Conference misery::feline_v1

    I haven't heard about rodent ulcers, but Monroe once had feline
    acne which has also been attributed to eating and drinking from
    plastic bowls.  I have since switched the cats to ceramic bowls
    and haven't had a reccurance of the acne.
    
    (Can you imagine a cat with pimples and blackheads all over his
    chin?!  It was not a pretty sight 8^))
    
    Jo

    Good heavens! Really??? 
    
    Abigail's had several blackheads on her chin and cheeks, noticeable
    in the white fur around her mouth. I'd wondered where they came
    from; and yes, she does eat from a plastic dry-food dispenser. 
    
    I guess I'll switch her to a ceramic dish and see what happens.
    She'll probably be glad - I don't think she likes the dispenser
    much. She always digs out the crunchies with her paw and eats them
    off of the floor...
    
    -b

    Sy used to have a plastic dish, he was always pawing his food onto
    the floor.  The vet recommended another type of dish instead of
    plastic because of his illness.  She said that a plastic dish has
    an odor, with an upset stomach, who wants to smell plastic when
    trying to eat.  Sy now uses a glass saucer.  
    
    la
    

    Argus had acne from plastic, also, but it seems to have cleared
    up since he now has stainless steel bowles. He has a double set
    where he gets dry on one half, moist on the other.
    
    Deb

    When we had five cats, Merlin, Morlock, Vivianne, Sammy, and Karamaneh
    all ate wet food from plastic bowls.  Only Morlock got feline acne.
    [He was also the only one of them who ate without standing.  He
    settled down on his stomach in front of the bowl and ate that way.
    I don't know whether it was contributory.]
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    To clear up Monroe's acne we washed his chin three times a day
    with Phisoderm and a wash cloth.  Trying to get him to sit still
    for that was the hardest part.  My husband would tell Monroe that
    if his acne didn't clear up all the other cats would laugh at him!!
    8^)
    
    Jo

    
    Thanks for the info! I'll be going kitty bowl shopping this weekend.
    The comments were interesting - the Maine Coon has a bout of pimple
    every once and a while and other picks his crackers out of the bowl
    with his paw and eats it off the floor.... thought it was just a
    strange cat....hmmmmmm
    
    Any preference between glass, ceramic or stainless steel?
    
    Thanks again!
    
    janet b.

    RE: .5
    
    Interesting, because Argus is the only one that got acne, and he
    is the only one that eats without standing.
    
    RE: -1
    
    Personally, I like the stainless steel since it is very easy to
    keep clean and unbreakable (not to mention if one of them knocks
    it over on another one no one will get hurt, but the loud noise
    will scare them into behaving for a few seconds.)
    
    Deb

    I prefer ceramic bowls because my cats like to stand on the edge
    of them when they drink.  The ceramic is heavy, and they can't tip
    it over.  When I used to use glass bowls there was always water
    on the floor.
    
    cin
    

    i haven't read this month's issue yet, but i _have_ had experience with
    (what my vet called) rodent ulcers - my oldest cat had always been called
    an "over-groomer", licking her belly bald, and occasionally to the point
    of soreness - often during these periods, she would have a sore on her
    upper lip that was really awful looking - part of her lip had actually
    been worn away - these lip sores were what my vet called "rodent ulcers"
    - the treatment was usually ovaban - i've come to think that the ovaban
    could very well have caused her diabetic condition - BTW, he had also
    told me that he's seen cats whose lips were worn away right up to their
    noses - they grew back when healed, though...

    karen

    This is a most interesting note file.  I just took two of my 3 cats
    in for their booster shots this week and both had raw looking sore
    spots on the front of their noses.  Didn't notice anything wrong
    with their upper lips though.  At first it was thought the first
    cat rubbed too much on the carrying case door, however, the second
    cat didn't ride in the same case but a cardboard one.  She did not
    rub on it at all as it rode in the front seat with me where I could
    be aware of what she was doing in it.
    
    Could this be rodent ulcer?  The Vet said he'd never seen it look
    like that before but it was a possibility.
    
