My cat is acting strange after taking the drugs the vet gave us

[jan burns]

I'm very worried about Elsa, my 11 year old cat. I took her to the vet and he did an xray and found nothing, no water in lungs but she is really out of it, especially after taking Flagl and Prednisolone. She was breathing so heavy and not eating or drinking that we took her to the vet hospital but all he said was that it could be asma and her stomach was heaving with each breath so we rushed her there and even in the carrier (which she hates) she was docile even before we got to the vet. I've searched the net like crazy and there's a lot of info but i'm thinking of tapering off these drugs because she's worse although she will drink water and has a little soup and i'd put those drugs in both but this isn't like my Elsa, she's full of life and i 'm worried but can't afford another visit to the vet and of course it's saturday and they aren't even there.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I am so sorry your cat is this ill. Did they do any bloodwork?
From what you are describing, this sounds very serious and an ER vet visit is in order. I know you said you don’t have the funds now. Are you in the US? There is something called care credit you can look into. It’s like a credit card for medical. There is also a listing on this site for what to do if you need financial assistance. I wouldn’t waste your time with the vet you used again. It seems he didn’t see the severity of your cats illness.
Did that vet give you any records? If so, can you block your personal info and post them?

As for discontinuing the medications, I cannot advise you what to do. But this really is serious and your cat needs to go to an emergency facility.

 

[FeebysOwner]

What was going on when you first took Elsa to the vet - heavy breathing or something else? If her lungs looked clear on an x-ray, it would seem odd they couldn't see anything that looked like asthma, as the one vet thought possible. But it could be a heart condition that would not necessarily show up on an x-ray.

Flagyl is an antibiotic mainly used for intestinal or other bacterial infections. Why was she prescribed that? Why did the vet say to give her Prednisolone and how long has she been on it?

There are a lot of unanswered questions, and without answers I have to say that the above suggestions are the only ones I would know to give you - post whatever records the vet(s) gave you here, but more importantly, see how you can manage to have her seen again by another vet.

 

[jan burns]

Hi. I am so sorry your cat is this ill. Did they do any bloodwork?
From what you are describing, this sounds very serious and an ER vet visit is in order. I know you said you don’t have the funds now. Are you in the US? There is something called care credit you can look into. It’s like a credit card for medical. There is also a listing on this site for what to do if you need financial assistance. I wouldn’t waste your time with the vet you used again. It seems he didn’t see the severity of your cats illness.
Did that vet give you any records? If so, can you block your personal info and post them?

As for discontinuing the medications, I cannot advise you what to do. But this really is serious and your cat needs to go to an emergency facility.

I took her to an emergency hospital and that's where the vet examined her and of course they wanted to charge $1300 but I told them I didn't have that kind of money, I had a hundred dollars cash so asked to see what they could do for that, to my surprise the nurse vet came back and said the doctor agreed to check her lungs for water and to do a couple of other things but no xray or anything else but me and my daughter were shocked when we came back at 3 and he had run the xray for free and her lungs had no water in them and the xray showed nothing in her stomach so he said asma and gave me drugs but the thing is if she doesn't eat how was I supposed to get her these medicines which were Flenyl and Prednisolone. I did put some in her water but when he got home from the vet hospital we tried to give her some with the syringe and she gagged and spit up again. I must have gotten some in because before I knew it she was over at her water dish drinking a lot of water, and this continued off and on.

But she seems out of it and I contacted another vet from Chewey.com who doesn't charge and she really was informative and said to keep giving Elsa the meds. Since then she really seems out of it but today she went into my bathroom! I found her in the tub and i'd read somewhere that if you can get your cat into the bathroom and turn on the hot water, the steam from it can help clear up any congestion so I took advantage of the situation, I turned on the hot water and closed the door and actually took a shower and she remained in the tub and she was still kind of breathing heavily but right now I checked on her and she's breathing a lot better and it seems she isn't so out of it but sleeping peacefully in the tub.

 

[jan burns]

I just thought of something, several days ago I found this small white lizard looking thing in front of my front door inside my living room and Elsa had killed it and just left it there, I wonder if this could be the cause of her feeling ill? I call it a lizard because it looked like a miniature one, very small but I never thought of this as to why Elsa has been ill

 

[jan burns]

I forgot completely that over a week ago Elsa killed a small white 'house lizard' and left it at the front door, my boyfriend remembered so I looked it up and they are not poisonous at all but call pass along things inside them to the cat and if Elsa had swallowed it it would be worse but she didn't.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Did you happen to ask this Chewy support person if they would know why an x-ray would not show signs of asthma? That is the part that is confusing me. Although it is not always definitively identified on an x-ray, there is usually the appearance of shadowing/clouding that would suggest it. That goes back to what the vet said to you as an explanation for their thoughts of it possibly being asthma - did they elaborate on this aspect? Any mention of bronchitis vs. asthma? There are also parasitic bronchitis conditions that could be attributable to the 'lizard', but I don't know how/if any such thing would be visible on an x-ray, nor do I know how long something like that would manifest itself after exposure - nor, not being a vet, do I even know the likelihood.

