About 5 years into owning my previously feral (now indoor only) cat, Astrid, and after a recent move to a new area, I finally got her to a vet that was willing to give her a real exam. Because she was feral, she hasn't tolerated much at previous vet visits and I've had vets actively discourage me from bringing her in to avoid over stressing her.
She had a rough day when I took her, we didn't have the most fun getting her kenneled and she was stressed enough to bite the nurse, so they ended up having to sedate her. But that turned out for the better - they were able to do a full thorough exam, take samples for lab work, and administer vaccines while she was out.
It turns out her anal glands were extremely enlarged and likely causing her pain, which definitely wouldn't have been something she would have let the vet check if she hadn't been sedated, so while it's not an ideal situation, I'm very glad we went that route so the vet was able to find and fix that issue for her.
She got her teeth and ears cleaned, her nails clipped, and was checked for fleas (all clean!).
Because she itches and doesn't have any evidence of parasites, the vet is suspicious of food allergies which will be rough to deal with for Astrid in particular. She is quite possibly, without exaggeration, the pickiest cat in the world. I've tried every trick in the book to try to convince her to try new foods, and I've gone through well over 100 (and stopped counting so probably closer to 200 now) different foods that she wouldn't eat. Trying to do elimination diets to find an allergen for her is going to be near impossible.
Her bloodwork came back mostly excellent, but her glucose was high. Secondary testing thankfully showed she is not yet diabetic, but her levels were still high enough to be a concern so it's something I have to watch out for and want to work to prevent.
This was a lot of stress for both of us, but I'm so glad I finally found a vet that is willing to treat her like a real cat. I've been wanting to have her bloodwork done since I got her, just to get some sort of baseline since she was caught as an adult and I have no idea what her history is like. I wonder how long her glucose has been suspiciously high and if I could have caught it sooner with a more proactive vet.
I also was given a medication (Gabapentin) to make her next visit (in 6 months, to check on her anal glands) easier on her. Just something to give her right before, to help mellow her out and keep her from feeling so stressed. So next time things should go better for everyone.
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This post has mostly just been to share, but since I'm here:
Any tips or good resources for ways to help prevent the onset of diabetes in cats?
Anyone know a good list of common food allergens so I can have a little more direction in trying to address Astrid's possible allergy?
She had a rough day when I took her, we didn't have the most fun getting her kenneled and she was stressed enough to bite the nurse, so they ended up having to sedate her. But that turned out for the better - they were able to do a full thorough exam, take samples for lab work, and administer vaccines while she was out.
It turns out her anal glands were extremely enlarged and likely causing her pain, which definitely wouldn't have been something she would have let the vet check if she hadn't been sedated, so while it's not an ideal situation, I'm very glad we went that route so the vet was able to find and fix that issue for her.
She got her teeth and ears cleaned, her nails clipped, and was checked for fleas (all clean!).
Because she itches and doesn't have any evidence of parasites, the vet is suspicious of food allergies which will be rough to deal with for Astrid in particular. She is quite possibly, without exaggeration, the pickiest cat in the world. I've tried every trick in the book to try to convince her to try new foods, and I've gone through well over 100 (and stopped counting so probably closer to 200 now) different foods that she wouldn't eat. Trying to do elimination diets to find an allergen for her is going to be near impossible.
Her bloodwork came back mostly excellent, but her glucose was high. Secondary testing thankfully showed she is not yet diabetic, but her levels were still high enough to be a concern so it's something I have to watch out for and want to work to prevent.
This was a lot of stress for both of us, but I'm so glad I finally found a vet that is willing to treat her like a real cat. I've been wanting to have her bloodwork done since I got her, just to get some sort of baseline since she was caught as an adult and I have no idea what her history is like. I wonder how long her glucose has been suspiciously high and if I could have caught it sooner with a more proactive vet.
I also was given a medication (Gabapentin) to make her next visit (in 6 months, to check on her anal glands) easier on her. Just something to give her right before, to help mellow her out and keep her from feeling so stressed. So next time things should go better for everyone.
---
This post has mostly just been to share, but since I'm here:
Any tips or good resources for ways to help prevent the onset of diabetes in cats?
Anyone know a good list of common food allergens so I can have a little more direction in trying to address Astrid's possible allergy?