    I had always used the plastic pet dishes until I read this note.
    They all eat out of ceramic bowls now and even the large water dish is
    a heavy ceramic bowl so when they decide to "sail boats" or "drink
    from their paws", the water dish doesn't get knocked over.
    
        

    Are your cats showing any other symptoms? Rodent ulcer (eosinophilic
    granuloma) is not cancerous and responds well to steroids and
    cyrosugery.  There are some other symptoms I can't remember, but
    will check on.

    Dave

    Well, I just had to take my older cat, Buffy, for a second opinion
    to Dr. Lindermuth in Pepperell, MA.  He was admitted to his hospital
    on April 15th.  He was the first of the two found to have sores
    on their noses.  Dr. Lindermuth said he did not believe it was rodent
    ulcers in this case but that he more than likely rubbed his nose
    on the same thing that the female cat did at home(?).  
    
    I brought Buffy to him to have him check on why he was suddenly
    prone to going in a dark closet during the day and sleeping in a box
    and when he did come out to the livingroom or kitchen areas, he
    seemed to have too many periods of "dry heaves" sometimes with nothing
    thrown up and sometimes just a little mucous.  He kept him until
    Saturday, April 18th, giving him large doses of laxatone and then
    gave him an injection to induce vomiting.  He wanted to see what
    would come up - hairballs, etc.  Buffy had already undergone exams
    for worms, virus and as far as the other vet and Dr. Lindermuth
    could find, he was a healthy cat.  Unfortunately, I know my cat
    after having him so long as to when he's sick or well.  
    
    Since the second opinion revealed nothing new as he did not vomit
    any furballs or anything more than mucous and he is still having
    the same problem at home, I left him off with another vet this AM.
    If he can't come up with the cause of Buffy's discomfort, I don't
    know where to go with him.  I believe there's something wrong in
    his stomach or digestive tract or maybe even his intestines.  But
    wouldn't the vets be able to determine this?
    
    All I know is he can't go on much longer feeling this way.  He drinks
    water but does not eat very much and what he eats comes up as a
    brownish liquid when he vomits (this was last night).
    
    Since rodent ulcers are (according to Dr. Lindermuth) not in the
    stomach but on the upper lips of cats, I don't think Buffy has these.
    He is up-to-date on all his shots including his FELV.
    
    
    

    Back in late November Sy started vomiting what ever was in his stomach
    and then it turned to just clear mucus.  His stomach hurt to touch
    it.  At the emergency vets office they ran a complete blood test,
    it showed he had a disease of the pancreas.  They put him on an
    IV for five days.  Your problems sounds a little like what Sy was
    going through.  Sy is now a healthy, rambunctious little monster,
    and his diet consists of ONLY "RD" (a non-fat diet).
    
    Good Luck, and keep us posted.
    
    la
    

    re .13
    Have they run a complete blood chemistry?  If not, then there are
    several things it could still be, from worse case FIP (though wet
    FIP is easy to diagnose, dry FIP is incredibly hard to recognise,
    but cats still tend to eat a lot with dry FIP) through auto-immune
    diseases to internal disorders. A blood test, if not done, is very
    important.
    
    

    
    Thank you for your advice on the blood tests (540.14 and 540.15).
    I called the Vet's office and these tests were not done yesterday.
    All the doctor found was an ulcer in the upper inside of Buffy's
    mouth.  He gave him shots for clearing this up and that was all
    that was done.
    
    I plan to bring Buffy back during lunchtime today to have blood
    work done on him.  Wish they'd have thought of this during one of
    his many trips to the vets in the last 2 weeks.
    
    My newest member of the family, D.P. Gremlin, had a little problem
    also last night with vomiting brownish liquid.  Hope it's not the
    same thing with him starting and maybe it is a virus of some kind?
    My other cat, Holly, seems to be the only healthy one.  I think
    I might also bring in D.P. to be checked while I'm at it.  He has
    been so hungry for food since I got him until last night when he
    wouldn't eat much of his dinner and wouldn't touch his breakfast.
    Wonder if it's some bug going around?
    
