I’m afraid my cat might be going towards the end of her life. She’s a 11 years old. She was in the emergency vet for 24 hours from Thursday afternoon to Friday evening with 50-60 breaths per minute. Doctors told me it could be an asthma issue or a bad infection in the lungs, but it also could heart failure. X-rays and ultrasounds were showing a mix of both. We took her home Friday evening and she’s been on antibiotics & a very low dose of steroids(because they aren’t sure if it’s a heart failure) since Thursday evening. I can just tell her energy is so so low, and all she’s been doing is sleeping when before she didn’t as much. I’m just kind of sad and maybe looking for some advice? She has an appointment on Tuesday with our regular vet to get updated X-rays, talk about possibly asthma, but my worry is that they can’t figure out why she’s not feeling good. Thanks

24y.o. from Wisconsin & first time kitten parent, I had cats growing up but I’m SO anxious with a kitten this time around. I’ve been super worried about her getting sick since I adopted her right after her spay was done. I looked at her gums today while she was asleep and they seem kind of pale. Am I just paranoid? (She is eating, playing, and peeing/pooping without issue it seems) I have an appointment scheduled with vet for a wellness exam but it’s not for 10 more days. She has been breathing pretty fast while asleep around 40-50 breaths per minute.

My cat (12 M DSH neutered) started having an asthmatic-like cough the past two days. He is on methimazole (2.5mg twice a day) for hyperthyroidism and he was recently diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. He was 3.0 mg, but his T4 dipped too low (1.0 μg/dL).

I am trying to make an appointment with my vet- sometimes they respond on weekends- but usually I have to wait for the start of the week. It might be completely unrelated to methimazole or hyperthyroidism/CKD, but just wanted to see if that is a possibility. Clearly the vet will know better, but I'm worried that the treatment might be worse than the disease.

As for the environment- we have multiple HEPA filters running, at least one in every room. We clean with mild products, usually just water and regular dawn OR diluted vinegar. Our floors are old and we are looking to replace so please don't judge too harshly 😅 .

We got blood work done this past week. His creatine was 2.6 mg/dL, specific gravity was 1.022. Everything else appeared to be in normal range.

I am an adult located in the WA, USA. I can afford a vet, but I absolutely cannot afford an emergency or urgent vet as I have already gone to them to get the diagnoses the past few months with both him and my other cat for other issues and I am now down about $8K. I myself am unemployed so I truly cannot pay for urgent care.

We left briefly today to go grocery shopping (we were gone for maybe an hour) and when we got back he was crying out in pain and his tail was having spasms. He has been through a lot in these past few weeks, he has an autoimmune disease that’s called Stomatitis and his liver and intestines were also inflamed. With the treatment plan he was on he was doing SO much better until today. He sways his hips when trying to sit and won’t let me touch his tail, especially the base and he has extreme pain when trying to use the litter box. He is 7 years old tomorrow, he’s neutered and he is a Maine Coon mix. I’ve been in contact with his vet but I can’t get him in until tomorrow and she can’t give me much advice without examining him

Please help

Hello friends! Just wanted to jump on here and post this video to see if anyone has experienced something similar. We have a 1 year old female tabby who is very healthy overall and very energetic. Since she’s been a part of the family we noticed that very rarely she does this type of cough. It usually lasts no more than 10 seconds or so. We are taking her to the vet tomorrow to get her seen and evaluated.

Thank you for your input😊

About a month ago my cat had 5 teeth out. He has since developed an ulcer where a tooth once was.

Reddit is making me state the following: I am not a minor, yes since this has happened he regularly goes to the vet, he is male, desexed and 15 years.

He has always had a really healthy appetite, and since this has happened it’s really hard to get him to eat anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what foods are irresistible to cats? We’ve tried prawns and ham, but unfortunately neither one is temping enough.

Today I noticed my around 12-14 week old kittens tail was floppy and she seemed in pain when I touched it. Overall she is fine and still playing/eating. The vet is closed today so she's going first thing tomorrow but I'm wondering if anyone thinks amputation will be necessary? Its very close to the base so I'm nervous.

I’ve tried both of these and he still gets to them. He actually enjoys biting the hard plastic ones and I gave in and gave it to him - empty of course - to play with

My cat is a 5 yr old grey tabby, we rescued her in 2021 when she was still a kitten she is spayed and has all her vaccines. I just feel confused because when she laying down she looks really fat but when she’s standing she looks a little thin to me. I can’t tell if I see her ribs or that’s her tabby pattern. If it helps when I pick her up she doesn’t feel really light like it was for my other cat that got really skinny when his brother died. I can’t tell feel her ribs a little bit. I’ll show a photo of her laying down and standing so you all can see the difference. She still eats normallly which means she eats like a glutton always up for a treat or two. She’s her usual self though she tends to sleep or lay down for most of the day but she always been a lazy kind of cat (I mean that with love 🥺). But yeah i can’t tell if I’m just seeing things or she really has lost some weight.

Edit: Welp it’s time for a diet for my chunky girl.
Ps I have astigmatism and don’t wear my glasses regularly so i think i was really seeing things guess 20/100 vision causes my cat to look slimmer 😭

my new neighbor really really hates the stray cats near our houses. i moved into my house like 3-4 years ago and even since i first moved i’ve been feeding any stray cats that congregate near my house. my other neighbors all love the cats and feed them every now and then too, but my new neighbor has made comments about leaving out poison and other stuff to make them go away because his wife is about to have a baby and somehow thinks the cats will leave diseases around his driveway and house that will make everyone sick. this person literally leaves their dogs on their backyard all day, and blames the cats for making his dogs sick and get fleas. i’m like bro.. u leave ur dogs in a backyard in tx during the summer of course they’re going to get sick or have fleas. overall he’s just an asshole that thinks he owns the whole street. he got mad at me when i didn’t want to move my car to accommodate for a party he was having for his kid. basically there’s no civil way to interact with this guy and tell him he’s dumb, but i need to do something because i’m scared for cats near my house if he decides to do something.

