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- Apr 7, 2020
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My cat Yeti is an 11 month old gray and white medium-haired male (fixed). He is an indoor only cat and I adopted him when he was 5ish months old from a shelter.
Here's the SHORT version:
Between traveling for school breaks and the coronavirus, getting my cat in to see a non-emergency vet has been a long drawn out pain in the ass. I have the soonest appointment my ER vet can get me for thurs at 1pm.
In total, over the span of 5 months, he has had three random (spaced out) episodes of drooling/some foaming of the mouth. One 3-day period of bright red blood in his stool, and today a month later, I noticed bright red blood in his stool again.
In addition, ever since I adopted him 6 months ago, he has had a bacterial + yeast ear infection that vet prescribed surolan drops have not been able to fully cure.
He is eating the Purina sensetive stomach cat food, and he drinks plenty of water. He's SUPER energetic and playful. Other than these three symptoms you would have NO idea something was wrong. He hasn't lost any weight, he's just super great.
Here's the LONG version if you want:
When I first adopted Yeti, I noticed he had brown dirt looking stuff in his ears, and when I asked the vet tech at the shelter about it, she assured me it was "just residual dirt from treating his ear mites." and that it would go away in a few weeks.
Over a month later he still had brown gunk in his ears and over time it was getting progressively worse. He started shaking his head a lot and scratching his ears, so I assumed he still had ear mites and the shelter just missed it.
I treated him for ear mites and it seemed to have no affect, so I took him to a vet. They swabbed his ears and told me he tested positive for yeast and bacteria. They gave me a prescription for Surolan drops to put in his ears two times a day for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks he still had a very small amount of dirt flakes in his ears, but it was almost unnoticeable. He had totally stopped shaking his head or scratching his ears and the dirt was extremely minimal so I thought maybe it was just residual stuff that hadn't made its way out yet. After two weeks I realized that he definitely still had the infection, so I made another appointment with his vet for after spring break was over and I was back in town.
One night of spring break Yeti was on my bed and randomly sat up and started drooling and foaming at the mouth. I PANICKED (obviously) and grabbed my keys, expecting the worst, about to drive him to the nearest ER vet I knew of in my hometown (it was like 2am). But before I could even pick up my phone to google a place to go, he had stopped drooling and had already started running around chasing a toy. He even brought the toy to me and started playing fetch. I was extremely confused and called a vet anyway who told me since he's otherwise acting fine to just keep an eye on him and tell my vet at his appointment about it, but that he probably just got into something bitter to cause that reaction. He had actually had an episode of drooling like four months prior when he ate some random thing on the floor, so I thought maybe that's just something he does when he eats something bad. I kept a close eye on him and he was totally fine for the following days.
Then, just two days before I was supposed to head back to school (and have his appointment for his ears), I noticed bright red blood in his stool. That was the last straw for me and I called my vet again to ask if I should take him to an emergency room. They said to try and get a sample of it to bring to the appointment, but that since the stool wasn't hard or liquidy or had dark blood and his appetite and energy was good, to just wait until the appointment the day after next.
Unfortunately the DAY OF his long-awaited appointment, I got a call that the vets office was closing due to covid-19 and they didn't know when they’d be opening again. I reminded them of his additional symptoms and they said because his appetite was fine and he was super energetic and otherwise normal that it would be okay to schedule an appointment for yet a few days later at another vet that wasn't closing. So I did. Only to have that appointment be canceled the day before as well due to a shelter-in-place order. (F you, Covid-19.)
Anyway, during the days between noticing the bloody stool and getting appointment after appointment canceled, he had one more drool episode, and the bloody stool went away. The bloody stool in his catbox only lasted 3 days.
So I thought, "alright. I'm gonna wait for the shelter in place order to be over on April 5th and then make an appointment." I didn't want to go to the emergency vet because it didn't seem to be an emergency, and it costs a very pretty penny to go there.
Everything was fine for three whole weeks following.
I thought I was in the clear. But today, I noticed bright red blood on his white fur around his butt, and I shot up to check the catbox. Sure enough, he had bright red stool. He passed two bloody stools today. Not liquidy, not hard, just normal texture with some bright red toward the end. The shelter in place order is now until the end of the month and no vets are open except the emergency one.
I called the ER vet only to be told they're FULLY booked until Thursday at 1pm unless I want to pay a $300 skip the line fee. (seems very odd to me) The woman on the phone told me she thinks it's fine to wait because he's acting so normal, but if anything changes to come in ASAP.
Here's my theory:
In my internet research, I have actually come across food allergies causing cats to have all three of his symptoms. Recurrent ear infections, bright red blood in stool, and drooling are all symptoms cats can get from being sensitive to foods. I have him on a sensetive stomach cat food, but obviously that's not working. I don't keep any plans in the house, and I'm literally quarantined in a studio apartment, so I doubt he'd be getting into anything without me noticing.
Any theories? Anyone have similar experience?
Obviously I'll spend $300 if something changes between now and thursday to have him seen sooner, but he's acting totally fine and I'm watching him like a HAWK. I love this cat more than anything, and I would be inconsolable if anything happened to him. I'm really worried that there's something wrong that may require an extremely expensive procedure/surgery etc. I'm worried I won't be able to afford it or that he may not make it.
