OK this is my first post on here, and I have a long and complicated story with some problems I'd love some help with if anyone is able.
About a week ago my fiance and I acquired (through shelter adoption) two young male cats: Macbeth, a long-haired orange and white kitty, and Othello, a DSH mostly-black guy. They'd JUST been dropped off (surrendered) at the shelter a few hours prior by their former owner, and old lady who apparently couldn't take very good care of them. Seeing as how they were just what we'd been searching for, my fiance and I adopted them on the spot--they seemed so scared in a cage near all those big barking dogs, and they were obviously used to a peaceful home.
Shortly after we got them home, the problems started. Othello has quite a healthy appetite. Not knowing what they'd been fed previously, we got them Whiskas dry food (the lady at the shelter said that the old owner had fed them dry food). Like I said, Othello's appetite has been just fine--he seems to eat a normal amount and until recently hasn't had trouble keeping it down. Macbeth, on the other hand, has not touched his dry food. The day after we got him we tried to give him some tuna just because we were concerned that he wasn't eating anything at all, and he had a few bites of that then lost interest. He continued to not eat. A couple of days after that, we tried to give him some expensive canned cat food, and again he had a couple of bites then lost interest. That was the last time we saw him eat anything.
We can't really tell if he's been eating at night when we've been asleep, but we dont' think that is the case since we also haven't really seen him use the box (not that he's going elsewhere--he's just not going). This morning when I woke up there was a puddle of something bright yellow and very liquid o the floor, with some decorative greenery (from the vase of flowers on the table) and a few pieces of chewed cat food in it. We don't know who it came from, but I now suspect that it was Othello (the cat who has a healthy appetite), as about half an hour ago he ran under the bed and vomited--just a few minutes after having had a snack. Currently he's back at the food dish eating, and I hope that he'll keep this bit down.
So in summary for part I: Macbeth hasn't really eaten ANYTHING much in the 6 days we've had him, and Othello seemed to be doing OK but just vomited earlier today.
Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there:
It seems that the cats weren't cared for very well at their old home. On the 3rd day that we had them we noticed that they both have fleas, Macbeth seemingly worse than Othello. Macbeth is missing quite a bit of hair around the base of the tail, and while I later learned that this is a symptom of a flea allergy, at first I thought that it had been shaved. Anyway...
We live in a small town with no major pet stores, so the only flea remedy available was Hartz Flea ad Tick Spray at our town's only grocery store. We went and got the spray, then sprayed it on both cats. They didn't like that at ALL, obviously. When Othello began drooling and lurking around, I hopped onlline and saw that Hartz is apparently bad news. Macbeth started drooling and hiding as well, and by that time Othello had more or less stopped reacting to the gunk. So we tried to give Macbeth a cursory rinse, and called a vet.
Yesterday morning we took the kitties to the vet, and he told us that they would luckily NOT die from the Hartz, but we were to shampoo all the rest of the gunk off of them, and he gave Macbeth a cortisone shot for his flea allergy. He also discovered that both cats have ear mites.
We got home and washed both cats using Dawn dish detergent (we figured since it's safe to use on ducks and otters in oil spills, it's safe for cats covered in bad flea "medicine") and both seem to have improved since then. We also got Advantage for cats to put on them after they've got the Hartz out of their systems, and earmite medicine. The vet suggested that perhaps Macbeth's lack of appetite was due to his fleas and mites, or the trauma of going from his old home, to a shelter, to his new home, all in one day.
So in summary: Two new cats, one won't eat and has a huge flea allergy, both exposed to Hartz (and removed as quickly as possible), the other eats OK but throws up on occasion.
The problem is, with two cats, a tiny apartment (we have a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom), it's really difficult to tell if Macbeth is eating anything, and we can't even isolate him in a room.
Sorry this is so long, but I'd really appreciate any advice about how to get Macbeth to eat, how to help them recover from their horrible Hartz experience, when I should take them back to the vet, etc.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you.
