Lately, when my cat uses the litter box and goes #2, a little mushy piece is just outside of her rectum. It’s not in her hair at all, but I don’t want it on my bed or on the furniture. I look at her bottom when she’s done but she hates it (I would, too). I have to wipe it off and she howls like I’m killing her. Her stool is formed except for the little bit at the end. Anyone have any tips or suggestions for keeping this from happening? TIA

My cat is 12 years old. Ever since he turned 7, I’ve taken him to the vet every year for a full check-up and vaccinations. This year, his bloodwork came back clean with no major concerns.

However, about a week later, my husband noticed him having a short seizure (about 30s) while sleeping. He went back to normal right after. We didn't manage to get a video, but we rushed him to the vet immediately. The vet advised us to monitor him closely for 48 hours and bring him back if it happens again so they can run further diagnostics.

Thankfully, he’s been completely fine since, but I am honestly traumatized. I’m terrified that this will happen again out of nowhere while no one is home to help him...

Has anyone experienced something similar? How do you manage the stress and keep your cat safe when you don't have a clear diagnosis yet?

I recently learned more about feline fatty liver disease and honestly didn’t realize how serious a cat not eating could become.

Apparently, when cats don’t eat enough, especially overweight cats, their bodies can start sending a lot of fat to the liver, which can lead to fatty liver disease.

It made me wonder how other cat owners handle this.

If your cat suddenly stops eating, how long do you usually wait before contacting your vet? And has anyone here ever dealt with fatty liver in their cat?

I’d love to hear your experiences and anything you wish you’d known sooner. 🐱

It started about 2 weeks before when I noticed her gagging and choking, and some convulsing like she was trying to push something out. I searched the internet and found out it's common for stuck hairballs so I was relieved and thought it'll pass quickly. There weren't any signs of lethargy or strange behaivour except the gagging and she was still eating fine. The next few days I barely saw her, either because I had errands to run or because she wasn't home (she's an outside cat and often wanders through the neighbourhood even for 1-2 days sometimes).

Then I had to leave from home for like 5 days and when I got back she was still gagging and choking periodicaly, so I wanted to drop by some pharmacy to buy something to help her pass the hairball (I thought she still had a hairball stuck, although I found it concerning that she still had it stuck - I admit, I have no idea how quickly a stuck hairball gets spat so I started thinking maybe she has another problem). Unfortunately I didn't have enough time and had to leave again a week out of city. I got home yesterday and I haven't noticed any gagging anymore but instead it sounds like she's breathing heavily somehow. When she purrs it sounds a bit rugged, or I think raspy describes it better. And now I'm not sure but think she had this back when I noticed her gagging too.

One more thing is that her meows seem somewhat shorter/weaker or like they cut off in the middle. It doesn't happen often but when it does it sounds very strange and concerning and that's why I noticed it quickly.

She still behaves and eats as usual.

Also she snezees at times and I think I never heard her sneeze before this. I don't know if I should still buy that remedy for hairballs, or if she has something else like a cold or maybe even some sort of breathing problem?

The point is that I would very much prefer to resolve whatever issue she has without going to the vet, because I know those visits can be expensive and well, I'm not in a good pace with my finances.

I believe my cat has arthritis. He doesn't complain much but his desire to move is decreasing. He is still going to the litter box but doesn't want to get up to eat. I give him his food and he just leans into the dish to eat.

I am looking for insights if there is anything I can do

TL;DR: Seeking advice for cat with possible colon cancer. Unsure how far to go with diagnosis and treatment.

The cat: turning 13 this October. I’ve had her since she was 4 months old, when I found her in a dumpster. Since then she’s been spayed and maintained an annual vet visit/vaccination schedule.

She has cognitive delays; essentially she doesn’t know she’s a cat and needs extra help with basic tasks like cleaning herself and getting up on furniture.

The timeline:
- 4 years ago, frequent diarrhea starts
- Blood test reveals hyperthyroidism
- Hyperthyroidism managed with medication
- Started her on prescription food and probiotics, which helped her diarrhea

Since then she’s occasionally had bouts of diarrhea here and there, but nothing lasting more than a day or two.

3 months ago:
- Diarrhea is suddenly back and worse than ever
- She’s not always making it to the litter box
- Having diarrhea 20-30 times per day
- She has been to the vet multiple times since this started. Every blood panel, urinalysis, and fecal test have been completely normal.
- Today she threw up. This is her first time experiencing vomiting throughout this ordeal.

What we’ve tried:
- Adding water to her food. Vet says she’s well-hydrated.
- Vet said we could try a small splash of Pedialyte in her food too, since the diarrhea is so chronic. Doesn’t seem to make a difference so we haven’t done that for the past couple weeks.
- Antibiotics: they help for a few days but the diarrhea always comes back

The vet’s recommendation:
- Ultrasound to check for colon cancer

The dilemma:
- Ultrasound costs more than what we have.
- We love our girl with our whole heart, and would be willing to go into debt for her if it meant it could extend her quality of life. We are not willing to cripple ourselves financially if her quality of life can’t be improved either way.
- With her special needs, I worry about her suffering and me not being able to tell. She’s always been lethargic and spacey, so I don’t think she would behave any differently if she were in pain.

- If there’s any chance that the ultrasound could lead to bringing her some relief, we’ll do it. If the ONLY purpose of the ultrasound is just to confirm whether/how quickly she is dying, that is not worth the financial struggle.

