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My cat is sick
Bionic Monkey
Registered User, ClubPA regular
Registered User, ClubPA regular
My cat's been sick for several days. He's a 5-year-old Maine Coon male.
I first noticed he was sick mid last week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday. He doesn't appear to be eating, and he's sleeping a lot, even for cats. I've also noticed he has a lot of dandruff when I brush him. He also has some remnants of what appears to be vomit around his mouth, in the form of small clumpings of wet hair that are a darker color than the rest of his fur, but we haven't found any vomit around the house.
We have a 5-month-old kitten that's recently joined the household, but we had her checked out by a vet before bringing her home, and that was almost a month and a half ago, while his sickness didn't show up until last week.
My suspicion is it might be his food. Because the kitten would get into the adult food instead of eating her own, my wife ended up just mixing the two. Can eating kitten food suddenly cause an adult cat to get sick like this? I'm already planning on dumping what's in their bowl, and buying some fresh food later today.
Also, if this goes on much longer, I do plan on taking him to the vet. Just wanted to throw my question out there if anybody else had experienced similar symptoms in their cats.
I first noticed he was sick mid last week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday. He doesn't appear to be eating, and he's sleeping a lot, even for cats. I've also noticed he has a lot of dandruff when I brush him. He also has some remnants of what appears to be vomit around his mouth, in the form of small clumpings of wet hair that are a darker color than the rest of his fur, but we haven't found any vomit around the house.
We have a 5-month-old kitten that's recently joined the household, but we had her checked out by a vet before bringing her home, and that was almost a month and a half ago, while his sickness didn't show up until last week.
My suspicion is it might be his food. Because the kitten would get into the adult food instead of eating her own, my wife ended up just mixing the two. Can eating kitten food suddenly cause an adult cat to get sick like this? I'm already planning on dumping what's in their bowl, and buying some fresh food later today.
Also, if this goes on much longer, I do plan on taking him to the vet. Just wanted to throw my question out there if anybody else had experienced similar symptoms in their cats.
Bionic Monkey on
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Do you have lillies in the house?
Things can go south with animals pretty quickly. I'd take him to the vet ASAP instead of waiting a few more days. I'd go back in time and take him three days ago if he isn't drinking.
Nah, it's nothing even remotely that big.
That said, in the last hour he's finally gotten up and moved around a bit more, and I actually saw him eat and drink some (I replaced his mixed up food with a fresh bag of the adult stuff).
Hopefully, he's starting to get better.
My oldest cat did this sort of thing recently when we added a new cat. Lots of loving and special attention, and everyone seems to get along fine now. I'd say if yours doesn't get better in a few days to try the vet.
If his coat looks significantly ruffled, and fluffed up like so, he could be running a fever. While their coats normally lay flat and smooth, they tend to fluff them out like this if they have a fever to help them cool down.
You should scour your house to see if you can locate any vomit anywhere. Dehydration is a very real danger for cats if they throw up a lot and aren't drinking much. Lots of house cats don't have a strong drinking urge anyway, and if he's on dry food and throwing up, he can dehydrate very easily.
Sounds like he's "getting" better if he's more active, but keep an eye on him, especially to make sure he's drinking plenty.
By these two quotes combined ...
Cats do tend to have sensitive stomachs, and don't take to quick food changes well. It could be that the kitten food doesn't agree with your 'coon's tummy. Or it could be that a rapid change of food didn't agree with his tummy.
Talk to a vet (if you don't want to subject him to an unnecessary trip) -- generally vet nurses are quite approachable!
I'd think putting the adult food in a place that maybe the kitten can't reach quite yet might be a temporary solution. I suppose once the kitten is grown enough to get to it maybe it'd be time for him to get adult stuff anyway?
we switched uor littlest guy over to adult food when he was 5-6 months old since our older cat was eating the kittten food and getting fat (er)
Hope your cat feels better.
Are there kitty photos to go with the topic?
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And I do have a picture. This was posted before, but it shows the both of them.