Cat Personality Change After Anal Glands Expressed

I have had my cat for less than 6 months. She was an affectionate 6
month old stray cat who loved to bump her head on you for attention.
She loved to play under the covers of my bed as though she were
attacking a mouse. Now after a trip to the vet she has stopped this
behavior.

Last Saturday I took my cat to the vet after I noticed that she was
scooting her behind twice daily on the carpet. My usual vet was out of
town, so I took her to another vet. He said that her rear end was
swollen as the result of an allergic reaction to a flea bite, so her
gave her a shot to take care of that. She had no flea residue
whatsoever on her body, so this flea bite must have been an isolated
incident. He also gave her a shot for tapeworms as she had evidence of
that.

I asked about getting her anal glands expressed, and he said that since
she was scooting that would be a good idea. I wish I had not had this
done. She screamed, clawed, and hissed at him, the nurse, and me. She
was quite clearly in extreme pain. The vet apologized and said that
there was no other way to do this short of squeezing the hell out of
the anal glands.

Since then the cat has not been playful at all. She used to get up
daily at 5 AM for a morning play session, but now she sleeps a lot.
She meows a lot more for attention, she kneads her paws on me somewhat
more than before, and she likes to lay on my lap more often now.

Do you think she is still in pain? Is anal gland expression supposed
to be THIS painful? If that is the case, I will get those glands
removed before I have her go through this again. I am afraid she has
been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy
again would be appreciated!

Oh the poor baby, I would not be happy if someone did that to me
either. I would have to imagine that it hurts like H**L.
I wish I had more advise to offer but I have never been in that
situation.
We are sending Purrs to your little one to get back to her old self
soon.

More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I suspect
depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change
(temporary).

I wouldn't go back to this vet. It is highly unusual for a cat to need its
anal glands expressed.

Also, the "flea bite reaction" is most likely Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex
http://www.vetinfo.com/ceosinophilic.html, which is in fact common and
caused by an allergic reaction. I have 3 cats with this problem. It is
most likely their food, as they don't have fleas, and I've been searching
for a food that helps them.

In the olden days (30 years ago) vets weren't diagnosing this very well and
were sure it was "flea bite allergy". This vet may still be back in
prehistory.

"Bernice" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have had my cat for less than 6 months. She was an affectionate 6
month old stray cat who loved to bump her head on you for attention.
She loved to play under the covers of my bed as though she were
attacking a mouse. Now after a trip to the vet she has stopped this
behavior.

Last Saturday I took my cat to the vet after I noticed that she was
scooting her behind twice daily on the carpet. My usual vet was out of
town, so I took her to another vet. He said that her rear end was
swollen as the result of an allergic reaction to a flea bite, so her
gave her a shot to take care of that. She had no flea residue
whatsoever on her body, so this flea bite must have been an isolated
incident. He also gave her a shot for tapeworms as she had evidence of
that.

I asked about getting her anal glands expressed, and he said that since
she was scooting that would be a good idea. I wish I had not had this
done. She screamed, clawed, and hissed at him, the nurse, and me. She
was quite clearly in extreme pain. The vet apologized and said that
there was no other way to do this short of squeezing the hell out of
the anal glands.

Since then the cat has not been playful at all. She used to get up
daily at 5 AM for a morning play session, but now she sleeps a lot.
She meows a lot more for attention, she kneads her paws on me somewhat
more than before, and she likes to lay on my lap more often now.

Do you think she is still in pain? Is anal gland expression supposed
to be THIS painful? If that is the case, I will get those glands
removed before I have her go through this again. I am afraid she has
been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy
again would be appreciated!

Boy, I don't know. I think I would find a different vet! (Sorry for
piggybacking as original did not show up on server). My cats have all had
their glands expressed and fairly often (except for Pearl who expresses on
own at inoportune moments.) and NEVER have they showed the slighest problem
afterwards. I have a friend (who goes to same vet) and yes while it happens
she sounds like she is being killed but she does that for everything. She
has never experienced anything like this either. Something does NOT sound
right here. I would check my phonebook for a Feline only vet and make an
appointment. This just does not sound right.

