TheresaW
Well-Known Member
This might turn out long, so apologies in advance.
We are in the process of moving house, so have boxes everywhere.
We have 3 cats, Ginger who we've had for 12 years. He was a rescue, so no idea how old he actually is, but the rescue said he was a year or so old they thought when we got him. We've also got Rosie, who we've had for 12 years, got her as a kitten. There's also Ozzie, who is around 10, we took him on about 7 years ago when our neighbours emigrated.
Rosie and Ginger have been acting very out of sorts for the last few weeks. Started with Rosie first, she goes out a lot more than she's ever done. She generally only goes out, does her business, then comes back in. She now will go out for a couple of hours at a time. Doesn't go far, but it's still out of character. About 4 weeks ago, she had a fit and 9.30pm on a Sunday night. For some reason, she's taken to sleeping on the kitchen worktop. OH went out to make a cuppa, and she leapt as if she'd been bitten by something, then went into a full on seizure on the kitchen floor. By the time I'd finished speaking to the emergency vet, she was back to normal, purring and cleaning herself. She was checked over by the emergency, and went to our usual vet a couple of days later where bloods were run. She has kidney disease, and was anaemic, so we've started her on prescription diet, and she is pretty much back to her old self. The vet wanted to refer her to a neurologist, but given her age, and it being unlikely we'd put her through any major surgery or something, we are happy to see how she is for the time being. She has always been a bit strange. Is a tiny cat, vets always assume she was a runt of a litter, but she was the only one.
Now to Ginger. He has always kept His distance, and although always happy for a fuss, keeps himself to himself. He and Rosie are very close though, always have been. Just lately, again, last few weeks, he has begun acting out of character. Taken to climbing onto the tops of the kitchen cupboards and sleeping up there. He's never been much of a climber. When he arrived at the rescue centre years ago, he had a pelvic injury, they guessed as a result of a run in with a car. He is slightly arthritic, but nothing major.
The last two nights, he has poo'd on the kitchen floor. Most unlike him, and we have a cat flap, plus the back door is more often open when we are at home at the moment. He did it once whilst we were here, so we know it's him. He's seemed fine in himself, still eating and drinking. This morning, when I got up, he didn't seem to be around, so I made my cuppa and went up for a shower. As I came back downstairs, I could smell cat poo. Had a look around, and he was tucked away on top of one of the packed boxes out of sight. He was lying on his side, breathing really heavily, and had soiled himself. He was panting like a dog, and I honestly thought he was dying. Got OH out of bed, and he came down and helped me move him and clean him up, and we laid him in the cat carrier where he seemed to calm down, and his breathing has returned to normal. I have phoned work and taken an emergency days holiday, so can call our vet as soon as they open. (When we took Rosie to her emergency appt, we drove almost an hour away, so think we will probably be quicker waiting for our vet to open). He is now looking better, is purring if I stroke him, and has moved himself out of the cat box, and back onto the packed boxes. He just seems really tired at the moment. Have offered him some water, but he hasn't drunk anything.
I know they are getting older, and possibly have age related issues going on, but could any of this be stress related? Just seems so strange that we've had two big incidents within a month, with 2 different cats.
They are all being fed the prescription diet now, as to be honest, it would be difficult to feed them all separately. Could that have caused Ginger to have some sort of stomach upset?
Ozzie is fine, same as he's always been. Rosie and Ginger moved to this house with us, whereas Oz has always lived either here, or next door, so never really moved before.
Sorry it's so long!
Edited to add. On the day we moved to this house, about an hours drive, Ginger did the panting thing in the cat box, but without any soiling. Not sure if it's relevant or not. Have never seen him do it since, even on routine visits to the vets.
We are in the process of moving house, so have boxes everywhere.
We have 3 cats, Ginger who we've had for 12 years. He was a rescue, so no idea how old he actually is, but the rescue said he was a year or so old they thought when we got him. We've also got Rosie, who we've had for 12 years, got her as a kitten. There's also Ozzie, who is around 10, we took him on about 7 years ago when our neighbours emigrated.
Rosie and Ginger have been acting very out of sorts for the last few weeks. Started with Rosie first, she goes out a lot more than she's ever done. She generally only goes out, does her business, then comes back in. She now will go out for a couple of hours at a time. Doesn't go far, but it's still out of character. About 4 weeks ago, she had a fit and 9.30pm on a Sunday night. For some reason, she's taken to sleeping on the kitchen worktop. OH went out to make a cuppa, and she leapt as if she'd been bitten by something, then went into a full on seizure on the kitchen floor. By the time I'd finished speaking to the emergency vet, she was back to normal, purring and cleaning herself. She was checked over by the emergency, and went to our usual vet a couple of days later where bloods were run. She has kidney disease, and was anaemic, so we've started her on prescription diet, and she is pretty much back to her old self. The vet wanted to refer her to a neurologist, but given her age, and it being unlikely we'd put her through any major surgery or something, we are happy to see how she is for the time being. She has always been a bit strange. Is a tiny cat, vets always assume she was a runt of a litter, but she was the only one.
Now to Ginger. He has always kept His distance, and although always happy for a fuss, keeps himself to himself. He and Rosie are very close though, always have been. Just lately, again, last few weeks, he has begun acting out of character. Taken to climbing onto the tops of the kitchen cupboards and sleeping up there. He's never been much of a climber. When he arrived at the rescue centre years ago, he had a pelvic injury, they guessed as a result of a run in with a car. He is slightly arthritic, but nothing major.
The last two nights, he has poo'd on the kitchen floor. Most unlike him, and we have a cat flap, plus the back door is more often open when we are at home at the moment. He did it once whilst we were here, so we know it's him. He's seemed fine in himself, still eating and drinking. This morning, when I got up, he didn't seem to be around, so I made my cuppa and went up for a shower. As I came back downstairs, I could smell cat poo. Had a look around, and he was tucked away on top of one of the packed boxes out of sight. He was lying on his side, breathing really heavily, and had soiled himself. He was panting like a dog, and I honestly thought he was dying. Got OH out of bed, and he came down and helped me move him and clean him up, and we laid him in the cat carrier where he seemed to calm down, and his breathing has returned to normal. I have phoned work and taken an emergency days holiday, so can call our vet as soon as they open. (When we took Rosie to her emergency appt, we drove almost an hour away, so think we will probably be quicker waiting for our vet to open). He is now looking better, is purring if I stroke him, and has moved himself out of the cat box, and back onto the packed boxes. He just seems really tired at the moment. Have offered him some water, but he hasn't drunk anything.
I know they are getting older, and possibly have age related issues going on, but could any of this be stress related? Just seems so strange that we've had two big incidents within a month, with 2 different cats.
They are all being fed the prescription diet now, as to be honest, it would be difficult to feed them all separately. Could that have caused Ginger to have some sort of stomach upset?
Ozzie is fine, same as he's always been. Rosie and Ginger moved to this house with us, whereas Oz has always lived either here, or next door, so never really moved before.
Sorry it's so long!
Edited to add. On the day we moved to this house, about an hours drive, Ginger did the panting thing in the cat box, but without any soiling. Not sure if it's relevant or not. Have never seen him do it since, even on routine visits to the vets.
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