# Sick Kitty :(



## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

My 11.5 year old kitty is sick. I think it's his thyroid. We went to the vet and are just waiting on the results of his full panel. The waiting is killing me. I'm terrified I'll lose him. 

I'm feeling a bit guilty. Like, I should have caught this sooner. He's been exhibiting the following symptoms for a few years now (we did blood tests and the vets attributed it to a colony of feral cats in my complex)

* aggression towards our female cat (bully mostly with a few nasty fights)
* humping everything even though he's been neutered for 11 years now 
* excessive vocalizations

The symptoms are intermittent, and in the past year he's become hyperactive for about 3-4 days right around the full moon. We've been treating him with Feliway. We thought his hyperactivity was an animalistic reaction to the full moon. 

Since we moved (2-3 months ago) his humping calmed down and his aggression just started picking up again but with less frequency. We thought that his new behavior was confirmation that he was simply stressed from smelling the colony and we were past this. 

Two days ago we caught him humping a couch pillow and 10 minutes later we were breaking up a bad fight between him and our girl cat. It dawned on me that maybe the sexual urges and aggression go hand in hand. So I called the vet for a check-up and it's a good thing I did. Last night, my poor baby spent the entire night pacing between litter boxes, squatting without anything coming out. I stayed up most of the night trying to soothe him. He eventually fell asleep curled in bed with me, my husband and our girl cat. 

My baby has seen me through hell and back, it breaks my heart seeing him like this. 

Thanks for letting me vent.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Are you sure there aren't females in heat in the area driving him nuts? 

Another thing is these might be symptoms of a UTI or bladder infection. Maybe not the humping, but the litter box thing.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

That's what I thought too. So I asked the vet if it could be a uti or constipation / blockage. The vet thinks the thyroid is the only possibility. She did feel around his stomach / belly / bladder area and didn't feel anything abnormal.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Just got a call from the Vet, his blood chemistry is amazing. Nothing is wrong with him according to the vet. I pushed to have a urinalysis done, but it feels like the Vet was blowing hot air about how my cat doesn't like being handled and collecting urine is a tricky business. We've set an appointment to bring him back tomorrow to see if we can get a urine sample done. Tonight, I'll put him in the spare room (or bathroom) with a huge water dish and an empty (clean / sterile) tray. Hopefully i can get some sort of sample and we can get to the bottom of this. 

The vet thinks the humping / aggression is nothing but behavioral but didn't have any idea on what we can try to stop it. I asked for a referral to a behaviorist and hopefully we'll get that info when we see him tomorrow. 

/sigh

I just want him to be happy and healthy.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

If you get the potty issue sorted out, the behavioral issue can be cleared up easily. 

Our cat was neutered when he was 5 months old or so, but he still is very territorial. If some cat is on our property or if somebody visits the house, Lu has a glitch where he will go on a marking spree. Giving him prozac for a couple days calms him down and breaks the cycle.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Thank you so much!!!!! I've been brainstorming with some of my friends via Facebook over how to get him back to being happy. It might just come down to he's got the behavioral issue and a UTI on top of it. 

One of my friends recommended adding 1 TSP of Apple Cider Vinegar to their food about once a month as a preventative measure against UTIs


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## sdain31y (Jul 5, 2010)

I've got a 15 year old so, rescued neutered cat that occassionally humps one of my stuffed animals, a bear we got on our vacation a few years ago. We'll come home and the bear is smashed flat and fuzz is next to it. Couldn't figure it out until I saw him doing it. Very odd. He'll do it to the dogs larger stuffed animals occassionally too. Other then that, he's pretty laid back - must be satisfied! LOL

He'll also vocalize as he drinks - we've always said he's echo-locating the water.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Lol!!!

Well Milo spent the night at the vets because he wouldn't pee for us.  

We finally got some urine this morning and well get the results tomorrow. I hope we get to the bottom of this soon. 


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Have no clue about the humping, but the repeated squatting without peeing sounds like Feline Urilogical Syndrome (FUS) it is cause by crystals in the urine (caused by too much ash in the diet) and can lead to blockage of the urethra and inability to pee or pee enough to empty the bladder. It is treatable, if that is what he has.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

I hoping the pee issue is separate from the humping issue. Either way, he's happy to be home. We went through a stint in his early years where my family was homeless and he was being boarded at my job. As such, he's developed an anxiety about cages and the vet.  

He's drinking less and visiting the box less. Maybe whatever it was passed. 


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## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

My vet has done needle aspirations of urine from my yorkies and cats before if he needed a urine specimen. It did not seem to bother them at all.

My oldest 14 year old Mika is getting a work up to rule out Hyperthyroidism because she is acting like she is starving all the time- Counter/table surfing which is not her as well as sitting at the food bowl yowling for wet food. 

Dry is out 24/7 and normally they only get wet a few times a week most of the year but in the summertime I give it to them daily- It has been this way for years. She is now eating 1 cup of wet food daily- THK Prowl. Previously I would only give her and Tallulah 2-4 tablespoons at a time. Tallulah could care less getting more wet food. She eats her tablespoon of wet and then goes off to sleep.

I hope your find out what is wrong with your cat soon!


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## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

My spayed female yorkies have this stuffed lab puppy that they all hump. The never hump each other or people just this one stuffed animal so I let them do it.

It sounds like he is having bathroom issues like a UTI, kidney stones, or constipation- That would make anyone short tempered and restless.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

*The results are in.....*



MikaTallulah said:


> My vet has done needle aspirations of urine from my yorkies and cats before if he needed a urine specimen. It did not seem to bother them at all.
> 
> 
> I hope your find out what is wrong with your cat soon!


I was pleading with the vet and their staff to just tap his bladder. It takes a few mins and then he can come home and de-stress. They refused b/c "they prefer to allow the animal to eliminate on their own." Which is really "Your cat is CRAZY! We don't want to touch him with a 10 foot pole." I think we'll be switching vets after this. I love love loved this practice for my whole life (my mom used to take all of our animals growing up here too!) but now that the original vet is semi-retired and has more of a silent participation with the practice, I do not like how my baby was treated. :no:

However, we did get the urine results today. Slightly higher levels of protein, some bacteria, some blood, some crystals. 

Vet's diagnosis - it appears Milo had a mild infection, The urinalysis and blood work show his organs and all working exceptionally well and excessive protein, crystals and blood are all indicitive of a minor bladder infection. If he is still exhibiting the same litterbox activities and increased drinking he wants us to put him on an antibiotic and switch to a C/D diet. 

When Milo came home yesterday he was SO SO SO SO happy to be home. Normally he's very standoffish and will only give affection rarely and it's normally head butts. Last night he followed me around and gave me sweet kisses and head butts, and I loved up on him with hugs and rubs and treats. He slept curled up next to me all night long and his drinking and eliminating appear to be back to normal. I'm going to keep my eye on him and research holistic, home treatments for prevents UTI's in cats at home. My girlfriend's sister gives her cat a small (1 tsp?) amount of apple cider vinegar once a month. 

Has anyone treated UTIs from home before? I don't think he has a UTI any more but I'd like to prevent it from reoccuring.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

I have treated a cat with this problem. He was diagnosed at 9 yrs old, and lived to be 20 yrs old on Science Diet cat food with no recurrence. The C/D diet is perscribed to help dissolve the crystals in his urine - he does need that for a while.


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