poisoned cat

x in the city

hi guys

seems like our cat has been poisoned, possibly from fox bait I heard is around the area.

yesterday he was f00ked and today we just realised how bad it is, so he is in a dog kennel now with a blanket and he wont eat.

I dont know of he will be alive in the morning in time for the vet, anything that can be done?

missloulou

our old cat was poisoned before, needless to say he went to the vets and they gave him vitamin K, and a blood transfusion!!!!!!

He got over it, but i think the sooner the vet can start treatment the better.

Hope your puddy can hold on till the vets opens.

seanybiker

ah crap really sorry to hear about your poor cat. Sadly I have no idea to help help you out though. Where are ya and people might be able to recomend someone to ring.
Ah crap just had a little look around google and it wasnt the best of reading. Hopefully its not fox bait and he will be grand.

Let us know how ya get on anyways.

Munster Gal

Most vets have 24 hour cover, call your vet's number and if they're not on call themselves they might have a message about who is on call. Are you sure it wasn't slug pellets, 'cos cats love them? Hope your puss makes a full recovery

PinkTulips

ring every vet in the area... some of them still believe that saving an animals life is more important than working a nice neat 9-5 job... it can't hurt to ask and at the very least someone might be able to suggest something to help over the phone

x in the city

Not sure if its fox poison but we heard a neighbour has some out

there is no visible signs of injury and he can walk ok so its the only conclusion.

gotta see if he is still alive in the morning..poor moggy

nearly

is there no good vet who would see you tonight??

my sister has a rake of kitties on her sheep farm and one night one of her cats, sylvia, came in and flopped, stared, tongue lolling. because of the amounts of poisons and weird things around her sheep farm, i don't know what it was.

i stayed up all night, in tears begging the sylvia not to die. let me tell you first, she didn't die and she is a very healthy happy kitty today.

we still don't know what happened, we did take her to the vet that night, it was a 30 mins drive. the vet gave her a pain med shot, but didn't know what was wrong with her. she was limp.

she advised us to keep her warm, and give her fluids, she needed alot of water. you can hold her head and pour in a little water. she can hopefully move her tongue to swallow. i did this many times, and pet her, and checked on her, and spoke to her.

i stayed in the living room near her, and checked on her alot. finally in the wee hours of the morning, she started moving, it was weird. she was able to move her front paws and slowly after a long while she was dragging her body behind her, her legs limp. she recovered over the next few days.

i don't know if you cat looks the same, but do get her water. they require alot of water *anyway* but especially when ill. this is the only treatment i was able to give her.


you must be in bits! how sad poor cat doesn't know what is going on.

Call me Socket

It's a good sign that he can walk....
I'm guessing the dog kennel is outside? Bring the cat in for the night- don't leave him outside feeling unwell and go off up to bed! He might pass away during the night in a lot of pain. Don't want to tell you what to do, but in your shoes I would stay up all night with him on my lap...if he is being stroked he will relax, causing his heartrate will slow, which will slow down the whole process of the circulatory system carrying the poison to all the body's cells.

Is there not an emergency vet on call? Try ringing the vet surgery (even though you know it's closed)....in some clinics the answering service message gives a number for cases of emergency.

x in the city

wont drink water or anyting, gotta see what way he is in the morning

thanks for the replys.

Call me Socket

Did you try ringing the clinic?

Cocolola

x in the city wrote: »

wont drink water or anyting, gotta see what way he is in the morning

thanks for the replys.

Really sorry to hear about your cat but from reading that post it sounds like you just left it outside, quite possibly in agony. If so, shame on you. Would you do that to a family member if you suspected they were poisoned? No. You would get medical help.

I agree with the other posters, try calling around the vets in your area.

I hope for your cat's sake, that you at least try to call a vet.

Best of luck.

P.S. I'm not attacking you, just strongly expressing my views!

x in the city

theres no vets / clinics open here this hour in the sticks.

gotta wait till 9am

Cocolola

Ok then that's fair enough. I apologise for my previous post, got a little bit over excited!

I hope the vet can help tomorrow.





any chance the cat could come into the house for the night!!?

