Vet now, or OK to Thursday?

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jmc - 16 Aug 2004 16:54 GMT

Meep has a vet appointment on Thursday, for her annual shots.

She's normally quite a healthy cat. She's been behaving normally,
eating normally, but over the weekend, she coughed up three hairballs
- two were quite large - and her poop has gotten somewhat runny. The
first runny one was greyish, like clay.

Hairballs are fairly ununsual for her - she's 8, and I think that
before this weekend, she's coughed up 2 or 3 her whole life.

Now, today, she seems a bit lethargic. She's usually quite keen to go
outside when we get home, today we let her out, and 10 minutes later I
found her back in the front window.

I know I need to take her to the vet, but am unsure if this is just a
passing sickness (we all get them) or if I should move the appoinment
up.

Any advice appreciated!

jmc
usenet [at] jodi [dit] ws
Any day you learn something isn't a total waste.

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Cat Protector - 16 Aug 2004 17:37 GMT

If you can move it up, do so. The quicker you deal with the problem,
probably the better off you are.

> Meep has a vet appointment on Thursday, for her annual shots.
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> usenet [at] jodi [dit] ws
> Any day you learn something isn't a total waste.

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PawsForThought - 16 Aug 2004 18:19 GMT

>From: jmc

>Meep has a vet appointment on Thursday, for her annual shots.

>She's normally quite a healthy cat. She's been behaving normally,
>eating normally, but over the weekend, she coughed up three hairballs
>- two were quite large - and her poop has gotten somewhat runny. The
>first runny one was greyish, like clay.

I would definitely call your vet to see what they say. Also, if it were my
cat, I would not vaccinate her, especially if she's ill. Here's an article you
might find interesting:

http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.asp?PageType=Article&ID=485

Lauren
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecatjournal.com/articles/claws.htm

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jmc - 16 Aug 2004 20:56 GMT

One thing I forgot to mention, is I'm one of those types who sees a
disaster behind every sniffle, so I probably worry needlessly. She
does seem normal, except for not wanting to go out, and her abnormal &
now more frequent (but correspondingly smaller) stools.

I started her on glucosamine/chonidroitin about a month ago (vet's
suggestion). I hadn't heard of any side effects, could this be one?

Anyway, I'm going to call the vet tomorrow. Whomever said she
shouldn't get vaccinated if she's sick, I've been considering that
too.

jmc

>Meep has a vet appointment on Thursday, for her annual shots.
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>usenet [at] jodi [dit] ws
>Any day you learn something isn't a total waste.

jmc
usenet [at] jodi [dit] ws
Any day you learn something isn't a total waste.

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DaniellaY - 17 Aug 2004 00:25 GMT

I'm a bit of like you but you know what? Once it saved my cat's life (this was
5 years ago and she was about 2 days away from death). Took her 4 days
hospitalization and 4 weeks on a feeding tube but I got her back to her old
self. Scared the hell out of me because the warning signs were not there for
long.

Ever since that experience, I've never regretted a false alarm (or something
that tested positive but wasn't necessarily dangerous).

On the other hand, as my vet always says, no one knows your cat better than you
and you are the first one that's able to judge when something is off, how so
and by how much.

having said that, my other cat was always like yours, never any hairball
problems and she has LOTS of fur. Had her since 99 and just the past several
months, I hear her do her little yak and up it comes. She's still sturdy,
healthy and active but like us all, she's getting older so some things can
change over time.

Could be harmless but if it were me? I'd call the vet and tell them everything
that you said in your posting and see if you could get bumped up a couple
days...

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Karen - 17 Aug 2004 20:44 GMT

> One thing I forgot to mention, is I'm one of those types who sees a
> disaster behind every sniffle, so I probably worry needlessly. She
> does seem normal, except for not wanting to go out, and her abnormal &
> now more frequent (but correspondingly smaller) stools.

Sometimes that is all the indication you get of even serious ailments.

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jmc - 17 Aug 2004 22:01 GMT

>> One thing I forgot to mention, is I'm one of those types who sees a
>> disaster behind every sniffle, so I probably worry needlessly. She
>> does seem normal, except for not wanting to go out, and her abnormal &
>> now more frequent (but correspondingly smaller) stools.
>
>Sometimes that is all the indication you get of even serious ailments.

Well. Except that the last abnormal stool was just before I wrote
this. She seems fine now, litterbox habits normal, behavior normal.
I'll still of course mention this to the vet. I'll probably still
take a stool sample to the vet as soon as Meep produces another one
(yick.)

After watching her stalk another rather large spider, it occurred to
me: This passing illness seems to coincide with the single 1.5"
spider leg I found on the bathroom floor. Can overlarge nonpoisonous
spiders make cats ill when ingested?

jmc, owned by Meep the Great Black SpiderHunter
jmc
usenet [at] jodi [dit] ws
Any day you learn something isn't a total waste.

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Priscilla H Ballou - 17 Aug 2004 22:07 GMT

jmc <NOnewsgroupsSPAM@nojodibody.homeus> quoth:

>After watching her stalk another rather large spider, it occurred to
>me: This passing illness seems to coincide with the single 1.5"
>spider leg I found on the bathroom floor. Can overlarge nonpoisonous
>spiders make cats ill when ingested?

Wouldn't surprise me. I didn't know Sebbie had caught *another* Saturday
night mouse until he threw up his dinner on the front room carpet right
beside the front half of a young rodent. Too gamey for his tummy?

I prefered what he did with last Saturday night's mouse: dropped it in
the communal water dish for me to find in the morning. ;-)

Priscilla, who is also a worry-wort about her cats' health

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dgk - 18 Aug 2004 13:28 GMT

>jmc <NOnewsgroupsSPAM@nojodibody.homeus> quoth:
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>I prefered what he did with last Saturday night's mouse: dropped it in
>the communal water dish for me to find in the morning. ;-)

Ah, the old Burial At Sea.

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Karen - 17 Aug 2004 22:08 GMT

> >> One thing I forgot to mention, is I'm one of those types who sees a
> >> disaster behind every sniffle, so I probably worry needlessly. She
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> spider leg I found on the bathroom floor. Can overlarge nonpoisonous
> spiders make cats ill when ingested?

I believe it is entirely possible. Or some hair that finallly got passed
might account for it too.

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-L. : - 18 Aug 2004 08:17 GMT

With a leg that big there are only a few species it could be - where
do you live? If it is a wolf spider, it was unlikely to cause illness
- and usually if something like that is ingested and makes the cat
ill, it will vomit. Grey stool can be from clay litter - have you
switched brands lately or changed the litter lately?

-L.

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jmc - 18 Aug 2004 17:15 GMT

>> >> One thing I forgot to mention, is I'm one of those types who sees a
>> >> disaster behind every sniffle, so I probably worry needlessly. She
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
>-L.

England. Don't know if we have wolf spiders here, but they sort of
look the same. She was vomiting a bit, but it was all cat hair.

Haven't used clay litter for around 6 years. Using Worlds Best,
currently.

jmc

jmc
usenet [at] jodi [dit] ws
Any day you learn something isn't a total waste.

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