Luna is not well; asking for some positive thoughts (cute new picture in #42)

[Kirsten]

She's not acting like herself for a few days now; three or four days ago, she started sleeping all day in her hiding space behind the couch in the living room where she's usually just going when she's really scared (at New Year's during the fireworks, or when I bring out the vacuum cleaner). Now she's in that corner for days, but first I thought it may have been due to the heat as it's a little cooler in that corner. She's eating, but not as good as usual, and she's not begging for treats which is really unusual. Thought it may be the heat as well, but yesterday in the morning when I was stroking her back, she pawed at me twice and made protest sounds, as if she was in pain, so off to the vet we went. Unfortunately, we tried first drawing blood from her (as her last blood work is already three years ago). She fought terribly and it wasn't possible to get a blood sample. We decided not to sedate her only to get the blood sample as she doesn't cope very well with anaesthesia. At that point, she was furious and no longer cooperative so all the vet did was feeling her spine; she said she couldn't find any swellings there. She recommended pain medication for the time being, and said she may be dealing with arthritis (she has that in her shoulders also).

Yesterday in the evening, she started yowling, and that was the moment it hit me she may be sicker than we thought. She yowled when she left the litterbox, and when she jumped down the kitchen counter where she had been eating. It occured to me that at that point, I was editing pictures for at least and hour and she wasn't with me to "help" me. You know how addicted she usually is with the computer, and how she loves pawing at the cursor! Later she came onto the computer table, but just watched me working, it was only for two or three times that she pawed carefully at the monitor. Needless to say, I was really alarmed when I saw that. Also, I noticed her tail was twitching all the time. She can walk and climb, and she can also lift her tail, but this tail twichting thing is clearly a sign of discomfort, or pain.

When I went to bed, she first started yowling again and scratching the door to the laundry room (her way to get my attention at night because of the noise), but later she came into my bed. When Lily approached, it turned out Luna cannot tolerate her anywhere near her, she was hissing and growling terribly. I think this is because she feels she cannot defend herself. Luna's and Lily's arguments went on all night, I think some time during the night she left and and sought refuge in the living room.

This morning, she came back into my bedroom and even into my bed, and she was happy to get her breakfast. However, she left a rest of her food, but ate it later. I gave her her pain med, and now she's sleeping all day, of course in her "hiding space" again. :( She came out for a moment when I asked her if she wanted vitamin paste which she happily ate, but then disappeared behind the couch again.

To make things even worse, now Lily is freaking out. The entire situation is confusing her, and this morning, she started growling and hissing at Luna. She seems to be afraid of her, I think she doesn't recognize her because of her changed behavior. Could also be that her scent has changed from the pain meds, because in the past, Lily was showing the same behavior towards her after Luna had been sedated at the vet's. Always took two days until things got back to normal. But if it's the pain med, this would be even worse because Luna will have to take that for a while.

I really hate this situation, I'm so worried and I barely slept. Luna is my baby, I hate to see her ill, and not to know what's really wrong with her! I'm so worried this is something serious, she's 12. And Lily is one unhappy kitty by now, spending all day on the cabinet. I'm so frustrated and worried!

[Catty1]

This is upsetting for all three of you! :(

I wonder if a tooth is bothering her, or her tummy? Although she is on pain meds - if she is still yowling, maybe it is something else?

I know you have been to the vet once - I hope when you go again there will be some answers.

Sending all positive thoughts for beautiful Luna! :love::love::love:

[Cat Daddy]

Kirsten, Grace and I are sending many prayers and good thoughts for Luna. I know how frustrating it is to know your baby is not well and can't tell you where it hurts. Maybe on the pain meds Luna would allow a blood sample to be taken. Meanwhile we will keep the prayers coming. Please keep us updated on everyones condition.

[Randi]

Oh Poor Luna. :( If this continues, you've got to get her checked again and perhaps you can give her 2-3 mg of Diazepam so the vet can get a blood sample and see if the levels are OK. That is quite important, so certain things hopefully can be ruled out.

Older cats often yowl and want more attention - Fister certainly does, but then, Luna is not that old. However it must be frustrating for them to not feel as fresh as they used to, and of course they can't understand why. Lily is of course confused and frightened since she can see Luna is behaving differently.

