Cat Tries To Drink Water But After Sip, Stops

Pixie Perfect

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Hello,

My cat, Snowshoes, is 9 years old. Yesterday afternoon, she started losing her appetite. She ate only half of her favorite food. Later that night, she started laying around in odd places and just not acting as attentive as she normally does. I woke up this morning and found a few places where she spit up. It was clear / white with nothing in it ... and it wasn't much but there were numerous spots (around 4). About mid morning she vomited a couple times and it was brownish, again with no substance in the vomit.

She took it easy and laid down, and I let her rest for a few hours and by mid afternoon she was acting more attentive but she still hadn't ate or drank or gone to the box all day. She came back to lay in my bed, where she always sleeps, and she laid there til about 6pm. She got up and went to her water bowl and sipped a bit, and immediately threw up, again, brownish with no substance in it, and it wasn't much. She did that twice. So she went in the garage and laid down until now when I tried to get her to drink again, and she tried and she took a small sip and stopped, and started licking the air. a few times and walked off and went to lay back down.

Does this sound like a hairball obstruction? Normally this time of year she's coughing em up almost once a day, but she hasn't even coughed one up this season yet. She's a short hair but she does shed a lot during the spring and fall (I live in New Orleans, so spring is pretty early compared to most of the US). The drop off with her has been extremely dramatic. Tuesday she was completely normal ... running, jumping, angry with everything (she's very temperamental, I joke she's not happy unless she's mad), laying in bed with me ... just her normal self. Wednesday she seemed to be trying to go to the bathroom a lot but it didn't look like she had the runs or was really dropping a lot in the litter box.

I mean, even today she's not necessarily weak. She's walking fine, was able to jump on my bed on her own earlier, tail is generally up when she walks. I was feeling encouraged when she was wagging her tail to my voice when she was laying on my bed. But now with her strange reaction to drinking even a sip of water, I'm very worried.

I've already decided to take her to the vet tomorrow ... that's if there's one open on Good Friday. But honestly I'm just looking for a way to sleep tonight. Help me if the local vets decide to be closed tomorrow. That would be just my luck.
 
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Pixie Perfect

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Update: she went potty. She's still trying to drink water but anything more than a tiny sip and she retches it up immediately. The retching is exactly like she's trying to get rid of a hairball, and the licking the air is what she looks like when she accidentally gets my hair in her mouth. She's doing the licking the air thing after the retching for a while too. At least I coaxed her out of the garage and shut the door. I don't want her in there, it's dirty. She's back to laying in my bed.

Her tail still swishes around, and gets more active when I talk to her, it stands at attention (for the most part) when she's walking. She's able to jump onto my bed with no problems still. Her skin even flaps back to her shoulders almost immediately when I pull it back. But her inability to keep water down has me freaking out. She wants to drink, she's tried numerous times in the past 2-3 hours.

Geez why can't cats talk?!
 
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Pixie Perfect

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Yes, I know. I'm gonna call one in the morning first thing. I'm likely not going to be able to sleep tonight. I'll mention that she only vomits when she drinks something, and it only produces a small amount of bile. She hasn't tried to eat since Wednesday afternoon, and that food was mostly liquid (the lickable bisque stuff). I'm a little relieved to see she went potty at least. Looks like #1 and #2.
 

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It could be a number of things, but not eating or drinking for 2 days can be dangerous. It’s worrisome that she’s trying to pee but nothing is coming out, that could be a very serious urinary infection. Wanting to drink but not having energy to do so and throwing up could be kidney failure. I’m obviously not a doctor and just speculating and I’m not trying to scare you, but from everything you’re saying, I wouldn’t wait too much longer to get to a vet.
 
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Pixie Perfect

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She just went #1 about 20 minutes ago. It was the regular amount. She has the energy to drink, it's just she tries to and it comes up right afterwards. She paws at her bowl before sipping, and she if she sips a tiny bit she's okay ... but if she drinks more than a couple tongue fulls she immediately goes (running a few minutes ago) to the next room to vomit (she's been trained not to do it on my bed, but she avoids doing it in my room altogether).

It's puzzling because she went from spry and normal to this in less than 24 hours. Her potty habits have been very regular her entire life. I'd be shocked if it was kidney failure and considering she just went potty a second ago with no problems at all, a UTI seems unlikely too.

The not being able to hold down water is what has me really worried. It's not like she drinks it and 10 minutes later she's vomiting it up. It's like she stops herself mid drink and goes to vomit.
 
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Pixie Perfect

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Whatever the outcome, I'll probably post what's going on tomorrow (today) after I go to the vet. Maybe somebody can read this someday and get an idea of what could be causing this urgent issue.
 

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I am so sorry she is sick. please do let us know what the vet says. Mine will occasionally get a stomach bug, but are normally fine in 24 to 48 hours. I hope this is the case with your girl. But the vet is the best way to find out.

Kind of sounds like she is really nauseous for some reason. Hopefully better today. One thing you might try with her water bowl is elevate it a bit? If cats have to bend over to drink it can make the nausea worse. elevate the bowl so she can drink from a standing position? I have a water fountain that has a top tier that they can just walk up to and drink. Its usually the favorite spot for my guys.
 
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maggiedemi

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It could be a hairball. I have to give my cats hairball treats like every other day. Not every single day, because that makes their poop too soft, but every other day works.
 
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Pixie Perfect

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I'll certainly let y'all know. Her appointment is in a couple hours. She's certainly thirsty, licking her lips. She's gone for the water a few times but walked away before drinking. I tried to put some water on her lips but she is always very guarded about her face being touched. 9 years with her so far and she still won't let me touch her face.

