Did you know, if you have a lot of cats who share litter boxes, and you need to bring in a sample from the litter box for the vet, and you’d really like that sample to be from The Specific Cat in Question, you can FEED YOUR CATS CRAYON SHAVINGS so that you can tell whose litter box sample is whose?? What a world. What a world.
In related news, I have spent time today whittling curls of four different, brightly-colored crayons into bowls, and mixing the shavings with highly-enticing CANNED FOOD, because I need a sample from ANOTHER possibly-ill cat.
To review. We have FOUR cats. Two are ORANGE and OLD. The other two are BLACK and YOUNG. One of the two young black cats is being treated for what is probably FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis, which until recently was 100% fatal, but now there is a Very Expensive Prescription that usually cures it). He SEEMS to be recovering beautifully, but his kidney-size and his bloodwork tell a different story, and the vet has warned us that the kidneys and the bloodwork “don’t paint a rosy picture.” It is not unlikely that we will finish his course of FIP medication, which cost many hundreds of dollars but who can put a price on a life (I can and will, when it is a housecat), and when the medication is over, he will die. We have been adjusting to this. We thought he was going to die in August while we were on our road trip, and that the kids would have to oversee the euthanasia, so we are glad for the extra time, and glad for the vet keeping us aware that the improvement may be an illusion. Not, perhaps, quite so glad to spend so much money and THEN have him die ANYWAY, but all of life is a gamble etc.
Now the OTHER young black cat is having symptoms, intestinal. The FIP cat’s situation made me skittish, so I brought the second cat in when maybe otherwise I wouldn’t have. A just-in-case ultrasound revealed thickening in the intestine (interestingly, it’s in the ileum, which is the same place Edward’s Crohn’s disease manifested) and swollen intestinal lymph nodes, which can be several things, including IBD and cancer. The just-in-case bloodwork was ALL beautiful, except for elevated levels of calcium; the vet says that can be from LOTS of things—almost all of which were ruled out by the bloodwork and ultrasound, leaving, well, cancer.
The first young cat, the one with FIP, is skittish and beautiful and flouncy and has never really gotten to know us. He is more of a character actor in our household—“mostly decorative,” in the words of one of my friends. We refer to him affectionately as a prissy little bitch. We love him and would of course be very sad if he had to be put down, but we would not be devastated; it would be A Very Sad Thing, but very sad things happen.
The second young cat, the one who might have cancer, is another story. I got him as a four-month-old kitten, and it was a “HE chose ME” shelter story, where I went in for one cat and came out with him instead. He is more like a dog, in that he is HIGHLY interactive with us, and he follows us, especially me; and he learns and knows our routines and likes them to be followed correctly, and he is upset when there are derivations from the norm. He’s very verbal, and has many vocalizations including greeting, complaining, grousing, inquiring, demanding, yelling, calling, etc. He arrives to say hello after my alarm goes off in the morning, and he walks ahead of me up the stairs to bed at night, and in between he follows me from room to room and sits somewhere near me. We call him The Baby. I am able to turn my mind to the idea that he will die someday, perhaps a dozen years from now; I am not really able to turn my mind to the idea that he might die soon.
The vet says it’s too early to call it. It could still be, maybe, some sort of unlikely parasite that hasn’t shown up in any of the samples we’ve had done; we can try another sample, one we KNOW is from him (usually they just assume any sample from the litter box represents all the cats, because parasites are so contagious) and also a de-wormer just in case. It could still be, maybe, a food sensitivity? It could still be, maybe—well, frankly to me it sounds like the vet is reaching. In the meantime we are trying an expensive prescription high-fiber food. Each time I tap my credit card, I am reminded of one of my friends, who is retired and has enough to live on, but who works ten hours a week for “Dog Money.”
Oh, Swistle, I am very sorry to hear about the sick cats and especially the special sick cat.
Oh no, I hope it is just a little virus thing and it passes quickly. Poor thing. Poor you!
This: “he learns and knows our routines and likes them to be followed correctly, and he is upset when there are derivations from the norm.” – this is why we don’t give Rex Christmas gifts. We like to say that every day is Christmas for Rex, except actual Christmas.