I'm also beating myself up for not taking him in to see an emergency vet before, but I really just did what I thought was best at the time.
Here's the SHORT version:
Between traveling for school breaks and the coronavirus, getting my cat in to see a non-emergency vet has been a long drawn out pain in the ass. I have the soonest appointment my ER vet can get me for thurs at 1pm.
In total, over the span of 5 months, he has had three random (spaced out) episodes of drooling/some foaming of the mouth. One 3-day period of bright red blood in his stool, and today a month later, I noticed bright red blood in his stool again.
In addition, ever since I adopted him 6 months ago, he has had a bacterial + yeast ear infection that vet prescribed surolan drops have not been able to fully cure.
He is eating the Purina sensetive stomach cat food, and he drinks plenty of water. He's SUPER energetic and playful. Other than these three symptoms you would have NO idea something was wrong. He hasn't lost any weight, he's just super great.
Here's the LONG version if you want:
When I first adopted Yeti, I noticed he had brown dirt looking stuff in his ears, and when I asked the vet tech at the shelter about it, she assured me it was "just residual dirt from treating his ear mites." and that it would go away in a few weeks.
Over a month later he still had brown gunk in his ears and over time it was getting progressively worse. He started shaking his head a lot and scratching his ears, so I assumed he still had ear mites and the shelter just missed it.
I treated him for ear mites and it seemed to have no affect, so I took him to a vet. They swabbed his ears and told me he tested positive for yeast and bacteria. They gave me a prescription for Surolan drops to put in his ears two times a day for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks he still had a very small amount of dirt flakes in his ears, but it was almost unnoticeable. He had totally stopped shaking his head or scratching his ears and the dirt was extremely minimal so I thought maybe it was just residual stuff that hadn't made its way out yet. After two weeks I realized that he definitely still had the infection, so I made another appointment with his vet for after spring break was over and I was back in town.
One night of spring break Yeti was on my bed and randomly sat up and started drooling and foaming at the mouth. I PANICKED (obviously) and grabbed my keys, expecting the worst, about to drive him to the nearest ER vet I knew of in my hometown (it was like 2am). But before I could even pick up my phone to google a place to go, he had stopped drooling and had already started running around chasing a toy. He even brought the toy to me and started playing fetch. I was extremely confused and called a vet anyway who told me since he's otherwise acting fine to just keep an eye on him and tell my vet at his appointment about it, but that he probably just got into something bitter to cause that reaction. He had actually had an episode of drooling like four months prior when he ate some random thing on the floor, so I thought maybe that's just something he does when he eats something bad. I kept a close eye on him and he was totally fine for the following days.
Then, just two days before I was supposed to head back to school (and have his appointment for his ears), I noticed bright red blood in his stool. That was the last straw for me and I called my vet again to ask if I should take him to an emergency room. They said to try and get a sample of it to bring to the appointment, but that since the stool wasn't hard or liquidy or had dark blood and his appetite and energy was good, to just wait until the appointment the day after next.
Unfortunately the DAY OF his long-awaited appointment, I got a call that the vets office was closing due to covid-19 and they didn't know when they’d be opening again. I reminded them of his additional symptoms and they said because his appetite was fine and he was super energetic and otherwise normal that it would be okay to schedule an appointment for yet a few days later at another vet that wasn't closing. So I did. Only to have that appointment be canceled the day before as well due to a shelter-in-place order. (F you, Covid-19.)
Anyway, during the days between noticing the bloody stool and getting appointment after appointment canceled, he had one more drool episode, and the bloody stool went away. The bloody stool in his catbox only lasted 3 days.
So I thought, "alright. I'm gonna wait for the shelter in place order to be over on April 5th and then make an appointment." I didn't want to go to the emergency vet because it didn't seem to be an emergency, and it costs a very pretty penny to go there.
Everything was fine for three whole weeks following.
I thought I was in the clear. But today, I noticed bright red blood on his white fur around his butt, and I shot up to check the catbox. Sure enough, he had bright red stool. He passed two bloody stools today. Not liquidy, not hard, just normal texture with some bright red toward the end. The shelter in place order is now until the end of the month and no vets are open except the emergency one.
I called the ER vet only to be told they're FULLY booked until Thursday at 1pm unless I want to pay a $300 skip the line fee. (seems very odd to me) The woman on the phone told me she thinks it's fine to wait because he's acting so normal, but if anything changes to come in ASAP.
Here's my theory:
In my internet research, I have actually come across food allergies causing cats to have all three of his symptoms. Recurrent ear infections, bright red blood in stool, and drooling are all symptoms cats can get from being sensitive to foods. I have him on a sensetive stomach cat food, but obviously that's not working. I don't keep any plans in the house, and I'm literally quarantined in a studio apartment, so I doubt he'd be getting into anything without me noticing.
Any theories? Anyone have similar experience?
Obviously I'll spend $300 if something changes between now and thursday to have him seen sooner, but he's acting totally fine and I'm watching him like a HAWK. I love this cat more than anything, and I would be inconsolable if anything happened to him. I'm really worried that there's something wrong that may require an extremely expensive procedure/surgery etc. I'm worried I won't be able to afford it or that he may not make it.
I'm also beating myself up for not taking him in to see an emergency vet before, but I really just did what I thought was best at the time.