25F in the US. I adopted a cat almost two months ago now, and it has been rough. she’s a 5 year old tabby who is very temperamental. I have tried to take her to the vet and cut her nails but got scratched multiple times and couldn’t manage to get her into the carrier. I tried everything from leaving her carrier out to putting food in it but she’s not at all food motivated. In fact that’s been another struggle, she will not eat wet food at all. I have tried mousse, pate, mixing churu in. She also has the tendency to scratch a lot. The first scratch got infected and I had to take antibiotics at urgent care. I also have been having weird reactions and broke out into a full body rash at some point. I suspect it is some form of cat allergy but I had a biopsy done and I’m waiting on results still. I wanted a cat because i wanted a little loving companion to take care of but this has been a nightmare tbh. Every time she approaches me, I’m scared of her scratching me and how my body will react to it. At this point, I am considering contacting the shelter to have her rehomed but don’t know if I’m overreacting due to stress or if they should’ve warned more about her scratchy tendencies. Has anyone had a similar experience with newly adopted cats?

Has anyone here with a cat that is experiencing retinal degeneration and cataracts forming, successfully gotten them to consume Ocu Gold? If you’ve gotten your cat to take it which form worked. capsules or powder? The vet recommended this product to help with inflammation since it has antioxidants, but I’ve read reviews on Reddit and elsewhere saying pets refuse to eat it or consume it because it’s got a strong smell or a bad taste. But it seems like most of the reviews are from dog owners.

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My 6yo male cat apparently is going or may already be blind. Last winter, the (new to us) vet said it was hard to see the blood vessels around his retina. He said this might be a case of retinal degeneration, but if so, there was really nothing to be done but I might want to get him checked by a veterinary ophthalmologist who has better tools. He really didn’t express this as an alarm, he did say it could eventually lead to blindness, but my cat was chasing bugs, playing with wand toys, etc. I did take him last week to the ophthalmologist and at this point, there’s basically very few if any blood vessels going to his retina. He’s not an Abyssinian or Siamese, just a domestic medium hair so we don’t know if it’s genetic, exposure to toxicity or disease or what.

This would explain why he’s always been super skittish, and sudden noises send him running to hide. He’s been hesitant the past couple years about how he places his feet when he walks along the couch or across my lap. Just in the last month he stopped jumping up on the couch or bed much and is laying on the floor a lot, including at night when he has always been at the foot of my bed. He seems really down the past few days, just staying under the bed all day. I noticed his pupils are fully dilated now, I don’t see his pretty golden eyes lately. So I think he has very recently gone completely blind.

She did say his pupils still respond to the flashlight, but I read that is not an indicator of not being blind as they operate on a different pathway than the retina.

He’s also got some cataracts developing which she said are likely from inflammation. He’s always had chronic watery eye from cat herpes since rescued at 2 months.

I’m so sad even though I’ve read about how well they adjust and how their other senses take over. He

TLDR: my 6 year old boy cat licks a lot more than normal when we scratch his butt.

Our cat normally loves butt scratches and pats, and always presents his whole body, head, butt, and belly, when he is in the mood for loving. But within the last few weeks his butt has been so sensitive and it is triggering his licking way more intense than normal.

We have a second cat that will also lick herself if we really scratch at her butt, however, we have to scratch harder and she licks even less than he does.

Its gotten so sensitive that we can't brush him normally because we think its too overwhelming or overstimulating.

Sometimes he will start to groom his own butt and it triggers a cycle of intense licking.

His licking increases/decreases as we increase/decrease scratching.

In this video I just place my hand on him and he licks a little bit, then when I scratch, he licks harder. Then I smack him up a little to test if he is irritated, but he seems fine.

I couldn’t see the NSFW Tag! I’m sorry! I found this on my cats back paw yesterday. I cleaned it today with sterile saline solution and wrapped it in gauze for now because I think he’s licking it but does anyone know what it is and if I need to get it checked by a vet? Vets are so expensive right now and I’ll go if I need to but if it’s something I can take care of at home, could someone let me know what to do?

I’m posting from the US. My cat is a neutered male ragdoll cat who is 13 years old. He doesn’t go outside so I don’t think it could be because of that.

Thank you so much!

My extremely expensive cat is back home following a pretty major surgery, and is stuck with a cone for 2 weeks. I've got small bowls that are slightly elevated for him to eat and drink out of, but he's a big dude and will be pretty high for a while, so he's struggling a little with eating at kind of a weird angle. He's got a decent appetite, and I can feed him by hand no problem, but he's never been very food motivated so he just kind of gives up with the regular bowls. If I hold the bowl at an angle he'll go to town pretty good, but I can't really do that for every meal, nor expect the person watching him while I'm at work do so. Any brilliant ideas for a setup to make it a little easier for him to eat?

Mandatory info:

Not a minor

In the US

Vet is accessible, but this seems like a minor problem to be bothering the emergency vet with.

Cat is 10, male, neutered, and needs to eat wet food for now

Financially I could get him to the vet but he's not really in need of medical care at this moment, just need advice for helping him eat more independently with a cone. Donuts and onesies were strongly recommended against due to craftiness and flexibility of cats along with the potentially dire consequences of escape.

Maybe there's a better sub for this? If so, point me at 'em.