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.

Hello! I just got back from the vet with Maizy, by baby ginger kitten who is three months old. I got her as a stray from a feral colony of cats. The vet is concerned about her left ear. He can’t see down her left ear canal. He said it’s jammed packed with black sludge. He gave her medicine for an ear infection, but he isn’t convinced it’s that. He thinks it may be a polyp that grows off her eardrum and will eventually grow all they way up her canal. He said if she was a year or older he would be sure it was that but he has never seen one in a three month old kitten. If that were the case, the options would be euthanasia or complex surgery that goes into her jaw to get to the ear canal to remove it. It would require a specialist vet who would not be around my home town. He said it would cost roughly $4,000-$5,000 (he had a patient go that route a few years ago). I need more information about this. He didn’t give me a name and I was too shocked to ask. Can you help clarify this for me? I was super shocked and didn’t ask many questions.

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!

** 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!

-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.

Hello Community. I have a wonderful 7-YO spayed female snowshoe named Poppy. Poppy has been the picture of perfect health since I first got her with her litter mates. at 7-8 weeks. She is an indoor/outdoor cat who leads an active social life, and has always had a healthy appetite powering her Alpha status in the household of 5 cats. She and her housemates only get the best food possible and carbs were cut out completely about 1.5 years ago. She currently eats Dr Elsey’s wet food (Turkey or Duck/Turkey), Stella & Chewy’s freeze dried raw morsels, along with some lightly roasted chicken meat with a multi-organ/glandular freeze dried blend for added nutrition.

Last week I noticed Poppy had a hard lump on her left hind leg on the outside of the upper thigh about 1 inches below the hip joint and just outside the leg’s leading edge. It is a hard mass about a dime in size, raised and moves with your finger just a little bit. It is under the hide and above the muscle and feels attached to the muscle or sinew tissues. I took her to her vet last week and they attempted to aspirate but got no fluids, and so have recommended surgery to remove the cyst and biopsy the tissue. While I await their cost estimate I got a second quote from a local board-certified surgeon and that came back at $2500-3000 not including any imaging, biopsies or panels.

I am asking if anyone knows what a likely market price is for such a surgery or has recommendations on alternative treatments? Poppy is behaving normally and has had no change in diet or activity, and does not react at all to touching the cyst. The cyst was first noticed about 10 days ago, and I am constantly handling this cat so it has developed very rapidly. I had first thought it must be from a playful bite from one of her wrestling matches with my 2-YO male, but there are not external signs of any such play. Any insight is appreciated. Especially a means to get this cyst removed and biopsied at a price much more reasonable than that already quoted.

I have a 12 month old male rescue kitten that in the past three weeks has blocked twice. We’ve spent thousands to unblock him. The emergency vet hospitals in my area have all quoted me a price of over 8,000 dollars for PU surgery. He is currently not blocked but is having trouble and discomfort while urinating and his volume isn’t great. He’s on a prescription diet and we’ve done everything we can to keep him healthy. But we feel that PU surgery is inevitable and is our only option to save his life. The emergency vet told us that if we couldn’t afford surgery they would euthanize him for us. He’s the sweetest boy and deserves a chance at a long life. We are desperate for help. We would be willing to travel in order to get him what he needs if that’s what it would take. Please help us! We love our little Loki

Hi, where are you located? My cat has something wrong with her esophagus, I was told by the vet after I did (X-rays, blood work, urine exam and it was like $1000.00) that I have to go to a specialist and they said they need to put a camera to see what it is and that alone cost $2200.(they said that would be just to look at what is going on and does not include treatment.) I cannot afford it because I live alone. I have two cats and I’m just doing my best, (I just moved as a single young woman by myself with my 2 cats to a new state and just trying my best) if I had the money I would’ve definitely done it right now.

The vet gave me some thing to coat her esophagus(SUCRALFATE) to try to help but I don’t see a difference(she licks her food and coughs & it discourages her from eating but I know she wants to eat) and I don’t know what else to do. I feel so very helpless, I was wondering where you are located, maybe I can get her help,she really needs help right now. Her name is Penelope and I love her.

My email is sheenar2265@gmail.com