Call me Socket

Call me Socket wrote: »

Did you try ringing the clinic?

Call me Socket wrote: »

Try ringing the vet surgery (even though you know it's closed)....in some clinics the answering service message gives a number for cases of emergency.

.

SW81

My parents live out in the sticks at home but there's always a 24 hour vet not that far away. There has to be for cows calving etc. Yeah it might cost a bit more but what would you prefer, a few quid short in your pocket or a dead cat in the morning? Sorry to be harsh but it doesn't sound like something he'll just get over overnight. Hope he'll be okay.

Munster Gal

Just wondering if there's any news on your cat?

x in the city

The Cat is now in another world sadly.

Not food poisoning at all but kidney problems, severe ones at that as the cat could barely meoww in the vets clinic

Vet said the cat was severely dehydrated. Would have cost circa 500e to keep on a drip for a few days and even at that no guarantees it would pull thru.

Pretty puzzled as it seemed fine all along, just saturday my mom noticed it.

Im wondering if all that cat food stuff is too dry? the stuff in boxes. as thats what we have been feeding them [we have two cats both same age, well we had two cats]

We also have a lovely king charles spaniel max, who seems to be about 18 yrs old but is still as lively as ever

Noopti

x in the city wrote: »

The Cat is now in another world sadly.

Not food poisoning at all but kidney problems, severe ones at that as the cat could barely meoww in the vets clinic

Vet said the cat was severely dehydrated. Would have cost circa 500e to keep on a drip for a few days and even at that no guarantees it would pull thru.

Pretty puzzled as it seemed fine all along, just saturday my mom noticed it.

Im wondering if all that cat food stuff is too dry? the stuff in boxes. as thats what we have been feeding them [we have two cats both same age, well we had two cats]

We also have a lovely king charles spaniel max, who seems to be about 18 yrs old but is still as lively as ever

Sorry to hear the poor thing died, but...
Did "the cat" not have a name?
It just seems to me that "the cat" was not given the care it should have been given:
1. Did you even try and call around various vets?
2. Did you bring it inside or leave it out when it was obviously seriously ill
3. It seems extremely odd that catastrophic kidney failure could occur without any prior symptoms
4. Invest in pet insurance, so that at least in the future you won't have to worry about paying €500 for a treatment which could save your pets life

Alun

Noopti wrote: »

3. It seems extremely odd that catastrophic kidney failure could occur without any prior symptoms

Cats can survive on very little kidney function quite adequately for years without showing any real symptoms, and then all of a sudden when it goes below a certain threshold succumb, literally in a matter of days. We had an 18 year old cat that went that way, and it was very, very sudden.

That having been said, I'd like to ask the OP if "the cat" was given sufficient access to water seeing as it was on a 100% dry food diet.

x in the city

ummm


we dont name our 'cats' as such. no idea why but its not like we neglect them :rolleyes:


we have water lying around for them, It happened so fast there was not much to be done

Has to be said that the 'cat' was actually quite wild, and you could not even pick her up. it was not exactly a tear away but it was a bit wild and it did fight with the other one [who is more tame]

so its not like it was always inside on the couch with me all the time.

Its sad alright because usually where we live cats dont last long, maybe 3 years they either vanish or get kncoked down by loons on the country roads at night, but these two were really smart and seemed to be always about the place.

it cost 100e just for a visit today, crazy prices vets charge.

thats a blood test and to put the cat to sleep, which was exactly what was on the receipt

life goes on

albeit with one 'cat'

Call me Socket

Well I guess not every pet owner is as loving and caring as others....the cat did receive some degree of care from you, but some people like yourself just don't view their pets as part of the family....a good thing for you cos you don't have to endure the upset most people here would feel when they lose a pet...not a good thing for the cat though eh... Did you bring him in for the night? He probably would have been easy enough to pick up as he was unwell (afterall, you did manage to get him to a vet this morning)

A dryfood diet does not cause dehydration. Lack of water, or disease, causes it.

You might have been able to syringe water into his mouth last night.

Too late for 'could haves' now though.
You don't sound all that bothered, but nevertheless, I'm sorry for your loss, and for the cat.

