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Lucy has three issues I'm worried about so we are visiting the vet tomorrow am. 1) I posted recently about her cat cold. It is getting better but she isn't 100% better yet. She's well enough that I probably wouldn't visit the vet if this was the only issue. 2) I'm still wondering about how her mouth is doing because she has stomatitis and had extractions 6 weeks ago. We still notice a slight drooling problem though I think her mouth is much better overall. 3) And something might be wrong with her pooping process or her anus. The anus is the one thing I haven't asked about here, and I'd love any insight anyone could give me before we see the vet.
Okay here are the facts....
1) Lucy went from a standard shelter diet to grain free canned and raw diet in early August when she came to live with us.
2) She gets a probiotic sprinkled on her food once a day. She also gets some salmon oil (omega 3's) and lysine daily.
3) When I've seen her poop it looks normal...not too hard, not too soft. BUT last night I saw her go through all the pooping motions and nothing came out. We have a multi cat house so there is no way for me to know whether she pooped again after that. (There was plenty of poop in the boxes this morning, but no way of knowing who did it.) Her appetite is great and she is eating well so I don't think she has a blockage but the no poop incident was the "last straw" that made me call the vet.
4) I do think she may have had a hairball incident recently. She has been shedding more than when we first got her and grooming herself more with the improvement in her mouth. She had what seemed like a hairball cough and I found a hairball vomited up. None of my other cats deal with hairballs regularly so I'm guessing it was her. (We are brushing her more to help with the grooming.)
5) She was treated for tapeworms in August. Two doses of Droncit, 3 weeks apart. No fleas (she had 3 months of Revolution just in case.) She is indoors only and had a clear stool sample after the parasite treatment.
Anyways, I've always been puzzled by what looks like little bits of poop clinging to her anus. (Never anything in the fur, just right on the anus.) I've read about what tapeworm segments look like (brown rice) but these are dark brown so I don't think it is lingering tapeworms. I've never seen anything shed where she has been lying down or anything like that. I've tried many times to wipe one off with a wet paper towel to see if I could get a closer look. No success...too squirmy.
The thing is I'll see them come and go more frequently than she would be pooping. So it is not like it could be little bits left over from a poop. Could something be coming out of her anus and going back in? Yesterday I saw something there and then it was gone all while she was milling around on my white bathroom counter. Nothing fell off her hiney. I would have seen it on the counter. I'm totally puzzled. I have a feeling the vet might be too. I thought I'd ask here in case anyone here had any similar experience or ideas of what it could be.
I've been reading up on constipation in cats, but I don't know whether to assume she has a problem with this from the one incident I saw last night. And I'm not sure whether it could be related to her dirty anus.
Like I said, we're going to the vet tomorrow but I'd love any input you have.
Okay here are the facts....
1) Lucy went from a standard shelter diet to grain free canned and raw diet in early August when she came to live with us.
2) She gets a probiotic sprinkled on her food once a day. She also gets some salmon oil (omega 3's) and lysine daily.
3) When I've seen her poop it looks normal...not too hard, not too soft. BUT last night I saw her go through all the pooping motions and nothing came out. We have a multi cat house so there is no way for me to know whether she pooped again after that. (There was plenty of poop in the boxes this morning, but no way of knowing who did it.) Her appetite is great and she is eating well so I don't think she has a blockage but the no poop incident was the "last straw" that made me call the vet.
4) I do think she may have had a hairball incident recently. She has been shedding more than when we first got her and grooming herself more with the improvement in her mouth. She had what seemed like a hairball cough and I found a hairball vomited up. None of my other cats deal with hairballs regularly so I'm guessing it was her. (We are brushing her more to help with the grooming.)
5) She was treated for tapeworms in August. Two doses of Droncit, 3 weeks apart. No fleas (she had 3 months of Revolution just in case.) She is indoors only and had a clear stool sample after the parasite treatment.
Anyways, I've always been puzzled by what looks like little bits of poop clinging to her anus. (Never anything in the fur, just right on the anus.) I've read about what tapeworm segments look like (brown rice) but these are dark brown so I don't think it is lingering tapeworms. I've never seen anything shed where she has been lying down or anything like that. I've tried many times to wipe one off with a wet paper towel to see if I could get a closer look. No success...too squirmy.
The thing is I'll see them come and go more frequently than she would be pooping. So it is not like it could be little bits left over from a poop. Could something be coming out of her anus and going back in? Yesterday I saw something there and then it was gone all while she was milling around on my white bathroom counter. Nothing fell off her hiney. I would have seen it on the counter. I'm totally puzzled. I have a feeling the vet might be too. I thought I'd ask here in case anyone here had any similar experience or ideas of what it could be.
I've been reading up on constipation in cats, but I don't know whether to assume she has a problem with this from the one incident I saw last night. And I'm not sure whether it could be related to her dirty anus.
Like I said, we're going to the vet tomorrow but I'd love any input you have.