A bladder infection, yay!

The subject title of this entry isn’t facetious.  I was thrilled and overjoyed today when the vet called to tell me Jackson had a bladder infection.  You see, on Saturday evening Jackson started to do odd and unacceptable things, like poop on the sofa and inside some of the cat play-tents.  Sunday evening, he walked over to the sofa, jumped up, and proceeded to pee all over it.  I was briefly in shocked silence, but put a plastic sheet over the sofa (after dousing it with cleaning solution), hoping Jackson was just being his normal neurotic self and having a brief day of being a brat.  I hoped it was a one-time freak-out on his part.  The final straw came this morning, when I woke up and found that he’d pooped on the expensive dog bed (the one with the non-washable lining), and had peed all over the side of the sofa.  My immediate sense was that I wanted to cry, not because I had to clean up the mess, but in fear that neurotic Jackson had cracked and that this would now be his permanent behaviour.  I was slightly panicked at the thought that I’d have to figure out how to deal with a cat who hates other cats and has decided to act out by not using the litterbox.

The first rule in this situation is always “take your cat to the vet to see if there’s anything physically wrong”, so that’s what we did.  I was begging the vet to find something wrong with him (I’d bet they don’t see many clients with that attitude!), and we left him there overnight so they could get a urine sample and a stool sample, and so I could just have a bit of a break from worrying about what kind of mess he was making.  A few hours after we dropped him off, the vet called to say that Jackson had blood in his urine and a slightly-elevated white blood cell count, so he’d be starting on antibiotics and we could pick him up tomorrow.  There are no words for how relieved I am that there might be an explanation for his inappropriate behaviour, and I really hope that fixing the bladder infection will fix this problem.  He also had bloodwork done, including a thyroid test, but everything was pretty much normal.

Jackson really is a moody, sensitive, anxiety-ridden feline.  He does not like other cats.  He enjoys being petted, but does not want to sit on your lap or be held.  If you move too quickly around him, he panics and runs away, and he spends almost all his time watching out for our other cat, Frank, and hissing at him.  It’s not a nice arrangement for any of us, but we try to make the best of it by having lots of litterboxes and lots of cat trees, but I still think Jackson could benefit from some mood-altering medication when we get the bladder infection under control.  The very best situation for Jackson would be to be an only-cat in a non-demanding home, but there’s not much demand for an 8 year old male black cat who occasionally pees over the side of the litterbox.

The foster kittens are rapidly improving since their vet check, so either they had worms of some sort, or it’s just a nice coincidence.  Fannie Mae has put on lots of weight, and even Freddie Mac is growing larger and is more active than he used to be.  As Flippy put it, they just seem to be a lot happier than they were last week.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/24 at 06:40 AM

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

  1. Leigh-Ann, I totally understand about your relief that there is something medically wrong. If you read my two most recent posts, Bonnie is healthy but not her “old self” and we’ve wondered about mood-altering meds, too. Our son suffers from anxiety with inappropriate behavior and takes meds to “take the edge off” his anxiety so other non-medical treatments can work. He and Bonnie both will have an emotional response that is so quick, they can’t consider alternatives.
    I’m also glad the kittens are doing better. Your TLC will work wonders on them.

    Posted by Victor Tabbycat's Mom  on  10/24  at  08:41 PM

  2. Its funny how sometimes we vets almost apologize when all tests come back normal… its like, I’m sorry, I don’t know why he did that, but your pet is healthy!

    Posted by vetmommy  on  10/25  at  01:47 AM

  3. Vetmommy, if Jackson’s tests had come back normal I would have wept.  I was thrilled about the bladder infection news, and we’re going to start him on some mood-enhancers in a couple of weeks.  His liver enzymes were a bit elevated, so they’ll be checked again before we can start kitty Prozac.  In the interim, I’ll ply him with catnip.

    Victor’s Mom (shall I call you “VM”?), I found your recent blog entry very interesting, and certainly sympathize with your frustrations.  We’ve had similar situations in our house since Frank arrived, with most of the adult cats being afraid of him because he was a bit “forward”.  He’s since calmed down substantially, yet the other cats remain afraid, even though I don’t notice Frank doing anything aggressive or acting dominant.  Perhaps it’s subtle feline behaviour that I just can’t detect.  All our adult cats have adapted (and while one of them, Derek, is afraid of Frank, he’ll happily push Frank out of the way if food is involved), but Jackson still seems very unhappy.  He’s fearful but he’s aggressive, too, and I really hope some meds will help even-out his emotions.  It wouldn’t surprise me if this bladder infection was stress-induced, because I think he and Frank had a big brawl last week.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  10/25  at  08:40 AM

  4. I’m glad they’re coming along.

    Posted by Ruth  on  10/26  at  01:41 AM

  5. So sorry to hear of Jackson’s troubles. I hope curing the bladder infection solves most of the issues. 
    How wonderful that the foster babies are doing so much better.

    Posted by Coll  on  10/28  at  04:28 AM

  6. Haven’t read your blog in a while, so this may no longer be needed.  You might want to consider “Happy Cat” flower essence blend from Mystic Horse (http://mystichorse.com/prod/floweressences2.htm)  It can’t hurt, might help, and can be used in conjunction with other stuff.

    Posted by kabbage  on  11/05  at  01:57 AM
    7. Page 1 of 1 pages

Name:

Email (required, but will not be made public):

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my details for future comments?

Let me know about new replies to this topic?

Next entry: Zoltar!

Previous entry: About 4 weeks and a little wormy

<< Back to main