I hope you get sorted out what the problem is and something can be done about it. Fister and I are sending lots of positive thoughts and kisses to them both. :love:

What do you feed them?

(((hugs)))

[Felicia's Mom]

Sending positive thoughts and prayers to all of you.

[momcat]

My heart was breaking while reading this. Luna is such a sweet and gentle kitty, I can understand why her change in behavior has both you and Lily concerned. Hopefully your vet will be able to do what's necessary to get to the bottom of this, find the problem is not serious, and it can be easily remedied. Please Kirsten, keep us informed and let us know if there's ANYTHING we can do to help!

[Pinot's Mom]

Prayers, of course, but please get her back to the vet. Keep us posted...:love:

[Kirsten]

Thank you everyone for your kind words and comfort, and for your concern... :love:

She seems to be doing a little better this evening; right now, she's curled up in my lap while I'm typing this; and she's purring and giving me headbumpies. :love: And she was playing with her "kitty light" (laser pointer) a while ago; she was actually running when she was chasing the red spot. Running didn't seem to cause any problems, but I noticed on several occasions (also over the last days) that one her hind legs buckles a little when she's turning around, or changing direction. Hopefully it's no herniated disk causing this, but I think it could also be arthritis as well. My vet will have to find out...

Lily came down from the cabinet some time this afternoon while I was watching a soccer match, but was still very nervous; she's far from her usual happy self. Wonder how the night is going to be...

[Karen]

Awww, glad she's feeling at least somewhat better. Is she the one who had her anal glands expressed recently? here's hoping she feels better and better every day.

[Bengalz]

Positive and healing thoughts for Luna - I hope it is something temporary and things improve soon. It is so difficult to know sometimes what to do when something is bothering our little ones - if only they could tell us:(.

[Kirsten]

Thank you!

@Bengalz: Yes, I really wish they could talk and tell us what's wrong! I was even thinking about contacting a pet psychic, also for Lily who obviously doesn't know how to deal with this.

@Karen: No, that was Lily.

[Karen]

Oh, okay, thanks for the clarification. Wonder if it could be the same thing bothering Luna?

[mrspunkysmom]

Healing thoughts and prayers headed your way!

[cassiesmom]

My heart was breaking while reading this. Luna is such a sweet and gentle kitty, I can understand why her change in behavior has both you and Lily concerned. Hopefully your vet will be able to do what's necessary to get to the bottom of this, find the problem is not serious, and it can be easily remedied. Please Kirsten, keep us informed and let us know if there's ANYTHING we can do to help!

Agree, agree, agree! ((((HUGS)))) for Kirsten, Luna and Lily!

[phesina]

Prayers and warm healing energies for dearest Luna. We are sending along all our love and care to Luna and to you and Lily too.

{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}} and ~~~~~~~PURRS~~~~~~~ and :love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:.
Pat and cats

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Prayers for Luna and you as well. It's so hard when they aren't well. :love::love:

[Freedom]

Pryers from all of us here. It certainly does sound worrisome.

[katladyd]

I am sending powerful healing thoughts to dear Luna. Actually for all three of you! I hope it is nothing serious and that the pain meds pick Luna right back up and she starts to play with Lily and the computer screen again.:love:

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm sorry to hear that Luna isn't feeling well.:( It's so hard to watch our pets age and to not know what's wrong when they're not acting normally.:( Lily may be smelling the vet smell on Luna so hopefully in a few days things will be back to normal again. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent Luna's way. Please take care. (((HUGS)))

[momcat]

Meow Luna,
I'm very sorry to hear that you're not feeling very well. It is scary when we have to go to see the vet, all of your fellow kitties understand that. But my Meowmie always tells me doctor is my friend. Doctor is your friend too and wants to help you feel better. Please let her help you, okay? I'm sending you lots of feel better purrs and headbumpies!

Your friend,
Groucho





















p

[Kirsten]

She's doing better!!

We spent a good a night (with both kitties sleeping in my bed again). After breakfast she went back into her hiding corner, but she came out at noon, wanted me to brush her, and then she spent some time in the same room with Lily and me. Now she's in the kitties' room where she's sleeping on the top of the cabinet. Lily has calmed down also; she's no longer nervous, or hissing at Luna.

