Weird Behavior

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FeebysOwner

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When we had fleas I'd often find "flea dirt" but rarely the actual fleas when combing. Have you checked her gum color for anemia and doing the neck pinch regularly to make sure she's not dehydrated?
Where were the fleas in your case?? When we last had fleas - decades ago - they bit and bothered my husband as well as the cat. He has not had any issues at this point. She is not an outdoor cat, so I would think if there are fleas involved we should see them on the patio and/or in the house.

Her gums were checked at the vets along with her hydration level and all was OK at that time. I don't see any hydration issues (I check her over when brushing her), but I'll take another look at her gums since that was almost a month ago when they were last checked.
 

Hellenww

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Ours was also decadea ago and I thought the fleas were in the cat trees and rugs. My ankles were getting bitten but I still rarely saw one. This was back before there were flea preventions available. While my partner had the cats on the porch for combing I'd vaccuumm everything with mothballs in the bag and then the bag went out. It took a month but we got rid of the fleas.
 
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FeebysOwner

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My ankles were getting bitten but I still rarely saw one. This was back before there were flea preventions available.
The ankle biting was my husband's problem too - so far, nothing! I can have him try what he did before - wearing white socks in an attempt to detect them. He would find the fleas on his socks!

Feeby, being 15+ yo, is off all vaccinations, and because she is indoors only she hasn't had a flea treatment in more than 10 years. I would prefer not to start giving her topical flea treatments if I can avoid it - at least until we can figure out what all is going on with her health. One flea sighting, and I might change my mind!
 

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Sorry, I haven’t read all the messages in this thread. You mentioned that she had sugar in her urine. It’s true they cats can have high glucose at the vets as a result of stress, but it takes a while for that to make its way into the urine, so I would still be suspicious. At least get the vet give you a dipstick and check her urine at home.

I hope it’s not cancer. Seniors lose weight, it’s not unusual. Wishing you and Feeby the best.
 
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FeebysOwner

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Thanks. The urine was taken by me at my house before we went to the vet - after Feeby had been acting 'off' for a day or two, and continued to get worse. So, the stress of being sick/getting sicker could have been the culprit of the higher glucose count.

Although we don't know the exact source of infection, she had a lot of bacteria in her urine (maybe I contaminated it?). Because she has a history of UTIs, she was given her 'traditional' antibiotic. However, an urinary tract infection can also cause an elevated glucose level in the urine.

Blood glucose wise, she does not have diabetes. And, other than some of the WBC counts being elevated, her bloodwork results were good, including the Chemistry Profile.

She needs to go back to the vet and have her urine checked again - and hopefully some other tests to help determine what exactly might be wrong with her. If her glucose level in her urine is high again, that might warrant repeated testing with the urine sticks - and, I will ask the vet about that.

Senior cats can lose weight, but without an underlying cause most do not lose 1.5 pounds in just under 3 months. :(
 

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I think I read the bulk of the threads, but didn't see if there was a follow-up with additional tests? My cat overgrooms and it seems to be when she eats fish. I had her on duck for awhile and the overgrooming completely stopped (of course, she hated it). She is 16 and also talks a LOT. It started maybe a year ago and interestingly, has stopped since my attention has turned to my younger cat, who has lymphoma. I haven't decreased my attention to her; she just stopped (mostly). I honestly think it has something to do with the *kind* of attention I have paid her, along with my other cats' illness.
 
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FeebysOwner

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but didn't see if there was a follow-up with additional tests? My cat overgrooms and it seems to be when she eats fish.
No follow up tests yet. The vet always wants to wait at least a week after antibiotics are completed before re-running urine tests. I sent him a summary of this past month, but he hasn't responded yet. He is always very good about responding, so I am just wondering if he is still trying to determine what other tests we can do?

