1/12 Mickey is sick -1/13 blood test resullts normal

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Peggy and Mickey (GA)

Peggy and Mickey (GA)

Member Since 2010
This poor cat! He now has super runny poo, that smells so foul with a sour touch to it. He still isnt hitting the litter box. So we had 5 accidents on the floor today.

We have a vet appt at 10:30am. I think it is going to be a bit expensive. I want tests for everything.
His stomach is very tender too. He isn't lethargic just acting still, meatloafing if you will.
Say a prayer for him!

Well I don't know anything yet. He had blood work. sa120-total body function and t805 fecal ova and parasite poo test. But I don't know what the results are as of yet.
I will lock him in the kitchen today when I go to work.

We went through his whole chart and he has had every medication for diarreah. Even tylan powder for swine disease. He has had every blood test including the one you mentioned Laura. I don't think he got into anything foregin. Pretty much cat proof here. Good thought though. This innappropriate pooing has been happening since last Oct.

Thanks for the prayers!
When we get the results we shall see. We even did xrays. now we are short of an endoscopy.
 
Re: 1/12 Mickey is sick

Oh no! Mickey. Sending purrs, prayers and healing vines to Mr. Mickey from his 1/2 size bud, Hadley. cat_pet_icon

You know what I'm going to suggest: among all the tests, please ask for the spec-fPL, the test for pancreatitis.

Any chance he could have gotten into some contraband food or household products?
 
Re: 1/12 Mickey is sick -back from vet

Also ask about IBS. I am dealing with my aunt's cat with the same issue - chronic soft, very stinky stools - and "missing" the box. But he isn't in pain the way you describe Mickey. That sounds like p-titis.

Back to the IBS, cats can have triaditis where the intestines, pancreas and liver are all involved in the inflammation. The structures are all connected so bacteria can easily cross from one to another. My vet suggested IBS for my aunt's cat because his physical exam was normal and his blood work is fairly normal (early indication of kidney slow down - he is 14-1/2 y.o.). She said that steroids could be tried. I am hesitant because of the poss side effect of diabetes! I would try diet change first. Both of my aunt's cats are thin, with poor coats, but eat very well. I think she feeds cheap dry food when I am not around to "yell" at her about it, but I think these guys eat poor food and develop food allergies/sensitivities and IBS/IBD. I sure think that was the case with Jeddie and eliminating one food ingredient made all the difference.

Sending healing prayers to Mickey, poor baby. I hope he feels better soon - and that there is something that shows up in the tests you can treat.
 
Re: 1/12 Mickey is sick -back from vet

Sending healing vines to Mickey. I hope he feels better soon and that the tests pinpoint what is going on.
(((Peggy)))
 
Re: 1/12 Mickey is sick -back from vet

Oh no, Peggy, I'm sorry Mickey is having so much trouble. One of the ABs they give for IBD is Metronidazole, so if you get a diagnosis of IBD, ask about it. I don't believe it is a steroid, it's an AB. Sheila, you might ask about it for your aunt's cat as well.

Since diabetic cats are prone to pancreatitis it is a good idea to test for that, the test is the feline Pancreatic Lipase Immuno-reactivity test. They have to send the bloodwork out for it. Apparently there are 2 labs which do it now. Used to be just Texas A&M which developed the test.

Hope you get some answers soon. (((Hugs)))
 
Re: 1/12 Mickey is sick -back from vet pmps 199

Thanks everyone.
Vicky, we just had blood work sent to texas a&m not too long ago. Or it could be a year. But I suppose alot can change in a year.
We did try Metronidazole like 3-4 times. Did help for a minute.
If the blood work shows up with nothing I will ask for a
Pancreatic Lipase Immuno-reactivity
test. He was so mean today with the vet techs and myself. Poor kid.
My computer is messing up sorry :YMSIGH:
Did I tell you I called Dawn Allen again? I was asking about Mickey again. She said he has given up on the litter box, and is very uncomfortable.
So I placed pee pads all over. HE seems to go everywhere but there. The one poo went up the wall on my new red paint. I must convince myself that I can have nothing nice in the house because of this. And boy does it smell. My BF was over yesterday and couldn't even eat with me. Took his dinner home with him.

I suppose I should read up on pancreatitis, triaditis, IBD etc.
And we got a pmps of 199. amps was 339. Maybe from the skipped shot the other day???
Thanks again for all of your support!
 
Re: 1/12 Mickey is sick -back from vet

What food is he eating? Like Sheila said, I wonder if there's something in the food that he's allergic to?

I feel so sorry for him after hearing what Dawn Allen said. I wonder why he's "given up" on the litter box.
 