"Betsy" -0 wrote in message
...
More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I suspect
depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change
(temporary).

I wouldn't go back to this vet. It is highly unusual for a cat to need
its
anal glands expressed.

Also, the "flea bite reaction" is most likely Eosinophilic Granuloma
Complex
http://www.vetinfo.com/ceosinophilic.html, which is in fact common and
caused by an allergic reaction. I have 3 cats with this problem. It is
most likely their food, as they don't have fleas, and I've been searching
for a food that helps them.

In the olden days (30 years ago) vets weren't diagnosing this very well
and
were sure it was "flea bite allergy". This vet may still be back in
prehistory.

"Bernice" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have had my cat for less than 6 months. She was an affectionate 6
month old stray cat who loved to bump her head on you for attention.
She loved to play under the covers of my bed as though she were
attacking a mouse. Now after a trip to the vet she has stopped this
behavior.

Last Saturday I took my cat to the vet after I noticed that she was
scooting her behind twice daily on the carpet. My usual vet was out of
town, so I took her to another vet. He said that her rear end was
swollen as the result of an allergic reaction to a flea bite, so her
gave her a shot to take care of that. She had no flea residue
whatsoever on her body, so this flea bite must have been an isolated
incident. He also gave her a shot for tapeworms as she had evidence of
that.

I asked about getting her anal glands expressed, and he said that since
she was scooting that would be a good idea. I wish I had not had this
done. She screamed, clawed, and hissed at him, the nurse, and me. She
was quite clearly in extreme pain. The vet apologized and said that
there was no other way to do this short of squeezing the hell out of
the anal glands.

Since then the cat has not been playful at all. She used to get up
daily at 5 AM for a morning play session, but now she sleeps a lot.
She meows a lot more for attention, she kneads her paws on me somewhat
more than before, and she likes to lay on my lap more often now.

Do you think she is still in pain? Is anal gland expression supposed
to be THIS painful? If that is the case, I will get those glands
removed before I have her go through this again. I am afraid she has
been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy
again would be appreciated!

Thank you for the info on the DepoMedrol - I know that she definitely
had a shot of this! Now her personality change makes sense. All she
does is sleep and meow, and jump up on my lap to knead me, and I was
really getting worried. How long do you think it will be before she is
back to her old self? She does not play hardly at all (maybe 5 mins a
day now).

Also, I did not notice the swelling on her rear end, but the vet did.
I would bet that all the scooting caused the swelling rather than an
allergic reaction, the more I think about it. I am new to owning a
cat, so I am not used to all of this.

I will probably monitor her for the next few days to see if she has any
further possible allergies, but I sincerely hope that all will be well.

As far as this replacement vet goes, I think one visit was enough. I
am not happy that he failed to tell me that she would go through a
personality change! This guy is fairly young (younger than my normal
vet), but he's had a practice for a few years, so I do not know what to
make of it.

Thanks to everyone for responding and offering Purrs for us! I will
let you know how things go!

And if I posted using the wrong format or etiquette, please accept my
apolgies.
Betsy wrote:
More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I
suspect
depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change
(temporary).

I wouldn't go back to this vet. It is highly unusual for a cat to
need its
anal glands expressed.

Also, the "flea bite reaction" is most likely Eosinophilic Granuloma
Complex
http://www.vetinfo.com/ceosinophilic.html, which is in fact common
and
caused by an allergic reaction. I have 3 cats with this problem. It
is
most likely their food, as they don't have fleas, and I've been
searching
for a food that helps them.

In the olden days (30 years ago) vets weren't diagnosing this very
well and
were sure it was "flea bite allergy". This vet may still be back in
prehistory.

"Bernice" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have had my cat for less than 6 months. She was an affectionate 6
month old stray cat who loved to bump her head on you for
attention.
She loved to play under the covers of my bed as though she were
attacking a mouse. Now after a trip to the vet she has stopped
this
behavior.