Magenta

I echo what the posters above me say about the cat being referred to as an "it" and the apparent lack of concern.

x in the city wrote: »

Would have cost circa 500e to keep on a drip for a few days and even at that no guarantees it would pull thru.

Why are you making this point? Are you glad that you saved money by not bringing the cat to the vet? Most of us would find the 500 if it meant giving our pet a chance. It's a lot of money, but not an out-of-the-question amount for the average Joe.

bunyip123

Sad story (for the cat, sorry OP i'm kind of veering towards the feelings a few other posts had re lack of concern etc - and bringing him/her inside so sad to think of it outside alone.

i paid over 700 to get one of my moggys mended after a car accident. (i know, i should have them insured, will look into this)
The best 700 i ever spent when you see how he recovered. would not hesitate to do the same again. my savings (i tell my animals) are for you!

x in the city

Magenta wrote: »

I echo what the posters above me say about the cat being referred to as an "it" and the apparent lack of concern.



Why are you making this point? Are you glad that you saved money by not bringing the cat to the vet? Most of us would find the 500 if it meant giving our pet a chance. It's a lot of money, but not an out-of-the-question amount for the average Joe.

I did take the cat to the vet. I dont suppose you can read the posts ?

I did not know the cat was de hydrated or what not last night or over the weekend, I assumed it was food posion.

I am not a vet. There was always water for both of the cats, just because we did not have a name for them doesn't mean we did not give a fluck about them.

some narrow minded people on here

Sigma Force

All the posts aside, slightly off topic. Would you consider working with a rescue in your area to perhaps trap neuter and return what cats are in your area that way it will cut down on the number of cats in the area so less cats to get run over/become ill etc. In the long run it should work.

The Sweeper

Nope. Not narrow minded. Don't have a single view on a cat as an outside-only animal that cannot be coaxed back from a feral state. Have very broad minded views on cats. Have to. See every kind in every kind of situation.

Have multiple views on cats. Deal with multiple cats. Own multiple cats.

Deal wtih pure breeds, moggies, long hairs, short hairs, exotics, crosses between all of the above, wild-type breeds, designer breeds, cats with no tails, cats with three legs - lots of cats.

Deal with outdoor cats, feral cats, indoor-outdoor cats and indoor only cats.

Meet people who get a kitten, never take it to the vet, let it run wild on their farm to keep the vermin down. Those sort of people usually tell me "HAH!! Cats are spoiled. My stable cat is 18 years old, and we've NEVER treated her like you treat your cats."

Scratch the surface, and you'll discover that over the last 18 years, that person has owned approximately 10 cats, the other nine of which have died through being hit by cars/attacked by wildlife/poisoned/just vanished one day. I usually congratulate them on their 10% success rate at keeping their pets alive until old age.

The problem, x in the city, is not that we're a narrow minded bunch of bigots who aren't being sympathetic to the death of your cat.

It's that we take a great interest in our animals. It's not difficult to LEARN how to tell if a cat is dehydrated. It's not difficult to LEARN what you should be feeding it, how much, how often, and with what amount of water. It's not difficult to LEARN how to tame a feral cat. It's not difficult to LEARN what the basic signs of cats in physical distress are, and how you'll need to know when to take it to the vet. It doesn't take long to learn that. There are multiple sources of information on it. If you learn it, it might even SAVE you money, because you can tell the difference between a cat that needs a vet's visit and one that's just fighting a dose of bad food or a change in pollen that's making it sneeze.

It's also not hard to make the basic mindshift that you take your animal - whatever it is - to the vet at the first sign of illness, instead of leaving it for days to see if it rights itself of its own accord.

Lots of us, for one reason and another, have learned all of those things and we apply them to our own animals, and in some cases we apply them to animals that aren't ours, but that we're helping out.

So people on here aren't narrow minded. They're very invested in animals, and they're pissed off that you're not quite so invested as they are, and they're pissed off that you seem to feel wronged, you and your dead cat that you left in pain for days, because you're getting a hard time for your lack of investment.

See, the invested people on this forum would have been on the phone to all of the local vets trying to find out of hours care for the cat. They would have driven great distances to locate somewhere that was open and would give the animal a chance. They would have spent the 500 yoyos on putting it on a drip for days to at least give it a chance and see if it recovers. Because they're invested in their animals.

