 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsGeneral TopicsCat AnecdotesHealth and BehaviorRescue CatKB.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / February 2005Cat Personality Change After Anal Glands Expressed
I have had my cat for less than 6 months. She was an affectionate 6 month old stray cat who loved to bump her head on you for attention. She loved to play under the covers of my bed as though she were attacking a mouse. Now after a trip to the vet she has stopped this behavior. Last Saturday I took my cat to the vet after I noticed that she was scooting her behind twice daily on the carpet. My usual vet was out of town, so I took her to another vet. He said that her rear end was swollen as the result of an allergic reaction to a flea bite, so her gave her a shot to take care of that. She had no flea residue whatsoever on her body, so this flea bite must have been an isolated incident. He also gave her a shot for tapeworms as she had evidence of that. I asked about getting her anal glands expressed, and he said that since she was scooting that would be a good idea. I wish I had not had this done. She screamed, clawed, and hissed at him, the nurse, and me. She was quite clearly in extreme pain. The vet apologized and said that there was no other way to do this short of squeezing the hell out of the anal glands. Since then the cat has not been playful at all. She used to get up daily at 5 AM for a morning play session, but now she sleeps a lot. She meows a lot more for attention, she kneads her paws on me somewhat more than before, and she likes to lay on my lap more often now. Do you think she is still in pain? Is anal gland expression supposed to be THIS painful? If that is the case, I will get those glands removed before I have her go through this again. I am afraid she has been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy again would be appreciated! Oh the poor baby, I would not be happy if someone did that to me either. I would have to imagine that it hurts like H**L. I wish I had more advise to offer but I have never been in that situation. We are sending Purrs to your little one to get back to her old self soon. More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I suspect depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change (temporary). I wouldn't go back to this vet. It is highly unusual for a cat to need its anal glands expressed. Also, the "flea bite reaction" is most likely Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex http://www.vetinfo.com/ceosinophilic.html, which is in fact common and caused by an allergic reaction. I have 3 cats with this problem. It is most likely their food, as they don't have fleas, and I've been searching for a food that helps them. In the olden days (30 years ago) vets weren't diagnosing this very well and were sure it was "flea bite allergy". This vet may still be back in prehistory. >I have had my cat for less than 6 months. She was an affectionate 6 > month old stray cat who loved to bump her head on you for attention. [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy > again would be appreciated! Boy, I don't know. I think I would find a different vet! (Sorry for piggybacking as original did not show up on server). My cats have all had their glands expressed and fairly often (except for Pearl who expresses on own at inoportune moments.) and NEVER have they showed the slighest problem afterwards. I have a friend (who goes to same vet) and yes while it happens she sounds like she is being killed but she does that for everything. She has never experienced anything like this either. Something does NOT sound right here. I would check my phonebook for a Feline only vet and make an appointment. This just does not sound right. > More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I suspect > depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] > > been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy > > again would be appreciated! Thank you for the info on the DepoMedrol - I know that she definitely had a shot of this! Now her personality change makes sense. All she does is sleep and meow, and jump up on my lap to knead me, and I was really getting worried. How long do you think it will be before she is back to her old self? She does not play hardly at all (maybe 5 mins a day now). Also, I did not notice the swelling on her rear end, but the vet did. I would bet that all the scooting caused the swelling rather than an allergic reaction, the more I think about it. I am new to owning a cat, so I am not used to all of this. I will probably monitor her for the next few days to see if she has any further possible allergies, but I sincerely hope that all will be well. As far as this replacement vet goes, I think one visit was enough. I am not happy that he failed to tell me that she would go through a personality change! This guy is fairly young (younger than my normal vet), but he's had a practice for a few years, so I do not know what to make of it. Thanks to everyone for responding and offering Purrs for us! I will let you know how things go! And if I posted using the wrong format or etiquette, please accept my apolgies. > More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I suspect > depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] > > been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy > > again would be appreciated! > Thank you for the info on the DepoMedrol - I know that she definitely > had a shot of this! Now her personality change makes sense. All she [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > allergic reaction, the more I think about it. I am new to owning a > cat, so I am not used to all of this. Whereas my guess is that imapcted anal glands were causing the scooting. A cat might scoot if it still has some poop stuck to its rear end after using the litter box, or if its anal glands are impacted & need expressing. Cathy > Thank you for the info on the DepoMedrol - I know that she definitely > had a shot of this! Now her