14 Yearold Cat Suddedly Sick

[golgotha]

Hi, my 14 year old cat Yuna got inexplicably sick overnight.

When I woke up she didn’t come up to me with my other cats as she usually does, she was sitting in a cardboard box I have for them to scratch their claws on, and didn’t come out until I moved it around.

Then she went to the water bowl, drink quite a bit, then was sitting around it for a bit, which was very unlike her and when I really started to get worried.

She went back to the cardboard box, until I petted her then she got out and sat up besides me, but she was still obviously, not herself. After about two hours of sitting there (listless), she tries to curl up to sleep and after a little while she pukes up all the water she had before and then went back to the cardboard box, curled up and seems to be sleeping peacefully up to now.

I’ll be taking her to the Vet in 2-3 hours when they open here, but the reason I made this post is because I recently (like a little over a month ago) had two other cats, that were in a different house with my mother, and were brought to me in a pretty bad condition, and both of them had similar initial symptoms, and both of them ended up dying. I got conflicting reports from the vets about what could have possibly being the cause with those two dying, but they told me the reason they were sitting next to their water bowls drinking, hovering and then puking it out might have being due to a kidney failure. Their turn wasn't sudden, they were losing weight over a period of time (unfortunately my mother didn't notice how bad they were doing since they were with a lot of other cats) and had a bad case of anemia before the similar symptoms to Yuna started.

I know at 14 she’s old (especially for local feline living standards) and she is going to die sooner than later, but having lost those 2 recently and being almost out of money until the 12th when I get paid (local vets are really sour about doing payment plans) and because of how suddenly she turned, I’m getting really stressed and worried I’m going to lose her too.

So I was hoping anyone who had experience with similar symptoms to at least give me some idea about what could possibly be wrong with her, especially since, I don’t really have the money to do a full blood test for her, or anything besides paying for a pet visit + medication. And I'm also worried this might be viral somehow and may affect my other cats too.

I could provide more information but don’t want to make this post any longer.

 

[margd]

It's been ten hours since you posted - I'm sorry no one got back to you before now.  You've taken your cat to the vet by now.  What did he or she tell you might be wrong?  I'm just wondering if your kitty is suffering from acute kidney failure which can sometimes be reversed if the cat gets to the vet in time. 

I can sympathize with what you're going through.  You've had a lot of loss recently and it is only natural that you would be fearing the worst about your girl.  I hope instead that she recovers quickly so you can put your fears to rest. 

Please let us know how she is doing. 

 

[golgotha]

I took her to the vet and he said he could do a blood test just for kidney related stuff which was within my budget (will get the result back tomorrow). Not sure what that means exactly, but is a lot cheaper than a full blood test that costs about 85 Euros down here.

He gave her an IV with an antiemetic, and antibiotics and she at least acts more normal now, she ate some Tuna so she's back to eating as well, just waiting to see if she can hold it down now.

Problem is, if it really is an issue with her kidneys, dialysis is not an option here (never mind the cost if it was) so he told me if her kidneys are starting to go, they will basically put her under some medication just to delay the inevitable in that case.

I obviously cannot afford to take her to another country for dialysis back and forth, and that frustrates me since it basically means if I had money or was living elsewhere I could give her more time.

But I guess I shouldn't jump the gun, I don't know how bad it is yet, maybe her kidneys aren't too bad, and she hasn't hoovered over the water bowl since, I'll be taking her back to the vet in the morning for another IV and to get the results.

 

[golgotha]

I have an update.

Her results came back and it looks like her kidneys are not the problem, vet told me they’re not perfect, but she’s not in immediate danger for a kidney failure. Which was a great relief for me.

He kept her there under IV for about 4 hours because she was dehydrated she even ate (wet food) a bit more, but she seems reluctant to drink water still. I will be taking her there tomorrow for more of the same, luckily this vet was accommodating to my financial situation.

Vet still not sure what the cause of her sickness might be though, he gave her some worm medicine, but I know I took care of worms (and fleas) for all my cats for years now, they don’t come in contact with outside animals so is unlikely they could get any.

She’s closer to her older self now, but not 100% especially when it comes to drinking water and eating kibble like normally, her mood and movement is better though.

I don’t know if she’s off the hook yet, since we don’t know what actually caused her to be sick, but I’m glad is not kidney failure given the original symptoms.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who read my posts and Margd for responding.

I guess I was getting paranoid about her, given my other loses recently. And I wish I could stop being so stressed out, but that won’t happen unless I know she is going to be OK for sure, my cats are my Achilles heel, so I tend to be very sensitive about them.

 

[foxden]

G golgotha

When Yuna comes home, you should probably feed her wet cat food for most of her food and only a small amount of kibble.

Wet cat food has more moisture, so she won't need to drink as much. Wet food is also healthier than kibble, since kibble contains carbohydrates that cats don't need in their diets.

More water in her food means she won't need to drink as much.

There are many high quality canned foods. Several less-expensive foods are also reasonable quality. Fancy Feast Classics (pate and ground styles) have a good balance of protein and fat and many members have fed this successfully to their cats for many years. You can find more information in the nutrition forum

Wet food is good for any cat with symptoms of any kidney failure. More water in her system helps her kidneys function better