I don't know if it's the pain med or the PT prayers that helped; it's probably both! :D

Anyway, thanks a lot for all your support and prayers (and Luna says thank you to Groucho for his support, too! :) )

I'll keep you updated.

[Laura's Babies]

Oh Gee! I hate reading one of your lovely girls is haveing any kind of problem. Healing thoughts and prayers are being sent for her. I hope it's only something minor and a quick fix will fix her right up, good as new!

[Kirsten]

Thank you, Laura! Looks like we posted at the same time, because I just posted an update, she seems to be doing better today. :)
I really really hope it was just a temporary thing!

[pomtzu]

Kirsten - I wouldn't rule out the heat as being her problem. It can really do a number on some animals (and people :eek:), and cause then to act as if they were sick. Glad to hear that she is feeling better tho. Do you have a fan that you could turn on so that she can seek out the breeze from that?

[Kirsten]

Kirsten - I wouldn't rule out the heat as being her problem. It can really do a number on some animals (and people :eek:), and cause then to act as if they were sick. Glad to hear that she is feeling better tho. Do you have a fan that you could turn on so that she can seek out the breeze from that?

Yes, I have a fan, but it's not very effective, and she doesn't like being near it when it's running. But you could be right regarding the heat; it's a little cooler today, maybe she's feeling better because of that. She's no longer a young cat, and she's overweight. I also used to feel very ill in the summer when I was still overweight.

[pomtzu]

Yes, I have a fan, but it's not very effective, and she doesn't like being near it when it's running. But you could be right regarding the heat; it's a little cooler today, maybe she's feeling better because of that. She's no longer a young cat, and she's overweight. I also used to feel very ill in the summer when I was still overweight.

I'll bet that was her a problem. And I'm underweight, and the heat just kills me. I may be dead soon! :eek: We went to turn the central air on yesterday and it's not working, and we are having a mid-summer heatwave with temps in the 90's. No chance of getting it repaired before Tuesday if we're lucky, since this is a holiday weekend. Lots of fan running here. I think I'll sit with my feet and a basin of ice water. :D
I hope that pretty girl continues to feel better. :love:

[Kirsten]

I'll bet that was her a problem. And I'm underweight, and the heat just kills me. I may be dead soon! :eek: We went to turn the central air on yesterday and it's not working, and we are having a mid-summer heatwave with temps in the 90's. No chance of getting it repaired before Tuesday if we're lucky, since this is a holiday weekend. Lots of fan running here. I think I'll sit with my feet and a basin of ice water. :D
I hope that pretty girl continues to feel better. :love:

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that! :eek: That sounds just awful! You know, over here in Germany, we don't have any cooling systems or air condition at all, and as soon as the temperatures reach the 90s (which they had a few days ago) it's getting really hard to bare; especially here in my apartment under the roof. The other night, I had 80°F inside my bedroom, that was just awful. Makes me dizzy and lethargic.
Take care of you, hope you'll get it fixed as soon as possible.

[Cat Daddy]

We are hoping Luna just had a couple of 'off' days. I speak from personal experience that 90+ degree heat can make you nauseous and disoriented. I was a lineman for the local telephone company in my younger years and it almost killed me then. I wouldn't stand a chance now.

Prayers and good thoughts still coming though, just in case.;)

[Kirsten]

We are hoping Luna just had a couple of 'off' days. I speak from personal experience that 90+ degree heat can make you nauseous and disoriented. I was a lineman for the local telephone company in my younger years and it almost killed me then. I wouldn't stand a chance now.

Prayers and good thoughts still coming though, just in case.;)


Thank you! yes, I hope it's just that, but my feeling is that she was in pain.

That job sounds scary! I was always wondering how people could work outdoors during heatwaves. Could never do that!

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm glad to hear that Luna is feeling much better now.:) Yes, the heat can make any one feel horrible. I don't have any A/C here either just fans. Luckily whenever we do have a heat wave, it usually cools down at night so I can open up and cool my place down.

[Karen]

Kirsten, maybe you could do for her what we used to do for Miss Hoppy when it got very hot out. She was horrified by fans and convinced the air conditioner was a bunny-eating monster, so those didn't help!

We filled a plastic bottle with water and put it in the freezer - we had two, so one was refreezing while the other was out. We'd then set it on the floor near her, and it would create a little "cool zone" next to her. She could also lick the condensation off of it. she wouldn't lie touching it - she was not a fan of anything that might muss her fur, and water was one of those things - but very near it, and it always seemed to help.