Re: 1/12 Mickey is sick -back from vet

I am not sure why he would have given up on the litter box. It makes me sad for the both of us. But I do believe her because of his actions and the things she said about two other cats here were true.

He eats the FF low carb selection. I have tried evo, wellness core, raw, different kinds of raw brands, weruva, the list goes on. He keeps going back to FF.

The vet mentioned cancer and IBD tho. His stomach has shadows in the xray. But he is so large, today 27.8 he couldn't tell.
I guess the blood work will show something wonky with his red or white cells? Maybe?
 
Re: 1/12 Mickey is sick -back from vet

He may be difficult to ultrasound also because of his size, but an US might reveal more than Xray.

Fancy Feast isn't bad food, but from what I've read off and on here there are quite a few varieties that might be allergenic - beef ones, fish ones, ones with dried egg which I think is what Sheila mentioned as causing Jeddie problems in the box.

One of the things that just occurred to me was his comfort in the box. Being so large, if you have "standard" size boxes, he's probably very uncomfortable in them. After reading Dr. Lisa's site about litter boxes I went to large Rubbermaid type tubs, with a side cut out. I only use 2 for 4 cats before, 3 now. Since going to these, I never felt I need more than that for them. I scoop twice a day still. Just because I have bigger boxes doesn't mean they should be allowed to get messy. Cats like clean boxes! Tigget will go outside the box if it is too messy for her.

Just a thought on the box issue and him "giving up." He may also have arthritis at that size and not be able to turn around very well in a typical litter box, all of which I think are woefully inadequate since I have had these nice big boxes.

Hang in there.
 
That's a good idea about LB size. I generally get "large" LBs, but when the girls where little I got a "reg" one that was fine for them, but Beau can barely get his whole body into it and still crouch to go. Of course he tried. :roll: I don't use those any more. I have a large covered one, a large uncovered one (with a high back) and a Rubbermaid-type one inside a very large Ikea crate (I think it's 19x38) that I cut a doorway into. At the house in MI I use a cement mixing tray from Home Depot. It's about 20x30, but I have to all a plastic panel behind it for when someone stands up as they are peeing and goes over the edge. I have a tray under it to catch what runs down the panel. If Mickey has trouble turning around you want one with low sides and not stuck in a corner so he can walk in, do his thing and walk out without turning all the way around.

My aunt thinks that her cat can't get to a box in time and just goes to the nearest corner. That is something to consider, but if he goes right outside one, that is not the issue. LB aversion is more likely - he associates the box with discomfort. My aunt is currently trying just newspaper in the LBs in the hopes that a different surface might be more enticing.
 
OK, all of his blood work is in normal range and has not changed since last blood test.
I mentioned getting the pancreatitis blood test and vet said we just did that and could hold off for now. ANd he is not concerned about the shadow in the xray. Thats good.
SOOO,
Without a endoscopy, he is going with IBD. He suggested a shot of Dexamethozone (spelling how it sounded)
said it is a quick acting steroid. I think I am going to let him get it because it may calm him down a bit and I will deal with the BGS as they come.
His fructose was 262 and my amps was 336?
Now we must work on the food issue. I have to check to see if the FF I feed has eggs and things in it.

Litter boxes I have are under the bed boxes. Then I have a real big one that has scoop holders in the back of it. But that is a little high for him to get himself over. I have one in the kitchen, 2 in the living room, two in the bedroom. I could get bigger ones the width is ok, maybe longer. Or maybe I should chuck them all and buy new bigger ones. Hummm
Vicky, how did you cut the side out of the box, I know with a razor knife (lol), I mean are they real high or low?
I will check out the site and see if there are pictures.
edited to ask, where did you find the Dr Lisa's litter box article? I checked around on here and didn't see it.

Shiela I didn't see your reply until I just came back. The litter box in the kitchen is going to be a problem then, it is in a corner between the fridge and the wall. The two in the living room he can walk into, one is behind the recliner and the other by the tv against the wall at the front window.
I am going to have to think hard on this one. Because I was thinking in the kitchen I would have wanted it in the corner have a privacy curtain under the counter where the box is....I wonder if they make triangle ones? that may work better in the kitchen.......
Isn't if so funny how we arrange our furniture around our babies? :mrgreen:
 
I am sorry your are having these problems still with Mickey. You have the patience of a saint!

We have talked before about maybe it is stress that is causing Mickey to pee and poop outside the litter box. I know you tried the prozac and that didn't go well.

