Hello,
So last Friday night I came home to find Bitsy scooting across my carpet. Have never ever seen a cat do this. Would explain the faint "skid mark" I'd previously seen on my carpet but had no idea who dun it ;-) I rushed her to the Vet before they closed, concerned about anal glands or ?worms (though the latter made no sense). They expressed the glands, both very full, the Left one, I was told, would have likely ruptured in about a week!! I asked about preventative antibiotics as I had an old cat years ago (chronic constipation) who developed an abscess of one gland and required surgery to drain, yadda yadda. They didn't feel it was needed, told me to come back in 3-4 weeks for a recheck. She scooted a bit more for the next 24 hrs but I attributed that mostly just to the discomfort of having had them emptied (ugh). Have not seen her do it since then...but came home tonight to find another faint skid mark on the carpet.
Her stools have always been on the softish side since I adopted her mid December. Formed but very soft. So I'm wondering now if the lack of really formed stools is impairing her ability to empty the glands?
Took her back to Vet tonight. One gland empty, the other had some but definitely full, but they both felt "thickened." Vet decided to put her on Amoxicillin 100mg twice a day and wanted me to start her on canned pumpkin once a day................1/2 tsp a day. She's an 11 lb cat. That doesn't seem like much pumpkin to me?? any thoughts? I know I don't want to overdo it, but. Anyway, she wouldn't eat in her food so I syringed it into her ;-) Course now if her stools become more loose I won't know if it's the Amoxi or the pumpkin
Vet also thinks that because she's overweight, that's contributed to the issues with the emptying of the anal glands (something about extra fat to that area impairing the "tightening" action that causes glands to naturally empty.
I'm to go back in 2 weeks to have them checked again, at $55 a crack. Tonight it was $161 for the Vet consult, gland expression and Amoxi.
He did tell me that if this continues, I may want to consider the surgery to remove the anal glands ($1600-$2000!). Definitely a last resort because that kind of surgery scares the "crap" (pun intended) out of me. Any issues to that region could cause issues to anal sphincter and then we could be in for a whole world of trouble. Ugh.
Hopefully she tolerates the Amoxi.
Any thoughts or experiences with this sort of thing? Really all new to me with respect to my other cats (other than the really old constipated one I rescued/mentioned up above, years ago).
PS - he thought maybe the loose stools were some kind of gastrointestinal bug and thought the antibiotics might work for that as well as to ensure no infection developed to anal glands. He considered Flagyl but thought that might be too powerful. I asked him if maybe her food causes the softer stools, he didn't think so. I asked whether I should maybe try a grain-free food as some cats have issues with grains, he didn't think this could be it. I feed her Holistic-something dry (Eagle Pack makes it, I believe) and she gets canned twice a day (Fancy Feast/Friskies or whatever canned I serve; I try the better quality canned foods but my crew just don't like them much so I have to feed the cheaper stuff).
Thanks
Lisa
So last Friday night I came home to find Bitsy scooting across my carpet. Have never ever seen a cat do this. Would explain the faint "skid mark" I'd previously seen on my carpet but had no idea who dun it ;-) I rushed her to the Vet before they closed, concerned about anal glands or ?worms (though the latter made no sense). They expressed the glands, both very full, the Left one, I was told, would have likely ruptured in about a week!! I asked about preventative antibiotics as I had an old cat years ago (chronic constipation) who developed an abscess of one gland and required surgery to drain, yadda yadda. They didn't feel it was needed, told me to come back in 3-4 weeks for a recheck. She scooted a bit more for the next 24 hrs but I attributed that mostly just to the discomfort of having had them emptied (ugh). Have not seen her do it since then...but came home tonight to find another faint skid mark on the carpet.
Her stools have always been on the softish side since I adopted her mid December. Formed but very soft. So I'm wondering now if the lack of really formed stools is impairing her ability to empty the glands?
Took her back to Vet tonight. One gland empty, the other had some but definitely full, but they both felt "thickened." Vet decided to put her on Amoxicillin 100mg twice a day and wanted me to start her on canned pumpkin once a day................1/2 tsp a day. She's an 11 lb cat. That doesn't seem like much pumpkin to me?? any thoughts? I know I don't want to overdo it, but. Anyway, she wouldn't eat in her food so I syringed it into her ;-) Course now if her stools become more loose I won't know if it's the Amoxi or the pumpkin
Vet also thinks that because she's overweight, that's contributed to the issues with the emptying of the anal glands (something about extra fat to that area impairing the "tightening" action that causes glands to naturally empty.
I'm to go back in 2 weeks to have them checked again, at $55 a crack. Tonight it was $161 for the Vet consult, gland expression and Amoxi.
He did tell me that if this continues, I may want to consider the surgery to remove the anal glands ($1600-$2000!). Definitely a last resort because that kind of surgery scares the "crap" (pun intended) out of me. Any issues to that region could cause issues to anal sphincter and then we could be in for a whole world of trouble. Ugh.
Hopefully she tolerates the Amoxi.
Any thoughts or experiences with this sort of thing? Really all new to me with respect to my other cats (other than the really old constipated one I rescued/mentioned up above, years ago).
PS - he thought maybe the loose stools were some kind of gastrointestinal bug and thought the antibiotics might work for that as well as to ensure no infection developed to anal glands. He considered Flagyl but thought that might be too powerful. I asked him if maybe her food causes the softer stools, he didn't think so. I asked whether I should maybe try a grain-free food as some cats have issues with grains, he didn't think this could be it. I feed her Holistic-something dry (Eagle Pack makes it, I believe) and she gets canned twice a day (Fancy Feast/Friskies or whatever canned I serve; I try the better quality canned foods but my crew just don't like them much so I have to feed the cheaper stuff).
Thanks
Lisa