If you're not invested in your pets, then don't expect sympathy from this forum. Go and post on After Hours and you'll get "I poisoned your cats", "I hate cats" and "Who cares, it's just a cat", which might be more fitting to the scenario you're presenting.

It takes more to care for a pet than food, water and a place to sleep, and you don't have to be kicking something up and down your yard every day to be mistreating it.

x in the city

[Minesajackdaniels]

are you for real?

lol

if I didnt care about the nameless cat I would hardly have put a message up here about it would i, duh

and the vet himself said he never saw a cat in his life so bad with kidney issues as ours, and even said it would be a risk to use a drip as he couldnt gurantee anything.

you need to get of your high horse and cop on a bit

fyi I have not been around all week to see how the cats were getting on. my mom is a widow and tends to all this stuff, only saturday she noticed the cat was frail and she only told me this sunday when i noticed said cat my self and asked what happened. so it seems like the cat was ill for a while, but certainly my mom did not notice nothing until saturday.

no one likes to see pets die and we have been to the vet on numerous occasions but these things happen

and this stuff about names is ridiculous, we never tended to 'name' cats dunno why but we do name our dogs. its not like we think less of them or anything.

anyway, cats are not responsive to names as much as dogs are, so i guess thats why

*right max

Magenta

x in the city wrote: »

I did take the cat to the vet. I dont suppose you can read the posts ?

Yeah I did, shame you didn't, or maybe you chose to ignore everyone's advice about the cat.

x in the city wrote: »

I assumed it was food posion...I am not a vet.

The problem with assuming is that it makes an ass out of you and me.
Rather than assuming and taking wild guesses, why not bring it to a vet sooner so you could be informed by someone who just might have a better idea what was wrong with the cat?

x in the city wrote: »

some narrow minded people on here

Narrow minded? Pah! I can tend to living beings other than myself so I think "compassionate" would be more accurate.

The Sweeper

x in the city wrote: »

A whole bunch of lame excuses

Dude, your cat's dead, and we think you didn't do enough about it.

Argument over.

Go name the other one and try resolving to pay closer attention to it.

seanybiker

I dont think not naming a cat is a big deal to be honest. My girlfriend got a cat a few months ago and just called it polish cat because she got it fomr a polish couple who didnt want the cat anymore.
She sleeps every night in bed with her miniature king charles and smokey and maggie the two cats. its funny cos if her human child sleeps in her bed, she waits for him to fall asleep then moves him into his own room but wouldnt dare take the dog and the two cats out of the bed.



OP Im really sorry to hear about your cat. Would it make any sense to get the other cat checked out for the same thing , just in case??????? I would.

Call me Socket

X in the city, this really isn't about your not naming the cat.
I do understand that your cats aren't as precious to you as I, and others, would view a cat to be, and that's your prerogative, and I have no problem with that attitude....as long as the cat is taken care of properly.

In all fairness, I suggested to you twice last night to ring the clinic and get the emergency number from the answering service, but you didn't. You should have.
It may have been too late on Saturday or last night to help the cat, but it at least could have been relieved of many hours of needless pain.

And I wasn't the only person to plead with you to bring the cat indoors for the night, and you didn't. You should have.

If you're going to post in a pet issues forum where genuine animal lovers try to help animals and each other, then at least refrain from labelling us as narrow minded when you get the advice you came on looking for.

x in the city

When I found out that cat was buggered it was like last night, when i posted on here.

there's no vets open this hour, all the numbers are just empty surgeon offices, i don't know of any on call vets where I live. The vet saw the cat first thing in the morning so to say nothing was done is harsh. the vet also said spending 500e or more on a drip would be pretty mad decision so we decided to put her to sleep, the vet rung my brother and told him all what was wrong and etc.

anyway, I think the cat was slightly big, even obese! and possibly did not drink enough water/fluids, but I don't have cameras on them big brother style so its just just an assumption. There is water lying around all the time, but maybe 'the cat' never drank it. who knows.?

our other cat is half the size of the one who died [same age]. but we certainly fed them, the back kitchen is full of pet food.

anyways, we will pay better attention to our other moggie now.