Is Thomas still bothering him? If so, then maybe it is Thomas that may need something to help with his bullying ways. Dr. Jean Hofve recommends the spirit essenses on this site. They have some for "bullies" (sorry Thomas...):

http://www.spiritessences.com/?acti...=species&val=cats&cat2=category&val2=behavior

Also, stress induced cystitis could also be a factor. I hate to see you try the steroid without trying to address the cause of what might be happening to Mickey (I know you are at your wits end). Stress can also cause flareups of IBD as well. Dr. Lisa says that getting rid of the stress (easier said than done I know) is important, plus maybe pain meds to help with the pain of the cystitis. Having this condition can cause litter box aversion:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth#Cystitis

Here on her litter box page that Vicky was referring to, Dr. Lisa talks about the 10 top reasons for a cat to stop using the litterbox:

The Litterbox from your cat's point of view

I hope something works for Mickey. We can't have boyfriends packing up and going home to eat their dinner!

P.S. Did you ever try the Feline's Pride raw food? I think I remember you mentioning it once.
 
Thanks for the links Pamela!

Cystitis goes by the size of the pee balls it looked like. Mickey's pee is more like a pancake size ball. He takes extra long to pee. When I go to get his meds tomorrow I will discuss the cystitis with the vet.

The litter boxes, Thomas, in the kitchen is always a stresser for Mickey. He seems to have taken up residency at the back sliding door.
And Thomas on the kitchen table and counters to be a pain in the a$$.
But I do clean the boxes 2-3 times daily.

I could always try the prozac again. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. Or cut the dose from 1/2 to 1/4 tablet.
 
Peggy and Mickey said:
Litter boxes I have are under the bed boxes. Then I have a real big one that has scoop holders in the back of it. But that is a little high for him to get himself over. I have one in the kitchen, 2 in the living room, two in the bedroom. I could get bigger ones the width is ok, maybe longer. Or maybe I should chuck them all and buy new bigger ones. Hummm
Vicky, how did you cut the side out of the box, I know with a razor knife (lol), I mean are they real high or low?
I will check out the site and see if there are pictures.
edited to ask, where did you find the Dr Lisa's litter box article? I checked around on here and didn't see it.
Click to expand...

Thank you Pamela for the link to Dr. Lisa's litter box page.

I used a large carving knife to cut the sides of my boxes. You don't want one with cerated edges, it grabs and cracks the plastic. A sharp utility knife would probably work too, the kind contractors use with special blades, not the thin kind. It takes a bit of muscle. I suppose an electric saw with a very fine blade would work too The bad thing is it depends on the plastic, some is more brittle than others. I got these tubs from Wal-Mart, but I don't think they're Rubbermaid brand like Dr. Lisa has.

CIMG2192.jpg


The black tape I put around the edges so they couldn't get hurt on the plastic. One word of caution - don't get the boxes at Big Lots. I got one from them 'cause it was a few $$ cheaper and I can't use it because the plastic has a horrible smell which has never gone away and the electrical tape I used on the edges would not stick. I hate it when I waste money to save money :evil:

Sorry it doesn't show the whole picture so it's hard to tell how big it is. It takes about 40 pounds of litter to fill. You can see where someone has peed down the side. That's especially why I like them. Leahpold is a stand up peer. I got disgusted having to clean up old stinky pee from under my other regular style litterboxes because she would pee down the side and even ones with a lid leaked. I never even realized she peed like that till I got these boxes, then I realized how the pee ended up UNDER the other boxes!

I'm also sorry you didn't get any good answers for Mickey. I like Pamela's suggestion about dealing with the cat who bothers Mickey instead of Mickey as the one with the problem. Maybe the other cat needs the prozac! And she's right about stress and IBD, also inappropriate elimination.

I guess it's like the food - try one thing, see what happens. If you change too much at once though you won't be able to figure out what's working. You really do have the patience of a saint. o:-)
 
Vicky ! That is awsome, and would avoid the over the box pissers!! For that I use pee pads thumb tacked to the walls..Of course I would have to use a bigger opening for mickey...lol.
Thanks for taking your time to send a picture!!!
 
Peggy and Mickey said:
Thanks for the links Pamela!

Cystitis goes by the size of the pee balls it looked like. Mickey's pee is more like a pancake size ball. He takes extra long to pee. When I go to get his meds tomorrow I will discuss the cystitis with the vet.

The litter boxes, Thomas, in the kitchen is always a stresser for Mickey. He seems to have taken up residency at the back sliding door.
And Thomas on the kitchen table and counters to be a pain in the a$$.
But I do clean the boxes 2-3 times daily.

I could always try the prozac again. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. Or cut the dose from 1/2 to 1/4 tablet.
Click to expand...

Or try the 'spirit essenses' for Thomas instead of the prozac for Mickey.

Not that I am an expert on cats and their behaviour boundaries, but it seems that Thomas may be the problem here and maybe you should go in that direction instead so that Mickey can relax and feel that he can peacefully use his litterbox when he needs to.

