depressed cat

[Lilaena De'Ville]

What can you do for a depressed cat? We went on vacation for 10 days and now one of my cats is totally bummed out. I went and bought his fav food, a new toy and some cat treats, but he's just laying under the couch making odd groaning noises every once in a while.

Ok, the odd groaning noises came recently, which leads me to believe there might actually be something wrong with the cat other than him just being mad at us for leaving. Maybe a hairball or constipation? My mother-in-law suggested that I let him lick some butter off my finger to lube him up inside to get things moving (if that's the problem) but does anyone else have any ideas?

I already gave him some butter. ^_^; I've seen him squatting and not doing anything so I'm tending to think that he got himself all blocked up while we were away.

[Jaime Tomahawk]

Edit : Funny not appropriate

[Shawn]

Take him to the vet.

[Razielle Alastor]

Originally posted by Shawn
Take him to the vet.

or.. have you tried letting the cat eat some grass? I grow catgrass for just such occasions. Though, my philodendrons suffer the odd nibble. So maybe its just green food.|I

[Jaime Tomahawk]

Originally posted by Razielle Shadana
or.. have you tried letting the cat eat some grass? I grow catgrass for just such occasions. Though, my philodendrons suffer the odd nibble. So maybe its just green food.|I

It's unknown why cats eat grass, altho it is known it makes them chunder because it irritates the stomach and throat. Shawn's right, if a cat isnt passing anything you take it to a vet.

As cats are also lactose intolerant, giving them a dose of runs when there's possibly somethign wrong is not a good idea. You absolutly do not give a cat diary products unless you a) want to deal with the outcome or b) the lactose has been removed.

[Morgan Evanar]

That's why I suggested olive oil instead.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

We have cat grass - just got some last night, and the cat did poop on the carpet during the night and there was a hairball looking thing under the couch too.

He's still miserable and hiding under the couch - going to try the olive oil today and make sure he drinks some more water.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Update: we are taking him in to the vet asap because he hasn't touched any food or water at all today, and has started drooling. Also, he's making a noise like a moose and hissing whenever we're near him, which he's never done before.

:cry

uodate update: We had to have Spooky put down.

[Shawn]

Did the vet say what was wrong? :(

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The vet said he was what they call a blocked cat - his bladder was blocked up and his potassium was off the charts. We could have spent $2000 we don't have to treat him but he might have died anyway.

[Morgan Evanar]

I had something similarly tragic happen. My cat got hit by a car and his lower spine was damaged. He couldn't release his bladder anymore :(

I'm so sorry Holly.

[Mandy with an I]

:hug :(

[Lilaena De'Ville]

:hug thanks.. we're pretty sad over here right now :(

[Jaime Tomahawk]

$2000 dollars??? And I thought 800 for Stig was a huge vet bill.

Holly, I'm so sorry to hear your poor kitty had to be put down. I can understand how heartbreaking that was.

[Razielle Alastor]

:( I'm sorry Holly, I know that is an awful decison.

:hug

[Samantha Koortyn]

I'm sorry for your loss. Putting an animal down is hard.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Thanks guys. Now I'm just worried about our other cat - they've never been apart their whole lives and now Spunky is all alone.

He woke me up this morning meowing outside my bedroom door and now he's parked outside my office doing the same thing. :(

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:hug so sorry to hear that. :cry

[Wyl Staedtler]

That's awful. :( I'm so sorry. :hug

For Spunky: Helping Your Cat Cope With Loss (http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/coping.htm)

[Danni Reyok]

:hug

I'm sorry, too.

I couldn't be that strong to make that decision, especially for my little Whiskey. :cry

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Thank you Wyl, that's very helpful. :)

I was too upset to go in and say goodbye to Spooky, but now I feel bad that I didn't. :cry

[Rutabaga]

Lots of hugs, lots of hugs! :hug

It was weird reading that you were going through this, because I just went through a weekend of thinking that I might be having to face putting down my older cat, who's about 17. Her liver enzymes have been going up and up and up, so on Friday they did an ultrasound and some fine needle aspirations of her liver and her spleen. I was preparing myself to hear she had liver cancer and might not have long left, then the vet called with results this morning...no cancer, just some inflammation, so we're going to just keep an eye on her and see what the future brings. I felt quite relieved, that's for sure.

But so sorry to hear that you've lost your Spooky, I do sympathize so very much. I know that regardless of this little reprieve, I'll be having to say goodbye to my older kitty sooner rather than later because she's such an old lady. :\

:hug :hug :hug

My sister sent me this link over the weekend, maybe you'd like to check it out when you feel up to it:

http://www.pet-loss.net/index.html