I adopted a feral cat just over a year ago. My elderly father was feeding him twice a day for two years. He moved to a condo when my mother passed and the cat sat at the empty house day and night waiting for my Dad to come home. I ended up taking the cat and have worked on taming him. I’ve been making progress but not quite where I can pick him up.
He’s been mostly healthy up until 8 weeks ago. He seemed to be straining to urinate in his litter box and had decreased appetite. I took him to an animal hospital. At this time, I couldn’t touch him. He was anesthetized and examined. His exam and bloodwork were all neg. He was put on a urinary diet and given mirtazipine to stimulate appetite. I was not able to consistently get the stimulate in his ear but he would eat, just not a lot.
Followed up with my vet who said maybe he isn’t that hungry because he doesn’t have to worry about food and just watch his weight.
Weight continued to drop and found out last week he has tapeworms. He got a topical dewormer. Since then, it seems like he’s lost more weight and his lack of appetite is worse. He does eat enough to poop and pee daily.
My vet does house calls only and is coming Thursday. She’s limited in what she can offer for interventions. I am contemplating taking him back to animal hospital for evaluation,
It gets dicey though because he’s not completely tame. When I went with him before I could hear the attending talking to resident on other side of door saying, “he’s feral, what does she expect us to do,” I get that, but to a point. Is it unrealistic for me to want Pinky treated? He’s getting sweeter and sweeter and enjoys being petted.

Hi! I have two beloved cats who I rescued about 4 years ago at the age of 2. They are now 6 (biological brothers) one of them has always been on the more apprehensive side. This problem tends to go in phases but this time it’s lasting longer than usual. During the night time anywhere between 12-4 AM he is just a ball of energy and wants to play and will cry and run back and forth. Before we go to bed at night, I try to play with each of them for about a half hour. Is there anything else I can do? I feel bad that he has all this energy and just looking for love and attention in the middle of the night! I’m worried about when we go on vacation or something or that sorts because we won’t be able to comfort him when he is having these “moments”

Help!

-anxious cat mom

a while ago my cat became sick, around the same time we noticed he had been leaving our house and stealing cat food from the neighbors who leave it out for other stray cats (therefore he was eating after other cats) his lymph nodes became swollen, he stayed in one spot all day and rarely moved, he wouldn’t eat or drink, and lost weight. We brought him to the vet and they examen him and did x-rays and said that it appears that he could have cancer/a tumor that has spread to his lymph nodes already as well as some other things like fluid/pus in his chest. They said the cancer was very aggressive since it’s already gotten that far and we just noticed it. A few days later his lymph node swelling went away, he started eating and drinking again, and he was acting like himself. We brought him back to the vet and they performed FNA on the tumor which came back inconclusive. They were also shocked that his lymph node? weren’t swollen anymore, and they said the tumor had moved places, and they started to question their diagnosis saying that he could just have an infection. The gave him antibiotics and sent us home. Since then the tumor has gotten bigger and moved places, it feels sort of soft and moves around easily. I’m questioning if this is just a lipoma rather than cancer because of the way it feels and moves, it has also been about 2 months since we very first noticed this, and to me it doesn’t appear or feel to have spread anywhere, his vet was also talking like he wouldn’t live more that a week or two and it’s been 2 months. No one can really come to a definite diagnosis… so if anyone could give advice or help on this i’d appreciate it very much!! (i’ve also included a photo below of the tumor though it’s a litte difficult to tell)

My daughter’s elderly cat Astra seems to have sprained her left front paw tonight and is acting strange. Her leg/paw isn’t swollen, but she can’t put any weight on it without falling down. She’s meowing a lot and walking in circles. At one point, she was hiding by my daughter’s desk which is unusual, she seems to be confused, and has no appetite. We’ve read how cats don’t metabolize aspirin or nsaids very well, so we don’t want to give her any. What can we give her and what can we do to comfort her? Is there anything we should look for? Is her behavior typical of a feline in pain? Thank you for your help!
Edit: Now she’s pressing her head up against things.

I have 2 cats which eat the exact food, Fancy Feast wet food. However, about once a week, Kirby throws up his breakfast about 10 minutes after he eats. He gets frightened when he’s about to throw up, so he starts running around the house, which leads to projectile vomiting everywhere. I can’t seem to figure out why. It’s not a certain flavor of food. And then, within about an hour, he’s meowing at me and complaining that he’s hungry. Is there something I can give him to keep his stomach settled down? Maybe sprinkle something on his food?

