergic reaction to the vaccination, kinda would have expected it to happen sooner but.....
Cat's can be very good at hiding how they feel, often once you notice they are feeling very badly....and have been for awhile.

Good luck and keep us posted!!

 

Thanks for the reply.

Well, we have an appointment now to go see a vet in the morning. He still won't eat his regular food, but we did manage to get him to eat some wet food as well as the dry food the other cats in our house eat. The food we had him on was Science Diet, because he has had a lot of issues with bowl problems in the past and IBD symptoms. But the other food he is eating now is Purina One and the wet food is Iams.

He stopped vomiting and the diarrhea doesn't seem to be as bad. And, yes, it is important to keep him hydrated. I have been giving him water every few hours and if he won't drink it, we are getting him to drink a little with an eye dropper, but overall he seems to be ok with drinking.

He is still very tired though. Sits and sleeps all the time and still looks like he feels a little off. I'm watching him and checking on him every 30 minutes to every hour day and night, in case any new symptoms develoup.

My mom did find some shoes in a walk-in closet where he sleeps a lot and they had this fake-leather material that had gotten all worn and torn looking. She thinks maybe he was licking it off and that's what got him sick, so we're going to tell the vet about that.

I will post back tomorrow (or today now, as it's past midnight) about what the vet says.

 

I'm glad you have an appointment for your cat, I look forward to hearing how that goes. I'm also very glad that he is eating some and your able to get some water in him. Not having the runs will also help a great deal!! He is a very lucky kitty to have a loving human to take watch over him!!

 

Thanks Yup, he's my spoiled little baby, I wouldn't know what to do without him.

Well the vet felt him all over and couldn't find anything wrong. Then they recommended x-rays, which we went ahead with. The x-rays came back ok, they didn't see anything wrong with kidneys, liver, intestinal areas, ect. But they are going to send them in to a radiologist to have them look as well.

The vet put him on some antibiotics and we gave him half a pill today (had to coat it with butter to get him to take it, lol!) and tonight he seems a lot better, like the meds are helping already. And he finally ate a full meal, which is great. Most of it was the Purina One food, but he appears to have eaten a bit of his Science Diet food as well.

The only thing still concerning us is that, on the x-rays, they noticed a small stone-like hard object near the shoulder area. They tried to get a sample from it, but were unable. Vet seems to think it's possible it could be from a vaccine, or even from one of the times he's been bitten in the past. However, from what I remember, he hasn't been bitten in that spot.

So they are going to take a look at that too and let us know the results on Wednesday. Hopefully it's nothing major.But he is feeling much better. Sleeping in his little bed by mine right now and spent a good deal of time playing earlier and I also took him for a walk today for some fresh air.

 

Hi and welcome to Auspet. How is your kitty doing now?

 

one of my cats can't get distemper vaccine. She'll vomit blood for a couple of days...so no more distemper vaccine for her.
Next time vaccines are due you might want to break them up rather than get them all done in the same day - or simply forgo them if she is inside only

 

Thanks!

He is doing a lot better now. Seems to be feeling well again and is FINALLY eating his Science Diet food again!

 

Well he only got one shot this time. The vet said he didn't need the other, cause he is an indoor cat, like you are saying.

Vet didn't seem to think it was the vaccine, since he got sick a few days later, but I'm still wondering if that had anything to do with it.

The meds they put him on are working great though. He's only been on them for 24 hours and already there is a great improvement in his mood and behavior.

 

Glad to hear that he's feeling better and eating again!

 

OK, we are having the WORST time getting him to take his meds. It's this little pill, cut in half. But it's chalky, so it's harder to get it down. It takes 2 people to give it to him. One to hold him down and the other to get him to swallow it. XD

Anyone have any tips on getting cats to take pills better? We always have this problem with him. Tried putting it in butter, but he has figured that out now and won't fall for it now.

 

Did the vet give you a piller?? I personally have had mixed results with them.. But you can get it far enough back in their mouths that it helps. I have the hardest time pilling Chopper he doesn't pill easy it usually takes the element of surprise to get it in him...

 

Yeah, we do have a piller the vet vet us along time ago, so we have been using that. We stopped giving him the pills now though because now he has developed a tender area on his bottom. It's really read and raw looking and we are worried it might have been the meds that caused it.

The vet says it probably wasn't the meds, as its not a known side-effect of them. The meds are called Flagellin. So we aren't sure what's causing that now. This has not been a good month from my kitty.

Right now he is running around the room picking at spots on the floor. XD Keeps trying the eat little pieces of lint and what not. I have no idea what his issues is tonight, lol, he got more than enough food earlier, which he ate all of.

 

pill pockets work well....well for some cats.
it's a treat that is soft and has a pocket in it for pills.

 

Yea I've used the pill pockets too sometimes they worked sometimes not... kinda sticky little things too... :mrgreen:

Poor kitty... Sure sounds like something is bothering him making him antsy... may need some kind of kitty calmer while he's healing. You can buy ones that plug into the wall at the pet stores... I've tried them with not much luck and had to go to meds to calm my kitty when he was little....

good luck

 

I've heard about the pill pockets, but we haven't tried them on him yet. Will have to keep that in mind if he gets sick again, which hopefully he won't.

What is a kitty calmer? I haven't hear of those, sounds interesting.

He's 100% better now. The little spot they noticed on his back in the x-rays appears not to be anything serious, and the vet said it shouldn't require any surgery or anything.

I ended up getting sick myself over Thanksgiving weekend and couldn't eat for days. XD I think I got what the cat had, lol! It's been a rough month around here.

But I'm just glad Figit is better. He's happy again, eating and begging for food all the time again and really playful as always

Thanks for all the help! It is really appreciated! Nice to fins a place I can go for advice in thous times when my furry little friends aren't feeling well