| Title: | Meower Power - Where Differing Opinions are Respected |
| Notice: | purrrrr... |
| Moderator: | JULIET::CORDES_JA |
| Created: | Wed Nov 13 1991 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1079 |
| Total number of notes: | 28858 |
I'm not sure if there is a topic for this subject. Mods, please move
if necessary.
I have a two year old cat, Dude. Yesterday morning she came home and
was acting as if she had something stuck in either her mouth or throat.
She was kind of gagging and pawing at her mouth. I left her for a
second and when I came back there was this long piece of slime hanging
from her mouth. I rushed to get a paper towel to wipe it off but when
I got to her she had swallowed it. I then gave her her regular
breakfast of dry food which she ate with no problem. She drank water
ok and seemed to be doing all right.
Last night she woke me several times with a gaggy noise. (As if
sleeping weren't difficult enough with the heat!). So, this morning I
called our vet and they said to bring her right in - it sounded like it
could be something with her teeth. (I mentioned the slime and they
were concerned about her getting into thread but I keep all that stuff
well away from the animals). Dude fought me getting into the cat
carrier - she usually doesn't. As we headed for the vets who is 20
minutes away, I heard her making this wheezing type noise as if she
were having trouble breathing. I got really scared and raced her to
the vet in town instead our regular vet. She continued making this
scary noise all the way so by the time I got to the vet I was
hysterical. (NOTE: I STRONGLY recommend the Merrimack Veterinary
Hospital - I've never been there before and they treated an hysterical
woman with caring and compassion). The vet - Lisa Anderson (I think)
checked Dude over immediately. She said that her pharynx was very red
and swollen and there was alot of mucous (sp?). She couldn't see
anything in her mouth but said that since this came on so suddenly that
Dude probably did have something in there which she was able to get out
- but not after she really irritated her throat.
The vet gave Dude a shot of prednisone to reduce the swelling in her
throat. The scary noise was Dude crying - she has laryngitis. I also
have amoxicillin to give her (liquid because her throat is so sore).
The vet said to keep her in and call either her or my regular vet if
she shows any more signs of distress. When I called my vet to let him
know what was going on his assistant said the same thing and that this
sounded like an unusual thing.
Questions: has this ever happended to anyone else in here? I still am
concerned that Dude may have something stuck somewhere - what should I
watch for? What if it is now stuck further down in her?
Should I give her something special to eat? What about babyfood? Like
I said, she seems to be eating all right but with a sore throat it must
hurt (at least the dry food).
How long should I worry?
Thanks!
Linda
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 564.1 | NETWKS::GASKELL | Thu Jul 08 1993 12:14 | 10 | ||
Could it be a bee sting? I had a cat who used to love to chase bees
and the first, and only, time she caught one she ate it and got stung
on the lip. I suppose it would be possible for kitty to have swallowed
a bee and it stung on the way down.
It's more usual for a cat to get stung on the paw as they poke at a bee
or wasp but with cats anything is possible.
Hope Dude get's better soon.
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| 564.2 | MAGEE::MERRITT | Kitty City | Thu Jul 08 1993 12:27 | 18 | |
It really could be a sore throat....because my cats have had
them in the past and they make a coughing type of noise and keep
their mouth open so they can breath better. The noise almost sounds
like they have a hair ball stuck in their throat!!
The only difference is when my cats get this...they only nibble the
food and barely eat it...because it must hurt!!
Since Dude is still eating and you will be giving him amoxi....my
guess is that you should see an improvement within a few days!! If
not...I'd bring him back to the vets.
Poor Dude...hope he feels better.
Sandy
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| 564.3 | That's a thought... | MKOTS3::NICKERSON | Thu Jul 08 1993 12:31 | 10 | |
I would put nothing past Dude - she's a real hunter and loves to play
with her catches! I did see some bird feathers by the house - I'm
thinking she may have gotten some feathers stuck in her throat - the
feather "spine" can be quite sharp. Whatever happened was during the
night - she was fine right before I went to bed Tuesday night, wouldn't
come in for me but was acting like her normal, bratty self. I thought
maybe of some type of poison although I would think that she'd show
some other signs besides her mouth/throat area.
Linda
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| 564.4 | Watch what comes back out, either end! 8'D | ISLNDS::FALLON | Thu Jul 08 1993 15:02 | 14 | |
Linda,
What you may want to watch now is her stools. Make sure they are solid
and normal colored. (ANyone still have the Catbox Cookies recipe,
seriously?) If they start to become loose, mucoid or bloody, then
something has surely passed down into her intestinal area. This would
warrant a check or exray at the vets to see if anything is stuck or has
done any damage. You should really notice a difference in 2-3 days on
the Amoxi. It needs time to work in the system. For comfort sake,
just give her canned food. A litle gerber/meat mixed with some baby
rice cereal and canned evaporated skimmed milk, and just a tad of kayro
(to prevent diahrhea), is a nice mixture that should sooth yet nourish
her.
Good luck to Dude and you! I wouldn't worry too much.
Karen
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| 564.5 | JULIET::LANE_BE | Thu Jul 08 1993 15:30 | 8 | ||
Last year my Maxwell had the same symptoms you described. Lots of
coughing and wheezing like he had something stuck in his throat.
It turned out after several trips to the vet and the Animal Hospital
he had bronchitis. Took several weeks of medication to get him back to
his normal purring self...
Becky
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| 564.6 | 42266::EVANSG | Gwyn Evans @IME (769-8108) | Fri Jul 09 1993 06:00 | 4 | |
Not too long ago Abby got some long grass stuck in her throat. That
needed removal by a vet but while it was in there it scratched her
throat and she caught some sort of infection which gave her cold/flu
symptoms.
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| 564.7 | Dude Update... | MKOTS3::NICKERSON | Mon Jul 12 1993 09:10 | 8 | |
Just an update on Dude: she seems to be back to her old self! She can
actually cry now and is all loving and happy again. She's still taking
the amoxycillin but that's almost gone.
Thanks for the suggestions here. We did stick with the canned cat food
for a couple of days but now she's back to eating everything in sight!
Linda
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