Two sick cats at once! That is piling on. I’m sorry and fingers crossed it turns out for the best in both cases.
Oh Swistle. My cat, except for the “highly verbal” part, sounds very much like your cat, in temperament and family status. My mind tends to go, occasionally, to the fact that he will someday die, and I am pre-devastated. To lose a beloved pet is terrible enough, but to lose (or to even contemplate losing) a beloved pet when they are still young takes “terrible” to a heartbreaking new level.
Blargh. Why do this too ourselves, with the pets and the children and the other humans in our lives we insist on loving???
I got 2 sisters from a litter and one of them (also very chatty and fond of being my sidekick around the house) had the terrible intestinal issues. Ended up having ultrasounds at the vet et, but it turns out she’s probably just allergic to gluten/grains and probably also poultry!?
I couldn’t manage to give her food separately to her sister, so now they both eat the hypoallergenic food and have extremely silky fur ha ha ha.
It’s the Brit veterinary diet gastrointestinal with herring and pea. Honestly it was really scary at the time, but since they started eating it she’s absolutely fine!
Good luck with your cats, fingers crossed for good news!
Oh I have SUCH HOPE that it’s something like this for The Baby. I am willing and able to pay for the expensive cat food.
I hope so too! According to the internet (Dr Reddit) IBD is fairly common in cats plus they hide symptoms until they can’t anymore…
It didn’t help that the vet gave me a hard time for the food they were eating before (IAMS, also expensive and fine for one cat but not the other one!)
Now they only puke if they eat a bug that got into the house or happen upon some crumbs on the kitchen floor ;)
I had a cat once with issues of which the vet couldn’t find the cause. Ultimately she guessed (her words) that it seemed like he was allergic to cat food. From then on I had to feed him raw meat that wasn’t commonly used in cat food, so either horse, goat, or game meat like zebra (which obviously I have no access to). Ended up finding a butcher across town who sold horse meat. Had to sprinkle some kind of taurine powder (?) on it for specific vitamins/minerals. It was extremely unpleasant to deal with the meat since I’m a lifelong vegetarian, but the cat lived happily without any health issues for another 6 years (when he died in an accident).
Hope you find something doable that helps your little boy and live on happily with both of them!
Oh, that sounds SO unpleasant, and also amusing to think of trying to find, say, zebra meat at the local grocery.
Same here! Mine appears to be allergic to chicken. They both eat a Blue Buffalo limited ingredient, whitefish-and-potato recipe. Quite expensive and only available from Amazon or Chewy. I also add a bit of pumpkin to their lunch. This combo keeps things mostly in check. The allergic one is quite fond of butter, though, and I tell myself that a little lube in the gears is not so bad for her (I let her lick the knife when I make toast).
Good luck and good health to you and the kitties, Swistle. And I do very much appreciate the crayon shaving tip, I had no idea!
It was very interesting to hear about the crayon shavings thing. One of those ‘huh!’ moments. I hope both cats come through and recover without bankrupting you on the way.
Take heart on the iffy diagnosis. 3 1/2 years ago our old cat was skin and bones and diagnosed with either IBD or GI lymphoma. We did not do the more extensive surgical biopsies because I thought he was so frail he would die anyway. We’ve managed it with prednisolone and diet and for the most part he’s been relatively OK. He’s probably pushing 18 yrs old now. He’s always been a bully and an *sshole and I hate canned cat food, so honestly it’s been a trial for me. But overall it’s gone much better than I expected and he’s hanging in there, although it’s not pretty now.
I have already gotten news today that confirms yet again how much of a dick the universe is – I was also, coincidentally, just at the vet with Lucy, for routine reasons. I am so sorry that the YOUNG cats are having such a rough time. I am hoping unrealistically but fervently for shockingly good results. And the crayon shavings thing is nuts. Delightfully nuts.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with two sick cats. Unbearable.
I recommend the episodes of the podcast “hyperfixed” that tell the story of why FIP is now treatable and so expensive. They are called Cat Drug Black Market and it’s a three-part story.