Our cat was recently paralyzed following a stupid preventable accident at home where he got spooked, jumped off a couch and landed wrong. Now he’s largely immobile. He can get around in short spurts using his front legs, but his hind legs and tail are limp. This has all occurred within the span of a week. Last Monday, 11/20, he was fine. He developed a slight limp on Tuesday, was clearly worse on Wednesday, and fully paralyzed by Thursday, which was Thanksgiving. Friday was when I returned to the initial vet we saw Wednesday for a follow up who recommended putting him down due to the time and potential cost for care, and we got the second opinion elsewhere within an hour that same day.

So the first vet immediately suggesting putting him down, and the second opinion vet offered more hope and said he might be able to bounce back and recover, but it would take a while. Anywhere from 4-12 weeks before showing any improvement. I’m going to do all I can within our means to save him if it’s possible. But I have concerns surrounding his bathroom needs, and potential pain I may be unaware of. Both offices ruled out “FATE” and neither feel it’s heart disease, heart failure, or a clot. Both feel it’s a slipped disc in his spine.

As a result of all this, he can’t use his litter box himself, and I need to learn how to “express” his urine and other end myself while searching for how we’ll be proceeding with his future care.

He’s been having urine incontinence the last few days, regularly leaking a bit when laying down (he’s always laying down now, but you get the point). I need to know if this is only possible or a thing when his bladder is uncomfortably full, or if it can happen regardless of the contents of his bladder, because I’ve found contrasting opinions. Some sources say it’s only leaking because it’s about to rupture and emergency care is needed, and other sources claim it can leak regardless of how much urine is in his bladder at any given time. It can leak when there’s a little or a lot. I don’t know what to put any stock in. I do know that shortly after expressing urine yesterday, we got a lot out….enough to make us think he must be empty or nearly empty, but shortly after he was still leaking a bit, which makes me think this is just something that we will have to deal with in general even if his bladder isn’t full.

The last thing I want is for it to rupture, and I’m finding removing / expressing his urine to be incredibly difficult. I’ve watched a dozen videos demonstrating it on youtube and read guides with photos featuring hand placement, and it’s just not coming easy or naturally at all. He’s a big boi….a little over 18lbs, so he’s a chonk. That’s making finding his bladder especially difficult.

I was able to successfully get a lot out yesterday, and he hasn’t had any water since. But he has had one of those treats that’s kind of like paste in a push up tube, and a small bowl of wet food. I know cats also develop urine from the liquid from their food.

I’m going to be “expressing” him at least once a day. I’ve been told it should be done up to three times a day, but I’m just not there yet, and he’s so uncomfortable I don’t want to put him through that more than necessary. When he drinks water it’s not all that much, maybe half an inch from a small bowl.

Lastly, I’m curious to know if he’s in more pain than I know or realize. We all know cats are great at hiding and masking pain, but at the same time they still do vocalize when they’re uncomfortable, or in distress. I can pick him up without him yowling or making noise, but he tends to complain the most when picking him up just to move him back onto a towel I’ve been keeping under him due to the incontinence.

I’ve read that when cats are in a fair amount of pain, they lose their appetite and stop drinking. Our guy is still doing both, and seems to enjoy both. He doesn’t randomly vocalize or cry or yowl. He’ll protest a bit when I shift him from spot to spot when changing towels, but that’s all.

Any help / thoughts / guidance / advice would be very much appreciate. And if anyone here can recommend a neurology clinic or hospital or other facility that treats cats without RAPING US FINANCIALLY that would be wonderful, because my God has this been frustrating. These people want upwards of 4k for an MRI. It’s positively unreal.

Thank you.

My cat developed a hematoma so we took her to the vet and they charged us $400 to drain it without anesthesia. After about 2 weeks it filled back up again so we took her to a different vet and they want us to spend $1,000 to have it surgically drained but with no guarantee that it won’t come back. Will it heal on its own or is it worth it to spend the $1,000 with the chance that it might come back?

This cat has had this butterfly, patterned, itchy, rash/scab on the top of her head for the past several months… Please help identify
I’ve had this poor baby in a cage in isolation treating her with Benadryl and with Neosporin and coconut oil and a bunch of stuff and she seems to get a little bit better when she’s in the cage but it’s just not worth it as far as keeping her trapped in there day after day because it doesn’t get all that much better.

Hello! I have a 2.5 year old indoor cat. At his last check-up the vet showed me that he has red gums and suggested a mouthwash-type liquid (DentiCan) that I apply every day with my fingers (it’s really a spray but I’ve found that dipping my fingers in the liquid and running them over his gums is the only way to apply the product.) I haven’t really noticed any improvement. Is there anything else I can do prevention wise? What might be causing this issue in the first place? None of our other cats have gum issues and they all eat a high quality Hills diet. Thanks for your input!

