Personality Change and No Trust- Help!

[geekchic82]

Hello!

My first post here! I'm hoping for some advice to help my poor kitty, Lancelot (DMH, 8yrs) through a tough time. He's been at the vet more in the past 3mos than any kitty should ever need to their entire lives. Because of this, he's become timid, distant, and just generally lost himself.

Quick Backstory:

In the last 3mos, he's been to the vet more than a dozen times (sometimes twice a week). He's had xrays, blood panels, too many medications to count, surgery (abdominal biopsies), a feeding tube, many different types of foods, ear swabs etc. At the beginning he was taking it like a champ, but post-surgery his demeanor changed (we think he might not've been medicated enough for pain the first week, either :*( ). By the time he was recovering, the 'light' was gone from his personality. It's been about 5wks since the surgery.

He's very timid around me now, of course- I'm the horrible mummy that keeps taking him to the vet and shoving meds in to him. He's not affectionate, and has little energy. He's not eating well, and while it's TBD whether it's a food allergy or aversion, he use to be the type of cat to gobble up ALL his noms in one go. Now, he sits and stares at nothing- before, he'd be out on the balcony watching birds, or chatting with me for treats. He use to ALWAYS wake me up with head-boops, now I'm up before him and he watches me leave. It's heartbreaking

I'm trying to apply calming behavior around him- slow eye blinks, not forcing affection on him, that sort of thing. Because he isn't eating well I generally leave the room to let him eat in peace, since I seem to be a stressor for him now. Is there anything else I could be doing?

Is his behavior 100% psychological? We're still not sure, but we've tested for just about everything it could be (the trifecta- Liver, Pancreas + Thyroid all test normal). The worst part is, the medical stuff isn't done, yet. We have a recheck for an ear infection early next week, and still need to discover why he's not eating much. So I can't even take a break from vets/medication to get him to relax.
 

Does anyone have any other suggestions? It breaks my heart that he's 'lost' and unhappy. I want my fuzzy buddy back. I miss him <3

 

[jackson76]

I AM SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR KITTY. I HATE TO SAY IT BUT SOMETIMES THE VETS ARE AT A LOSS FOR WHAT TO DO SO THEY JUST RUN A BUNCH OF TESTS TO SEE IF THEY HIT ON THE RIGHT THING. WHAT HAS WORKED FOR ME WITH ANY PROBLEM IS TO BE VERY OBSERVANT. SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR KITTY IN A VERY QUIET PLACE. TRY FEEDING HIM FROM YOUR HAND WITH HIS FAVORITE FOOD. TRY TO CARESS HIM IF HE WILL ALLOW IT. TALK TO HIM. KEEP ENCOURAGING HIM TO CUDDLE WITH YOU. RUN YOUR HANDS ALL OVER HIM TO SEE IF HE HAS ANY BUMPS, LUMPS OR IF HE DOES NOT LIKE FOR YOU TO TOUCH IN CERTAIN PLACES  THAT MAY BE PAINFUL...        . MAYBE A BREAK FROM ALL THE TESTS WILL HELP HIS FEELINGS.                               WRITE BACK AND LET US KNOW HOW HE IS DOING. SINCERELY,   JACKSON76

 

[mani]

Hi @GeekChic82 and welcome to TCS!

I'm so sorry your boy isn't himself.  You didn't mention what the issue was and whether it's all resolved?  It's really hard to know whether there's still a medical issue.

I think you need to let him go at his own pace.  He'll pick up on your concern too, so if you're just caring without being too 'fussy'.  I'm a big fan of just sitting near a cat that's timid and reading out loud to them.  Odd, but it's worked with me.

Also do you think some Feliway might help?

 

[geekchic82]

Thanks for the replies!

Sorry I didn't go more in-depth with his health issues (the post was already quite the book). Lance has had recurrent vomiting spells every few months, and they were getting closer and closer together. He was put on antibiotics and a LID diet when we found he had some inflamed intestines in an xray. Once he stopped eating the vet thought it would be a good idea to do a biopsy to rule out IBD/Cancer/Liver and/or kidney problems. Post-surgery his personality changed. When we STILL couldn't figure out why he wasn't eating I got a second opinion at another vet who found an ear infection. He's been treated for it and we have a recheck tonite.

I've been going at a slower pace with him, and removing myself from the food equation- I'd like to THINK he was feeling better this weekend. This morning he actually woke me up with a little lovin's and ate his food right off the bat. I hope beyond hope he's getting back to his old self, and he just needs some time away from the vet and me stressing out over him. Will continue this route with fingers crossed

The bet also thinks he may have an allergy, we'll be talking about that tonite. It may be the reason for his recurrent vomiting and past urinary problems.

 

[mani]

Allergies are so common and cause so many problems.

I'm so glad he was affectionate and hungry!

Keep us posted

 

[geekchic82]

Hello! Sorry for the lack of updates, life has been very busy here. Lance got the a-ok from his vet early last week that his ear infection ha cleared up- yay! However, after a trip to my parents he's suddenly gone off all of his wet food and I'm back to feeding him kibble/fish flavours to get him to eat again. I have no idea if the infection could have come back so soon, but will keep in contact with his vet and watch him. He also threw up some bile last night, and was acting nauseated this morning. Again, whether this is due to a possible food allergy or not I don't know, but we'll probably end up BACK at the vet again this week He's retreated a bit in to himself again, it feels like we're going backwards once more...