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- Feb 26, 2016
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I recently (not quite a month ago) adopted an almost 4 year old blind siamese cat, Minerva. The rescue I got her from has had her since she was about a year old, and all I know is that she came to the rescue with a broken jaw and already at least mostly blind (it seems she's entirely blind now). Her first foster kept her in a large crate away from the other cats in the house for a little over a year, then the foster that I got Min from had been keeping her for almost two years in a small spare bedroom.
The foster hadn't taken Min to the vet in well over a year, but when I took her in 3 weeks ago they said she was healthy other than being late on some vaccinations and recommended getting her teeth cleaned. They weighed her at 6.4 pounds.
Min seems to enjoy her new home. I live in a small one bedroom apartment with my partner, but she has free range of the place and has taken to sleeping on the couch, bed, or a lap (never had the chance to be a lap cat in the past) instead of one of her two cat beds. I kept her on the same grain-free dry food the foster had her on, and while I have a couple cans of the same wet food as well, I've also been giving her shredded duck and chicken meat leftover from (unsalted) broth I made a few days ago.
Minerva didn't have any issues finding and using her litter box when we brought her home. Her foster was using generic cat litter, so I stuck with just that the first several days. As the weeks have gone on, I've been phasing in a different kind of litter (septic safe!) by mixing in some each time I cleaned her box.
Okay, so that's all the background info on Minerva. Now for why I'm posting today:
In the last week, Minerva has peed twice outside her litter box. The first time we thought it was because the bathroom door was closed while my partner was showering and she couldn't get in, but she usually meows very loudly if she encounters a closed door that isn't usually closed, and this time she didn't. The second time was today, and the bathroom door was wide open for her.
In addition to this, she's spit up twice this week as well, including today. Her foster had said that she spits up sometimes, just part of having a cat, but twice in a week? She's been eating regularly, she eats her dry food and dental treats through out the day and night and usually gets a couple bites of wet food or shredded chicken once or twice as well, but when I tried to weigh her today on my not-at-all-trustworthy bathroom scale, I was getting somewhere between 5.5 and 6 pounds, significantly lower than the 6.4 she was at the vets.
Should I be concerned for Min? I'm inclined to think the peeing outside her box is due to her not liking the new litter still, which I'm still phasing in and at this point there is very little of the old brand still mixed in. Plus her being blind, is it possible she was just a bit confused and thought she found another place to go? The first accident, she peed on a very large leaf that had been crunched up in the corner (don't ask), and the second time was on a crinkly plastic bag. She tried to bury it both times like it was litter.
As far as the vomiting and potential weight loss, is this just me being a worried new cat owner with a faulty bathroom scale that gives me a slightly different number every time I use it? Like I said, she seems to be eating just fine.
One last thing, just in case this post isn't already long enough. Min also paces in circles sometimes for a few minutes at a time. I know this can be a sign of disorientation, but is it something to worry about? Again, she's completely blind and is still learning her way around to an extent. She also has tons of toys and places to climb and gets as much attention as she could posssibly want, so I don't think it's boredom. She's also in a much larger space than she's ever had access to, having been kept in a crate or a spare bedroom for the last 3 years.
Sorry for the exceedingly long post, just a worried first time cat owner!
The foster hadn't taken Min to the vet in well over a year, but when I took her in 3 weeks ago they said she was healthy other than being late on some vaccinations and recommended getting her teeth cleaned. They weighed her at 6.4 pounds.
Min seems to enjoy her new home. I live in a small one bedroom apartment with my partner, but she has free range of the place and has taken to sleeping on the couch, bed, or a lap (never had the chance to be a lap cat in the past) instead of one of her two cat beds. I kept her on the same grain-free dry food the foster had her on, and while I have a couple cans of the same wet food as well, I've also been giving her shredded duck and chicken meat leftover from (unsalted) broth I made a few days ago.
Minerva didn't have any issues finding and using her litter box when we brought her home. Her foster was using generic cat litter, so I stuck with just that the first several days. As the weeks have gone on, I've been phasing in a different kind of litter (septic safe!) by mixing in some each time I cleaned her box.
Okay, so that's all the background info on Minerva. Now for why I'm posting today:
In the last week, Minerva has peed twice outside her litter box. The first time we thought it was because the bathroom door was closed while my partner was showering and she couldn't get in, but she usually meows very loudly if she encounters a closed door that isn't usually closed, and this time she didn't. The second time was today, and the bathroom door was wide open for her.
In addition to this, she's spit up twice this week as well, including today. Her foster had said that she spits up sometimes, just part of having a cat, but twice in a week? She's been eating regularly, she eats her dry food and dental treats through out the day and night and usually gets a couple bites of wet food or shredded chicken once or twice as well, but when I tried to weigh her today on my not-at-all-trustworthy bathroom scale, I was getting somewhere between 5.5 and 6 pounds, significantly lower than the 6.4 she was at the vets.
Should I be concerned for Min? I'm inclined to think the peeing outside her box is due to her not liking the new litter still, which I'm still phasing in and at this point there is very little of the old brand still mixed in. Plus her being blind, is it possible she was just a bit confused and thought she found another place to go? The first accident, she peed on a very large leaf that had been crunched up in the corner (don't ask), and the second time was on a crinkly plastic bag. She tried to bury it both times like it was litter.
As far as the vomiting and potential weight loss, is this just me being a worried new cat owner with a faulty bathroom scale that gives me a slightly different number every time I use it? Like I said, she seems to be eating just fine.
One last thing, just in case this post isn't already long enough. Min also paces in circles sometimes for a few minutes at a time. I know this can be a sign of disorientation, but is it something to worry about? Again, she's completely blind and is still learning her way around to an extent. She also has tons of toys and places to climb and gets as much attention as she could posssibly want, so I don't think it's boredom. She's also in a much larger space than she's ever had access to, having been kept in a crate or a spare bedroom for the last 3 years.
Sorry for the exceedingly long post, just a worried first time cat owner!