Weird Behavior

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FeebysOwner

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8/5/2019 5:45pm Day 30

No tough love today - and not much luck either.

After sleeping in my lap on the recliner overnight, Feeby got up only to lay around on the coffee table. I fixed food for her, and gave up quickly on her going to the kitchen to eat. So, I fed her on the coffee table. As said in a previous post, she readily ate it.

:argh:She has since left that blasted table only 3 times to: 1.) look out the front window on the back of the couch, 2.) use her litterbox - and get a drink of water, and 3.) hide from a thunderstorm - which is still going on.

So, technically she has already missed Meal 2, closing in on supposed Meal 3, didn't get her hairball/Glyco Flex treats, and hasn't had her brushing/wipe down/booty duty. :cringe:

I found out that my vet is out of the office until next Monday, and won't even be able to read my 7/30 summary to him until then. So, it is either wait on him, or work with another vet in his office. :eviltongue:

There are other non-cat issues going on today too. So, overall pretty crummy day.

… And then, a tiny glimmer of promise! Feeby must have been hungry enough to come out during the thunder, and sought me out. So, she now has gotten her treats (in the kitchen), and started working on Meal 2. That will take a while considering it is right on top of her treats. Probably a bad idea... :doh: Working on it...
 
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8/7/2019 2pm Day 32

While it doesn't explain everything that is wrong with Feeby, as Hellenww Hellenww suggested (and, anyone else that may have mentioned it) - we DO have fleas!!

My husband did the white sock test yesterday after work, and bingo! Then, he said something about having had a few bites on his ankles recently but had totally forgotten about what it meant when it happened years and years ago (REALLY?? how does one forget that?!?!).

Feeby was immediately treated with Advantage II, and we started her clean up process. I have vacuumed almost all of the house (with mothballs in the areas she hasn't been frequenting). And, just now, she spent a few minutes away from the coffee table looking out the patio doors. I want to vacuum the living room where the coffee table is, but am a bit hesitant to use mothballs in the vacuum while she is actually in there.

Hellenww Hellenww - how long did you keep your cats out of any area that you had vacuumed with mothballs?

Once we believe we have gotten this under control, we can start to see what behaviors remain that might help in the investigation of whatever else is going on with her.
 

Hellenww

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With Advavtage II getting the fleas out/dead shouldn't take a month. I hope she feels better soon. If nothing else the random squaks are explained.
 
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Thanks! Windows can't be opened (considering it is 95 degrees outside) but I can certainly do the ceiling fans (as I did in the other rooms) and will make sure she is out of that room/area for at least that long!
 
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FeebysOwner

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Just found this. Who knew salt could kill fleas. I stay away from leaving borax out.
I read about that this morning also!!! The salt needs to stay down 24-48 hours to be effective, but seems to only work on fleas, not eggs/larvae.

So, the Advantage II should do the trick with the fleas. Now, I just need to remove as many of the eggs/larvae through vacuuming/cleaning. Technically, the mothballs are for killing any fleas that are hanging around; as far as I know the mothballs themselves don't kill eggs/larvae.

But, when Tawny had fleas decades ago, all we did then was bathe him and treat him with Advantage II. We did not do an 'all out' overhaul cleaning of the house. I am just doing it this time to err on the side of caution.
 
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8/8/2019 4:45pm Day 33

Feeby is still spending most of her time on the coffee table, with a few visits to the back of the couch to look out the front window. Brave girl still religiously treks through the valley of fleas to use her litterbox!

The fleas in the living area where she is at are starting to fade. However, the side bedroom where she was spending all her time in early July has fleas galore, it would seem. I set out a dish of soapy water underneath a bright light back there, and didn't even get the dish set down on the carpet before 'collecting' 3 fleas!! The back bedroom where her litterbox is seems to a bit less infested, so they have likely hitched a ride on her when she goes to use the 'potty'.

Still having difficulty getting 4 servings down her of the 1/6 can-1/8 cup wet/dry meal. But, she will eat it better for the most part than just the dry. Even mixed, she is just...so...slow due to the way she eats canned food. She is interested in and still getting some meat from our dinner each night.

