Sammy Update

LuckyAngel07

I posted below about Sammy puking a couple of times week. I thought it might be the flavor of wet I was giving her (Merrick Before Grain Salmon). So last night I popped a can of Merrick New England Boil, and Sammy literally gagged after smelling it. She woouldnt't touch it at all, so I offered some plain dry for her. Wouldn't eat that either. As of this morning, she still won't touch her food. She's acting withdrawn. Curling up somewhere and just staying there forever. Not herself at all. Case in point: she's a terror in the middle of the night if we don't lock her out of the bedroom. I wanted to leave the door open last night to check her behavior. She didn't cause a peep...no jumping on dressers or getting into anything. I know this means we need to see the vet. I'm so stressed/worried over this, because we're strapped to the max right now, and I don't know how we're going to afford her evaluation, let alone whatever treatment might be needed. Add that I just found fleas on everyone. My own idiocy, since I haven't had Zoey on preventative in the last couple of months. But it's just one more thing to deal with. (PS: sorry if the formatting was terrible...I'm posting from my phone.)

ali2005jason

Oh that stinks, it's never fun when a furry baby is sick. Hopefully it's nothing too major and an easy fix. Get better Sammy!

justaname

Poor kitty. Hopefully the vet can find what is wrong and it will be a very easy and inexpensive fix.

jen812

Hope he's feeling better soon.

SparrowGreen

T&P for Sammy!

NotJennay

I hope Sammy is feeling better soon!  It sounds awful to have to deal with both the sick cat and the fleas. 

LuckyAngel07

I stayed home from work today. So far all 3 beasts have gotten baths (though Zoey is the only one I have actual flea shampoo for). I dosed Zoey with a Captstar, too. We already have topical on the way for her.

I got Sammy squeezed in at the vet's office in about an hour to get checked out. I did get her to eat a very little bit of canned tuna, so that's heartening. I wonder if the fleas are just bothering her a lot?

Thanks for all the T&P guys. I really hope this is something simple/inexpensive, too.

ndolehan

LuckyAngel07:

I got Sammy squeezed in at the vet's office in about an hour to get checked out. I did get her to eat a very little bit of canned tuna, so that's heartening. I wonder if the fleas are just bothering her a lot?

 

Good Luck - hope all is well with Sammy! Hopefully, she is just cranky from the fleas and she will be be a-ok soon! 

Mistym05

Feel better Sammy!

kellbell1919

I understand being financially strapped and it is hard to figure things out with cats sometimes.  We recently spent $500 on testing for Sam with multiple vets to find out nothing is wrong, he was just stressed.

Can you sign up for Care Credit with a $500 limit, take her for a general exam and possibly an x-ray.  My cats are very picky re. flavors of Merrick, maybe try wellness instead.  They do have a habit of suddenly deciding they hate their food (cats are stinkers).  I hope everything works out.

LuckyAngel07

They used to get Wellness. Just started feeding Merrick in the last few weeks because at my store it's nearly $.50 cheaper per can. I've been giving them the Before Grain version, but have a few regular cans, too.

kellbell1919:

Can you sign up for Care Credit with a $500 limit, take her for a general exam and possibly an x-ray.  My cats are very picky re. flavors of Merrick, maybe try wellness instead.  They do have a habit of suddenly deciding they hate their food (cats are stinkers).  I hope everything works out.

I've had CC before, but cancelled it a couple of years ago. I don't know if I could sign up again.

We've seen the vet; it was under $100 at least. Nothing clinically wrong, because it's so acute bloodwork probably wouldn't show anything unless there was a kidney issue so they didn't take any, and because she's peeing normally there's no reason to take urine.

Other than being completely and totally empty, her stomach, bladder, and intestines felt fine (and didn't cause any pain during palpation. Her kidney's felt normal, and her heart and lungs sounded fine. She didn't have anything going on in her mouth, either.

For now, they treated symptomatically with sub-q fluids, a vitamin/mineral injection, and an antiemetic to settle her tummy in case she's not eating because it's upset. In a couple of hours I can try to get her to eat.

Anyone have suggestions for foods that have been pretty much foolproof in getting kitties to eat? She ate a teensy bit of tuna this morning, and I might try a different Merrick flavor (or even go grab a can of regular old chicken Wellness, since she always goes for that.

 

mainerocks

I hope your kitty feels better soon. (  If there's no improvement, I would get an xray. 

They say baby food food (with nothing but meat and water) works like a charm, but my cats like to break the rules. ;-)

I know there are some tips on the cat info site somewhere too: http://catinfo.org/  I think one of them is sprinkling parm cheese on the food?

Also, the vet sells a high calorie version if he revolts for too long a period... you don't want him to have liver trouble. Good luck! 

LuckyAngel07

Thanks for the responses! Some of you are probably seeing this double between here and FB. Sammy is gagging when presented with any type of food. She gagged when I just offered her one of Zoey's freeze-dried buffalo.treats (which she's usually like a crack addict about!). So, I found some CatSure (guess it's like Ensure for cats), which my store guy said can help promote an appetite. We've painstakingly dropper-fed her a couple of ounces. The dropper doesn't even pull 1 mL each time, so it's a very slow and annoying process. But it's gotta be done if she won't eat on her own. I'm going to try watering down the chicken baby food I picked up, too. I hope the dropper can pull it! ETA: just got about 3 total ounces of the water and chicken baby food mixture down Sammy's throat thanks to the dropper!! Yay!!!