[Eric24]

My baby, Oreo (1 year old), has all sorts of problems and they all started after she was fixed. She will not allow me to pick her up anymore, she doesn't have control of her bladder all the time, and she is afraid of EVERYTHING, and she doesn't groom herself (other than her paws). If she's eating and I walk by....she jumps. She is an extremely nervous cat, but was never like that before. My vet, who's been great, referred us to Tufts University Internal Medicine/Behavior dept. The only problem is Oreo is absolutley terrified of the cat carrier. Our vet and a vet tech had to come to our house to get her in it so she could get her rabies shot. She attacked the vet and bit her fingernail off. I can't say enough good things about my vet, even after all this, she's been amazing.

I have another cat, her sister, who is fine. We've had them since they were 2 months old. Oreo began to pee blood after the surgery and I rushed her to the emergency vet. There is blood in her urine for up to 24 hours after a trip to the vet, probably due to the stress. They said she had an inflammed bladder due to the surgery, because before the surgery she had a UTI and phosphate crystals (which are cleared up now). Oreo is a 100% different cat then she was before. I had thought about putting her at peace over the weekend. I'm torn between that and bringing her to tufts. Every trip to the vet is such a traumatic experience for her.

My concern is her behavior. She's afraid of everything and I don't think she enjoys life that much anymore. It's hard because at night she'll lay with me and be so sweet and cuddly. But she also has issues sleeping. She constantly has nightmares while she's sleeping that look like mini seizures. She fights herself to stay awake (I think it's because she's afraid).

I need some advice from other animal lovers....Should I put her through going to tufts or should she be at peace?

 

[JungleKitty]

I fell SO SO terrible for you...Did your vet think that the sapying procedure went wrong? I think I would give TUFTS a try...even if she does get scared going there it can't possibly make things worse than they are now...and if you don't take her you'll' always have that 'What if..." feeling on your mind. If you have the money...than I say get as many opinions as possible.

 

[Eric24]

I fell SO SO terrible for you...Did your vet think that the sapying procedure went wrong? I think I would give TUFTS a try...even if she does get scared going there it can't possibly make things worse than they are now...and if you don't take her you'll' always have that 'What if..." feeling on your mind. If you have the money...than I say get as many opinions as possible.

My vet has done xrays/ultrasounds/bloodwork...etc...and has turned up nothing abnormal. My only fear is that it seems to be a very difficult diagnosis (she has gone to 3 diff places) and it's going to end up being "try this, try that". Or, I'll have to keep bringing her back and forth and it is so traumatic for her to go anywhere. I think she may be better off at peace, as hard as that is to say as I sit hear trying to hold back tears at work. I'm sure we could find the money to do different things, but I don't want it to be at the expense of Oreo's mental health. Even if they can fix her urine problem, I seriously doubt they can fix her behavior naturally/with out drugs. It's just such a hard decision, and I think I'm reaching for straws here. It's a pretty remote possibility that Tufts will come back and say, well here's the problem and here's the solution-she's all set for the rest of her life. I think at this point, I'm being selfish in wanting to keep her around. The more I analyze it, the more I think she's ultimately better off sleeping peacefully.

 

[drjean]

problems after spaying

Oreo didn't happen to get declawed at the same time she was spayed, did she? Major personality changes (fear, irritability and aggression) are common after declawing because of the severe, ongoing physical pain they suffer for months, if not years, after the surgery -- as well as the psychological trauma.

An anesthetic reaction is also a possible cause. Ketamine, a hallucinogen, is commonly used to pre-anesthetize cats. I've seen some drastic changes from this drug. Sometimes they "wear off" over time, other times they don't. A good veterinary homeopath might be able to help with a prescription for this. See www.ahvma.org for the holistic practitioner directory. If you would like a personal referral to a veterinary homeopath, please contact me privately.

Urinary tract problems are highly stress related as well. Diet can help with this (canned food only, never dry for a FLUTD cat!), and possibly flower essences would also make her feel better.

All of these problems are potentially solvable with holistic medicine. I wouldn't give up just yet!

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[ForJazz]

I just read this now and I'm wondering how Oreo is and if you decided to try Dr. Jean's advice. My heart goes out to you and Oreo -- it's so hard to look into a cat's eyes and try to know what they are saying...I know how you feel.

 

[lunamystique]

I'm fairly certain my cat had a bad reaction from ketamine, like Dr. Jean mentioned. After he was neutered, I brought him home that evening. He seemed to be hallucinating, trying to get to something inside his mouth w/ his paw. It was horrifying. One of his nails broke through the inside of his mouth through his cheek. He's fine now w/ a big sticker on his chart.