I was giving her a bite of canned tuna in water along with her antibiotic. We wondered if tuna could be part of her issue. She has had it in the past, but not for 14 days in a row. We also wondered if the antibiotic could have exacerbated the cleaning/licking, despite the fact she has taken the same one before. But, even if either of these made it worse the excessive cleaning/licking has been going on for a number of years now. It just got worse with whatever is going on with her this past month.

She is 16 and also talks a LOT. It started maybe a year ago and interestingly, has stopped since my attention has turned to my younger cat, who has lymphoma.
Feeby does like to talk - usually in response to someone talking to her. But, when she started 'talking' for no apparent reason, we just assumed it was connected to all of the other 'stuff' going on with her. It is true, however, that she was (and is) being treated/watched over a bit differently than before all this started.

I am sorry about your younger cat having lymphoma. :sigh:
 

Ravensong

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Feeby does like to talk - usually in response to someone talking to her. But, when she started 'talking' for no apparent reason, we just assumed it was connected to all of the other 'stuff' going on with her. It is true, however, that she was (and is) being treated/watched over a bit differently than before all this started.
Yeah, 'rissa was also talking for no apparent reason. And driving me crazy! She did it a lot, but more in the morning in bed. I was - unfortunately - giving her attention when she did that (even, at some point, being very stern with her, to no avail). She still does it, but not nearly like she did.

I sometimes wonder if she has FCD, but...I don't know. I did find this article interesting:

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Ravensong

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Sorry, I wanted to comment on this:

I am just wondering if he is still trying to determine what other tests we can do?
Probably. My cat had lost some weight initially, then I took her back because she *looked* like she had lost and she had. 3.5lbs. And she lost that in a fairly short period of time. The vet really had exhausted everything, so he sent her to a specialist. The only thing in her blood work that was off was her B12 level.

I'll be watching, to see how your kitty is doing! :)
 
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FeebysOwner

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It is possible that in addition to whatever else is going on with Feeby, she also has a form of FCD - certainly can't rule it out. And, perhaps some other illness can actually exacerbate FCD??

My cat had lost some weight initially, then I took her back because she *looked* like she had lost and she had. 3.5lbs. And she lost that in a fairly short period of time. The vet really had exhausted everything, so he sent her to a specialist. The only thing in her blood work that was off was her B12 level.
I'll ask about the B12 test, but I would have expected other 'signs' to show up if she had a B12 deficiency. Short of the weight loss and some lethargy (that also can be related to a ton of other issues - including age), she has no digestive tract issues and her enzyme counts all were in normal range. Are you saying your cat had no other symptoms? Is she on B12 shots now?
 
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FeebysOwner

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8/4/2019 7pm Day 29

Feeby is still loving her coffee table. So much so that pretty much everything else has been moved off of it (not a bad thing, considering how much my husband had collected on it). Slept on it all night long again, after a brief stint on my lap in the recliner.

She continues to shy away from her dry food. Will eat it in the morning, but seems to want anything but that for the rest of the day. I have resorted to mixing her dry with canned food to help with calories and get her to eat the wet food faster. She sucks at eating wet food and so at least she seems to eat a bit more of both when mixed.

I am not going off the deep end and trying all sorts of different foods yet. That is not the answer. The answer is to use foods I know she can and has eaten for years and get more calories in her as I can.

No patio visits, no window perch visits - just food/water and litter box trips in between stays on the coffee table. What's worse is that I find myself offering her food on the coffee table just to get more calories down her. Can't keep doing that.

Brushing her and cleaning her with wipes, including a bit of booty duty. But, still a lot of dirt specks - and today she was a tad bit less tolerant of the whole process. She took off mid-stream and I had to go grab her to finish.

Until I know she has something incurable (like cancer), I guess she is going to need a tad bit more of 'tough love'.

20190804_110650.jpg
 

rubysmama

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I am not going off the deep end and trying all sorts of different foods yet. That is not the answer. The answer is to use foods I know she can and has eaten for years and get more calories in her as I can.
I had a thought, then read your above comment, but I'll post my thought anyway. Have you considered trying canned kitten food. I think they are more calorie dense. Also, would she drink kitten replacement milk, or goats milk. Both would give her additional calories.
 
