Kitty not well yet, maybe not even improved

[cjsmith]

Unfortunately, jackiecat is pooping fresh blood again. There's some fecal matter, but mostly it's intestinal mucous and blood.

She vomited again, too, but there's no blood there this time, thank goodness.

She hasn't passed any of the hairballs that were blocking her this past weekend. She does have SOME fecal matter exiting, but overall, this is Not Good.

Managed to give her one of the enormous antibiotic capsules by coating it in butter and hanging on to her for dear life until she finally gave up and swallowed. I am amazed that thing went down. Poor fuzzball!

Another unfortunate thing: Jackie doesn't like Petromalt. (Well, laxatone.) Fortunately Duchess will eat it. Duchess has even more hair than Jackie does, so preventative measures there are a good idea. I wish Jackie liked it, though. She needs it badly right now.

Comments

[mighty-sam.livejournal.com]

Poor baby. All of our kitties send their warmest feline wishes.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Maybe they could purrrr it out of her. (Suppose I set her on a dryer and threw some sneakers in, to try to jar something loose... okay CJ, cut it out with the home science crap.)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Is surgery out of the question? (I'm not sure what it would fix in the long term, though.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

If I bring her in to my regular vet he may recommend it at this point. Not sure. Any surgery where they open up the intestines is pretty drastic, so he might say it's still better to wait. I'll phone him and ask.

You're right, in the long term it wouldn't help; it would solve the acute situation and then I'd have to do other things to help it not happen again. I could shave her periodically or something. ;-) And definitely smear Petromalt (intestinal lube, basically) on her so she has to lick it off.

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

Oh no! You're both in my thoughts and prayers!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! At the very least *I* feel better, reading words of support.

[firecat]

I'm sorry. I hope she gets better soon.

Have you tried the fish flavor of petromalt?

I hear that if your cat doesn't like petromalt, you can smear petromalt on her paw and she'll lick it off anyway. (Unless she figures out to just get Duchess to lick it off...)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Mm, haven't tried the fish flavor. Thanks! I can swing by a pet store and see if I can get that. I also haven't tried smearing it on her, although last night I was awfully tempted. :-)

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

My cat has dandruff and the vet recommended that I give him a small amount of butter once a week or so. The trouble is that he doesn't like butter!? I put a dollop on the top of one his front paws, he glares at me, and then resignedly licks it off.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Isn't that crazy? Some cats are weird.

Jackie was refusing butter last night, too, although she took a little this morning so I suppose she was just feeling awful. Not one of my three cats will eat Smart Balance margarine, though. :-)

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Not one of my three cats will eat Smart Balance margarine, though. :-)

And they say cats are dumb!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Heh! One of mine broke his own nose by (best we could figure) running full-speed into the glass door and missing the catflap. I honestly don't remember why we named him Dizzy to begin with, but it wasn't long before Dizzy was short for Disaster. That cat was dumb.

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

Prayers and good thoughts on the way.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It helps... even if, right now, it's only me who feels a bit better hearing that.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

sneak up on her and smoodge it on the back of her paws (try to do this in a tiled area, as the cat will bolt once you set her down). anyway, that's what we have to do to spainy, who also hates the stuff.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she's awfully good at bolting. I'll smear the goo on her tonight. I was tempted yesterday and now, thinking about it, I have no idea why I didn't just DO that.

Spainy and jackiecat resemble each other quite a bit. In particular, they're both very very fluffy. Does Spainy have lots of hairballs?

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

yes. yes she does.
she hates to be brushed, so we don't do it as often as we should ... and she hates the goo, so she doesn't get it as often as she should.

*sigh*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ditto on the brushing. Well, I can smear Petromalt every day for a month and see whether anything improves. If she just puked hairballs and not blood, I could live with that.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

the laxatone helps pass the hairballs -- they're more likely to come out the other end than to come up ;-) it works wonders, too. spainy was stopped up for a couple of days once, so we lubed her up with laxatone and let her run ...

next morning we practically needed gas masks to go near her litter box.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and that in turn would help with the blood: if she puked less often her esophagus would heal up.

