What’s Up With My Cat?

It’s Thursday – lunchtime. Something is definitely wrong with my cat and I’m going to take him to the vet to have him looked at.

(went to vet – returned – resumed blog)

My cat is 11 years old, he’s big but extremely active and a huge love addict – definitely a lap cat and always in the room I’m it at home, he loves to hang where people are. He even tries to converse vocally, not meowing but will try to answer – OK enough cat cuteness stories. He does purr like a lawnmower. Rocky has been in incredible health, and previously 3x he went for over a day w/o eating and somewhat lethargic, however returned w/o issues.

Sometimes he gets upset about foods and I change them – it’s standard procedure. I feel blessed to have such an awesome friend – I really do. He’s been around through some tough and some awesome times and guarded my home for me while on the road He’s a great judge of character, particular with women, and fortunately Jen got the thumbs up. Rocky has more personality and love than most cats I’ve been priviledged to know. People who hate cats like him. He’s rather amazing and adds a ton of happiness to my life – sometimes just by being funny.

Monday Rocky got stressed because a tech from Comcast was over fixing the cable – worse yet, in the bedroom, and on top of that I had to move around some furniture quickly that morning (he hates any change). He seemed upset for a few hours after the cable guy left.

Tuesday, he was fine. Seemed like he saw a mouse and appeared freaked out – rather odd. He was upset that his Litter maid went into overdrive so I turned it off, he didn’t go to the bathroom and I was concerned. He also had been throwing up and we picked up additional foods for him, which he didn’t eat much of – he had a little water.

By Wednesday I was very concerned as he was rather lethargic. At no time has he expressed pain of any kind, just rather slow and to himself more, which is very unusual. The biggest behaviorial change I noticed was his lawnmower purr was missing. I wanted to rule out any possible environmental toxins, and thoroughly cleaned my house – the area that

I’m embarrassed wasn’t checked sooner was my furnace filter, which I replaced promptly with a new one. I have Ecoquest clean air filtration, not sure if it really helps or hurts but it’s still on. I picked up 6 more cat foods for him and a digestive upsets liquid from whole foods.

I cleaned his food areas and bowls (has auto-filter system) and put some fresh water with ice cubes, which he licked but didn’t drink much.I squirted some water in his mouth and he threw up – he was shaking and I held him until around 2:30 in the morning, worried he might not make it through the night.

I felt blessed to see him hanging out in the morning, and it appeared he may have moved his food around (maybe ate a small amount) but not much. I gave him the homeopathic remedy and also sprayed water in his mouth, which he took without throwing up. I added a little liquid Milk Thistle and dandelion root – and continued giving him water without a problem. He still didn’t eliminate – however he hadn’t consumed much. 

Worried that I don’t know what’s up I took him to the vet – I hate taking cats to vets and have a zero return home record anytime there’s been an overnight visit – and with my cat not meowing or appearing in pain if it’s his time to pass I’d rather it be at home in comfort than in a cage poked and prodded and… I digress sorry – yeah the vet.

The vet (NOT my regular vet who is out this week) listened to his heart with a stethoscope and said his heart was fine.  After a quick examination said he needs to have a catheter installed to drain his bladder’. It seemed odd that there wasn’t more of a diagnosis as he stated there were crystals blocking his bladder that required this $1140 procedure. It seems drastic to hospitalize and alter my cat without more research. He mentioned 2x that this may not fix everything and may require more procedures. He did say the survival rate was greater than 50%. I guess I needed him to sell this more or assure me Rocky would feel better- because I know this – he’s appearing somewhat comfortable at home and I know the non-stop love we provide him has to help him push towards healing. He went on to say that after 3 days in the hospital (OMG!) that they may have to cut off part of his penis and at this point the cat looked at me and Jen and we made a decision to sleep on this – it just seemed too extreme. We took him home, gave him a warm bath and have been cuddling him. Besides the lethargy and lack of purring he seems like a cool normal cat.

Now I got home and have been googling all afternoon and evening now about this – and he matches very few of the total symptoms of UTI’s, but get this – Almost ALL references to this surgery have had either (1) repeat problems requiring more surgeries or (2) no success or (3) a limited prescription diet and repeat doctor visits. None, and I mean NONE have had a “glad we took our cat in as he is healthy and happy” stories. HOWEVER, I stumbled into some other sites – that are referencing alternative home treatments, that seem relatively easy – the main site a lot of people are referencing is Earth Clinic which has 38 positive stories of helping cats with problems like these with ACV – organic Apple Cider Vinegar. 

My friend Devorah called, probably didn’t expect the earfull about Rocky but she’s been his friend for years – and drove over with a bottle of Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. I’m not sure if the brand means any difference, it has the words with the ‘Mother’ on it, which was referenced a lot in these articles.

OK digressing all over – I’m going to give my cat some ACV and see if it helps. It’s not the $1200 visit that’s freaking me out – it’s my cat being in a box for 3 days w/o our love that’s freaking me out. I really believe organisisms are supposed to heal with encouragement and that anything surgical is a last resort.

He is keeping eye contact with me, he seems comfortable, he’s not crying in pain – he’s just being quieter than usual.

Does ANYONE out there have any experience with cats with these symptoms or this Apple Cider Vinegar solution? If I had more faith in the medical business I probably would have left him at the vet. I’m glad we’re taking a look at alternatives and going to try the ACV thing now.  Open to other (preferably non-surgical) ideas – I wonder if there are holistic vets I can locate. I don’t think Rocky wants to be hospitalized and seems happy hanging with us. Hopefully ACV helps!

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