Your situation must be so devastating for you. My heart really goes out to you and I certainly hope you have found some assistance from Tufts or come to peace w/ any other decision you might have made. Please keep us updated if you can.

 

[Eric24]

I'm fairly certain my cat had a bad reaction from ketamine, like Dr. Jean mentioned. After he was neutered, I brought him home that evening. He seemed to be hallucinating, trying to get to something inside his mouth w/ his paw. It was horrifying. One of his nails broke through the inside of his mouth through his cheek. He's fine now w/ a big sticker on his chart.

Your situation must be so devastating for you. My heart really goes out to you and I certainly hope you have found some assistance from Tufts or come to peace w/ any other decision you might have made. Please keep us updated if you can.

I'm happy to report that Oreo was diagnosed with just a kidney infection, pyelonephritis or something like that (don't have the paperwork in front of me). My regular vet couldn't find it because oreo's blood work has always been normal. They found it through a cystocopy....so oreo is on cephalexin for 3 months and the infection should clear up by then. She's still her active self, but her urine dripping has slowed dramatically. In fact she hadn't had a dripping episode since she came home last Friday, until this morning. But I'm happy that it's decreased, and I expect some episodes to crop up since she's only been on the medicine for a week now. I'll probably have to re train her to use the litter box because she did pee on the couch (that's well covered) the past couple nights. But I think that's because she can smell her urine on it and she never really was a regular user of the litter box. So all and all we seem to be on the road to recovery. We are replacing the couches with futons for now, easier to maintain. I'm hoping the emotional rollercoaster is beginning to flatten out now.

 

[seashell]

No one can figure out

That's such good news. You've really been to the brink, haven't you? Sounds like she's well on the mend.

seashell

 

[Bean]

I don't think I could handle that much stress! :shock:

I'm glad that was diagnosed - maybe the combination of the kidney problem and the spraying has your cat scared out of it's wits... Hopefully it will go away with time, after the kidney problem is solved.

 

[ForJazz]

Eric I'm so glad that Oreo is going to be okay, and I am really glad to hear that she has such a kind-hearted owner in you. It's sad how many people just give up their cat in a heartbeat when it doesn't use the litterbox regularly, without even considering that it might not be the cat's fault. It usually never is. I'm going to thank you on behalf of Oreo for loving her that much to put so much effort into this as well as rearranging your life for her. She is a true part of your family and I'm sure she knows it. Bless you -- if every cat owner were like you, the world would be a better place.

 

[Eric24]

Eric I'm so glad that Oreo is going to be okay, and I am really glad to hear that she has such a kind-hearted owner in you. It's sad how many people just give up their cat in a heartbeat when it doesn't use the litterbox regularly, without even considering that it might not be the cat's fault. It usually never is. I'm going to thank you on behalf of Oreo for loving her that much to put so much effort into this as well as rearranging your life for her. She is a true part of your family and I'm sure she knows it. Bless you -- if every cat owner were like you, the world would be a better place.

Thanks for the kind words, I think if cat owners were like most of us on this board-the world would definetley be a better place. The only time I remotley considered the thought of putting her down is if she was is severe paid and there wasn't anything I could do for her. But she's not!! They are my life......cats are very special parts of people's lives, and I think they should be treated as such

 

[red_kittycat]

So happy that it turns out her fear and aggression were related to pain that will now be cured! I know by your posts that you love your baby as much as I love mine, and that you would do only what was in her best interest, regardless of how hard it is for you. If only there were more like you...

 

[Eric24]

UPDATE ON OREO

Well....here's the update. She was doing great on the cephalexin for the first couple weeks/then she had a lot of diarehha for about a week straight. Vet told us to cut down the dosage to two times per day versus 3. That stopped the diarehha but she began peeing all over the place again. So we've been giving her 3 doses a day for awhile, cutting the middle dose down a bit, and she's slowly improving. It's hard because I know she's always either had a uti or this infection, she's only 1 1/2 years old, so I think she's never felt the full control of her urine system. So she's adjusting to having control now, and I just have to remind myself to be patient every now and then. She still has minor diarehha but she needs to take the meds to rid her of this infection. Her anxiousness is still high, and I think she'll probably have to go on some medication for that at some point. Still have a little over a month to go on the meds. She still has those nightmares though. She'll be sleeping...then she'll bounce around and wake up all freaked out for a few secs..It's very scary sometimes....I moved one of the litter boxes to the bathroom (her fav room) and that has helped a bit. She does occasionally use the litter box but get's freaked by the sound of the diarehha and runs around pooping. So I think once the meds are done, infection is gone, and diarehha is gone-she'll use the box more often. Any thoughts?

