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Can stress cause cat to change?

2K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  catloverami 
#1 ·
Abby is going to be 13 on Monday. Never sick. Finicky eater...no noise, no distractions, etc. Purrs, runs, plays, pretend hunts at night and deposits the toys (her kills) by my bed. Uses litter box. She is just an all around fantastic cat.

Fast forward to a massive storm in our area resulting in running a very loud generator for 6 days while without power.
Abby has always thrown up, especially hairballs. During the generator time she began increasing the vomiting to like 3 times a day. Gave her a spoon of pumpkin which she loved but threw up. No more vomiting after that. Hooray! However, that’s when I also realized she was not eating and I know for sure she stopped pooping last Sunday, possibly sooner because I admit with all the exterior turmoil going on with power outage for 6 days, my attention had wondered. I know eating with both cats was way down. Still drinking normal amount of water and urinating.

Is it possible to become so stressed that you simply stop doing all the things you’ve always done? I also noticed that Gizmo, who will be 11 on Monday wasn’t eating as much and also stopped pooping. However, by giving him canned tuna and canned food, soon discovered that perhaps he was plying me? It worked! Abby sniffed the Tuna and had one lick. Canned not even!

As I write this, Abby is in the hospital. We took her in late yesterday afternoon. She was more relaxed in that room than we’ve seen her since the storm. She was jumping, investigating, leaving her smell and even purring! They found nothing on initial exam. Drew blood and while there were some higher markings, nothing that screamed kidney failure which was my first fear. She suggested they could send her home, we could administer sub q fluids because she’s somewhat dehydrated. We could give her appetite boosters, they would administer anti nausea meds. We opted to leave her overnight, run all the tests known to man and find the cause if there is indeed a physical cause. Even if she has nausea something had to cause it. I don’t want to bring her home without knowing.

We are totally baffled by this.
 
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#2 ·
Yes loud noises can cause stress in cats to extent they go off their food and cannot relax or sleep. Is the generator off now? My experience with noise and my cats was during some house renovations that lasted a month or more. Although all the noise of banging,electric drills, sawing only happened during daylight hrs, it did upset the cats much as you’ve experienced. One of them started over -grooming to try and relieve the stress liicked off all his belly fur. Even when the renovations were finished he has continued this habit now for 12years! If Abby is still stressed a sedative from your vet may make it more calming and comfortable for her until things are back to normal.
 
#3 ·
Abby stayed in the hospital getting tests, IV fluids, meds. She indeed has stage 3 kidney failure. Brought her home and her values were back to normal. Got her to begin her new diet by giving her food off my finger. On Sat and Sun she ate very small amounts, drank, peed and pooped once. Shoving all the meds done her throat making her run and hide. Even the crushed pills in half & half did not entice her to lap up...had to use a syringe and she’d gag. Now it’s Wed. She hasn’t pooped, is peeing less than normal. Ate zero food yesterday. This is not Abby. It’s like she’s already gone. She mostly just sleeps.
 
#5 ·
Have you tried pill pockets? I have to give one of my cats pills twice a day and they make it possible. My cat will eat the chicken flavored ones but not the fish. We cut the pockets in half (his pills are tiny) because we've found that he won't eat them full-sized.

I'll be thinking of you and Abby.
 
#6 ·
Have you tried mashing the pill with some strong smelling fish, like a small quantity of sardine or salmon?
 
#8 ·
That's such a heartbreaking decision to make, but the kindest. I'm so sorry for your loss.
 
#11 ·
Oh dear, that's always one of the hardest decisions one has to make, but you did it for the right reason to stop her suffering. Some day you will see her again. true love never dies. :heart
 
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