personality change makes sense. All she > does is sleep and meow, and jump up on my lap to knead me, and I was > really getting worried. How long do you think it will be before she is > back to her old self? She does not play hardly at all (maybe 5 mins a > day now). Bernice: my cat has to have shots of Depo Medrol several times a year, and her personality does not change at all. >Also, I did not notice the swelling on her rear end, but the vet did. >I would bet that all the scooting caused the swelling rather than an >allergic reaction, the more I think about it. I am new to owning a >cat, so I am not used to all of this. My vet explained that the anal gland impaction was caused by my cat's reaction to the tape worms. In other words, her butt itched, and she scratched and fussed enough that her anal glands became impacted. The solution was to clear the anal glands and treat the worms. No allergy reaction or anything else suspected. So, it sounds to me like you had pretty much the same thing. She scooted and scratched and that caused the swelling and impaction. Not sure about the shot. My vet gave pills - but I had to treat cats at home too, since it's usually an all or nothing type thing. I do wonder why he insisted on expressing the anal glands when the cat was obviously in distress. I have a quick reference book for cat and dog problems, and it even said in the book that most cats need to be sedated for the vet to express the anal glands. I was actually surprised that Kira didn't have a problem with it.  Signature-- Meghan & the Zoo Crew Equine and Pet Photography http://www.zoocrewphoto.com > As far as this replacement vet goes, I think one visit was enough. I am not > happy that he failed to tell me that she would go through a personality > change! This guy is fairly young (younger than my normal vet), but he's had > a practice for a few years, so I do not know what to make of it. On the other hand, my cat got the same shot twice and had no personality change. (I think it was the same shot; I could be misremembering.) Signaturemonique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!* > More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I suspect > depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change > (temporary). > > I wouldn't go back to this vet. It is highly unusual for a cat to need its > anal glands expressed. Ummm.. no, it isn't highly unusual. Cathy I didn't say it wasn't possible. It is just highly unlikely to be necessary. In 38 years of owning cats I have only had one out of 23 who ever had a problem with anal glands, and it wasn't even an impaction, but an abscess. And from my reading at the time, it was called "unusual". Dogs often have this problem, cats rarely. >> More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I >> suspect [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Cathy > I didn't say it wasn't possible. It is just highly unlikely to be > necessary. Yes, but you see, this is exactly where I disagree; my perception is that it is a relatively common problem. I've had only 4 cats over the course of the last 31 years, & of those 4, one's anal glands needed to be expressed a couple of times - they were leaking. That, coupled w/ith this topic/procedure having been brought up on this ng many times by various posters leads me to my opinion/conclusion. Cathy . In 38 years of owning cats I have only had one out of 23 who > ever had a problem with anal glands, and it wasn't even an impaction, but an > abscess. And from my reading at the time, it was called "unusual". [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > > > Cathy Oh well. I suppose we'll have to let some experts weigh in. Two personal anecdotes do not make one fact. :)) >> I didn't say it wasn't possible. It is just highly unlikely to be >> necessary. [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] >> > >> > Cathy >Oh well. I suppose we'll have to let some experts weigh in. Two personal >anecdotes do not make one fact. :)) I suspect it is somewhere in between. Not really common, but not that rare anymore. And maybe more known as people are better about taking their cats to the vet. I looked in my cat book, just a small guide with health issues. It doesn't mention just plain anal gland needing to be expressed, which is what my cat needed. It mentions anal gland *infection* and calls that rare in cats. The book was published in 1995. My dog book, which is more like a vet handbook, doesn't say how common it is in dogs, but does say that is more common in smaller dogs. It also gives instructions to do it yourself, while the cat book says it must be done by a vet. I've had 3 cats (19, 18 1/2, 10, and 4 so far). Only the 10 year old has had a problem - just once. My sister has had 4 cats (15, 15, 10, and 2). No anal gland problems that I know of. And my mom has several cats (15, 14, 4) - no problems that I know of. No clue about the ones when I was a kid. Dogs - we've had several, and the a couple of the dauchsunds had multiple problems. Signature-- Meghan & the Zoo Crew Equine and Pet Photography http://www.zoocrewphoto.com > Dogs - we've had several, and the a couple of the dauchsunds had multiple > problems. I try not to be a spelling nazi, but if you already own the dogs ... it's spelled dachshund. Dachs = badger in German; Hund = dog. Badger dog, or dog who hunts badgers =) Kinda cool. Signaturemonique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!* >> Dogs - we've had several, and the a couple of the dauchsunds had multiple >> problems. > >I try not to be a spelling nazi, but if you already own the dogs ... it's >spelled dachshund. Dachs = badger in German; Hund = dog. Badger dog, or dog >who hunts badgers =) Kinda cool. sorry. I couldn't remember and didn't want to go look it up. They were my grandmother and mother's dogs. I'm not into them myself. Signature-- Meghan & the Zoo Crew Equine and Pet Photography http://www.zoocrewphoto.com > sorry. I couldn't remember and didn't want to go look it up. They were my > grandmother and mother's dogs. I'm not into them myself. Nothing to be sorry about; I interpreted your post to mean you owned the little suckers, so I thought you might find the origin of the name interesting. Signaturemonique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!