Are you kidding me???

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So, we took my male cat, Daphnis, to the vet yesterday because we noticed over the weekend he was making these awful tooth grinding sounds he has never done before. A quick online search said it could be a number of things including tooth pain (one of our other cats had this problem last year and got 2 teeth removed!) or nausea. So, we decided a vet visit was in order.

Anyway...poor guy. He had all sorts of tests run on him after the vet checked his teeth and probed a couple spots in question, but nothing serious was indicated with the teeth. They took his blood and tried to get a urine sample 3 different ways, but he apparently had none to spare. The doc called back this morning saying the blood work came back with high levels of GGT often indicating pancreatitis. They ran a panel for that, but it came back too low to confirm that condition. So, the next thing they think it might be is a bacterial infection or a blockage due to inflammation which could be a fluke or get this...COULD BE EARLY SIGNS OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE!!! Are you kidding me???

I actually had commented to my husband yesterday as we were sitting in the waiting room at the vet's office yesterday how sad it would be for an animal to have something like IBD because they cannot fully communicate the pain they are in and don't have many food alternatives to choose from. I really hope it's just a bacterial infection rather than that! I think one mammal in the house with it is good enough! LOL. So, we have to take him back in today for more tests and hopefully a urine sample. They said we need to switch to wet food and have to give him antibiotics and probiotics. I feel so sorry for our little buddy...
 
Wow, that would suck for the cat! I am not the biggest cat fan in the world, but I would never wish something like IBD on one. Hopefully your cat gets well soon, and it is nothing serious.
 
I was familiar with this due to the last cat we put to sleep. I hope the little fur ball gets to feeling better soon.
 
That's terrible, sorry to hear your cat is feeling rough! Let's hope he's back to his usual self soon and doesn't have IBD!
 
Thanks guys...hopefully they'll be able to get the rest of the tests they need today with minimal effort from him. He's our little baby. (We have no kids yet, so these are our children for now!) I hate knowing he's sick. The vet seems to think the prognosis is good though considering his general good health otherwise and his age (3 years). Fingers crossed!

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Poor guy. He looks a little like our cat Milo.

I hate for anyone to have sick pets. I dropped $3K last month trying to treat a sick kitty and it was heartbreaking.
 
Yeah, I would pay any amount of money to get my kitties better. We have 3, so we've definitely spent a lot of money already! Haha.

Yeah...we actually have one kitty on a low residue food already because she has a sensitive tummy and tends to throw up a lot. I'm thinking we'll probably switch them all to a low residue food, especially now that 2 of the 3 need it. The 3rd cat may be a task to switch to wet food. For some reason she's never really liked it.
 
Awwww, what a sweet little meower!! He is verrry handsome!

I had something similar happen with my dog... She was having diarrhea and was losing weight... very sick and unwell. I had to home-cook her food for her, because commercial dog food was making her so sick. I couldn't afford all kinds of tests and such, so I don't know if it was IBD... but by eliminating things like corn and rice from her diet, she has put her weight back on, her fur is shiny and her eyes are bright again! She is healthier now at 7 than she was at 3 years old.

There are lots of 'allergy-free' foods on the market now for cats and dogs. Similar to people with IBD, I put my dog on an elimination diet, and was able to figure out what made her sick and what didn't affect her. Every now and then, if she gets a hold of something she's not supposed to (even something small, like the crust of pizza or sandwich), she gets tummy rumbles, runny poops, and ear infections.

Hope little Daphnis is feeling better soon!!
 
Thanks Sharon! :) I actually just got home from the vet and the doc thinks we should give it two weeks to see if his levels are the same. He said they tend to fluctuate even throughout the day. So, since he has no other immediate symptoms (and actually hasn't ground his teeth since Sunday - figures) he wants to give it two weeks to see if it is the same rather than a fluke. They were able to get a urine sample this time, (yay!) but I had no idea they obtain it by sticking his bladder with a syringe and sucking it out. Poor guy. In the mean time, we're switching to wet food. The doc says even if it is a bowel problem, switching to a higher protein food with less carbs and more moisture will help him out a lot. And he says Feliway should help him with the stress he experiences when it thunderstorms here. Urine tests should be in tomrorow, so we'll see what happens from here. Thanks to all for your support. Time to go love on my little guy! My other girl cat, Chloe, must smell the alcohol they used to prep him because she keeps sniffing him and hissing!
 
