Savas! I need to talk to you. Are you on?

[April2]

Savas, our kitten is acting strange today. She's been laying around a lot and walking a bit stiffly. My daughter said she tried three times to go into the cat box but didn't use it. I was gone most of the day and didn't see a lot of this. I did watch her tonight. She's just not acting like herself. What do you think it could be?
Could she have a urinary tract infection? Is this something I should take her into the emergency vet clinic tonight or can we wait until morning? We really can't afford this so I'd like to wait but I know if something happened to this cat my daughter wouldn't forgive me then since it's her cat.
Please tell me what you think could be going on and what you think I should do!

[Savas]

Yeah, that's what I was getting at. Dry food only tends to lead to a cat having constipation issues and blockage. That's why we do both, with small wet food portions 3x daily.

I would say don't worry about the special dry you're getting. If you're at home for a great portion of the day, you can try what I do; half can each in the morning and at night, and some dry during the day (it depends on how many treats/feedings your get gets).

I use nine lives wet. I tried friskies, but every cat who eats it over here starts throwing it up in a day or two. And whiskas most of them just don't like. For dry I swap between 9/lives, friskies, and whiskas on a rotating basis.

The only problem we get over here, like I said, is the occassional diarrhea (probably from snacking outside. Bad Kitties!!! :)  )

The trick is't how much wet you give kitty, but how many times a day. We feed them wet in small portions 4x daily. This, of course, has drawbacks, as kitty expects to get fed every time you turn around. But it does seem to keep our cats regular...and when we've got up to 15 over here, keeping them regular is VERY important!!! :)

The best thing you can do with an overweight cat is exercise them. A pity they aren't like dogs...they aren't easy to walk, you end up taking them out for a "pull". I suppose you can do what I do, pull the vacuum out a few times a day and watch 'em scatter!!!  Actually, it does get them outside which gets them exercise (outside of the heart pounding run for the window).

I suppose you can get one of those little robot cars, tie a string to the back, and let kitty and car chase each other around. I guess i'm saying try to think of something that you can realistically do for a half hour a day that will get kitty doing more than sitting and staring. :)

[April2]

Thanks everybody for your kind remarks! She seems to be doing ok. I still haven't been able to get ahold of my own vet. I called yesterday morning and she hasn't returned my call. I was going to ask her what she thought and if I need to change her diet. The vet on this forum was actually more helpful than my own vet so I'm not too happy about that. The vet on this site told me to take her off all dry food and only give wet/canned food? Right now both cats are only on dried food. I had a vet a long time ago tell me that's all a cat needed. Now I'm wondering if I should take both of them off the dry food and only give canned? The thing is Misha (the older cat, not the kitten who I was talking about here) was getting UTI's so the vet told me to give her a special prescription diet that would help with that and to help keep her weight down. To tell you the truth, I think I'm going to go back to over the counter food because I just can't keep up with this expensive presription food that costs twice as much.
Is there anything over the counter anyone could recommend that would be good for the two of them?
Thanks again everyone for your advice and concern. God bless!

[Savas]

Heh heh...if it wasn't a foreign object...that's EXACTLY what I was gonig to say! :)

April, what's your kitty's wet food/dry food ratio? We give our kitty's canned food three times daily (1/2 can each). We hardly ever have these problems (although we do get the other end of it, so to speak, occassional diarrhea).

Sorry I wasn't around earlier. I've been pushing a deadline and it's got me wiped and consumed. I'll have to get back on other stuff here first thing in the morning (meaning 11AM, for me). :)

I'm glad to hear kitty is doing better.

[chikp]

I have to add fiber supplements to one of my cat's food daily.  Last year he was constipated for so long that he eventually stopped urinating.  In my defense, there were three cats in the house at the time, so it was hard to tell that one of them had stopped pooping.  But he did, and when I took him to the vet, they saw pretty much what your vet saw.  They gave him a laxative and probably an antibiotic I can't remember.  Anyway, once things got moving again he felt much better.  He still goes back and forth between constipation and diarrhea every once in a while, but nothing even remotely as severe as last year.  

When I took him back a month or so ago for his annual check up, the vet noticed no signs of illness or anything concerning.  She was looking at his coat specifically for indications of dehydration.  

Oh yeah, the doctor recommended a high protein, high fiber, low carb diet.  So along with the fiber supplement (found on 1800petmeds.com) I have upped the amount of wet food he gets (he couldn't be more thrilled about that).  Basically kitty Atkins and this has helped tremendously (knock wood).  

[marissposa]

I can't give you any advice, but just wanted to send out some well wishes and comfort.  It is so scary  when our little ones are sick!

[April2]

I can tell I'm tired this morning! Lot's of misspellings! Sorry! Hopefully you can read it ok still. :)

[April2]

Ok, here's the latest. I took her in to the ER vet last night. They did some X-Rays and said there was a lot of stool in her and quite a bit of gas throughout her intestines. He didn't like that he couldn't hear any noise from her colon because he said that means it stopped pushing things through. He did say it was a good sign that she didn't have a fever or vomiting. He said the three scenerios were, 1 - that she swalled a foreign body and had a blockage (and in that case would need surgery) 2 - that there was a bacterial infection going on, or 3 - that she was constipated. He wanted to keep her overnight and give her fluids and an enema and see if they could get things moving again.

I was praying a lot last night, let me tell you! I knew we couldn't afford surgey. As it was, it still wasn't cheap for last night. Praise God He answered my prayer! It doesn't look like she needs surgery. I called this morning and she was doing a lot better. She was eating and drinking and had passed quite a bit of stool (which he said was compacted and pretty hard). He thinks she feels a lot better now and to just keep an eye on her. They gave me amoxicillin in case it's a bacterial infection. He also said she might need more fiber in her diet and to give her a 1/2 tsp. of pumpkin with her food every day.
Do you really think constipation could cause all of this? I mean she was not doing well at all yesterday. She wasn't playing, eating or drinking. She was just laying around and walking stiffly.
If it was a bacterial infection, what do you think could have caused that? She's an indoor cat, so I don't think she could have caught something.
And is there any type of cat food you could recommend to add more fiber to her diet?
Just wondered what your opinion is on this all. I'm just so glad she's ok.

April