Thunder, my cat, is my little best friend. When he doesn't feel good, neither do I.
He has always had a very sensitive digestive system. It doesn't seem to take much to cause diarrhea, and he seems to vomit a lot, too. Once, I tried a new kind of treats. He loved them, but his digestive system didn't. He didn't have any trouble with Party Mix treats, but when I gave him too much, that upset his tummy, too. When a friend gave us samples of some fancy cat soup treats--well, that didn't agree with him, either. As he has gotten older, he has become more sensitive.
On the Monday before New Year's, he got very sick. His diarrhea was so bad, that after a visit to the litter box, he threw up. Then, he went off his feed, hid a lot and didn't want to talk to me very much. The following morning, New Year's Eve, he was worse. I called the vet, but as these things usually seem to be around the holidays, he couldn't get an appointment until January 2.
This time, there was no change in diet to cause it, it was far more severe than it has ever been in the past; and longer, too.
Over the next 2 days, he did get a little better. He started eating, again, but not as much as typical. He still had a lot of diarrhea and threw up once more. He felt terrible. I felt terrible.
I hate taking him to the vet, but I hate having him in discomfort. He needed help.
The initial exam went well. The vet checked his teeth--no problems. (A couple years ago, he had to have 6 teeth removed.) He didn't feel an irregularities in his abdomen. Not surprisingly, he was dehydrated.
The vet suggested blood work, which I agreed to, as he hadn't had any in a year. Blood work is so important in older cats. Often it can give you a heads up to problems before they get serious. Then, we get a head start in managing the problems. He also thought an x-ray might help rule out other things. I agreed. This wasn't my first rodeo. I know how useful an x-ray could be. If only we could do a full body xray on horses!
They took him away, I paced and paced in the exam room. I couldn't bear to have him out of my sight. We have such a relationship, that I believe Thunder thinks likewise. What was probably just ten minutes seemed like hours.
The vet called me back to see the x-rays. This got me worried. If everything was normal, I would expect he would just bring Thunder to me and send me on my way with some medicine.
He pointed out that his stomach and colon had a lot of gas, and that is probably one of the reasons he was in discomfort. He explained that his small intestine was a little enlarged, which was indicative to the problems he was having. There were no tumors or scary stuff like that.
Then, he pointed out something unusual. There were some white lines and white spots in his stomach. The spots were also in his small intestine. This was not normal--for an inside cat, that is. The vet said that they looked like mouse bones. Thunder ate a mouse. Mr. Sensitive Digestive System ate something he shouldn't have! That explains why he was so obsessed with the basement for a while...
I knew I had mice because sometimes I can hear them in the walls. The vet said that there are mice in every one's houses. The vet tech in the other room chimed in, "You don't have any mice anymore!"
The vet gave him some fluids to help with the dehydration and a couple shots. I took home some pills to give him for the next 5 days. Hopefully he will be feeling better, soon--and he stops eating mice.
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