We'll 'keep on keeping on' - with both fronts.
 
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8/9/2019 5pm Day 34

Pretty much status quo - until mid-morning.

Feeby slept on my lap in the recliner until about 2am, before heading to the coffee table. I decided to feed her another meal before going to bed. After about 6 hours, I woke up and checked her litter box - the usual huge pee and poop, as has been for days and days and days now. Then, I fed her again.

Shortly thereafter, she came to use litter box and started acting strange. She peed just a bit, got out of the box and sat right beside it. Back in, back out, etc. No more pee, but a tiny bit of loose stool. She looked like she was straining - to pee or poop, I couldn't tell. She stayed in that bedroom - apparently most of the fleas are gone, I am guessing?

Oddly enough, after about 1/2 hour, she seemed to 'recover' and actually took a bite from her dry food bowl in the kitchen before hanging around on the living room floor for a while (fleas nearly gone there too??) and then heading back to the coffee table. Soon after she was on the back of the couch to look out the front window.

I can't take chances with her so off I went to the vet's office with a stool sample, which would also let me check for possible tapeworms from ingesting fleas. I asked for more antibiotics as I am going to guess she still has the UTI.

The second-in-command vet gave the OK for more Orbax. The stool came back free of parasites and blood.

Next Tuesday she has an appointment with her regular vet. I have no idea what he will want to do other than try for another urinalysis and to re-check her weight. He can check for bacteria, blood, and sediment in her urine, but because she will be back on antibiotics he won't be able to do a urine culture.

I am tired.
 
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8/10/2019 5:30pm Day 35

Feeby slept on my lap in the recliner until a potty break was absolutely necessary (not her - me)! Then, as the previous night, I fed her before going to bed around 4:30am. Just trying to get more food down her.

She is still giving me a run for my money on the food she is willing to eat at one time.

She did use the litter box twice today to pee - smaller amounts than normal. But, no poop since her yesterday loose stool. Will be keeping a serious eye on that one - however, with the limited amount of food maybe that is why. Also, with this issue, is me not wanting to give her new foods (for more calories) if something is up with her digestive tract. Caught between a rock and a hard place.

She has been on the patio twice today. The last time she spent a fair amount of time on one of her perches - I presume because it was cloudy out and therefore less hot. She even slept through some distant thunder. I am hoping it was for a good reason - like she was hell-bent not to leave her beloved patio - as opposed to something more negative.

Fleas are diminishing, at least in the area she spends most of her time in. The flea comb did not produce much today. The fleas/eggs are likely going dormant in the rooms she does not frequent - but still a long way to go...
 
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8/11/2019 5:30pm Day 36

Pretty much as previous recent days. Feeby is back to her normal pee/poop sessions in the litterbox - who knows what Day 34 was about. But, forging ahead with the antibiotics anyway.

She also wondered around the house a little bit more than usual. And, once again spent a bit of time on her beloved patio. So, I will take that as good signs.

We bought Adams Flea Spray to use for the carpeting as it contains IGR and hopefully will help reduce the amount of flea eggs/larvae. I will 'test' one room that she is being blocked from just to see how bad/lingering the smell is before using on any area close to her.

Her eating still sucks. On her way back from the litterbox, she even hung around on the kitchen floor (for food?) - but, wasn't impressed with eating more than a couple of tiny bites of canned food that I immediately set down for her.

Can't even weigh her since it seems our scale might not be working. So, before I go crazy on food 'adjustments' I will see how much more - if any :crossfingers: - weight she has lost when she sees her vet on Tuesday.
 

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We're fighting the flea fight here as well. Krista and I have been wiped down in a natural essential oil product. I want to give this a try before I try something stronger with her. But the vet tomorrow might talk me into something stronger anyway. She's going in for a dental. I got her interested in eating a soupy food plus meat stock portion when she wasn't eating her food alone very well. Until she hit a chewy part. She chewed a few times and then gave up on the whole eating thing. I called the vet and booked the dental. I gave her a dose of transdermal buprenorphine in her ear and not ten minutes later, she returned to finish the soupy stock portion. And she's been going back to her regular food to eat a few bites here and there. It's a shame I have to pick up the food at 10 pm now that the gremlin has finally found some much needed relief. Tomorrow while Krista is at the vet I will be cleaning the apartment wall to wall with my wet vac that I am getting back from a friend, and doing yet another round of laundry.

