so, this may turn out to be nothing, but i'm worried and scared so i'm gonna talk about it. my cat has been lying in the same spot in the house since early this morning. now, this in itself isn't super unusual; my cat has a funny habit of picking one particular spot in the house and sleeping there aaaaaall the time, it's the first place to look if you want to snuggle a soft heap of fluff, and in a few weeks to months she'll pick a different spot. but she'll move around to go eat and drink and chase things and go outside, and as soon as it's dark out she'll spend most of the night outdoors (she's always been very nocturnal.) today, she hasn't moved at all. not once. i carried her over to the food bowl a couple times and she sniffed it and walked away (the last time i tried this about a half-hour ago she was walking very slowly and stiffly and seemed like she couldn't jump up onto the couch by herself, and she's a fairly young and generally active cat.) she'll purr if i start petting her, but very weakly, and that's the only reaction i get. usually she climbs all over me, headbutts me, licks me, yowls if i stop paying attention to her, she's more like a dog than a cat. the last time i tried to pick her up, she made her 'stop that hurts' noise. i'm super worried. she hasn't eaten or had anything to drink all day and as much as i joke about her being a lazy cat, she's definitely nowhere near this apathetic normally. i'm going to ask my mom about taking her to the vet, but i'm really scared; it seems like this happened really fast, and she's gotten less responsive to anything happening around her as the day goes on. another cat of mine died of cancer last year, and by the time we found out about it it was too late to do anything and we had to put him down. i'm not even sure what i'm asking for here, i just love this cat so so much, she's such a sweet little puff and one of the only consistently happy things in my life :'S
Get her to the vet asap. Personal experience, my cat started acting like that while my folks were out of town and I had no resources or experience or knowledge about whether it was something possibly serious or not, and I still wonder if I could have done something different. It's something to definitely get checked out just in case it turns out to be life-threatening. I'm really sorry if I'm making you worry more but if it is something, then quick action might be able to help and I don't want anyone to lose their pet if it's preventable. Fingers crossed that she's okay and it's something simple.
i'm thinking the earliest we can get her to the vet would probably be monday, most of the clinics around here are closed on sundays (with the exception of one or two emergency clinics.) i'm going to talk to my mom about taking her to vet as soon as she gets home from work (if my mom won't help pay to take her to the vet than i will straight-up drain my bank account to do it myself, but it'd be highly preferable to have my mom help pay vet bills.) would it be possibly advisable to give her some water or watered-down canned food via syringe? i've taken care of several sick cats before and that was a thing i ended up doing a lot, just to make sure they had a little bit of food and water in their system, and i know she hasn't eaten anything since at least 6 this morning.
Try getting her to eat and drink if you can. Unfortunately I just had the net to check and once my folks got back I was out of the loop, so I can't dispense much advice past try to get her to the vet.
i considered it, but from what i could tell they would likely just tell me to take her to the vet on monday if i called; when they say 'emergency' they mean like 'my pet was hit by a car and will certainly die without immediate medical attention.' maybe they'd look her over if i physically brought her in, but it sounds like their costs are much, much steeper than any regular vet clinic, to the point where i really absolutely would not be able to pay without my mom's help (and i'm pretty certain she'll insist on waiting til monday, if she's willing to help at all.) EDIT: can't do quotes because mobile, urrghh.
got her to drink a little bit of water. i gave her a tiny bit via syringe, and then she drank a bit from a bowl on her own. she already seems a little more alert and responsive. dehydration is probably not doing beneficial things for her.
FYI - I took my cat to a local emergency clinic recently, so if my clinic experience helps at all. My bill ended up being just under $200 USD for the exam fee and some medications. As it turned out, my cat was NOT having another crystal blockage, but the vet was really cool about it and didn't berate me for it not being "enough" of an emergency. A cat suddenly refusing food and water, acting super lethargic, and showing clear pain when being manipulated - especially the "suddenly" part - is honestly usually the kind of thing considered an emergency in the veterinary world, IMO. Hope your kitty is fine. I'm glad hydration is helping!
just a few minutes after getting some water in her system, she stood up and she's walking around the house a bit. seems a lot more alert and a lot more comfortable, which is reassuring. @Kit it would seem the emergency vet clinic near me is....less than excellent. i'm seeing a LOT of people mentioning severely hiked-up fees, and not necessarily the best practice either. :/
cat is eating and drinking regularly this morning, and activity levels are a bit low, but more in a typical sleepy lazy cat way than a worrying way. she's interested in her surroundings and moving around. her walk still seems a bit stiff, and i'd still like to take her to the vet to make sure she's ok, but she seems much much better than she did yesterday.
if you have the money you may want to take her on monday for a check up anyway. sometimes animals will hide it when they are in pain, so even though her moving around means she feels better, she may not feel entirely right yet and there may still be a problem.
That's sounding way better!!! I was very concerned, as the symptoms you were describing matched those of my beloved boy and didn't go after we tried to get him fed and hydrated. The fact she's brightening up is really really good.
by now she's eating and drinking regularly, full of energy, and not displaying any signs of pain. i'm thinking she may have had the flu or something like that (i didn't know cats could get the flu, but apparently yes they can.) my mom wants to see what she's like on monday, and talk about taking her for a check-up then if anything seems off at all.
I'm so glad your cat seems okay! I'd definitely keep an eye on her and take her in if she still seems off on Monday, but it sounds like whatever it was probably passed.
currently she seems like she's fully recovered. she is currently rubbing against my legs and chittering at me because she wants table scraps (her not begging was the first thing that tipped me off that she might not be feeling well, actually. she ALWAYS begs whenever anyone's near the kitchen, even though she very very rarely gets to eat any kind of person food, and then she only gets tiny tidbits.) still keeping an eye on her, but for now she's eating and drinking, energetic and alert, and seems happy and pain-free, so i think the time for immediate worry should be past! thank you everyone who responded to this thread, it was really helpful for keeping me calm, especially when i was super worried last night :')