I love animals actually, I was in Melbourne zoo in 2002 and was there all day

x in the city

Call me Socket wrote: »

X in the city, this really isn't about your not naming the cat.
I do understand that your cats aren't as precious to you as I, and others, would view a cat to be, and that's your prerogative, and I have no problem with that attitude....as long as the cat is taken care of properly.

In all fairness, I suggested to you twice last night to ring the clinic and get the emergency number from the answering service, but you didn't. You should have.
It may have been too late on Saturday or last night to help the cat, but it at least could have been relieved of many hours of needless pain.

And I wasn't the only person to plead with you to bring the cat indoors for the night, and you didn't. You should have.

If you're going to post in a pet issues forum where genuine animal lovers try to help animals and each other, then at least refrain from labelling us as narrow minded when you get the advice you came on looking for.

I know where your coming from, but this cat. was not actually a Persian you would coat with your duvet

it was not even possible for my to put it on my lap.

last night it was not cold I can assure you, it was in the dog kennel and I wrapped it up in blankets and left water for it. it wasn't having any of it, it seemed really weird as when I saw the cats before they were grand and all of a sudden this.

I also woke at 4/5am and checked out and rubbed her back for about 10 minutes. And I hoped that it would be brought home again this morning, going to the vet having a pet put down is a terrible thing. We had a dog put down years ago who was frail and old.

iseethelight

X in the city
Your just making this worse now. I've read through this thread and yes you made some effort to get a Vet. However you ignored all advice to bring the cat indoors and help it take on water.
Now you say that the cat was obese so you made no effort to control its diet or in any way look after it. This last post could be considered trolling.
By the way spending the day at a zoo doesn't mean you love animals, it means you like to look at them.

Call me Socket

x in the city wrote: »

I love animals actually, I was in Melbourne zoo in 2002 and was there all day

That made me chuckle....

Most empty surgeon offices have an automated answering service which says something like "Our clinic is now closed. Opening times are blah blah blah. If you have an emergency, please ring 123456. That number again - 123456"
You still should have rung, it was worth trying.

Personally, I'd sell my car to raise the 500 for one of my cats.

But what's done is done.
I am glad to hear you will pay closer attention to your other cat.

bushy...

iseethelight wrote: »

X in the city
Your just making this worse now. I've read through this thread and yes you made some effort to get a Vet. However you ignored all advice to bring the cat indoors and help it take on water.
etc.

If it was kidney failure , water may not have helped ( i don't know, not a vet )

Afaik though sudden kidney failure can happen if le chat drank some ethylene gycol ( in anti-freeze etc) .

It is very sweet and very toxic to cats especially.

Cats love the stuff though , i've seen them lick up a tiny tiny leak from an engine.( fixed very shortly afterwards.)

Newer stuff has Bitrex or similar added to it.

This should stop them drinking it.

It also has a strong flourescenty pink dye added or something similar.

I have tasted a tiny tiny bit of the newer stuff for R&D , anything that drinks it outside of R&D purposes isn't from this planet

Noopti

I understand that some people don't invest as much in their pets as others. That is a sad fact of life. And I am not saying people should buy velvet cushions for their pets to lie on, or give them sirloin steaks everyday for dinner.

However, if you take on the responsibility of owning a pet, you need to take full responsibility for that animal. That means ensuring you can fully afford all necessary veterinary care & good quality food & equipment. It means you must have a decent well of knowledge of the species so you can properly care for them & recognise ailments.
It basically means that you are the puveyor and chief interventionist in the life of this animal, and you must not do it unless you can do it fully and completely.
Just worth considering in future.

On a side note, I think pet insurance should be mandatory for owning any cat or dog, as it would ensure that these pets are guaranteed the very best chance in life, the best treatment and would also help in some small way to restrict pet ownership to only those who can fully take on the responsibility fully. Also, making it mandatory would mean that all insurance providers would of course then offer pet insurance, thus opening up the market and resulting in competitition and better prices.
Probably not very enforceable, but might help in a little way at least.

