[mistybear]

Misty is a 10 year old Tonkinese, who was bitten by a snake 6 years ago and almost died. She was bitten again about 20 months ago and as she's a bit of a vicious girl when it comes to vets, she wasn't diagnosed for 5 days. Her back legs were paralysed, but after a diet of fresh and canned fish and salmon, she pulled through and regained the use of her legs. Though she can't jump as high as she used to.
Ever since then she has had a, what I would call, a leaky anus, she always curls her tail under her and my male 21 month old Tonkinese washes it for her.
Her health has been up and down since the last bite, she'd not eat for a day or so and just stay in bed, then she'd be fine again. So if she goes off her food, I wouldn't worry too much.

Now, the problem.

My male Tonkinese, Nemo, who loves his food, went off it. He would want to eat, but would just eat a tiny little piece of meat and see if it went down okay, and then walk away. He started gagging and coughing. I thought that maybe he had, had problems swollowing a piece of chicken neck, as I also feed him chopped up chicken necks. But this went on for a day or two, then when I got him to eat some grass, thinking he may have had a tummy upset, and later some of his favourite yogurt, he vomited it up, I really started to worry, he would only want to sleep, and not in his usual way, but in the meatloaf position.
I took him up to the vet, he had been up last week as he had been catching rats and got under the house were the rats had knocked the ratsak down from the support beams of the flooring. As he eats everything in sight I took him up for the vet to get him to vomit, so he could check to see if he had eaten any ratsak. He hadn't.
He checked his temp, fine. No sign of bleeding. Heart rate a little fast, lungs fine.
Blood tests to check kidney and liver function, snake bite, fine, but dehydrated.....
Stayed in over night on a drip, next day a little better, came home still wasn't right, didn't want to eat. But he has improved, I had stopped giving him a morning drink of cat milk diluted with warm water. I started again and he's back to his, get into everything self again.
But I had been preoccupied with him. Misty wasn't eating either, or drinking. She usually drinks a lot of water during the day. Now she can't, rather than won't, she wants to, but can't for some reason.
Now I'm really worried, I tried all afternoon, with ever favourite food, to get her to eat something. I know this is the last thing I should feed her, but she loves her cat bickies, she could only manage half of one and a little piece of another.
I have given her some warm water by syringe, 2 lots of about 5mls over the last 3 hours.
She hasn't brought it back up.

How much should I give and how often???

Sorry this is so long, but thought I give a whole picture of what is happening.

Going to the vet for her is the last option as she really, I mean REALLY hates the vet and becomes very distressed, plus they will only take blood if she is sedated or knocked out. Last time, with the snake bite, before they knew, the only way they would take blood was with her being knocked out, her heart stopped.

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[oriental cats]

I am so sorry, I think this cat needs to be at the vet for observation, it is a bit like kids who hate being in the ED and scream the hospital down, it is the life of your cat at stake, and the vet staff are used to grumpy pets, it is part of their job, please take you cat to see your vet, all the very best.
Sue

[mistybear]

Hi, I will phone him in the morning and I'll keep giving her fluids through the night.

I have noticed something else. I noticed it on Nemo first, he had a small scratch/mark just below his ear, in the very sparse fur part. Now I see that misty has 2 little marks there as well, like little bites. They have never had fleas, but they have been scratching their ears a lot recently?

[Patricia L]

10 mls isn't going to be nearly enough to keep her hydrated. At the very least you need to speak to the vet and find out how much fluid exactly she needs, it's not safe to try to guess an amount for you, because it will depend on lots of factors, like how dehydrated she is already, what her kidney function is like, what her heart is like. Both too little or too much fluid can cause problems.
Even if she doesn't go to the vet, you need to speak to them first thing and find out what an appropriate amount for her is without causing further problems, but I think you'll find that you 'll need to take her in for a proper assessment.

[Nahren]

Sorry to hear this. You would be best to call your Vet and ask for advice. Good luck.

[mistybear]

Thank you for your advice, and I will phone him in the morning.
I nearly phoned an hour ago as I was quite concerned, but she got up and wanted food again.
I offered her fresh cooked chicken, again, but no. So I opened a can of snappy tom tuna and chicken, put some in a bowl with some warm water and mashed it into a sloppy paste and she ate it. I'm sooooo, quietly, happy, well relieved. It's a start.

I had given her another 5 or so mls of warm water, not long before. So maybe she felt that she could swallow some food.

I have been dreading this day.

After the second snake bite, she peed blood and not getting the fluid treatment she needed, unlike the first time, I feared the damage it would have done to her kidneys.

Back to poached fish in lots of poaching liquid. I should never have stopped.

This post has been edited by mistybear: 07 November 2009 - 10:40 PM

[CatsRU]

Please let us know what the vet diagnoses. Good luck.