Hi everyone,
I am a first time cat owner, and I just got a 2 year old female cat named Lily. She was my boyfriend's cat, but I am now taking care of her because his house burned down a couple of weeks ago. She escaped the fire and lived in a tree for 24 hours in the freezing rain before we could find her. We took her to the vet (of course!) and they said she was fine other than it looked like she bit her tongue really bad when she was scared. They had to stitch her tongue and she stayed at the vet's for a week (mostly because we had no place for her since my boyfriend is living in a hotel). I then kept her at my parent's house for a week since I was home from school on break. Last night I drove 3 1/2 hours with her to my apartment in the city where I go to college.
She seems to be having some digestive problems, though. She had major diarrhea on the way to my apartment last night. It was really bad, and I did my best to clean her up in her carrier and keep her comfortable. Do you think she was just scared in the car? We did a few long drives right after the fire and she didn't have any problems. Could her new food have made her sick? I'm giving her a dry food formulated for indoor cats and it says it has some sort of hairball control in it. I soak it in water so that it doesn't hurt her tongue so much. I haven't seen any more diarrhea since yesterday, so I think she's okay - I just want to prevent a repeat performance! Is one bout of diarrhea something I should worry about?
And then this morning she vomited on my carpet right after eating. Ack! I figured it was from a hairball. There was some hair in the vomit, but not a ton. If it was a hairball, what can I do to prevent them? Should I take her back to the vet? She did this from time to time when my boyfriend had her, and (being a boy) he didn't think much of it. But, honestly, I don't want her vomiting all over my apartment. Plus, it can't feel too great for her, I imagine.
So I'm kind of frustrated! I agreed to take the cat, and I want to provide the best care possible for her. But we seem to be getting off to a rocky start concerning various bodily functions. I would never even consider getting rid of her, but I do miss waking up in the morning and not cleaning up kitty vomit
Thanks for any advice you may be able to give me, and thank you for reading such a long post!
I am a first time cat owner, and I just got a 2 year old female cat named Lily. She was my boyfriend's cat, but I am now taking care of her because his house burned down a couple of weeks ago. She escaped the fire and lived in a tree for 24 hours in the freezing rain before we could find her. We took her to the vet (of course!) and they said she was fine other than it looked like she bit her tongue really bad when she was scared. They had to stitch her tongue and she stayed at the vet's for a week (mostly because we had no place for her since my boyfriend is living in a hotel). I then kept her at my parent's house for a week since I was home from school on break. Last night I drove 3 1/2 hours with her to my apartment in the city where I go to college.
She seems to be having some digestive problems, though. She had major diarrhea on the way to my apartment last night. It was really bad, and I did my best to clean her up in her carrier and keep her comfortable. Do you think she was just scared in the car? We did a few long drives right after the fire and she didn't have any problems. Could her new food have made her sick? I'm giving her a dry food formulated for indoor cats and it says it has some sort of hairball control in it. I soak it in water so that it doesn't hurt her tongue so much. I haven't seen any more diarrhea since yesterday, so I think she's okay - I just want to prevent a repeat performance! Is one bout of diarrhea something I should worry about?
And then this morning she vomited on my carpet right after eating. Ack! I figured it was from a hairball. There was some hair in the vomit, but not a ton. If it was a hairball, what can I do to prevent them? Should I take her back to the vet? She did this from time to time when my boyfriend had her, and (being a boy) he didn't think much of it. But, honestly, I don't want her vomiting all over my apartment. Plus, it can't feel too great for her, I imagine.
So I'm kind of frustrated! I agreed to take the cat, and I want to provide the best care possible for her. But we seem to be getting off to a rocky start concerning various bodily functions. I would never even consider getting rid of her, but I do miss waking up in the morning and not cleaning up kitty vomit
Thanks for any advice you may be able to give me, and thank you for reading such a long post!