    

    Hope it's not, but...have they checked for FIP yet?  That is an
    expensive blood test usually sent out to Tufts, I think.  But if
    you have one test on the sickest cat, that might be a start.
    
    The brownish vomit and suddenly not eating sound all too familiar.
    Are/were the cats unusually thirsty?  Any bad breath (aside from
    the regular)?

    Blood Tests came back on Buffy negative.  It seems he does not have
    FIP or any other disease according to the tests (that was a relief).
    However, the other thought was possibly the brand of food he was
    eating, Friskies Buffet canned and dry.  This is what the other
    two cats eat also.  As I said, the only other cat who has vomited
    like Buffy was D.P. (the new kitten).  He was checked at the Vet's
    yesterday noontime when I left Buffy off.  D.P. had all healthy
    signs - normal temp., no swollen glands, no running eyes/nose and
    no diarrhea.  No treatment was recommended for D.P. until we knew
    what Buffy's blood test results were.  
    
    Dr. Dieden did say that some cats are unable to eat cat foods with
    dyes in them and will vomit that food up.  What she suggested is
    that I change their diets to just C/D dry for the 2 cats and 1 kitten.
    I will pick this up from the Vet's tonight when I get Buffy.  This
    dye reaction could be one of the reasons why my female cat, Holly,
    has had no problems with the food whereas the two males did.  That
    is, she's probably not allergic to the dyes used in the cat food.
    I hope C/D works for them.  I've noted in these notes that other
    cat owners (or is that people owned by cats?) have had good luck
    with C/D.
    
    Another very remote possibility Dr.Dieden mentioned is that some
    cats have a problem (these are rare instances) with their stomach
    passageway not allowing the food to pass through to the stomach,
    causing the cat to vomit.  We'll try the C/D diet first to see how
    it works.  If this fails, he'll have to undergo more tests (more
    uncomfortable - upper G.I., etc.) to determine if he has the stomach
    problem mentioned above.  If it comes to this, there is surgery
    to correct it.
    
    Thanks for your suggestions again.  I'll keep you posted on how
    things work out.
    
    Pat
    
    
 

    c/d is not as "tasty" as some of the grocery-store-varieties, so
    don't be surprised if your cats are a bit picky at first.  It's
    nutrient content is more concentrated, however, and so they won't
    need as much as they used to eat.  You might try giving tiny
    portions at first, and offering fresh tiny portions more often
    so it doesn't get stale while they are trying to decide if they'll
    eat it after all.
    
    So glad to hear the tests came back negative!
    
    	Penelope

    
    Okay, thanks for the tip to give small portions of C/D to start
    with.  
    

    Buffy's much better as of this AM.  I think it has to do with the
    shots he received for the ulcer on the inside of his mouth.  The
    shots needed some time to work on the problem. 
    
    He seemed like his old self again last night; purring and looking
    for attention (which he got from "all of us").  He did not go into
    hiding in the closet like before.  I knew when he did that he didn't
    feel well; this is typical of a sick animal to want to go into a
    dark, quiet place to recuperate.  He even nibbled at the dry C/D
    I put down for him and, of course, drinks water (not more than usual
    though).
    
    I have switched the cats over to C/D as of last night and as predicted,
    they are a little finicky at eating it.  However, I have noticed
    that they do pick at it.  I received a can of C/D free last night
    to try with them also and they seemed to like that better than the
    dry.  Maybe I can give them dry in the AM and canned in the evening
    (small portions, of course)?
    
    The best part is that (maybe I should knock on wood when I type
    this) nobody vomited last night!
    

    Before I learned of the good quality food like C/D I was feeding
    my cats "super market junk food", I call it.  They also had problems
    vomiting, quite often, a brown, yucky looking liquid.  Then I started
    feeding them C/D.  The vomiting stopped, other than the occasional
    fur ball, and they are much healthier.
    
    I also keep on hand a jar or two of baby food, strained chicken.
    If it appears their stomach is upset for one reason or another I
    give them some of this.  It is easy to digest and seems to give
    their stomach a break for a day or two from digesting meats and
    fats.
    
    Glad to hear your cats problem may be clearing up.