Me and my girlfriend moved into a new place at the end of January this year and at the beginning of March and after a lot of nagging on my girlfriends part, we decided to adopt a cat. I have had no experience with cats what so ever and have always been a dog person, but my girlfriend had grown up with cats so was very keen to get one.
We went for a white, domestic short-haired 6 month old boy which we called Colin. He was a rescue cat who lived with 2 of his siblings in a small flat and the previous owner had to give them up if he wanted to stay living there. That was pretty much all the back story we had. Before we picked him up he was staying with a foster family and when we went to visit him they said that he had began to pull some fur out from the base of his tail. He was fine in the carrier on the way back and seemed very keen to explore when we arrived home.
A few days after having him home, my girlfriend was getting him ready for bed (I was asleep) and she woke me up to tell me that he wasn't settling down. I went downstairs and he was very agitated, peeing on the floor of which was bloody, we know now it was cystitis. Obviously none of us knew what was wrong with him so we had to take him to the emergency vets, they explained what was wrong with him and that it was probably due to the stress of the move.
He was on a course of various tablets for the cystitis after this and we haven't really had a problem since...
Meanwhile, he got into the habit of pulling his fur out on the base of his tail, sometimes stopping for a week or so then pulling it out again almost when it got to a certain length. Back to the vets again where they said it could be an allergic reaction to a flea bite. I wasn't very convinced as being a white cat, I haven't seen any evidence. He had some steroid tablets to stop his itching which seemed to do the job for a bit.
A few weeks ago we had to take him to the vets again for some shots and he seemed to develop a scabby patch on the back of his left leg which he loves to lick and of course, pull fur from. Usually he is totally fine at the vets but this time he really hissed at her (I've never seen him like that before). He had his shots and I was given some cream for his leg to put on him and we went back home. I gave him something to eat when we got back and he pretty much threw it straight up, I called the vets as I thought it had something to do with the shot he had but they didn't seem too concerned. He has kept his distance almost since this vet episode, running away from us (except feeding time), another cystitis episode and generally being quite strange. Usually he is very playful and affectionate and loves sitting on our laps.
So what is bothering me is that it seems he is always sick with something, if he isn't having a fur pulling episode he is sick with something else. I just want to ask anyone else if it is normal for a cat to be so sickly as I'm almost at my wits end!
Just want to add that he is (and always has been) an indoor cat. Could he be missing his brothers & sisters even after 3 months?
We went for a white, domestic short-haired 6 month old boy which we called Colin. He was a rescue cat who lived with 2 of his siblings in a small flat and the previous owner had to give them up if he wanted to stay living there. That was pretty much all the back story we had. Before we picked him up he was staying with a foster family and when we went to visit him they said that he had began to pull some fur out from the base of his tail. He was fine in the carrier on the way back and seemed very keen to explore when we arrived home.
A few days after having him home, my girlfriend was getting him ready for bed (I was asleep) and she woke me up to tell me that he wasn't settling down. I went downstairs and he was very agitated, peeing on the floor of which was bloody, we know now it was cystitis. Obviously none of us knew what was wrong with him so we had to take him to the emergency vets, they explained what was wrong with him and that it was probably due to the stress of the move.
He was on a course of various tablets for the cystitis after this and we haven't really had a problem since...
Meanwhile, he got into the habit of pulling his fur out on the base of his tail, sometimes stopping for a week or so then pulling it out again almost when it got to a certain length. Back to the vets again where they said it could be an allergic reaction to a flea bite. I wasn't very convinced as being a white cat, I haven't seen any evidence. He had some steroid tablets to stop his itching which seemed to do the job for a bit.
A few weeks ago we had to take him to the vets again for some shots and he seemed to develop a scabby patch on the back of his left leg which he loves to lick and of course, pull fur from. Usually he is totally fine at the vets but this time he really hissed at her (I've never seen him like that before). He had his shots and I was given some cream for his leg to put on him and we went back home. I gave him something to eat when we got back and he pretty much threw it straight up, I called the vets as I thought it had something to do with the shot he had but they didn't seem too concerned. He has kept his distance almost since this vet episode, running away from us (except feeding time), another cystitis episode and generally being quite strange. Usually he is very playful and affectionate and loves sitting on our laps.
So what is bothering me is that it seems he is always sick with something, if he isn't having a fur pulling episode he is sick with something else. I just want to ask anyone else if it is normal for a cat to be so sickly as I'm almost at my wits end!
Just want to add that he is (and always has been) an indoor cat. Could he be missing his brothers & sisters even after 3 months?