- Joined
- Jan 4, 2017
- Messages
- 22
- Purraise
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This is chock-full of details. Some are definitely relevant. Others might not be. I think there's a possibility that some that I don't think are relevant actually *are* relevant, thus the giant post full of details!
Here's the bullet form of Abby's history and what's happening now.
The cat: Abby, currently 1.75 years old, adopted December 2017 when she was 6 months old
- had loose stool when we adopted her; was super playful and cheery, but made LOTS of visits to the litter box every day
- after testing for parasites and rounds of meds (I know we had her on metronidazole and I think another antibiotic), vet settled on food sensitivities to chicken, turkey and who knows what else
- after many different foods, settled on Primal freeze dried raw venison which was practically a wonder drug for her. Her tummy settled down and she's been on that for about a year or so
- she is a constant/over groomer who didn't seem to shed much
Fast forward to this past September:
- after being on primal for many months, she pooped outside the box and threw up a hairball. I took her to the vet who said the poop was basically all hair and to try a laxative or hair ball treatment.
- we tried a few different treatments but she didn't like them. (I wanted something she'd willingly eat since we'd have to do it daily.) She loved pumpkin, though, so we started giving that to her daily to help bulk up the stool and make it easier to pass the hair through her system
- she seemed to be shedding a whole lot more; her fur was (and is) still super soft but she's shedding a ton
Recent developments (so for about the last 2 weeks):
- we went out of town for a week and had people come by 2x/day to feed and visit her
- when we got back in town, the house had a distinctive "cat gas" odor that seemed familiar from when she was having food troubles when we first got her
- stool was softer than normal, but not "bad"
- thought we might have a bad bag of food, so switched to a new one
- her behavior during this time was sorta fine, but not completely normal. She wasn't climbing on her tower (which she practically lives on), she was on our laps more than normal; she wasn't following us around as much as normal; she'd mainly perch/lie on the floor with her feet underneath her; her appetite was good
- I thought she might be a little needy since we had left her, but who knows
- threw up a hairball one evening and then threw up 3 early mornings in a row. Some had hair, some had bone fragments with hair, some was liquid
- pooped mucousy liquid poop one morning, so I took her to the vet
- vet prescribed a 4 day course of metronidazole. Vet felt her tummy and almost sent her for X-rays but decided it was poop she was feeling based on location and Abby's lack of reaction/pain when vet was feeling tummy
- on the 4th day of medication, she threw up another hairball with bone fragments so I took it to the vet to make sure that what I thought I was seeing was what I was seeing.
- vet confirmed bone fragments from food and thought primal venison was causing the problem; recommended we switch food
- we tried the hydrolyzed protein food that the vet recommended but Abby didn't like it. Decided to see about a different brand of raw food and settled on Stella & Chewy's freeze dried rabbit. We switched foods on Saturday morning.
Since then:
- she's been pretty sleepy
- Sunday morning, she threw up a small firm wad of hair along with a little liquid, no bone fragments
- she's been eating her rabbit. Not super enthusiastically but she'll eat it
- poop is normal; then poop is normal combined with some that's soft; then poop is normal again; then poop is smelly. No rhyme or reason to the change as far as I can tell, but she did have some ziwipeak air dried venison one time on Monday and a different type of rabbit on Sunday afternoon
- This morning before I got up, she threw up on the couch (boo) and another spot. The couch spot had bits of hair in it and the other spot had another firm little wad of hair
- Today her appetite seems to be better. She actually meowed for food while I was getting it ready.
- She had a little bit of smelly poop today mixed in with normal and some slightly soft poop that was all in the same pile. Last night's poop was normal
- She's following me around more than she has in recent days
- She played with a toy for quite a while and was running after it
- She's still not in her tower, but it seems like she's feeling better
What I'm wondering about:
- could her lack of enthusiasm for food be related to the metronidazole? She finished her last dose on Friday afternoon
- could a whole lot of hair inside her be part of the problem? And is it possible that today's small hairball was enough to dislodge things and get them moving again? She seems to feel better today but it's not like she threw up a huge hairball.
I'm also wondering what we should do. If the hair is a more likely culprit than the venison, maybe switching foods isn't necessary. I'd like to avoid so much bone in the primal, though. Is there a good hairball treatment to try with her? We can continue giving her pumpkin and we finally found a brush that she'll let us use on her, so the amount of hair she's consuming should decrease.
I can take her in to the vet's if necessary. If some of these issues are from taking the metronidazole OR a hairball that doesn't need medical intervention, I'd rather keep her home and not stress her out.