 

[Yemymah]

Re: UPDATE ON OREO

Regarding the behavior, and anyone can feel free to correct me on this, it MAY be possible that Oreo was not completely under the anesthesia during surgery, and MAY be remembering the surgery itself. With the effects of the Ketamine distorting her view of the world, and the remote possibility that Oreo was not completely out, that could be causing the trauma in addition to the stress of the UTI.

During a surgery a few years ago, the surgeon literally had his arm up to his elbow inside the patient's (human) chest cavity, and asked the anesthesiologist, "Are you sure this guy's out? I feel tension in here."

The anesthesiologist remarked that it has in fact happened that patients are not completely under during surgery and have heard comments (not felt any pain) made by the OR staff they never should have heard.

Last week, I had to give one of my cats a bath, and she was so stressed out by it, that a few hours later while she was sleeping, she started twitching and growling. I went over to her to pet her in an effort to calm her, and she woke up in shear terror. She ripped the skin off my hand in three places and bit my hand so fast that I never saw it coming. She drew blood and must have sensed the mistake. The poor thing stayed in the same position for several minutes after she attacked me because I screamed in pain. Scared the dickens out of both of us.

Also, in 1998 we had a break-in to our house when only my oldest cat was home alone. For over a year, anytime she heard an outside noise near the window the intruder came through, she would run and hide and her hair would stand on end. Until this day, if there is a strange sound outside that particular window, she still freezes and looks at me for reassurance. They do remember stressful and frightful situations.

It may well be a combination of the carrier, the surgery, trips to the vet, the meds, the UTI, her stress, your stress, etc...

This may sound silly, but I would suggest trying to be as calm as possible around her (she can sense your stress too), and playing classical music very softly in the background. It has a very calming effect.

Lastly, just a few readings on some of the effects of Ketamine:
http://www.dancesafe.org/documents/drug ... tamine.php
http://www.projectghb.org/ketamine.htm

 

[Susie]

OREO

Eric24

I would seriously take Dr. Jean's advice for Oreo. Sounds like there are a few things going on here. Regardless of whether her urinary problems start resolving with meds, she is still having some psychological problems that need to be addressed. I would seriously take her up on her offer and contact her privately for a homeopath. Homeopathy can work wonders and can work faster than any other modality. And it works on mental and emotional problems fabulously. This needs to be taken care of before it really becomes intrenched into her psyche.

Also flower essences can be very effective at dealing with emotional issues and helping your cat cope. I would also get a Feliway diffuser and see if that helps calm the air a bit. I have seen it have a calming effect with my cat.

Speaking of nightmares, I read once a long time ago that growling and nightmares in cats can be a sign of something wrong with one of the internal organs. My cat who had cardiomyopathy had this. Reilly, my kitten, has woke me up a couple times with him flying out of a dead sleep off of my bed. As far as I know he is healthy except for Feline Herpes. Anybody have any knowledge about cats doing this?

I hope this helps about Oreo.

Susie

 

[Eric24]

Thanks for the info! As soon as the kidney infection is cleared up, I will be contacting Dr. Jean. I believe you are correct regarding the nightmare and internal organ relation. Tufts did tons of tests and the only thing not quite right with her is her kidney infection. She may have an underlying uti but we don't know that yet. She had phosphate crystals about a year ago so she's been on Eukanuba low PH food for about a year. She doesn't have herpes, feling HIV, or leukemia....so I'm thinking her behavior change is a combo of her kidney infection and the anethisa.....I think that's reasonable to assume at this point?


The acutal name for the infection is chronic pyelonephritis...or something like that.

 

[pennyLynn]

Hi...Eric24.....I am so happy that your "baby" is doing better... I will pray that things get better and that Oreo will continue to recover from this painful and stressful diagnoses. Please do keep us all informed on the progress and recovery of your baby Oreo okay. Thank you....

God Bless,

Penny

 

[Eric24]

Update-Oreo is doing much much better..she is much more playful and even let me brush her the other day...the nightmares have pretty much gone away...and she is using the litterbox now...not all the time, but slowly/surely she is getting better at it!! She even let her sister lick her the other day.