My 15 year old cat, Toby, went from seeming to be fine one day to looking terrible the next. I hadn’t seen him look quite so dehydrated, hollow-eyed, lethargic, and sickly since he nearly died about 10 years ago from bladder stones. He’s been on prescription cat food since that time with no stone recurrence. We’d just had him to the vet 2 weeks earlier for a well checkup, and all was good. So, yesterday, we took him to the vet and they determined that he was constipated and had a full bladder that needed to be emptied. They took an x-ray and didn’t see any suspicious masses, did blood work which revealed everything at normal levels, did a urinalysis, which was fine. He had a slight temp and possibly a slight infection, which we’re treating with antibiotics. He was interested in drinking water and eating his dry food when we got home, and he’s urinated in his box, though no defecation yet. He appears much improved and his hydration is better, however, he’s developed a LIMP! Since last night! When I called the vet today to get his lab results, I asked whether he might have been difficult to x-ray or if there were any other situation whereby he was injured while at the vet, but the doctor said he was very cooperative. I don’t know what to make of this limping and whether or not it could be related to these other issues or if it’s a fluke injury. We’re continuing to observe him and we will definitely take him back to the vet, but I wanted to get an idea about whether limping might be associated with these other symptoms and what kind of problem might manifest itself so quickly with so many symptoms and no blood or urinary levels to support a problem.
Thank You
I hope your kitty is feeling better, but I’m concerned that you did not mention whether your vet had removed the stool. Constipation can make a cat sick quickly and can be aggravated or caused by kidney disease (which is common in older cats). The limping may be from being handled while sick and dehydrated. He may have mild arthritic changes in his knees, hips or elbows that were aggravated by even gentle handling. If he did have the stool manually removed, his anal area may be painful, and the rear legs can be stressed during removal. Talk to your vet about preventing future constipation and I’d encourage you to feed him primarily canned food if he will eat it. This can keep the stool more soft and less likely to block the urethra. If his urine is dilute he does have kidney disease even if the blood work is ok, and that is best managed with a low protein, high calorie diet.
I’m sorry to make a lot of assumptions, but when we have limited information we have to work with what you can tell us.
Lori L Coughlin, DVM
The Cat Practice
Oak Park, IL