I recently adopted a three month old, male kitten from a local shelter so that my adult, female cat--who's named Bebe--could have a companion while I'm away at work. The day I brought the kitten--whom I've named Boyo-- home, he started sneezing and had clear discharge from his nose and eyes. Not too long after, Bebe began to show similar symptoms. Before I knew it, I was tending to two very sick cats. The little one pulled through quickly and is now fine but my Bebe has been giving me mixed signals and her symptoms aren't as consistent as you'd expect from a cat that is truly sick. What I mean is, I suspect some of what I'm interpreting as health symptoms to be simply aggression.
For one, she typically gets on my lap, becomes very stiff and tense and begins salivating when she's angry at me. And she appears to be flirting with the idea of attacking me. She never has but that's what I get from her when she gets like that. She isn't taking the arrival of the kitten well at all and has swatted and hissed at him since day one. She has displayed extremely jealous behavior and seems to be competing for my attention every time I even look at our new kitten. When she was sick, she almost drove me to get her into an emergency vet due to globs of clear mucus coming out of her mouth accompanied by labored breathing through the mouth. I watched her closely and she seemed to improve over the next 2 days.
However her behavior and disinterest in eating has gotten me worried sick lately because I don't know if it is her acting out in protest over the new arrival or if it's something related to her health that might be the result of complications from her recent illness. I took the kitten to see a vet when he was sick but I haven't taken her because every time I planned on doing so, she seemed to improve or would confuse me into thinking what she was exhibiting was not health related.
Now I'm leaning toward thinking this is a health related problem because today she suddenly did this very distressed meow, rushed over to me, and seemed to be needing my help. She then began to do what seemed to be either repeated sneezing or repeatedly and desperately attempting to clear her nose and throat. Thick, white and clear mucus stringed out of her nose and mouth and onto my lap. It wasn't much but what came out did not appear to be saliva as she literally had a string of it just hanging there from her mouth and she seemed to be unable to breathe properly for about a minute.
The thing that has me concerned most of all is she has not eaten a bite of food for 5 whole days, seems to be very depressed, and always has that expression on her face as if she's doing a really hard smile and her posture is always in a tight ball with her head sort of low as if waiting for prey but with a forlorn demeanor. I know you must be thinking I'm an idiot and that this is clearly an emergency but you'd have to know her as much as I do to really know what I'm talking about and from my experience, it really is possible she is just extremely angry at me for bringing that kitten home and what I interpret as fluid in her lungs and an inability to breathe could very well be her usual salivating and angry grunting which sounds worse now due to her illness leaving her with a sore throat. I know this because her meows are scratchy and sound deeper than usual. There are moments where she looks as if she's dying but then I quickly realize that she's mostly just angry and showing it in a strange way. This morning she moved me to tears when I thought I saw her trying to breathe and losing consciousness. I panicked and ended up being over 2 hours late for work but it ended up being a false alarm. Basically, she was pissed off because I wouldn't leave and she was sleepy and wanted to sleep. She was in a tight ball with very squinty eyes and mucus dripping from her mouth. Of course I thought she was taking her last breaths but all that worry turned to embarrassment when she suddenly got up and pranced away into the other room.
I know I may come across as clueless or maybe even negligent but you must understand she really does give mixed signals but I also do admit that I should probably not do the guessing thing and should best take her in to the vet just in case. In my defense I am not rich and am currently very broke and don't have the money for a vet visit but I thankfully have a brother who is an animal lover and offered to pay for any care that I can't afford. It's just my shame that has caused me to avoid asking him but I know I should get over that and think of the cat, who is depending on me since she has no way of telling me what's wrong.
Have any of you experienced similar behavior patterns with your cats or any similar symptoms that could easily be something related to behavior? Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
For one, she typically gets on my lap, becomes very stiff and tense and begins salivating when she's angry at me. And she appears to be flirting with the idea of attacking me. She never has but that's what I get from her when she gets like that. She isn't taking the arrival of the kitten well at all and has swatted and hissed at him since day one. She has displayed extremely jealous behavior and seems to be competing for my attention every time I even look at our new kitten. When she was sick, she almost drove me to get her into an emergency vet due to globs of clear mucus coming out of her mouth accompanied by labored breathing through the mouth. I watched her closely and she seemed to improve over the next 2 days.
However her behavior and disinterest in eating has gotten me worried sick lately because I don't know if it is her acting out in protest over the new arrival or if it's something related to her health that might be the result of complications from her recent illness. I took the kitten to see a vet when he was sick but I haven't taken her because every time I planned on doing so, she seemed to improve or would confuse me into thinking what she was exhibiting was not health related.
Now I'm leaning toward thinking this is a health related problem because today she suddenly did this very distressed meow, rushed over to me, and seemed to be needing my help. She then began to do what seemed to be either repeated sneezing or repeatedly and desperately attempting to clear her nose and throat. Thick, white and clear mucus stringed out of her nose and mouth and onto my lap. It wasn't much but what came out did not appear to be saliva as she literally had a string of it just hanging there from her mouth and she seemed to be unable to breathe properly for about a minute.
The thing that has me concerned most of all is she has not eaten a bite of food for 5 whole days, seems to be very depressed, and always has that expression on her face as if she's doing a really hard smile and her posture is always in a tight ball with her head sort of low as if waiting for prey but with a forlorn demeanor. I know you must be thinking I'm an idiot and that this is clearly an emergency but you'd have to know her as much as I do to really know what I'm talking about and from my experience, it really is possible she is just extremely angry at me for bringing that kitten home and what I interpret as fluid in her lungs and an inability to breathe could very well be her usual salivating and angry grunting which sounds worse now due to her illness leaving her with a sore throat. I know this because her meows are scratchy and sound deeper than usual. There are moments where she looks as if she's dying but then I quickly realize that she's mostly just angry and showing it in a strange way. This morning she moved me to tears when I thought I saw her trying to breathe and losing consciousness. I panicked and ended up being over 2 hours late for work but it ended up being a false alarm. Basically, she was pissed off because I wouldn't leave and she was sleepy and wanted to sleep. She was in a tight ball with very squinty eyes and mucus dripping from her mouth. Of course I thought she was taking her last breaths but all that worry turned to embarrassment when she suddenly got up and pranced away into the other room.
I know I may come across as clueless or maybe even negligent but you must understand she really does give mixed signals but I also do admit that I should probably not do the guessing thing and should best take her in to the vet just in case. In my defense I am not rich and am currently very broke and don't have the money for a vet visit but I thankfully have a brother who is an animal lover and offered to pay for any care that I can't afford. It's just my shame that has caused me to avoid asking him but I know I should get over that and think of the cat, who is depending on me since she has no way of telling me what's wrong.
Have any of you experienced similar behavior patterns with your cats or any similar symptoms that could easily be something related to behavior? Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.