Can stress cause this?

Had 3 16 year old cats...2 have passed away in the last 3 months. The
last one started getting very lonely..crying all the time and just not
being himself. They didn't grow up together...the 2 that passed were
mine and the other is my wife's...we put them together 2 years ago and
they got along great. Since that worked out so well, we decided to get
a kitten to keep him company thinking (and by recommendations) that
the kitten would learn very quickly that the older cat was the
dominant one so there wouldn't be a problem. For the first week,
everything seemed ok...the older cat would hiss when the kitten came
near him but that subsided. The older cat still played with us and
seemed normal. Now suddenly, the older cat has diahrrea that just
constantly leaks out of him, vomits after going to the litter box and
he's hiding behind the couch. Did blood work and took a stool sample
with nothing abnormal. Right now he's been admitted to the vet
because he stopped eating as well. Can this be due to stress??
We're thinking of getting rid of the kitten but aren't really sure
that's the problem.

Mike,

That sounds more serious than stress. Does the kitten have any symptoms?
Could he or she have passed along a bug to your older cat? I don't
remember what was wrong with the other 2 cats, was it different than
this cat's illnesses? Did they check for distemper?

If your vet can't find the cause, I'd get another vet's opinion right
away. Your cat is probably dehydrated, too -- are they giving him fluids?

Good luck, I hope he feels better quickly.

Rhonda

The Other Mike wrote:
Had 3 16 year old cats...2 have passed away in the last 3 months. The
last one started getting very lonely..crying all the time and just not
being himself. They didn't grow up together...the 2 that passed were
mine and the other is my wife's...we put them together 2 years ago and
they got along great. Since that worked out so well, we decided to get
a kitten to keep him company thinking (and by recommendations) that
the kitten would learn very quickly that the older cat was the
dominant one so there wouldn't be a problem. For the first week,
everything seemed ok...the older cat would hiss when the kitten came
near him but that subsided. The older cat still played with us and
seemed normal. Now suddenly, the older cat has diahrrea that just
constantly leaks out of him, vomits after going to the litter box and
he's hiding behind the couch. Did blood work and took a stool sample
with nothing abnormal. Right now he's been admitted to the vet
because he stopped eating as well. Can this be due to stress??
We're thinking of getting rid of the kitten but aren't really sure
that's the problem.

On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:05:13 GMT, Rhonda
wrote:

Mike,

That sounds more serious than stress. Does the kitten have any symptoms?
Could he or she have passed along a bug to your older cat? I don't
remember what was wrong with the other 2 cats, was it different than
this cat's illnesses? Did they check for distemper?

If your vet can't find the cause, I'd get another vet's opinion right
away. Your cat is probably dehydrated, too -- are they giving him fluids?

Good luck, I hope he feels better quickly.

Rhonda

The kitten had gooey eyes and sneezed a little when we got him but
went right on medication and is fine now. We were hoping that the
older one just caught whatever he had. Problem is he's not responding
to 2 different medications they've given him over the past 4 days.
The other 2 cats (different litter) passed away from cancer. He's
admitted right now and on fluids and the next step is they want to do
an ultrasound. We were just concerned that we did this to him by
bringing home a kitten since I've been reading about stress related
symptoms...but like you said, it seems more severe of a problem.
Hopefully they'll find something treatable with the ultrasound.

"The Other Mike" wrote in message
...
Had 3 16 year old cats...2 have passed away in the last 3 months. The
last one started getting very lonely..crying all the time and just not
being himself. They didn't grow up together...the 2 that passed were
mine and the other is my wife's...we put them together 2 years ago and
they got along great. Since that worked out so well, we decided to get
a kitten to keep him company thinking (and by recommendations) that
the kitten would learn very quickly that the older cat was the
dominant one so there wouldn't be a problem. For the first week,
everything seemed ok...the older cat would hiss when the kitten came
near him but that subsided. The older cat still played with us and
seemed normal. Now suddenly, the older cat has diahrrea that just
constantly leaks out of him, vomits after going to the litter box and
he's hiding behind the couch. Did blood work and took a stool sample
with nothing abnormal. Right now he's been admitted to the vet
because he stopped eating as well. Can this be due to stress??
We're thinking of getting rid of the kitten but aren't really sure
that's the problem.