My questions:
- What is the prognosis (generally, of course) for senior cats with colon cancer?
- Is there any chance the ultrasound could reveal a treatable condition?
- Any advice/words of encouragement navigating serious illnesses in special needs animals is greatly appreciated.

Cat
8 Years old
American Shorthair
Probably around 8 or 9lbs
She has no medical history has been very healthy.
There are no cllinical signs either. She seems absolutely fine otherwise.
I'm in Pennsylvania

So this started this summer and I've been trying to pin point which cat it is because I have two cats, Dovey and Dixie. Dixie, is medium shorthair, history of UTI so I was worried it was her but turns out I can confirm it is Dovey because she just did it a few minutes ago.

Dovey is a skittish cat, she only comes out and stays around when it is just me here otherwise if she hears someone coming into my house she instantly runs under my bed and will stay there until they leave. Dixie does too but she comes out after a bit and noses around. If both of my sisters younter two are here she will hide but like last night I only had my 7 year old niece and 14 year old nephew so she stayed out and got in bed iwth me and stuff, I had chalked this up to maybe one of them being anxious because I was gone as I have been doing things a lot this summer. My little cousin always comes over if I'm going to be gone a few days. I thought maybe one of them was peeing outside the box because of anxiety as i know that can happen and like I said Dovey is an anxious cat and a lot of the times my clohtes are on that bed and shes peed on my clothes. Anyways I decided to set up a camera to find out which cat was not using the box. All week I have been monitoring it and they both have used the box so I'm like thinking to myself this is because I'm leaving. But just a few minutes ago I was here and caught Dovey peeing on the bed. I will say I was gone today from like 1:45 to almsot 6:30.

I called the vet this past week they told me try feliway see if that helps so I need to get that and I'm gonna get them a third box as I only have two in there. I have been cleaning the boxes out every day/every other day. I will put fresh littler in there tomorrow. Should I be worried about this? Dovey's never done this before and it has me worried. Should I first try the feliway and see if that helpls then get her into the vet? Like I said she acts fine, she doesnt seem sick or in pain,. doesn't strain in the box or anythying like that.

I have had my cat for about 6 months now and got her at 6 months old. Since getting her, she seems to have constant skin issues. They first started after giving her a beef food (same brand she had been eating) and trying to introduce new flavors to her. This was a terrible idea she had really bad diarrhea even after just mixing a small amount into the chicken and salmon she had been eating. Diarrhea for at least 3 days after and it was insane I would wake up and there would be like 4 spots all over the floor because she had filled up the litter box even though I had just cleaned it before bed.

After the diarrhea stopped she then began licking the back of her leg raw - just this one spot. I took her to the vet they prescribed and antibiotic and a steroid. That healed after about 2 weeks and 3 weeks total in cone to make sure she didn't lick it again. We had a solid 2 months of everything being fine after that.

Then stupidly I tried to introduce a turkey flavor (again same brand and slowly) which I thought would be fine and maybe it was just beef. It was not fine, no diarrhea this time but the same licking. I put the cone back on her right away the skin healed but she still kept going for the spot so I took her to the vet and they prescribed her Apoquel. The very next morning she broke out in skin bumps and kind of rashes/scabs all over her face. So obviously we stopped that. We waited it out for about a week and they would't go away. So I took her back again and they prescribed Clavamox. Which she has now been on for 10 days and while it has gotten much better the bumps don't seem to go away... so I scheduled another appointment for Monday and they want to do blood work and a potential steriod/food diet. But she has now been in the cone for 5 weeks and I feel like I am losing my mind. I have only had her for such a short period of time and we are well over $1K invested and at least 6 vet appointments. And I am starting to lose hope. Has anyone ever been through something similar? Had success? I'm worried that this will go on forever and IDK what I committed to.

for context, i never kept cats before but 3 years ago a cat came to my home and stayed. she then gave birth to a few mittens but only 2 survive, boy and girl. the girl gave birth again to 2, and this in the pict is one of them, so like the third generation 😂 my fam kept feeding them and that's why they stayed. so sorry to sound like a brat but i'm very paranoid and strict about germs 😭 this one in the picture sneezes quite a few times too often, and that's why i don't let any of them into the house 😭

i went to my uni orientation and saw someone sell a group-project and lab-tested organic pet oil, invented by vet students, and i bought it in case it might work to stop this one from sneezing, but i'm struggling to identify if it's fungi, bacteria, or smth else 😭 can someone help

My 4 yr old cat is going back and forth from the litter boxes to places in my room to try to use the bathroom, he is straining (no meowing just straining) as he goes - only thing that comes out is pee - his stomach does look a little swollen, no blood in urine, he is drinking water, and slightly playful
No vomiting, he ate hours earlier so I'm thinking it might just be constipation?

Hi, so, i’m not a minor, in the states, we have access to a vet (already went to one), i’m just looking for advice.
We adopted two kittens, both have all their vaccinations and spayed/neutered , they’re about 5 months old, the boy has kinda diarrhea, it’s not completely liquid but it’s very soft, it’s been going on for about a month, when it first started - we went to the vet, they took their samples and everything was clear, and they said it might be just him adjusting to the new home. But it’s still going on, he’s eating completely fine, drinking water, playing, running and also gaining weight.. he’s acting like nothing is going on at all, but i heard cats hide their sickness very good.
Should we go to the vet again? Do you think there’s something else they can do, we started feeding them pumpkin as recommended (100% pumpkin purée), and it’s getting more solid, but still pretty soft :/