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FeebysOwner

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I had a thought, then read your above comment, but I'll post my thought anyway. Have you considered trying canned kitten food. I think they are more calorie dense. Also, would she drink kitten replacement milk, or goats milk. Both would give her additional calories.
She's on urinary care food, so that is part of the reason why I am hesitant about doing a lot of food changes. And, I don't know how she would react to KMR - although she will eat bites of my cottage cheese?

This morning, I mixed 1/6 can with 1/8 cup of dry for her, but eventually gave it to her on the coffee table - so much for tough love! I was worried about it sitting out too long, and she wasn't making a move to go eat it. Once I put it in front of her she had it gone in about 10-15 minutes!

That's about 80 calories. If she is willing to eat that 4 times a day, that should be enough calories to sustain her 16 pounds. But, I am not sure I can get her to eat that 4 times a day. If not, we will have to supplement. Some supplementation can come from the bite or two of human meat she gets at dinner time, but that probably won't be enough.
 
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FeebysOwner

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Hers a pretty girl! She looks comfy on the coffee table!
Thanks! Gladly, at least she will go up onto the back of that couch on the left to look out the window at least a couple times a day. I guess that is her replacement (in A/C) for the patio!
 

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She's on urinary care food, so that is part of the reason why I am hesitant about doing a lot of food changes. And, I don't know how she would react to KMR - although she will eat bites of my cottage cheese?

This morning, I mixed 1/6 can with 1/8 cup of dry for her, but eventually gave it to her on the coffee table - so much for tough love! I was worried about it sitting out too long, and she wasn't making a move to go eat it. Once I put it in front of her she had it gone in about 10-15 minutes!

That's about 80 calories. If she is willing to eat that 4 times a day, that should be enough calories to sustain her 16 pounds. But, I am not sure I can get her to eat that 4 times a day. If not, we will have to supplement. Some supplementation can come from the bite or two of human meat she gets at dinner time, but that probably won't be enough.
You don't need to feed cats at equal intervals and you may have noticed that she eats more at night than during the day. Using both of these together, I'd say offer two dinners and two breakfasts and leave something out for the middle of the day and the middle of the night. Krista is on a 6pm, 10pm, 6am, 9am schedule with another portion split across two feeders (in case one fails to open) for the daytime and overnight. I like the WOPets clamshell timed feeder for wet food since Krista doesn't get dry anymore.
 
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FeebysOwner

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You don't need to feed cats at equal intervals and you may have noticed that she eats more at night than during the day. Using both of these together, I'd say offer two dinners and two breakfasts and leave something out for the middle of the day and the middle of the night.
True. But, I have to start somewhere. Feeby has always been a grazer all day/night with her dry food, and has always struggled to eat 1/3 can of wet food for her dinner in less than 2 hours - due to the way in which she eats it. It is a process...

I decided to mix the two, because she isn't grazing as often and because it seems to make it easier for her to eat the canned more efficiently. She needs the dry for caloric purposes; I would never get her to eat enough if I only gave her canned food.

Other than her canned dinner, she has never really been on a schedule per se. So, I hope to pick up on a pattern that will allow me to adjust to better fit her 'hungry' times. I will also continue to leave dry food out all the time, just in case.
 

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she will eat bites of my cottage cheese?

This morning, I mixed 1/6 can with 1/8 cup of dry for her, but eventually gave it to her on the coffee table - so much for tough love!
Throw "tough love" out the window. Any eating is good. If she can digest the dairy, cottage cheese is great since it's so protien dense and easier to chew than meat.
 
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FeebysOwner

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Throw "tough love" out the window. Any eating is good. If she can digest the dairy, cottage cheese is great since it's so protien dense and easier to chew than meat.
Yeah, she told me that there was NOT going to be any of this 'tough love' crap!!! I am pretty sure she knew if she didn't come get the food that I would bring it to her!!
 
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