Hey I have a pet cat named haru who is acting strange lately. She have given birth two days ago to just one litter but she isn’t taking care of it rather than feeding and nursing her 4months kitten keeping them wram. If I moved the litter else where she immediately run and return it to it’s formal place she also try to grab her 4 months kittens to the place where she have given birth and if they don’t go there she run after them. Thank you. Has my cat gone insane

We have been given a tiny newborn kitten (and it’s littermate) to let nurse off of our existing mama cat that has other kittens about 3 weeks old. Problem is they are pretty sick. One nursing and seems to be doing better. The other has bloody discharge and maggots (worms) coming out of its bottom. My niece has them but I’m going to take the sickest one and see if there’s anything I can do for it. Not looking good. Has anyone experienced something like this? I feel like at this point it will be me just comforting the kitten until he passes. 🙁

How much should I expect to pay to have a nasopharyngeal polyp removed from my cat. So far we were told $1000 just for the CT to confirm the diagnosis. I’d hate to have to let her go for something that appears very treatable but the cost is just not feasible for us.

** cat who is veracious around feeding time help**

Hello! I have 3 cats that are patients there. I have had 2 cats, Blink and Havoc for about 5 years now. They are biological brothers. They have always shared everything and we never really had any problems with food or their weight.

About 2 months ago, we adopted a blind cat, Gemma who is about a year old. Her foster said that she would free feed her at her house and that she never really had any aggression with food. I’m not sure what happened because once we adopted her and brought her back here, she has became very veracious with her food. Our solution now is to feed her the dry food in a separate room (we feed her according to the package instructions) because if we do not, she will race through eating her food so she can start trying to eat the boys food as well.

With wet food, I monitor them and am constantly shooing her away so the boys can finish their food as she always inhales her food super quickly.

When we separate her, she will cry until we open the door and then she comes running full speed to the food bowl.

I’ve never really seen anything like it! She is so sweet and other than that there really is no issues I’m just looking for advice if there is anything I can do to make feeding time not so chaotic.

I want her to feel secure that she will always be fed but I can’t leave food out because I don’t want my other cats to eat hers.

I guess my question is, is this a behavior that can be changed or do we just work with it the way we are now? She seems to have a lot of anxiety around food and I’m sure being blind doesn’t help so I wasn’t sure what else we can do.

Thank you!

About seventeen days ago,our cat was bitten by another cat,she wasn’t treating as the same so we brought her to visit doctor the next day,
She had fever and had stopped eating,
They started antibiotics,we had vaccinated her about two months ago,so they decided that vaccination is not necessary,
After seven days she started to get worse,
And now we found an abscess in her waist,so they drained it and start another antibiotics and started cleaning the abscess with iodide and h2o2 3 percent,
She seemed to be better after two days,but stopped and again started getting worse so she doesn’t eat and hides from us ,we saw that while cleaning and washing the abscess area under the skin, is getting bigger,an right now after 10 days she is getting worse and worse,can you please give us some directions,please help her,she is in a very dangerous situation and our vet don’t know what to do،

-EMERGENCY-

Hello Everyone,

I very much need help. To preface this I am located in Los Angeles. On August 18-20 I noticed my cat’s behavior change. He started peeing outside his box, and was irritable. When I noticed glitter in his urine and I white pus material I knew from past experience that he had a UTI.
We took him into the vet and set up a urinalysis. While getting the urine sample his litter box behavior’s was erratic. But no more crystals, and I never saw any blood. And he was always able to go to the bathroom.

This past Saturday (9th) I noticed very early in the morning he was going to the box and nothing was happening. He did it twice in a few hours. He also started licking his private areas. I knew from past experience he was likely he was blocked. My mom is a vet in another state so I was able to bring my concerns to her.
We both agreed I needed to be on our vet’s doorstep that morning when they opened.

Long painful story short I took him in and we determined he was blocked. After going through all the options with the vet and his cat dad we were barely able to afford unblocking him. We waited that day hoping they would call us with good news. SO SO HAPPY! He got unblocked and I was able to come get him and bring him home.

They gave us both pain meds and doses for his crystals, every 12 hours and he got them consistently. We switched to only wet food back at the first vet visit. And since the Sat visit he has only gotten prescript for urinary cats (Royal Canine/Hills)

He was fine for a few days, peeing and pooping normally. I was monitoring everything. Then yesterday morning he stopped going to the bathroom again. All day yesterday, nothing.
We waited all day yesterday. His belly is bloated and he’s getting irritable again. He is off the pain meds now, but still mostly laying around.

This time around he doesn’t even try to go to the bathroom. And he has started licking himself again. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to be in pain. He is eating normally.

We could barely afford to have him unblocked the first time, this past Sat. Applying to Carecredit and Fetch both yielded no results. My roommate and I are trying to figure out a way to have him unblocked again. But with the strike and everything things are just so limited. I don’t want to loose him because we can’t afford to help him.

I have reached out to multiple charities and called so many vets. It’s all taking too long, and we know that it will escalate fast. I’m going to call the vet today and see if maybe we can at least drain the urine. Ideally, we can get him drained and I know there’s a procedure they basically snip the end so it won’t happen over and over.

We can we do?!! Please help!! Call me directly, I don’t even care. I just want to help him 619 931 3747

I have included a picture of our dear boy, he’s 7 and 6 months..so almost a senior. This is his first UTI bout. His name is Jerry, and he’s wonderful.