Yes, they have underdeveloped immune systems. I'm fascinated by them, those unexpected round pupils in a small cat, the low broad ears, the thick fur. There's a great video of one being chased and radio-collared by wildlife people, I'll try to post it later.

I found 2 piles of cat barf today. I found pile #1 in the living room, uneaten, which is unusual. And I found pile #2 when food obsessed cat was pawing at stuff under there trying to cover it. I assumed it was ladycat with the sensitive stomach who barfs every so often and even though I noticed that food monster hamulus hadn't eaten it, I didn't really think anything of it.

Not 10 minutes after I gave ladycat famotidine to ease her stomach, I fed them and found that the hambulance wasn't following me and meowing at me like a lunatic as I was getting the food. When I put his bowl down, he didn't come rushing in. I had to pick him up and put him next to his bowl in the dog crate, and he then sniffed his kibble and left it there.

 

I offered him some wet food, which he ate almost right away, but like a normal cat. And he left a tiny bit behind in the bowl. This is highly unusual for him. Waiting to see now if he keeps it down, but he just started licking his lips a little bit.

If it were any other cat, I'd think ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ cats! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but this creature never turns down any food. This is a cat who the other week had a quivering tail and crazy purr while running after his sister who had just started hacking and was getting ready to barf. All in anticipation of eating her vomit.

And I'm gone all day tomorrow. I hope the little hamulus isn't sick.

Well, if he is, you probably know a good vet. Right?
Good luck hamulus.

Aaaand barf, right on cue. It took me a good 4 minutes to get famotidine in him, and a few minutes after, he went to his empty bowls and started sniffing around. I just fed him a tiny bit of wet food, and he expressed almost his usual enthusiasm for food and started pawing the bowl around for more. Guess I'll wait and see if he barfs this back up and maybe give him a little bit more later. I do have some lamb I'm eating right now, and he'd normally be climbing all over me to try to get to it. He's hovering nearby but not attempting.

The shitty thing is that I don't have any plain chicken or broth on hand, and I don't like leaving the house after 8 pm by myself, so I can't make him a bland diet.

Maybe he's harbouring a giant hairball that's taking up a bit too much space? maybe a bit of oil would help, or is that an old cat wives' tale?

He kept a little bit of food down Tuesday night.

No interest at all in food Wednesday morning. I was gone all day on the Harrisburg trip, so a classmate suggested I email the chief of primary care. Managed to arrange to drop him off at the hospital this morning at 7 am so he could be seen later in the day.

When I got home Wednesday, I got him to drink some tuna water and eat a little bit of tuna and wet food, but he left a bit behind. He also ate a little bit of dry food. This morning, he ate a tiny bit of tuna but didn't finish the spoonful I gave him.

On exam, they found him to have a painful abdomen and thickened intestinal loops. So they ended up doing an ultrasound. Confirmed that there was no obstruction (thank god, I was really worried based on the signs). Inflammation of the cecum and some thickening of intestines. And his pancreas showed a few slightly weird changes that you might see with chronic pancreatitis but not enough to actually call it pancreatitis.

He got some subcutaneous fluids, anti-nausea/emetic medication, and they sent me home with liquid omeprazole. The 4th year said his GI tract was in stasis which is normal for cats who get a little sick or freak out, so his stomach was actually full on ultrasound because cats are all NO FOOD SHALL PASS. Still waiting on bloodwork results to make sure his kidneys are okay, but the doctor didn't seem too worried about that.

Now he's all friendly and seems a little more like himself. He even rolled around on his back a few times to show me his shaven belly.

Oh, hamulus. Eat more pls so your liver doesn't get angry.

Poor kitty! I hope he recovers quickly.

My Tommy looks to have lost a bit of weight since I had him to the vet, mostly because better weather means he's tearing around outdoors a lot more. His tummy and inner leg hair is growing back in also. He's also a lot more energetic since being wormed, though I never saw a single worm - I've no doubt he had them, but since he rarely poops indoors... :shrug:

Now that hamulus is better, the princess is barely eating. Thanks, cats.

Here's Tinker:
 


Partial Maine Coon, she's a 21 months old, best as we can determine. 11#, body is over 20" long. With tail, more like 34" overall. She's not supposed to mature for at least another 15 months, perhaps as much a 3 years.
We got her just after New Years, a couple had gotten her for their little girl, who, it turns out, was violently allergic to cat dander. She's just a sweetneart. Totally curious about everything, very adventurous but a bit of a scaredy-cat. Extremely affectionate, especially if she's on the receiving end. Loves being up high. thus her skywalk over the bed. It goes all the way around now.

Pretty kitty. I love Maine Coons. I wish my dummies had a skywalk and various cat shelves for climbing. Those are really neat.

