Posted on 07/31/2012 1:39:48 PM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse
In my short time here I've noticed that a lot of people on this site give great advice concerning pets.
The cat is at the vets office and he's being kept overnight to determine if they need to operate. He's a large Himalayan mixed with Maine Coon.
He hasn't held down food or water since late yesterday afternoon. He had surgery back in early June for similar symptoms. The vet removed a mass of hair from his stomach. I think part of the problem is he's been cleaning the dog who has much courser fur.
The vet also determined he's a little constipated.
He's about four years old and hasn't had these problems until recently. We just moved into a house in East Texas. Until a year ago, we lived near the Canadian border. He's been treated for fleas and worms.
He doesn't like Hartz hair ball remedy. The vet already said both animals must have their coats kept shaved short for the rest of their lives.
Can anyone offer any home remedies that will help him? We recently lost our ancient 20 year old cat. We're not prepared to lose another pet.
Just curious, before the surgery, what did the vet tell you he saw from the x-ray?
“Vet number two took a long pair of tweezers into his butt and pulled out a nine inch long mass of hair and poop.”
Just to be clear, you mean the cat’s butt, right?
Thought we were talking about Barney Frank for a minute..
Thanks.
I've already got the “furminator” brush but I really haven't used it often enough.
He's been on the anti hairball dry food for a few months. He prefers dry and never really eats a lot of wet food.
The vet pulled a large ball of fur out of his stomach. He was vomiting but couldn't expel the mass.
I'll try to find the laxatone. The vet said he's also been constipated, they checked and he had hard/dry feces that he hadn't passed.
We just got through with a severe flea problem. Due to that, our twenty year old cat ended up anemic and her kidneys shut down. We had to put her down on the same day we received our HHG delivery. Due to all the related issues, my wife and I still haven't processed the loss of one pet. We're not capable of dealing with the loss of another.
Okay, I don’t put this unless I do, but I LOL’d. (Which resulted in a couple of strange looks)
Ping.
Just curious, before the surgery, what did the vet tell you he saw from the x-ray?
On the x-ray before the first surgery, the vet showed me a shadow near the bottom of the stomach. He was mainly looking to see if the cat swallowed a string that was constricting the intestines.
He performed exploratory surgery and the intestines were good. That’s when he removed the mass of hair. The cat was vomiting everything (food, water) but couldn’t bring up the hairball.
Today, a different vet showed us a similar shadow on the xray (not identical, just similar). He’s certain it’s the same problem, but they want to keep him overnight before cutting.
I used to have the same problem w/ my 3 cats, now down to 2 =(.
A few months ago, I switched their cat food to Before Grain because of a show I just happened to catch w/ Mark Marrone. It was a show on cats and their diet.
He said cats cannot digest grain, therefore, they either throw it up and you have a very messy liter box.
I used to come home to at least 2 piles of barf everyday as well very messy boxes. Since I have switched, I rarely have any barf, except for the occasional hairball, which is now just hair and bile.
merrickpetcare.com is their website. Check it out. They are here in the good ole USA, Texas to be exact and just read their 5 promises.
I have had excellent results switching to this brand. Noticed the barf almost instantly ceased.
Oh, and NOTHING they use in their pet food comes from China. An added plus!
Sorry, I am on a low-level crusade against excess pronouns.
Get a new vet. If he found a "shadow", meaning some kind of mass, he should have had a biopsy done, as well as a blood panel to determine which numbers were off, if any.
Those combined will allow the vet to make an "it could be this, or could be that", somewhat of a diagnosis.
I'm only saying this because I just went through it. I found, well was referred to the best vet in the whole world! I am thankful everyday I found him.
The 1st vet I took her to didn't even bother to misdiagnose her, let alone diagnose her.
He wanted to do about $3000 worth of "vitamin testing". What an a-hole.
Thanks! I just copied your post and emailed it to my mother.
One of my cats throws up food every few days, but it’s always immediately after eating, and it’s obvious that she just didn’t chew. Our cats are short-haired, so we don’t get hairball issues.
I have had kittehs that will lick the hairball treatment from my fingers and ones I have to force them to eat it. If you get it in their mouth or on the fur around their mouth, it works.
Now that you are living in a much warmer climate, your dog will shed even more, which is probably what your kitty is taking in.
I would start furminating him everyday.
Lke another freeper mentioned, try giving the cat a pat of butter on a plate once a day, let him lick it.
He pulled the mass out and it was a big clump of fur. I’m checking out the vet closer to the house we just bought.
I just got some bad news. My wife informed me that the cat is cutting into my gun money.
If you get it in their mouth or on the fur around their mouth, it works.
The dog will try to lick it off.
Our cats, the one’s that did not like the gel hairball treatment, would be crazy for Vaseline off our fingers. They couldn’t get enough of it!
It sounds worth a try. It might help with the constipation, too.
Yes Laxatone is good stuff. My cats loved it. They licked it right out of the tube. I have also put it on a cat’s foot and they will lick it off immediately.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.