I hope Feeby's vet visit tomorrow is productive and that you are soon victorious in the flea fight.
 
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daftcat75 daftcat75 - sorry to hear about your fleas. And, Krista's continued dental issues.

I immediately put Advantage II on Feeby, when we realized we had fleas. She has never had fleas before and was/is not taking it well. As I said, she has resorted to practically living on the coffee table! Hell, I would take a human form of Advantage if there were one - so would my husband as he is apparently a flea magnet like Feeby. But, I hope your more natural approach works. Good luck with the wet vac!

You might want to consider treating Krista with something like Advantage II - with the IGR in it, it should help more quickly reduce the eggs/larvae that are looming about. The vet's office said to keep Feeby on it for 3 months to ensure the entire flea life cycle is completely broken! I am thinking about keeping her on it permanently just to save her from having to go through this again.

Her eating is still down, so I have resorted to adding canned chicken in water to her canned food. I was already using some liquid from the chicken to ensure she takes her 2nd round of antibiotics, and figured why not add some to her food as well. This morning, I was able to get her to eat a little bit over 1/6 of a can in one sitting by adding chicken. As far as Feeby's dry food, she is only eating a bite here and there. So, I am considering mixing a bit of the chicken water to her dry just to see what happens. We are going to have to think about other food sources, as you and others have suggested, if this doesn't work in terms of getting her to eat more.

Thanks for the well wishes with the vet visit later today! I just hope it doesn't decide to rain anywhere near that time, or I'll be digging her out from under the bed where she hides during storms! She will NOT be impressed if I have to do that - neither will I!
 

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We did fleas once before years and years ago. I probably did use an Advantage like product on her at that time. But with everything she’s going through and how sensitive she is to just about everything now, I’d prefer the more natural approach. Before the oil, I could feel them on me even if I never saw one. After wiping her and me and the bed down with the oil, she and I both found relief last night and I found a LOT less flea dirt this morning. The one good thing about all this heat we’re getting is that I can strip the bed down to the sheets which makes it much easier to routinely vacuum up the flea dirt after Krista has jumped down. Her dental is convenient timing. I will get to do one more round of deep cleaning with the wet vac in both carpeted rooms and get down to the laundromat for the last bit of washable fabric. As long as the oil continues to provide us relief, I’m okay with keeping up with the cleaning. Laundry is going into the closet out of flea range. I’m only bringing back out what I absolutely need (bedding and towels) and I’m living out of the laundry bag until there is no more flea dirt to be found on the bed.

I’m likely going to have to drag Krista from underneath the bookcase. I’m not looking forward to that. I’m hoping she comes out on her own within the next half hour.
 
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8/13/2019 4pm Day 38 - after Vet Visit

Back from the vets. She only lost .10 pound in a month - so from 16.0 to 15.9! I'll take it!!!

Vet thinks she has had fleas much longer than we knew (:jawdrop:), and right now is not alarmed about her weight or other issues she was/is displaying - because the majority of them were/are likely related to the fleas and her personal reaction to what she was/is experiencing from them.

Vet said the Advantage II has shown to be less than effective down here, not to mention it is now considered a 'less than adequate' treatment and has been surpassed by a number of newer treatments. They are now considered 'transdermal' vs. 'topical'???? (Need to research this) So, he said among the newer treatments, he would prefer her to be on Bravecto. I am kind of freaking out because even though she just got Adv II a week ago, he said it would OK to go ahead and treat her with Bravecto NOW. :eek2:

Her urinalysis showed NO bacteria, no sediment, no blood! He said they took a look at her bladder via ultrasound (no charge because I didn't authorize it ahead of time) and saw nothing in the bladder - no stones/crystals/inflammation/sediment.

At this point, he wants me to monitor her weight, keep on top of the fleas, and report any negative change in her - of any sort - to him.

I want to trust him...:nervous:
 
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