dreamintwilight said:
Thanks Sharon! :) I actually just got home from the vet and the doc thinks we should give it two weeks to see if his levels are the same. He said they tend to fluctuate even throughout the day. So, since he has no other immediate symptoms (and actually hasn't ground his teeth since Sunday - figures) he wants to give it two weeks to see if it is the same rather than a fluke. They were able to get a urine sample this time, (yay!) but I had no idea they obtain it by sticking his bladder with a syringe and sucking it out. Poor guy. In the mean time, we're switching to wet food. The doc says even if it is a bowel problem, switching to a higher protein food with less carbs and more moisture will help him out a lot. And he says Feliway should help him with the stress he experiences when it thunderstorms here. Urine tests should be in tomrorow, so we'll see what happens from here. Thanks to all for your support. Time to go love on my little guy! My other girl cat, Chloe, must smell the alcohol they used to prep him because she keeps sniffing him and hissing!

You can also put plastic wrap over the litter, the cat climbs in and pees, you can then transfer it to the sample cup. Just need to keep other cats out of it to ensure it is the right cat.

Feliway is great stuff but expensive. We have used it when moving, new cats, etc.

Having two very sicks over the last two months and a third with Asthema we have spent a lot of time at the vets and specialists.
 
Good luck with your Kitty. My pets are all the children I have too and I always wonder how it would be if they had Crohn's...like you said they can't communicate the pain. Hope he feels better soon.
 
omg dreamin!! my cats do the same tooth grindy thing! they like tilt their head to the side and crunch their teeth together right?

our kittty mikki was doing that for a while, though we could never really figure out why. he passed away, but it had nothing to do with his tooth thing, he had fluid in his ab so were pretty sure his munching was insignificant.

the other night i noticed our girl ewok doing the same thing! a few minutes later she threw up, and shes done the same thing once before.

maybe it is what they do when theyre nauseous? maybe your kitty has nausea from the IBD?
 
Yeah...it's definitely how you describe. It sounds kinda like bone crunching, haha. Makes me shudder. He actually hasn't done it since Sunday, so perhaps it was a fluke. But, interesting that he had elevated levels of things in his bloodwork. I guess we'll find out in 2 weeks if it was a mistake or what. Could have just been because he was getting poked and prodded - very stressful for kitties!

Your little Mikki has the same face as the kitty I saw at the vet's office today. I guess he's the house kitty that gets to wander around. Such a sweet face :)
 
huh thats interesdting that he stopped doing it....well maybe it was just a weird kitty thing lol!

haha i love the little smashed faces, mik was an exotic shorthair, essentially a persian without the long hair :)
 
Yeah, if he does stop doing the grinding we're thinking maybe it could have been from a stuffed cat we have sitting on the couch (that my husband got for me while I was in the hospital away from our kitties). He likes to chew on him sometimes and I noticed the grinding a little while after he was chewing on him.So, perhaps he got some of the artificial fur stuck in his teeth or something. He gets into everything. We're pretty sure he has PICA because he was so young when we got him from the SPCA. Didn't have enough time with his mama to develop properly ;) He's our little weirdo, haha.

I love how you trimmed his hair too. Little lion. And I love kitties in bags! :)
 
That's so sad and I agree re. how hard it must be for an animal to not be able to communicate what the pain is like. Get well soon, kitty!
 
Hi Marisa

Hope your little baby gets well soon
Not a lover of cats, they're dead sly IMO, more of a dog person myself, but I wouldn't wish IBD on my worst enemy, let alone a mute one!
lotsa luv
xxx
 
Just wanted to update: My little guy seems to be up to his mischievous self again, so hopefully that means he just ate something funny that upset his tummy a bit. But he seems to be doing well. I suspect we won't have to put him on any meds when we take him back in for another blood test in a couple weeks. Thanks for everyone's support, even those who are not "cat people." ;)
 

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