As far as your discussion with the vet tomorrow....please print out the link from Dr. Lisa's webpage I quoted to you and show it to him. This may very well be stress related on Mickey's part and thus, the possibility of Interstitial Cystitis.

Here is part of a discussion Dr. Lisa had with someone on FDMB a couple of years back....not entirely fair to Dr. Lisa since the entire discussion is not here, but so you get the point somewhat:

"....Your cat may very well be in a great deal of pain from cystitis which is NOT the same as an infection. Many cats have sterile cystitis that can be very painful. These cases need pain meds!! This is another huge pet peeve of mine.....UTI (with "I" standing for inflammation not infection) cases not receiving pain meds.

A painful cat is obviously going to avoid the litter box and then you end up with a ruined cat and a cat with an ongoing litter box aversion.

Pain = stress.....stress will (sic) raise bgs. So you can get elevated bgs from a UTI when inflammation is present but not infection.

Please note that I am not saying that your cat does not have an infection. None of us - including your vet - knows that for sure since proper testing has not been done.

Please consider asking your vet to address a possible painful situation. Unfortunately, many vets do not pay attention to this very critical issue......"

http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/read.php?8,798127,798131#msg-798130

Please let us know how it goes tomorrow.

ETA - just saw Vicky's response below.....awesome. :)
 
Thanks Pamela, I will definately let you all know.
And Thomas is the problem with Mickey. I called Dawn Allen the animal communicator and she said Mickey wants him gone....And I believe that.
I will give the 'spirit essenses' a go. I have the credit card out and ready to order. And the feliway I bought does not work at all...
 
The starting dose of prozac is 1/4 tab. Didn't you say he had a bad reaction to it? And, yes, maybe give it to Thomas instead!

Can you put the box somewhere that Mickey can't be ambushed by Thomas? That's another reason why corners are a problem, they can get, well, cornered in them by the bully cat. And for what it is worth, Thomas is probably stressed about Mickey (or something else) and that is why he goes after Mickey.

It's funny, Beau used to occasionally go after Charlotte when she was in the LB. He would hear her digging and sneak up on her. He never did it with any other cat, so I don't get what the motivation there was. They are funny, complicated critters.

When you cut the doorway in one of those plastic boxes, use a very sharp knife because they do tend to crack. I try to score the plastic on both sides (helps to use a marker to mark where you want to cut) using a ruler and then keep cutting deeper and deeper. And watch your fingers and curious cats! I have found that trying to do a curved cut doesn't work too well.
 
Yeah, scoring would work better. ohmygod_smile I do stuff like a guy - git 'er done!

Leahpold tries to ambush Tigget at the box. Before when her Hyper-T wasn't well controlled I think that's what caused her to get cystitis so bad she had blood and lots of it! I thought something had ruptured. The vet asked me about stress in the home and that was my response - she gets ambushed in the box.

Now with her Hyper-T better controlled she is more her old self and won't take that s*#!. She's the one on the offensive more often than not. So maybe the ambushing plus not feeling well to begin with is why Mickey is such a mess.

Did you take a look at any cat behavior books? There might be an answer in there, but Dawn Allen is really amazing me.
 
I checked out all of the ingredients of canned food I have...the only one that doesn't have fish is FF chicken and liver...the regular chicken has fish in it..weird.
Finding a food without fish or eggs in would probably help Pain in the butt Thomas too. He is fiv and is allergic to fleas, so far maybe food too. All he does is itch and itch.

Sheila, what are you feeding your cats?
 
I mix Wellness with Sophisticat 1:1 (the large 13 oz cans). Then I add almost 1 part water, a packet of FortiFlora and 1/8 tsp taurine. I was trying for a medium grade food as I can't afford 100% Wellness or raw. Sophisticat has fish in it, but PetSmart is doing something with the product that may involve changing the recipe. Right now it is not available (I bought 6 cases, which will last me almost 5 months). I used to use Friskies, but it has Menadione Sodium Bisulfate in it and that is a possibly toxic synthetic Vit K that I don't want to be feeding my cats. That stuff is also in FF, I'm afraid.

I thought I had found a medium grade food, so I wouldn't have to mix stuff, but it was in smaller cans and ended up being the main source of dried egg product that bothered Jeddie so much. Some of the Evo varieties have the dried egg too as do Holistic and one other that comes in the larger can (~13 oz). I just read labels.

I also feed grain-free dry food kibble as treats after the morning test/shots/meds and boiled chicken or low sodium deli turkey at night.

I still think that raw is the best food you can feed and certainly "fixes" a lot of diet--related health issues like skin allergies, digestive upset, etc. When I win the PCH sweepstakes, that is what I will switch my cats to. :lol:
 
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