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Just not feeling well is a common complaint in cats and naturally the problem might be minor or catastrophic, but here's what to expect if you bring in a feline patient for just not feeling well.
History and Exam:
The first step is narrowing the problem down and a good vet can often get a pretty good idea with just a pertinent history and a hands on exam. What's important in the history is age, sex, recent heat or pregnant?, duration of the problem, and obvious observations such as diarrhea, no stool, gagging, vomiting, not eating, straining to urinate, not using the litter box, limping, energy level and so on.
During the exam, we will be listening to heart and lungs, looking closely at the mouth, eye, gums and ears, and feeling the lower abdomen, bladder, and lymph nodes. We will get a temperature, palpate the spine, go over the joints ,and ask a lot of questions. Usually this will allow us to get a good idea whether the problem is respiratory, abdominal, urinary, neural, a bite wound abscess, a suspected hair ball, parasites, a tooth or ear infection, a suspected poisoning, or any number of other things that can go wrong.
If the problem is pretty obvious on exam...say a bite wound abscess with high fever or a hair ball clogging up the lower bowel without tell tale gagging (both these problems are very common without the owner realizing it)...then we usually just go ahead and treat the obvious problem. Go to the different sections on treating different problems such as wounds, Intestinal problems, urinary tract problems etc. for more information on how we are likely to treat each of these problems.
If the problem is not obvious or we suspect there's more going on than meets the eye; then we're left with two basic choices which each vet deals with differently based on the situation and their experience. This is where the "art" of veterinary practice comes into play. Anyhow, the two basic choices are to either treat by trail and error based on the veterinarian's instincts for a day or two or to try to narrow down the possibilities and rule out possibly hidden problems with blood work, radiographs, and so forth.
I give each owner the option of going either way and try to recommend the path I would chose for my own pet, and for me, that means treating by trail and error if I think I know what the problem is and the cat's condition is not too serious. This has the advantage of usually being much less expensive and is often successful. Another advantage is that the treatment itself is a sort of test...we learn a lot about a patient when we keep it in the hospital for a day or two and we learn a lot if the problem doesn't respond to the treatment we chose. The key to treating by this method, though, is choosing appropriate cases for trail and error treatment in the first place (this is where you need to trust your vet and expect an occasional mistake) and the obvious; be ready to switch gears and start a more aggressive diagnostic approach if your trail and error treatment isn't working well.
At any rate, if the case is serious, not obvious, or not responding to initial treatment, then here's what to expect:
Laboratory Work Up Options:
Fecal Exam: if diarrhea, anemia, or wasting away are parts of the problem
Urine Analysis: if urinary tract disease is suspected from either the history or by the veterinarian.
Blood work to rule out or confirm infectious diseases such as Leukemia, Feline Aids, Infectious Peritonitis, Heartworms, and other blood borne parasites and diseases.
Blood work to check on the kidneys, liver, pancreas, electrolytes, and the blood itself: many people are familiar with these tests as most humans have them done fairly routinely...they are called a CBC (complete blood count) and Chemistry. We learn a lot from this combination of tests and you should expect them to be done in many cases. As an aside, these tests have become much more accurate and easy to perform in recent years. And much less blood is needed which is especially nice when working with cats.
Cultures: Some vets like to culture the discharge from infections before using antibiotics and others culture only if their first choice antibiotic isn't working. In some parts of the country, discharges and abscess' are sometimes fungal and not bacterial, so your vet may want to do a fungal culture.
In our area of the country, the only common fungal problem is "ringworm" of the skin. Interestingly enough, many people think of ringworm as being an obvious disease since it often leaves circular patches of dry, crusty, hairless skin...but it turns out that a fair percentage of not-obvious cases of skin inflammation and irritation culture positive for ringworm.
Whether or not the culture is for bacteria, fungus, or ringworm; cultures are a nuisance in that they are yet another expense and require 3-21 days to get results back. On the other hand, cultures are often invaluable in finding or confirming the diagnoisis as well as in choosing the most appropriate treatment. They are also useful to insure at the end of treatment that the treatment was successful or not.
Radiographs: What a great invention! Radiographs and other newer forms of what is known as "Imaging Techniques" such as Ultra Sound , MRI, thermography, and Cat Scans are becoming more and more available in veterinary medicine. In addition to broken bones and joint diseases, all kinds of information about the heart, lungs, liver, and other internal organs. Unfortunately, while I have an adequate x-ray machine for basic use (fracture identification, bowel obstructions and foreign bodies, arthritis, etc), I am not an expert at reading more subtle radiographs nor do I have any of the newer, fancier machines such as an Ultra Sound. Your vet might be proficient at using them, but if not, that's what specialists are there for.
Endoscopy: You know, where we send a little flexible fiber optic tube into various openings and can look around and even take samples. Used in the lungs, stomach, colon, etc. Your vet may have this equipment and be proficient with their use, but if this type of testing is appropriate, at our hospital you would need to go to a specialist in nearby Greenville.
After re-reading about all the lab tests above that MIGHT be recommended I realize that you could be overwhelmed thinking about how expensive diagnosing and treating a cat who just isn't feeling well might be, and you're right, it can, occasionally be expensive...but don't worry too much...most cases are solved successfully without resorting to excessive tests or specialists and most vets will try very hard to give you an honest idea of what to expect in your cat's situation during the initial exam.
Cats That Just Aren't Feeling Well: What To Expect When You Go To The Vet
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Respiratory: Fungal
I’ve written this web site mostly to share my love of my profession … taking care of the medical and behavioral problems of pets.
But I have three other desires:
To help animal lovers make sense out of the details and confusion of veterinary care
To encourage pet owners to be more responsible in the care of their pets
And I was really hoping to somehow raise money to keep our No Kill Pet Shelter running.
Our shelter is staffed 100% by volunteers and has been successful at finding homes for 200-300 pets a year that would otherwise be euthanized.
We take pets that are often filthy, full of parasites, suffering from diarrhea or colds or injuries.
We clean them up, test and treat for heartworms, intestinal parasites, and leukemia.
Our pets are socialized, vaccinated, spayed or castrated, and treated with love and compassion until we can place them in a suitable home.
Please help us.
Here’s How:
1.BiLo Grocery Stores generously donate 1% of all purchases to charities that they have approved.
BiLo Grocery Stores generously donate 1% of all purchases to charities that they have approved. We are on this approved list of 501c, tax deductible charities.
If you’ll print out the bar code below to your right, and take it to BiLo to scan; every time you use your BiLo Bonus Card, 1% of your purchase will be donated to our No Kill shelter.
This will help us a lot and not cost you a cent.
2.People from our community donate all sorts of craft items and home made pet clothes that we sell at our shelter. And we also store a huge amount of garage sale items that people donate to us for our annual fund raising sale.
People from our community donate all sorts of craft items and home made pet clothes that we sell at our shelter. And we also store a huge amount of garage sale items that people donate to us for our annual fund raising sale. We are now selling these items on Ebay to raise money.
100% of profits go to our No Kill Shelter.
3.And finally, for those of you who are especially kind, we can now accept straight forward donations in a secure fashion using a credit card through PayPal.
And finally, for those of you who are especially kind, we can now accept straight forward donations in a secure fashion using a credit card through PayPal. If you’re willing to help by donating any amount, simply click on the Donate Button below.
Thank you so much. Your help is much appreciated and your donations will be used wisely, effectively, and with compassion.