Cat detectives, any thoughts or ideas?
Here's the bullet form of Abby's history and what's happening now.
The cat: Abby, currently 1.75 years old, adopted December 2017 when she was 6 months old
- had loose stool when we adopted her; was super playful and cheery, but made LOTS of visits to the litter box every day
- after testing for parasites and rounds of meds (I know we had her on metronidazole and I think another antibiotic), vet settled on food sensitivities to chicken, turkey and who knows what else
- after many different foods, settled on Primal freeze dried raw venison which was practically a wonder drug for her. Her tummy settled down and she's been on that for about a year or so
- she is a constant/over groomer who didn't seem to shed much
Fast forward to this past September:
- after being on primal for many months, she pooped outside the box and threw up a hairball. I took her to the vet who said the poop was basically all hair and to try a laxative or hair ball treatment.
- we tried a few different treatments but she didn't like them. (I wanted something she'd willingly eat since we'd have to do it daily.) She loved pumpkin, though, so we started giving that to her daily to help bulk up the stool and make it easier to pass the hair through her system
- she seemed to be shedding a whole lot more; her fur was (and is) still super soft but she's shedding a ton
Recent developments (so for about the last 2 weeks):
- we went out of town for a week and had people come by 2x/day to feed and visit her
- when we got back in town, the house had a distinctive "cat gas" odor that seemed familiar from when she was having food troubles when we first got her
- stool was softer than normal, but not "bad"
- thought we might have a bad bag of food, so switched to a new one
- her behavior during this time was sorta fine, but not completely normal. She wasn't climbing on her tower (which she practically lives on), she was on our laps more than normal; she wasn't following us around as much as normal; she'd mainly perch/lie on the floor with her feet underneath her; her appetite was good
- I thought she might be a little needy since we had left her, but who knows
- threw up a hairball one evening and then threw up 3 early mornings in a row. Some had hair, some had bone fragments with hair, some was liquid
- pooped mucousy liquid poop one morning, so I took her to the vet
- vet prescribed a 4 day course of metronidazole. Vet felt her tummy and almost sent her for X-rays but decided it was poop she was feeling based on location and Abby's lack of reaction/pain when vet was feeling tummy
- on the 4th day of medication, she threw up another hairball with bone fragments so I took it to the vet to make sure that what I thought I was seeing was what I was seeing.
- vet confirmed bone fragments from food and thought primal venison was causing the problem; recommended we switch food
- we tried the hydrolyzed protein food that the vet recommended but Abby didn't like it. Decided to see about a different brand of raw food and settled on Stella & Chewy's freeze dried rabbit. We switched foods on Saturday morning.
Since then:
- she's been pretty sleepy
- Sunday morning, she threw up a small firm wad of hair along with a little liquid, no bone fragments
- she's been eating her rabbit. Not super enthusiastically but she'll eat it
- poop is normal; then poop is normal combined with some that's soft; then poop is normal again; then poop is smelly. No rhyme or reason to the change as far as I can tell, but she did have some ziwipeak air dried venison one time on Monday and a different type of rabbit on Sunday afternoon
- This morning before I got up, she threw up on the couch (boo) and another spot. The couch spot had bits of hair in it and the other spot had another firm little wad of hair
- Today her appetite seems to be better. She actually meowed for food while I was getting it ready.
- She had a little bit of smelly poop today mixed in with normal and some slightly soft poop that was all in the same pile. Last night's poop was normal
- She's following me around more than she has in recent days
- She played with a toy for quite a while and was running after it
- She's still not in her tower, but it seems like she's feeling better
What I'm wondering about:
- could her lack of enthusiasm for food be related to the metronidazole? She finished her last dose on Friday afternoon
- could a whole lot of hair inside her be part of the problem? And is it possible that today's small hairball was enough to dislodge things and get them moving again? She seems to feel better today but it's not like she threw up a huge hairball.
I'm also wondering what we should do. If the hair is a more likely culprit than the venison, maybe switching foods isn't necessary. I'd like to avoid so much bone in the primal, though. Is there a good hairball treatment to try with her? We can continue giving her pumpkin and we finally found a brush that she'll let us use on her, so the amount of hair she's consuming should decrease.
I can take her in to the vet's if necessary. If some of these issues are from taking the metronidazole OR a hairball that doesn't need medical intervention, I'd rather keep her home and not stress her out.
Cat detectives, any thoughts or ideas?