Cat acting out of the norm?

[kenna]

My cat is acting really strange and not himself. He's been really lethargic, and just lying and sleeping most of the day. Normally he is a very vocal cat and his meows are always drawn out, but when he meows now it's very loud and short. He is very obviously uncomfortable in some way, and I am taking him to the vet tomorrow, but I would like some ideas of what it could be. He is usually a very affectionate and snuggly cat, but today he just does not seem to care either way if you pet him or not. 

Any ideas on what could be wrong?  

 

[red top rescue]

There is absolutely no way for us to tell what's wrong with him other than the fact that SOETHING is not right, which you have observed.  You are doing the right thing by getting him in to the vet.  All I can advise at this point is to write down as much of the history of the illness as you can for the vet -- like how long it has been going on since you noticed it, what changes may have happened, if he goes out and might have been exposed to something or actually BITTEN by a another cat and could have a fever and an abscess starting somewhere.  Handle him all over ad see if any area is more sensitive than another.  (He may be up tight in the vet's office and it could be harder for the vet to notice slight differences.)  Is his tummy tender?  Are his paws or feet tender?  How about his ears?  In short, be ready to provide as much information as possible to the vet and that will give him/her a head start at discovering what might be wrong.

 

[anne3007]

Obviousy, he doesn't feel well. Pain in cats is hard to see because they'd hide it.

Often when you start seeing behavior changes, there might be something wrong.

I think it's a good idea that u take him to the vet tomorrow.

I don't know what this could be, since I don't hear you talking about any other symptoms? 
Does he eat and drink more or less? Did he lose weight? Did you check his body to see if he might be injured? 
One day my cat behave differently than usual. She was more quiet, didn't greet me etc. If I notice this, I always do a check first. Does she want to eat? In my case, she didn't want to eat. I started petting her and checked if this was painful to her. I saw her fur was a bit wet. She has quite a thick fur so it wasn't easy to see if there was anything wrong. When I touched around that spot, she started growling. Now I was sure something was wrong over there.

I tried to take a look at her skin as she kept growling. I saw an open wound, with a bit of blood, but it did look painful. I immediately called the vet.

After the medication and keeping the wounds clean she started to act normal again.

However, perhaps your cat isn't injured at all. But this is how I do it first. I check the cat, touch the cat and look at the reaction. When I can't find any cause I call the vet anyhow. Also if I do find a cause, but then I can do things myself first sometimes before I go to the vet.
 

Hope he feels better soon!

 

[kenna]

I have not seen him eating or drinking, but he lets you poke and prod at him as much as you want. He has never been outside, he is a 100% indoor cat, as is his sister. They are the only two pets I have, so I don't think it's an issue with animals. The only illness he has had was a sarcoma around Halloween, but he has since then received treatment and we were told he was cancer-free. It was a sarcoma on his leg, so we had to get his whole leg amputated, so I also do not think that it is back. My sister says that she thinks he possibly ate something that isn't settling right with him. I have an appt later today so we will have answers eventually! 

 

[anne3007]

Good luck today I am curious how things are going now.

 

[kenna]

We took him in yesterday and had some x-rays done. His lungs were very shadowy so there is a possibility it is cancer that went undetected from his previous sarcoma. Tests have not all come back yet, although the vet called today and says his kidneys are failing. We have an appointment to go back and talk with the vet for more information. We might just have to put him down.

 

[kenna]

I really hope we don't have to.  

 

[kenna]

 
We took him in yesterday and had some x-rays done. His lungs were very shadowy so there is a possibility it is cancer that went undetected from his previous sarcoma. Tests have not all come back yet, although the vet called today and says his kidneys are failing. We have an appointment to go back and talk with the vet for more information. We might just have to put him down.

I should also add that they kept him overnight and gave him fluids.

 

[anne3007]

Aw I am so sorry for you. I am glad you took him to the vet.

Do you know his kidney values? And did the vet say anything about what kind of kidney failure? Acute or chronic?

Unfortunately, I have quite much experience with cats and kidney failure. I took care of two cats with kidney failure and one of them had really really high values. If you have any questions about it you can always send me a message. Of course it is better to ask your vet, since he/she definitely knows more about it and knows the cat. But I have learned a lot from people who also had a cat with kidney failure. My own vet didn't give me any advice, except we had to give kidney diet.

There are more things you can do, like medication. 

It's good he stays there now and gets fluids. I did this too and my cats always felt better after the fluids.

I wish you all the best.

 

[mum of two]

Don't put him down...let nature takes it course

 

[kenna]

His values were 169.

Don't put him down...let nature takes it course

We would, except he is very clearly in pain. We don't want to drag that on for our sake.

 

[anne3007]

I assume that this is his creatinine value? You also know the urea?
I do not know what kind of equipment your vet used, because over here,  a creatinine value like this is normal, with a maximum about 200 or 250. But probably your vet used other equipment. Do you know what the normal values are for cats,  at your vetinary clinic?
I had a cat with a creatinine value of 800, and 200 or 250 was the max. Extremely high, so...
Do not give up too soon. However, I disagree with the reaction from Mum or two. A cat with severe renal failure is seriously ill. The body poisons herself and renal failure is a chronic, progressive disease. (Unless we're talking about acute kidney failure. Sometimes, if the cat is seen by a vet in time, the cat can get better.)
When a cat has chronich kidney failure, the only thing you can do is try to keep the values ​​somewhat stable.

It's sad when a cat has extremely high values ​​and is feeling sicker and sicker and you'll just keep waiting till he dies. With such a disease you can not do that, in my opinion.
However, some veterinarians recommend to put a pet down too fast, in my experience. My cat with slightly elevated kidney values ​​still lived happy for years. Each cat responds differently to treatment. So do not give up too soon! Wish you lots of strength.

 

[kenna]

Thank you all for the support and help. I have just realized I never came back with any news. We brought him in to the vet and he had acute kidney failure. His values we were told were very low, so we were going to bring him in for fluids to see if it helps. So we started driving home and we ended up turning around 30 minutes later because he had gotten worse already. You could just tell by how he was meowing that he was not comfortable at all, so we made the difficult decision to put him down. It's been a while and it's gotten easier to bear, but not fully. Thank you all, again.