[cassiesmom]

I'm just checking in for an update. I hope today was a better day for Luna, Lily and meowmie :love:.

[catmandu]

Kirsten we are so sad and sorry that your Dear Luna is not well
That has to be the saddest and scariest thing of having a Cat Companion , and that is when they are not well and we are afraid for them.
We all are praying for your Dear Luna, that she will be well soon and that she and Lily will be cuddling soon.:love::love::love:

[Kirsten]

Thank you for your concern everyone. She seems to be doing better, at least she doesn't seem to be in pain anymore, but she's still on pain meds. Spoke to my vet today and we agreed to give her the meds for at least a week. If the problems return once she's off medication, I have to continue the treatment. My vet suspects it's arthritis.

It's cooling down here right now, and this morning was the first time since last weekend that she ate all of her breakfast. She went back to her hiding place after breakfast, though, but I'm beginning to wonder if she has just started to like this place. She has a blanket there, and it's a quiet place... Apart from spending her days there, she's acting absolutely normal, so I really think she's doing better. They predicted very cold temperatures for the next days, so we'll see what happens...

Karen, that sounds like a great advice for the next heatwave... thanks a lot! :)

[momoffuzzyfaces]

My senior cat, Grandma, will pick one spot to sleep in for weeks or even months. Then she tires of it and moves to another. She took to sleeping under the bed last month which worried me. Now she has decided she wants to sleep right in the middle of the carpet under the ac vent in the bedroom. She eats, drinks and does her 'business' fine. AND still gets in bed with me and smacks me with her treat bag should I neglect giving her some. Guess she just likes a change of scenery. Maybe Luna is going through that too. So, glad she is feeling better. :love:

[Asiel]

Happy to hear Luna is doing better Kirsten. Here's hoping she'll stay on a healthy road so you can relax and stop worrying. I guess these heat waves are as hard if not harder on our furry friendsas they are on us.

[Kirsten]

It's cooler now, and today, she spent the day in her kitty bed, as usual (and later on the cabinet in the cats' room). :) Now I really think that the heatwave was a part of her problem, but she was also in pain on Friday, I think that was pretty obvious. Either it's been just a temporary thing, or the pain meds do their job; I need to find out. Naughty Lily loves jumping onto Luna's back, and I wonder if that may have caused an injury... :confused:

[momcat]

Hi Kirsten,
I've been thinking of Luna and sending positive thoughts for her, you, and Lily. How is Luna feeling? I truly hope her problems have passed now that the heat has broken. Could it be that Lily only wants to play and doesn't understand that Luna doesn't feel up to it? Please give your sweet girls lots of lovies from me? :love: :love: :love: :love:

[kb2yjx]

Kirsten. am so sorry to hear about Luna. Hopefully, there has been some improvement by now. And if you were able to speak with the communicator, you were able to get some help....like you, I wish they COULD talk!!

The Clan is praying for you all....

PS: Your photo is lovely!!!

[Kirsten]

Thank you for keeping Luna in your thoughts! :)

She's much better now; back to normal, even though she's no longer on pain meds. The heatwave is over, it's actually cold over here, and she seems to like this better. And I really hope her back pain was just a temporary thing. Maybe she hurt herself when Lily jumped onto her back (she does that all the time. :()

[phesina]

So glad to hear you're doing so much better, dear Luna!!!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

[Kirsten]

So glad to hear you're doing so much better, dear Luna!!!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:


Thank you!

She's still fine; played with her "kitty light" (laser pointer) today, and didn't show any signs of pain.

I took a picture of her when she was watching the red spot of the laser pointer, and I think she has the cutest face here: :love:

http://www.catmom.de/2012/luna_05.jpg


Thank you everyone for your positive thoughts and prayers!

[phesina]

OHHHHHHHHHH, how sweet and adorable! I'm melting!

[mrspunkysmom]

Ahhh, She looks so serious and intent. Photogenic :love:

[momcat]

Hi there, Luna! I'm so happy to know you're feeling much better now! Looks like you're having a lot of fun with your laser light. Sending you tons of lovies and some for Lily too :love: :love: :love: :love:

Please come see us again soon?