Nonetheless, the Flagyl (same as Metronidazole) that you were given was likely done to address any bacterial infection and Prednisolone is often given to address inflammation - both for things like asthma among a host of other conditions. Both are probably going to be temporary fixes, but if this should be some odd one-time occurrence, they could resolve the matter without it necessarily returning.

I think you need to follow up with your vet, share with them the tests that the ER vet did, tell them about this 'lizard' event, and see what they would like to check next. I do think you need to continue with the meds and consider this to be a situation that needs follow up.

 

[Niclovesblueforever]

This sounds like my cat from last week. Took him to the vet. he had kidney/thyroid. Came back from the blood test and looked drunk. They gave us a sedative that I gave to her 8 hours later and from there it went downhill. She also climbed in the bathtub with me. Took her to the emergency vet . Long story short.. we euthanized him. Never figured out if he had a stroke or was over medicated and because he was 16 and had kidey disease had a adverse reaction.

i am wondering if your cat needs fluids, an IV. Hence, why both of our cats jumped in the shower. Very expensive though.Unless
that was nice of the emergency vet to do that for free. I have never met any vet where I live that cares to do anything for free. Sadly, they just care about money here,

 

[jan burns]

I talked to a vet and she just said to keep her on the meds and suggested probiotics and soft food but so far Elsa isn't interested in eating so we shall see.

 

[jan burns]

After talking with this other vet I will try her suggestions for getting elsa to eat but I do see improvement, she is no longer breathing really heavy and I don't hear the congestion noises after I turned the shower on for the steam.....twice, I've also had a humidifyer on for a couple of days and she's improved enough to go investigate my bathroom, she put her paws on the side of the toilet to see what was in there and then went into the bathtub and she's been sleeping peacefully in there. Hopefully this will get better, thank you for trying to help but i've talked to 2 vets and that's enough for now. I will give it a couple of days to see how it goes and will give you an update on this thread.

 

[Niclovesblueforever]

Sounds like some kind of respiratory infection. Making the wet food is helping with her dehydration, if she was. I am really wondering if some cats get the virus and like humans , it gets better on its own.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I don't know what person/vet suggested what to try and feed her, but I have found baby food meat (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut) to be very effective in getting a cat back to eating. Most antibiotics can cause stomach distress, so the impacts of that are lessened if you can get her to eat.

 

[jan burns]

Yes, but she isn't eating but has still improved from the first day she was ill. No more throwing up, really no gagging until I tried to get her to eat this morning but i'm not going to any more vets, I talked to 3 of them and 1 of them saw her and ran tests and xray and to see if there was water in her liver or maybe that was kidneys, i'm not sure and he could find nothing so he was left with asma, that's all doctors can do; try different tests and if they fail then it's on to the next guess. It's a matter of them ruling out things one by one, I had a friend who went through this and every time she went into the hospital and they couldn't find anything it was on to the next guess.

 

[jan burns]

This sounds like my cat from last week. Took him to the vet. he had kidney/thyroid. Came back from the blood test and looked drunk. They gave us a sedative that I gave to her 8 hours later and from there it went downhill. She also climbed in the bathtub with me. Took her to the emergency vet . Long story short.. we euthanized him. Never figured out if he had a stroke or was over medicated and because he was 16 and had kidey disease had a adverse reaction.

i am wondering if your cat needs fluids, an IV. Hence, why both of our cats jumped in the shower. Very expensive though.Unless
that was nice of the emergency vet to do that for free. I have never met any vet where I live that cares to do anything for free. Sadly, they just care about money here,

I know my daughter was with me and she asked them sharply then you are just going to let my cat die because we can't afford to pay $1,000? So then when the vet heard that he went ahead and did the xray which i'm sure was expensive. It used to be that procedures weren't cheaper but I think the system takes advantage of pet owners in that they will pay anything to save their pet but some people can't afford to pay and don't qualify for the care program either. I'm a senior citizen just trying to make her cat feel better and praying a lot and all I can do is research and talk to vets, I took her into one but I can't keep doing that, maybe time will be the answer and she will fight off this, I know that she has a covered cat box and that the fumes can go into her digestive system and even into her skin so I took the lid off and ordered special little that is 99 per cent dust free, I got another one that is tall on the sides but no cover.

This has been very perplexing, my cat has always been in perfect health, very loving and outgoing, like to go out on the front porch to be in the sun and LOVED to eat her sheba and delectables. I hope she can return to that.

 

[jan burns]

I know my daughter was with me and she asked them sharply then you are just going to let my cat die because we can't afford to pay $1,000? So then when the vet heard that he went ahead and did the xray which i'm sure was expensive. It used to be that procedures weren't cheaper but I think the system takes advantage of pet owners in that they will pay anything to save their pet but some people can't afford to pay and don't qualify for the care program either. I'm a senior citizen just trying to make her cat feel better and praying a lot and all I can do is research and talk to vets, I took her into one but I can't keep doing that, maybe time will be the answer and she will fight off this, I know that she has a covered cat box and that the fumes can go into her digestive system and even into her skin so I took the lid off and ordered special little that is 99 per cent dust free, I got another one that is tall on the sides but no cover.