About a week ago my fiance and I acquired (through shelter adoption) two young male cats: Macbeth, a long-haired orange and white kitty, and Othello, a DSH mostly-black guy. They'd JUST been dropped off (surrendered) at the shelter a few hours prior by their former owner, and old lady who apparently couldn't take very good care of them. Seeing as how they were just what we'd been searching for, my fiance and I adopted them on the spot--they seemed so scared in a cage near all those big barking dogs, and they were obviously used to a peaceful home.
Shortly after we got them home, the problems started. Othello has quite a healthy appetite. Not knowing what they'd been fed previously, we got them Whiskas dry food (the lady at the shelter said that the old owner had fed them dry food). Like I said, Othello's appetite has been just fine--he seems to eat a normal amount and until recently hasn't had trouble keeping it down. Macbeth, on the other hand, has not touched his dry food. The day after we got him we tried to give him some tuna just because we were concerned that he wasn't eating anything at all, and he had a few bites of that then lost interest. He continued to not eat. A couple of days after that, we tried to give him some expensive canned cat food, and again he had a couple of bites then lost interest. That was the last time we saw him eat anything.
We can't really tell if he's been eating at night when we've been asleep, but we dont' think that is the case since we also haven't really seen him use the box (not that he's going elsewhere--he's just not going). This morning when I woke up there was a puddle of something bright yellow and very liquid o the floor, with some decorative greenery (from the vase of flowers on the table) and a few pieces of chewed cat food in it. We don't know who it came from, but I now suspect that it was Othello (the cat who has a healthy appetite), as about half an hour ago he ran under the bed and vomited--just a few minutes after having had a snack. Currently he's back at the food dish eating, and I hope that he'll keep this bit down.
So in summary for part I: Macbeth hasn't really eaten ANYTHING much in the 6 days we've had him, and Othello seemed to be doing OK but just vomited earlier today.
Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there:
It seems that the cats weren't cared for very well at their old home. On the 3rd day that we had them we noticed that they both have fleas, Macbeth seemingly worse than Othello. Macbeth is missing quite a bit of hair around the base of the tail, and while I later learned that this is a symptom of a flea allergy, at first I thought that it had been shaved. Anyway...
We live in a small town with no major pet stores, so the only flea remedy available was Hartz Flea ad Tick Spray at our town's only grocery store. We went and got the spray, then sprayed it on both cats. They didn't like that at ALL, obviously. When Othello began drooling and lurking around, I hopped onlline and saw that Hartz is apparently bad news. Macbeth started drooling and hiding as well, and by that time Othello had more or less stopped reacting to the gunk. So we tried to give Macbeth a cursory rinse, and called a vet.
Yesterday morning we took the kitties to the vet, and he told us that they would luckily NOT die from the Hartz, but we were to shampoo all the rest of the gunk off of them, and he gave Macbeth a cortisone shot for his flea allergy. He also discovered that both cats have ear mites.
We got home and washed both cats using Dawn dish detergent (we figured since it's safe to use on ducks and otters in oil spills, it's safe for cats covered in bad flea "medicine") and both seem to have improved since then. We also got Advantage for cats to put on them after they've got the Hartz out of their systems, and earmite medicine. The vet suggested that perhaps Macbeth's lack of appetite was due to his fleas and mites, or the trauma of going from his old home, to a shelter, to his new home, all in one day.
So in summary: Two new cats, one won't eat and has a huge flea allergy, both exposed to Hartz (and removed as quickly as possible), the other eats OK but throws up on occasion.
The problem is, with two cats, a tiny apartment (we have a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom), it's really difficult to tell if Macbeth is eating anything, and we can't even isolate him in a room.
Sorry this is so long, but I'd really appreciate any advice about how to get Macbeth to eat, how to help them recover from their horrible Hartz experience, when I should take them back to the vet, etc.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you.