Great story - tonight I'll lube 'er up and let 'er go!

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

don't be afraid to use a little more than it says -- it won't hurt her, and it sounds like she really needs it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! If I'm about to succumb to caustic gases I'll send one last dispatch from the trenches. :-)

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Many hugs and good hopes for you both...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :-/

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I actually had success with smearing vasoline on my cats, though I've mostly had short-hairs.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oo, I hadn't thought of trying that. I thought of butter, but Jackie was even refusing that last night. She didn't want to eat squat, I suppose. Can't blame her.

I think maybe I'll prefer short-hairs next time I'm looking!

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

yeah, it has the advantage of being something likely to be found at home, rather than something to go out and buy that may not work or that the cat may not accept.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes. Cheap is *good*!

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor kitty and poor you! *sympathy and good thoughts*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Tonight I'm going to coat her in Petromalt and run for my life. We'll see what she produces once she's lubed up inside!

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*blink* *amused*

That's a really entertaining mental picture, oh yes. Probably not something I'd want to smell, though!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

DEFinitely not. But it might work! :-)

[chiefted]

Hugs to you and nice soft pet for jackiecat

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-)

[moropus.livejournal.com]

I have had luck with sardines packed in oil and tuna packed in oil instead of normal cat food. Basically, the more grease the better.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Mm, thanks for the idea! She might enjoy it, too, which gives it an advantage over the smear-her-with-Petromalt solution.

[butterfly-smile.livejournal.com]

Hugs for both you and jackiecat.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The poor thing. I wish it were me sick; at least I understand what I'd need to do to get well.

[kimatha.livejournal.com]

Poor kitty, and poor CJ. I hope she feels better soon.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I wish I were the one sick instead, because at least I understand what I'd need to do to get well. (Lessee: eat a tub of Vaseline, run around a lot, hydrate like crazy, do the belly-shaking yoga thingy, and kick Rob out of the house until it's not toxic to breathe indoors any more.)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Aww. *very gentle hugs* and get well vibes for jackiecat, and hugs* for CJ. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! jackiecat will take a raincheck on the hugs, I suspect. :)

[eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com]

hugs of support, from maxling and i. i'm sorry. wishes for a quick lube and and out...

i'm so sorry she's still sick.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! See, now if it were maxling, you could just let him read his own vet reports and figure out what he needed to do. Sadly, jackiecat has not reached that level of sophistication. ;-)

[eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com]

disturbingly, you could be correct about the evil genius i have...

i'll see if i can get him to send her some of those cat mind messages, though.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Aw poor kitty! A helptful hint for giving jackiecat her pill is hold her mouth shut and blow a big puff of air in her nose. It will make her swallow. Of course that is after you jam the pill into her mouth. You will most likely bleed at some point.

Is the petromalt gel? We used to put it on our cat's nose and it would be pissed off and lick it off because it was unclean.

Iams makes a good hairball food.

*hugs to you too*

addendum

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Feel free to smack me around for giving unwanted advice.

*more hugs*

Re: addendum

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* no prob! :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I usually use the massage-the-throat-gently trick -- never tried the puff of air! As for bleeding, I am sooooooo lucky. The emergency clinic CLIPPED HER NAILS for me. Wow. I almost never do this because she hates it so much. (I clip the other two cats' nails with no trouble.)

Yeah, Petromalt is a gel. What I have right now is the vet-version called Laxatone -- same stuff though. Smells like molasses, goops like Vaseline.

I've tried hairball foods and oddly they made two of my cats puke MORE. Ugh! I didn't try the one from Iams, though. I have to wonder whether their current food is exacerbating the problem. They're on "weight control for older / indoor cats" food. I bet it doesn't have enough fat.

*thanks*

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

I bleed each and every time I try to clip Spike's claws. In fact I have scratches right now just because I was harassing kitty for no good reason and she got fed up. :)

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Owww, kitty trauma is the worst! More *hugs* and *kitty-purrs* from me and Mira, wishing both of you the best.