PinkTulips

x in the city wrote: »

[Minesajackdaniels]
and this stuff about names is ridiculous, we never tended to 'name' cats dunno why but we do name our dogs. its not like we think less of them or anything.

anyway, cats are not responsive to names as much as dogs are, so i guess thats why

bull****, if i call one of my 3 cats names that cat and only that cat comes to me.

they know their names just as well as any dogs does and respond to them.

a poster told you on the first night you posted to give the cat water... they told you quite clearly that the cats best and only chance for survival was to keep it hydrated. but you couldn't be arsed

bet you would have paid the 500euros for one of the dogs though, guess a cat just isn't as worthy because it doesn't sit and roll over on your command. it's a shame as if you've never known the pleasure of a cat that loves and respects you and freely gives it affection then you don't even know what your missing by treating the por things as less worthy of life and attention :mad:

why did you post here? you didn't do anything that was suggested to you to save the cats life or even make it more comfortable, i'm baffled as to why you wasted your energy posting at all when you clearly have more important things to worry about than a living creature dying in front of you

tormented

Well said Pink Tulip, that poor animal must have been in agony:(

x in the city

PinkTulips wrote: »

bull****, if i call one of my 3 cats names that cat and only that cat comes to me.

they know their names just as well as any dogs does and respond to them.

a poster told you on the first night you posted to give the cat water... they told you quite clearly that the cats best and only chance for survival was to keep it hydrated. but you couldn't be arsed

bet you would have paid the 500euros for one of the dogs though, guess a cat just isn't as worthy because it doesn't sit and roll over on your command. it's a shame as if you've never known the pleasure of a cat that loves and respects you and freely gives it affection then you don't even know what your missing by treating the por things as less worthy of life and attention :mad:

why did you post here? you didn't do anything that was suggested to you to save the cats life or even make it more comfortable, i'm baffled as to why you wasted your energy posting at all when you clearly have more important things to worry about than a living creature dying in front of you

seems some things don't get through to people here

firstly the cat was practically wild

secondly the cat wouldn't drink anything, I had water laid out in front of her all night. what am i to do force feed it and probably give her a heart attack? besides, I did not know the cat was de-hydrated at that stage. I tried to feed her but she wouldn't do anything.

I posted a thread that night and specifically said she wouldn't drink water.

people seemed more bothered that I had not named her and brought her to bed with me rather than offering some advice on how to get some fluids into her

thirdly the vet seen it first thing in the morning, it wasn't like I threw her into a puddle to drown.

and yes, the poor cat was in agony, that's why the vet put her to sleep.

finally, if i liked 'looking' at animals i would look at a magazine, and not spend a whole day at a zoo on the other side of the globe

:rolleyes:

Magenta

x in the city wrote: »

if i liked 'looking' at animals i would look at a magazine, and not spend a whole day at a zoo on the other side of the globe

:rolleyes:

Do you have teddy bears at home too??? A love of animals that strong puts all of us to shame!!!

You say you had water "lying around"- clearly, your grand love of looking at animals doesn't stretch to going to the pharmacy and spending a euro or two on a plastic syringe to get the water into her mouth. You say you tried to feed her, but she is "practically wild" and you couldn't make more of an effort to get water into her?

And I know you're not a vet, but handling a cat generally will not give it a heart attack. You should have been less worried (if you could call it that) about the minute chance of giving her a heart attack, and more worried about what was right in front of you.

x in the city

Magenta wrote: »

Do you have teddy bears at home too??? A love of animals that strong puts all of us to shame!!!

You say you had water "lying around"- clearly, your grand love of looking at animals doesn't stretch to going to the pharmacy and spending a euro or two on a plastic syringe to get the water into her mouth. You say you tried to feed her, but she is "practically wild" and you couldn't make more of an effort to get water into her?

And I know you're not a vet, but handling a cat generally will not give it a heart attack. You should have been less worried (if you could call it that) about the minute chance of giving her a heart attack, and more worried about what was right in front of you.

where am I to get a syringe at 2am in the sticks..:o besides no one told me to get a syringe/bottle despite the wealth of animal lovers on here and pour it into the corner of her mouth after making a pouch.

should have used google...