Last Saturday I took my cat to the vet after I noticed that she was
scooting her behind twice daily on the carpet. My usual vet was
out of
town, so I took her to another vet. He said that her rear end was
swollen as the result of an allergic reaction to a flea bite, so
her
gave her a shot to take care of that. She had no flea residue
whatsoever on her body, so this flea bite must have been an
isolated
incident. He also gave her a shot for tapeworms as she had
evidence of
that.

I asked about getting her anal glands expressed, and he said that
since
she was scooting that would be a good idea. I wish I had not had
this
done. She screamed, clawed, and hissed at him, the nurse, and me.
She
was quite clearly in extreme pain. The vet apologized and said
that
there was no other way to do this short of squeezing the hell out
of
the anal glands.

Since then the cat has not been playful at all. She used to get up
daily at 5 AM for a morning play session, but now she sleeps a lot.
She meows a lot more for attention, she kneads her paws on me
somewhat
more than before, and she likes to lay on my lap more often now.

Do you think she is still in pain? Is anal gland expression
supposed
to be THIS painful? If that is the case, I will get those glands
removed before I have her go through this again. I am afraid she
has
been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her
happy
again would be appreciated!

"Betsy" -0 wrote in message
...
More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I suspect
depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change
(temporary).

I wouldn't go back to this vet. It is highly unusual for a cat to need
its
anal glands expressed.

Ummm.. no, it isn't highly unusual.

Cathy

"Bernice" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thank you for the info on the DepoMedrol - I know that she definitely
had a shot of this! Now her personality change makes sense. All she
does is sleep and meow, and jump up on my lap to knead me, and I was
really getting worried. How long do you think it will be before she is
back to her old self? She does not play hardly at all (maybe 5 mins a
day now).

Also, I did not notice the swelling on her rear end, but the vet did.
I would bet that all the scooting caused the swelling rather than an
allergic reaction, the more I think about it. I am new to owning a
cat, so I am not used to all of this.

Whereas my guess is that imapcted anal glands were causing the scooting. A
cat might scoot if it still has some poop stuck to its rear end after using
the litter box, or if its anal glands are impacted & need expressing.

Cathy

On 9 Feb 2005 06:08:18 -0800, "Bernice" wrote:
snip

removed before I have her go through this again. I am afraid she has
been permanently traumatized by this. Any ideas how to make her happy
again would be appreciated!

Others have expressed opinions about the medication making her woozy & so on,
and it's hard to say specifically what might be making her the way she is, but
my experience of cats makes me think that ...

1) if she's spending time with you and on your knee she's not in any pain.

2) cats get offended, and sulk, and it takes time for them to get over when you
treat them (what they think of as) badly.

3) you can't *make* her be anything, but if you go on being kind to her, and
giving her the chance to play, she'll go back to normal in her own good time. If
you try to force her into doing stuff, it'll take longer.

... When I have to give medication to our cats, I know they'll go weird on me,
and it's often in ways I don't expect...

Let her do what *she* wants - plenty of affection will soon fix it ...

good luck,
Jim

"Bernice" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thank you for the info on the DepoMedrol - I know that she definitely
had a shot of this! Now her personality change makes sense. All she
does is sleep and meow, and jump up on my lap to knead me, and I was
really getting worried. How long do you think it will be before she is
back to her old self? She does not play hardly at all (maybe 5 mins a
day now).


Bernice: my cat has to have shots of Depo Medrol several
times a year, and her personality does not change at all.

I didn't say it wasn't possible. It is just highly unlikely to be
necessary. In 38 years of owning cats I have only had one out of 23 who
ever had a problem with anal glands, and it wasn't even an impaction, but an
abscess. And from my reading at the time, it was called "unusual".

Dogs often have this problem, cats rarely.
"Cathy Friedmann" wrote in message
...

"Betsy" -0 wrote in message
...
More likely the cat is reacting to the "shot" the vet gave her. I
suspect
depo-medrol, which is a steroid, and does cause personality change
(temporary).

I wouldn't go back to this vet. It is highly unusual for a cat to need
its
anal glands expressed.

Ummm.. no, it isn't highly unusual.

Cathy