I've even tried to get her to drink out of my drinking cup, she won't take the bait. I mean she was 100% herself Wednesday morning, and she got this way over the course of less than a day. The thing I don't get is she doesn't throw up at all unless she drinks more than a couple licks of water. Otherwise, she goes all day without throwing up. And her hacking is exactly like a hairball hack.

I just hope it's nothing serious. She's a very healthy subtype (domestic shorthair) and typically a very strong, healthy cat. A bit overweight but quite a bit of that is muscle. She's always been stocky.
 

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Good luck, let us know how it goes. It could be a hairball or some other obstruction.
 
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Pixie Perfect

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Went to see two vets. The first one couldn't do anything with her because she's so difficult to deal with. She's a 15 lb ball of anger when you handle her how she doesn't wanna be handled, to the likes that a lot of people probably have never seen. Guy has 30 years experience but sent us out because he was afraid to sedate her because she might be in kidney failure or have diabetes. Honestly, I think he just didn't want to deal with a psycho.

So I went to the vet that'd seen her before (way across town) and he sedated her and xray'd. Said he didn't think it was an obstruction based on the xrays but couldn't rule it out, he did say the GI tract looked "angry" though. He did labs and some things were out of normal range but said he isn't too worried about what he sees as far as labs, but based on everything I told him, he's got a feeling it could be pancreatitis or hepatitis. He gave her an anti emetic in hopes that maybe she'll try to eat or drink something, but if that doesn't happen, I'm to take her to get an ultrasound at the 24/7 hospital by tomorrow evening (or immediately if she vomits again). He also gave her some fluids for the road just in case. We at least ruled out FIV FeLV, and HW. A fPL test was normal as well.

He said clinically she's okay, she's healthy. She's not even dehydrated despite not drinking anything since Wednesday evening. I opened her carrier when we got home and she ran (not trotted, ran) to her water bowl but was leery about drinking from it. She did the tongue thing at that point (sticking it waaayyy out of her mouth over and over). She also peed (a lot) on herself in the carrier. She was very loopy when we got her back. If only she wasn't one of the most difficult cats to deal with ever ....

Got a feeling I'm gonna be going to get that ultrasound. I really hope she isn't too scared to drink. She's a smart cat, hopefully she doesn't outsmart herself. He said wait til tomorrow evening but based on what I saw when she went to get water, I'm thinking I may as well get it this evening after traffic dies down (if it does ... holiday traffic ...) and get it taken care of sooner rather than later to keep her from suffering for that much longer.

He seemed much more concerned about a possible obstruction than liver or GI issues, but he was leaning to it being liver or GI. Last thing I need is to try to feed this cat medication that she doesn't want. Oh boy.
 
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Pixie Perfect

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Well we got the ultrasound. Nothing out of the ordinary. She's anemic now. They're focusing on parasites or autoimmune disease. They sent out the test, we'll know by Wednesday. We brought her home because we figured she'd be more stressed out here than there. They gave her more fluids and an antibiotic in the hopes that it's a parasite issue and they'll kill em. We're looking at the possibility of getting a transfusion if her RBC count doesn't rebound by Monday.

This is getting expensive. And heart breaking.
 
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Pixie Perfect

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Don't know if we can afford a transfusion. We're already in $1500. It's just me and my mother and we're both on SS. I have heart disease myself. This really sucks.
 

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I'm so sorry to hear this. I really hope the antibiotics work and she gets better. I went through something similar with my kitten and I know how stressful it can be. Please do continue to keep us updated.
 
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Pixie Perfect

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Have you tried other sources of hydration?
  • goat milk,
  • other water bowls and bowls in other rooms,
  • no lactose cow milk,
  • juice from tuna,
  • mackerel or sardine juice
  • pouch foods have more gravy
Her favorite food is the lickable bisque stuff from Hartz which is 90% water. She wouldn't even go near it. I may try some tuna juice later.
 

Neo_23

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Would it be possible to syringe some water or watered down pate wet food into her mouth if you had someone hold her or if you wrapped her in a towel?
 

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Have you tried turning the faucet on so there is small stream of water coming out? My cat Sonny likes moving water. When he was at the vets office being treated for a partial TT blockage the vet was concerned he was not drinking enough water from his bowl. They take him out of the cage to do exams and give medication. I suggested they try letting him drink running water from the sink whenever they took him out to do treatments. This actually worked and he started drinking more water. I told the vet he has fountains at home and is not used to drinking standing water in a bowl. This something the ER vet doctor told me would now be part of her treatment plan when she saw this issue. She also mentioned it to the other vets that were caring for Sonny. She used this to get another cat they were treating to start drinking water. Sonny is great at drinking water at home. He even drinks water droplets coming off my shower and gets himself wet in the process. The vet thought he may not be drinking water due to the fluids he was getting but followed my advice and realizes he gets plenty of water. He really loves the rock fountain in our living room. Once in a while when my hubby cleans it the settings get messed up and it will start to spray water when I fill it. I have noticed when this happens Sonny will put his foot over the where it is spraying from to stop the issue. He also meows at me to tell me it is spraying. I grab a paper towel to absorb some of the water and the problem stops. My hubby will change the setting right away too when this happens. His favorite water source is my rock fountain, then shower water and finally the cat fountain in our powder room. All of my cats love our rock fountain. The original one we had for years finally wore out. They were sitting next to it complaining. My hubby went online and found a new one to replace it. It is the exact same fountain. The only problem is it has to be filled 2x a day. When we travel one of our friends who lives close by comes and fills it but my cats hide from him when we are not home so I have another friend who cats sits that most of my cats interact with.
 
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