Last summer my beloved cat, Summer escaped my home and was missing for two months. When she was found she had lost about 1/3 of her body weight and her personality had changed. While she was previously very much the “alpha” cat and could be a bit of a diva she is now timid and very loving. During the time when she was missing I was under an incredible amount of stress; having a pet pass away is heartbreaking but having a pet go missing is agonizing, I would not wish the experience on my worst enemy. I couldn’t sleep for much of the two months. Our cat Gracie was by my side the entire time. She did take over as the leader of our little cat pack (pride??). When Summer returned Gracie and her initially got along okay, however within about two weeks Gracie started going after Summer causing a significant amount of stress on Summer. She would chase her off the litter box and food bowls. We created a safe space for Summer and over the past year she has very much chosen to stay isolated away from Gracie, our other cats come “visit” without an issue. Several months ago Gracie started urinating outside of her box. We first had to go through the process of elimination to determine which cat was urinating outside the box. All cats have had urine and bloodwork done to rule out any medical issues. Gracie is now isolated and Summer has free reign of the house. Inappropriate urination has stopped. Our other cats can come “visit” Gracie without incident, however as soon as Summer enters the room Gracie attacks her. We have tried medication and we have tried putting a drop of vanilla on each cat so they smell the same. I would prefer to not spend the rest of my cats lives isolating one or the other to create peace in our home. I will note that Gracie has limited or no sight in one of her eyes, she has always been a bit of a “scrapper” with the other pets when they approach her on that side, that being said this isn’t a case of Summer startling her, she is seeking out Summer to attack her.
I would love advice from anyone who has had a similar experience; what worked, what didn’t?

We have rescued two feral cats for our farm. They came from West Virginia rescue with vaccines. A Maryland rescue took them and thus we have them. They are friendly to us and one lets us pick him up. The other loves to be petted but not picked up. My question…..I would like to have them chipped. The problem is I don’t know when I can get them in a carrier. It will take some time. I don’t think I can set an appt. time for the chip. I have all their paper work for you. Any suggestions??

Hello there. My cat has had an ear infection for over two years now and has been treated with antibiotics over and over but it will not go away. Just about a year ago the vet removed a few polyps from my cats ear and throat and we thought for sure that’s why the antibiotics weren’t clearing up the ear infection, so we have done more ear infection treatments since the polyps have been removed but it’s still infected. My cats ear is stinky and water flys out of my cats ear when he shakes his head. I am so over antibiotics, we have literally tried every kind. Is there a home remedy out there anyone has had success with? Please help.

I have been using cat fountains for my cats for a long time now, because they all love fresh running cold water and insist on drinking out of the sink. The problem I’m having is that I still have not found the best cat fountain for my kids. So many of them are made from plastic, and regardless of how often you change the filters they mold easily. Gross. I have seen ceramic ones and stainless steel. I am reaching out for input from everyone to find out what it is they use that they find is the best. Even the filters tend to get funky quickly. I only have three cats and I do wash their fountain often. But I’m looking for one that will not mold easily and also does not make a huge mess on the floor. Thank you so much and advance!

Dr magnifico , we took our 3 year old feline to our home vet yesterday morning for straining and not being able to urinate (happened within 15 hours approx.) they released him at 12:09pm on buprexen 0.35 ml every 12 hours until we can get the culture and urinalysis back Monday, they did an ultrasound and said there was no blockage but to take him in to an ER if things get worse, well 8pm that night it was only getting worse not even a dribble and so we rushed him to an emergency hospital and applied for a loan because the ER told us he WAS blocked and that there was a mound of crystal formed and that he needed surgery ASAP as well as the catheter. They kept him overnight and now today ( the next day) they said if at 430-5 they take out the catheter and he can pee on his own they want to send him home. My fear is that he will get reblocked as he is trying to heal… I saw your YouTube video GET OUT ALIVE BLOCKED CAT and how they should keep him for up to 3 days and monitor him with the catheter still in place? Our home vet doesn’t open until tomorrow and I’m sure they will want more money to keep him overnight again I already applied for the loan and got approved but our expenses are running tight. What do you recommend? This is our cats first problem he has no history of illness or allergies. The ER he is at right now is tanasbourne veterinarian emergency in Hillsboro Oregon ! Our home vet is Milner vet hospital in Oregon city