Princess cat wasn't eating much yesterday, so I gave her the rest of the leftover tuna, which she immediately spit up again. I gave her some famotidine, but she spit up clear liquid overnight with a little bit of frank blood. This happened back in December, and she went straight back to eating, so given her history, it's not as worrisome as Hamulus going off his feed. Today, she was obviously hungry but only ate a few bites of her dry food and a lick of the wet food I offered. Ended up boiling her some chicken and serving it with a little bit of broth. She wouldn't eat it by herself but chowed all of it down when I offered it by hand. No vomit anywhere.

Goddamn cats doing cat stuff.

Pretty kitty. I love Maine Coons. I wish my dummies had a skywalk and various cat shelves for climbing. Those are really neat.

Princess cat wasn't eating much yesterday, so I gave her the rest of the leftover tuna, which she immediately spit up again. I gave her some famotidine, but she spit up clear liquid overnight with a little bit of frank blood. This happened back in December, and she went straight back to eating, so given her history, it's not as worrisome as Hamulus going off his feed. Today, she was obviously hungry but only ate a few bites of her dry food and a lick of the wet food I offered. Ended up boiling her some chicken and serving it with a little bit of broth. She wouldn't eat it by herself but chowed all of it down when I offered it by hand. No vomit anywhere.

Goddamn cats doing cat stuff.

Yep, there's not much discussion when #12 of cat decided to ricochet off you with her front paws as she's flying over the bed from the door to the french doors, you have no  choice but to pay attention. Otherwise, she'll go up on the catwalk and play "dropcat", which in that weight category is difficult to ignore.

We're lucky, there's an older family cat. Tora. Attack cat. Big, grew up eating with a pit bull. Used to be mean, but in the four years since I've been around, she's mellowed. So far, the two kitties are in observational mode. Both are about the same in size, but Tora has experience while Tinker has seriously dense fur and more muscle and bone mass. Plus she's just pure stupid when it comes to other cats. Fortunately, Tora doesn't seem interested in a fight. Just the opposite. Cats seem to work that out most of the time, if not, then they fuss about and figure it out. Occasionally, they need to actually live up to their claims because both decide, well, they've had enough. Then it gets expensive.

https://twitter.com/tokyo_sexwhale/status/739814190773338112

haha, I did wonder where this came from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T_KKiQiolk

https://streamable.com/00li7

I dunno how to embed this.

https://twitter.com/b_ru_ru/status/877114700072275968

Japanese engineering.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That's what engineers do, right?

Why the hell does my cat prefer drinking out of the toilet instead of the nice full dish of clean fresh water I gave him not more than two hours ago? Is he a reincarnated dog? Is it an addiction to the residual flavour of toilet bowl cleaner? I've also seen him drink out of muddy tire track puddles in the driveway as opposed to the lovely clean lake in front of the house.

Pleasure in foraging

Why the hell does my cat prefer drinking out of the toilet instead of the nice full dish of clean fresh water I gave him not more than two hours ago? Is he a reincarnated dog? Is it an addiction to the residual flavour of toilet bowl cleaner? I've also seen him drink out of muddy tire track puddles in the driveway as opposed to the lovely clean lake in front of the house.

What do you prefer to drink? Plain water, or some flavoured beverage? :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPtEdCM4On8

Why the hell does my cat prefer drinking out of the toilet instead of the nice full dish of clean fresh water I gave him not more than two hours ago? Is he a reincarnated dog? Is it an addiction to the residual flavour of toilet bowl cleaner? I've also seen him drink out of muddy tire track puddles in the driveway as opposed to the lovely clean lake in front of the house.

While not quite as extreme, Tinker strongly prefers the bowl of water on the bathroom sink counter to any other. I've even shown her the water all comes from the same tap. Switched places of the bowls, nope, she prefers the location next to the sink. And, of course, the bowl has to be full. Or she'll just sit there looking at me.

In the same vein, she prefers the garden box out front to her litter box indoors.

Cats have their own logic and reality.

10 years and my cat has not yet figured out that I can bend at the waist, stretch out my arms, and instantly have an extra almost metre of reach. Gotcha, kitty!

Why the hell does my cat prefer drinking out of the toilet instead of the nice full dish of clean fresh water I gave him not more than two hours ago? Is he a reincarnated dog? Is it an addiction to the residual flavour of toilet bowl cleaner? I've also seen him drink out of muddy tire track puddles in the driveway as opposed to the lovely clean lake in front of the house.

Supposedly by nature cats have a tendency to avoid drinking water where they kill/eat as a defense against drinking contaminated water and have an affinity for flowing water over standing if it's available. Your cat may see the toilet as a flowing source. I've seen a good number of people comment that moving their water source away from their food makes a difference.

My last tabby wouldn't touch water in a bowl after he got used to drinking from the tap whenever I was in the bathroom. He quickly learned to call us in (read: trained us) to turn it on by knocking the plastic cup that nobody actually used into the sink and batting it around in circles until somebody showed up.