This has been very perplexing, my cat has always been in perfect health, very loving and outgoing, like to go out on the front porch to be in the sun and LOVED to eat her sheba and delectables. I hope she can return to that.

The vet did not take bloodword as far as I know but he did do a couple of injections, one was to check the water in the liver, it gets to the point where I don't know what else to do, if what the vets tell you doesn't work then you just have to hope she will recover.

 

[Niclovesblueforever]

I know my daughter was with me and she asked them sharply then you are just going to let my cat die because we can't afford to pay $1,000? So then when the vet heard that he went ahead and did the xray which i'm sure was expensive. It used to be that procedures weren't cheaper but I think the system takes advantage of pet owners in that they will pay anything to save their pet but some people can't afford to pay and don't qualify for the care program either. I'm a senior citizen just trying to make her cat feel better and praying a lot and all I can do is research and talk to vets, I took her into one but I can't keep doing that, maybe time will be the answer and she will fight off this, I know that she has a covered cat box and that the fumes can go into her digestive system and even into her skin so I took the lid off and ordered special little that is 99 per cent dust free, I got another one that is tall on the sides but no cover.

This has been very perplexing, my cat has always been in perfect health, very loving and outgoing, like to go out on the front porch to be in the sun and LOVED to eat her sheba and delectables. I hope she can return to that.

I know, so sorry. My dog had a tumor on her face. the first young vet said it was a m cell tumor, so I was crying because those are bad. We scheduled the surgery for the next day.I had the main vet look at it snd she said it was not and was able to get cells out. Those came back that it was not m cell, but maybe another tumor. She did the surgey and sent it out, but she thought it was benign so did not take out enough, so she had to have another. I just don't understand why I had to pay for a second surgery when it was her fault and why she had to go through 2 surgeries, . It was like 2400 dollars. That is on top of all the problems with my cats this year. I strongly believe vets are a big reason why so many people do lt take care of thier pets, give them up, etc. I don't know where you live, but I am in Houston . I have like 6 vets around town and they all are not that great. Hahaha. From expensive to lower cost

 

[FeebysOwner]

Vets often won't press for additional testing, especially if they get the sense that the pet owner can't afford it or doesn't want it. In light of the fact that more intensive - and expensive - testing would be needed to have a better chance at determining asthma, I do believe the vet gave you the best default treatment to see if that could improve the situation. And I hope it works.

An 11yo cat is by no means elderly, but that is about the age when illnesses and diseases start to show up. Things can begin to brew with no outward signs that they are occurring, and a cat will carry on as if nothing is going on, until they reach a point. Allergies, which can be a chief cause of asthma may begin at any point in time in a cat's life, and perhaps that is what is happening to Elsa.

You are right to try to decrease dust from the litter, as that can be an irritant to cats with respiratory/lung issues like asthma. An air purifier is another thing you could consider to help remove additional particles from the air in your home, and aid in moisturizing the air as well. Keeping dust down to a minimum level, with increased vacuuming and dusting can also be helpful.

Please keep us posted on Elsa's progress.

 

[jan burns]

Well, she was in my bathtub and I had the shower on because the steam is supposed to be good for her and she sounded better, I had to take her out but couldn't get her to eat anything and no water as far as I know but she was near it all night, she was drinking it but now she doesn't seem intersted, she's in my daughters bathroom and stood and came over to me as if to ask for help and it broke my heart! I picked her up and talked soothinglin to her and pet her and then got the humidifyer into that bathroom but this time put vicks inside with the water. She isn't throwing up anymore and she jumped off my bed like the old Elsa but she won't eat, I did order a pill shooter but that won't be here until November 1st. I will call the vet that saw her and take her in if I have to, maybe he can do an injection of these drugs so she can get better faster.

 

[white shadow]

jan burns - first, a very warm welcome to the forum!

Please, don't use "Vicks" when you are giving her extra humidity - cats' senses are far more delicate than humans' - the odour of the Vicks product is really vile to cats. Plain vapourized water is just fine.

 

[jan burns]

And what is her thing with water suddenly? She laid in the tub which had water in places and she also got into my daughter's toilet and remained in front of it and slept most of the day and Kira my daughter said she has a thing about water now and asked me to remove Elsa from her bathroom so I brought her in the front room but in a few minutes she went back to Kira's bathroom so I removed her again and this time closed the door and she laid in front of the door until I went to bed. However kira and I managed to get half a pill in her. I held her swaddled is a towel as we tried to get the pill in her, once kira put it in I kept her mouth closed and spoke softly to her and stroked her head and body until i was sure thr pill went down. Later that night in bed I cried my eyes out because I was sure Elsa was not going to be with us much longer.