worms, attempted vomiting & loss of meow

kykittymom

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First of all, let me introduce myself. I am the proud mommy of 4 cats ranging in age from 8 weeks - 11 years, 3 females (11,3,3) and our newest member of the family is an 8 week old male. The introduction of the new kitten went very well. Our 3 year old red tabby female has adopted him as her own and for the most part the other two girls play with him or at least peacefully tolerate him.

When we picked the new baby up at our vet, they assured us that they had run tests and he did not have worms. Unfortunately 3 weeks later we took him back in for shots and our vet found worms in his fecal sample. Consequently our other girls could now have worms. We are to bring a fecal sample from our litter box into the vet when we bring him back in for his next shots in 3 weeks.

My concern is with my 4 year old, long-haired female. Over the past 48 hours (3 days since we were informed of the baby's worm problem) I have noticed that she seems to be trying to cough up a hairball but has lost her voice at the same time. She has become a little reclusive and more lethargic than normal which leads me to believe that it may be more than the normal hair ball. This morning I put some hairball remedy on her paws and it appears that she must have licked it off as her paws are clean, however there are no signs of the hairball and her voice is still very strange.

The causal connection between the kitten worm exposure, attempted vomiting and loss of voice eludes me. Does anyone have any experience with these types of symptoms (attempted vomiting, lathargy, & loss of voice)occuring at the same time? I plan on taking her to our vet tomorrow as soon as I can get her in, however I have heard of situations of hairball impaction that can be life threatening if not treated in a short amount of time. It is obviously the holiday and my only option is an emergency clinic which works in most ways like an human emergency room (high cost, and sometimes very slow service).I have taken her there before (urinary tract infection) and to be honest I wasn't convinced that the care she received was that helpful and ended up taking her to her regular vet the next morning. I am willing to absorb the expense to take her in but am afraid that the trauma from taking her to the emer. clinic today and then our vet tomorrow would be set her back even more.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks
 

sandie

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I dont think the worms are at the bottom of this one. It sounds like she is really blocked. From trying to hack it up she has been straining her vocal cords. Yes, if something is blocking her up and she cant get it out, she does need the vet. Sometimes a big hairball can take days to weeks to come up. I would get her in asap like you plan to. Let us know what the Dr sais.
 
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kykittymom

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Well, turns out that my long haired kitty has a sore throat from swallowing her hair during grooming. Fortunately she was not impacted and should be much better in a few days. The doctor put her on an antibiotic and hairball remedy to coat her throat.

Very relieved to have her on the road to recovery.
 
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