* > > I didn't say it wasn't possible. It is just highly unlikely to be > > necessary. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Cathy I suspect if you polled any group of cat owners, the number of cats that have *required* anal gland expression one or more times for a medical reason is pretty small - 1-2% at most. That being said, some people ask that it be done during grooming. -L. > I didn't say it wasn't possible. It is just highly unlikely to be > necessary. In 38 years of owning cats I have only had one out of 23 who > ever had a problem with anal glands, and it wasn't even an >impaction, but an > abscess. And from my reading at the time, it was called >"unusual". I wouldn't call it usual or unsusal. Some cats have trouble with them, others (probably most) don't. When I worked at the vet (vet tech and groomer), I did it as a routine part of grooming if the seemed to need to be expressed. Some cats tend to have full anal glands most of the time - others simply do not. -L. snip >removed before I have her go through this again. I am afraid she has >been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy >again would be appreciated! Others have expressed opinions about the medication making her woozy & so on, and it's hard to say specifically what might be making her the way she is, but my experience of cats makes me think that ... 1) if she's spending time with you and on your knee she's not in any pain. 2) cats get offended, and sulk, and it takes time for them to get over when you treat them (what they think of as) badly. 3) you can't *make* her be anything, but if you go on being kind to her, and giving her the chance to play, she'll go back to normal in her own good time. If you try to force her into doing stuff, it'll take longer. .. When I have to give medication to our cats, I know they'll go weird on me, and it's often in ways I don't expect... Let her do what *she* wants - plenty of affection will soon fix it ... good luck, Jim >I asked about getting her anal glands expressed, and he said that since >she was scooting that would be a good idea. I wish I had not had this >done. She screamed, clawed, and hissed at him, the nurse, and me. She >was quite clearly in extreme pain. The vet apologized and said that >there was no other way to do this short of squeezing the hell out of >the anal glands. Kira had this done several years ago. In her case, I saw her messing with her rear end too much, took a look, and saw that it looked bad. Off to the vet. The vet looked at it and said that it was clogged. It can do that if they mess with it too much. In her case, it was tape worm, so I got enough pills for everybody at home too. The vet said that some cats will allow it okay and some need to be sedated. He would try and see how she reacts. I held her, and he was able to do it easily. He just massaged the gunk out, and she didn't fidget or anything. It's quite possible that your cat was more impacted and it really was quite painful. Sounds like she should have been sedated. Also, if it happens more than a couple times, you may want to have the anal glands removed. That would prevent long term problems. My vet said that some cats need it, but not to consider it unless it happens more than a couple times and fairly close together. She's 10 now, and only needed it that once so far. So, no real problem for her. Signature-- Meghan & the Zoo Crew Equine and Pet Photography http://www.zoocrewphoto.com > I have had my cat for less than 6 months. She was an affectionate 6 > month old stray cat who loved to bump her head on you for attention. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > I asked about getting her anal glands expressed, and he said that since > she was scooting that would be a good idea. I don't know why. She was scooting because of the tapes, most likely. >I wish I had not had this > done. She screamed, clawed, and hissed at him, the nurse, and me. She > was quite clearly in extreme pain. The vet apologized and said that > there was no other way to do this short of squeezing the hell out of > the anal glands. What the h*ll did he do? I have never had a cat do more than mildly protest at getting their anal glands expressed. That's simply WRONG. -L. Thought I would pass along an update on my cat. She is now playing again, but she is not playing as much as she did before. She is scooting along the floor again, so I will have to watch her this week. I am probably going to take her back to my regular vet this weekend if the scooting continues. I know that she had the Depo. shot, but I will have to see what other shot she had for tapeworm. I had always thought that the course of treatment would be pills; I am glad to see that others have posted that they had pills prescribed for their cats. Now I will not feel like a complete idiot when I talk to the vet about pills vs. shots for tapeworm. :-) Thank you to everyone who has posted. I am sorry that I took so long to follow-up, but I wanted to give it a few days and see how Lucy fared. Once again, please forgive me if this shows up "funny" in the NG. This new listing and posting system via Google is a bit confusing. Bernice > Thought I would pass along an update on my cat. She is now playing > again, but she is not playing as much as she did before. She is [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I will not feel like a complete idiot when I talk to the vet about > pills vs. shots for tapeworm. :-) Droncit is thew shot for tapeworm. Depo won't kill tapes, so I hope that isn't what you were given. IME injectible Droncit is more effective and less hassle than the pills. She might need a second dose, but that isn't too common, IME. It may be that she simply reinfected herself. Best of luck, -L. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.