It sounds more like your adult picked up a virus or parasite from the
kitten. There is also the possibility that the organism causing this was
already present in your adult and stress from the introduction (there is
always some involved with bringing in any new animal) lowered his immune
system a little.

Some parasites don't show up all the time on fecal exam. I recently had a
kitten with horrible diarrhea. Nothing showed up on his fecal at all. The
vet treated him with Albon (Coccidia), Flagyl (Giardia sp?) with little
improvement. The diarrhea finally stopped after he was treated with
erythromycin. All the while the fecals were coming back negative. This
kitten much like you describe had the diarrhea just running out of him.

I hope your vet can figure it out. I wouldn't get rid of the kitten but
until this is resolved, wouldn't let them share a litter box. If it turns
out to be a parasite you might want to ask the vet about treating the kitten
as well for it to avoid them just passing it back and forth. These things
are frequently spread through sharing the box.

W

I do know that stress can bring out certain illnesses that may lay dormant in
cats when not under any stress. When I first got my older guy, he came with
an upper respitory infection and I was told that he will always harbor this
and that it will tend to come out when he is stressed. Sure enough, last
year I brought a kitten into the house and lo and behold my older guy, Jack,
started to sneezing again. It did go away pretty quickly once they got
somewhat used to each other. I know that this situation is nothing compared
to what you are going through, I just wanted to let you know that stress does
bring illnesses out and I hope that that is all that is going on with your
guy/girl. Please let us know how everything goes and good luck.

Wendy wrote:
Had 3 16 year old cats...2 have passed away in the last 3 months. The
last one started getting very lonely..crying all the time and just not
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
We're thinking of getting rid of the kitten but aren't really sure
that's the problem.

It sounds more like your adult picked up a virus or parasite from the
kitten. There is also the possibility that the organism causing this was
already present in your adult and stress from the introduction (there is
always some involved with bringing in any new animal) lowered his immune
system a little.

Some parasites don't show up all the time on fecal exam. I recently had a
kitten with horrible diarrhea. Nothing showed up on his fecal at all. The
vet treated him with Albon (Coccidia), Flagyl (Giardia sp?) with little
improvement. The diarrhea finally stopped after he was treated with
erythromycin. All the while the fecals were coming back negative. This
kitten much like you describe had the diarrhea just running out of him.

I hope your vet can figure it out. I wouldn't get rid of the kitten but
until this is resolved, wouldn't let them share a litter box. If it turns
out to be a parasite you might want to ask the vet about treating the kitten
as well for it to avoid them just passing it back and forth. These things
are frequently spread through sharing the box.

W

--
Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:21:53 GMT, "MoMo via CatKB.com" u27647@uwe
wrote:

Please let us know how everything goes and good luck.

Well, after 2 days being admitted and on IV's and 2 different
medications, it looks like he's making a recovery. They diagnosed it
as Coccidia brought home by the kitten. He still wasn't eating at the
vet so we made the decision to bring him home for 1 night and see what
happens thinking he was stressed staying there. As soon as he got in
the house he ate like a pig and still is so I think he's on the road
to recovery. Thanks for the help and advice.

The Other Mike wrote:
.. As soon as he got in
the house he ate like a pig and still is so I think he's on the road
to recovery.

Good news!

Is he getting on with the kitten?

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Glad you found the problem and that he's eating! What a relief.

Rhonda

The Other Mike wrote:

Well, after 2 days being admitted and on IV's and 2 different
medications, it looks like he's making a recovery. They diagnosed it
as Coccidia brought home by the kitten. He still wasn't eating at the
vet so we made the decision to bring him home for 1 night and see what
happens thinking he was stressed staying there. As soon as he got in
the house he ate like a pig and still is so I think he's on the road
to recovery. Thanks for the help and advice.

On 18 Nov 2006 16:35:53 -0800, "Lesley" wrote:

Is he getting on with the kitten?

He's coming around...he tolerates him...and the kitten licks his head
once in a while and he doesn't hiss or anything. But if the kitten
starts to play with him...he gets grumpy. He'll come around
though..same thing happened when he met my 2 cats (he's my wife's)
about 2 years ago and within a few months they were playing all the
time. Do have an issue with the kitten though...which I'm about to
make another post about.