Oy.

[camwyn]

Woke up this morning at 5:30 to the sound of very loud purring. Shula has a particularly loud purr he uses when he's trying to get me to do something, usually feed him. This was that purr. This is normal; the cats usually wake me up between 5 and 5:30 to get their morning feeding. So I got up and blundered into the kitchen and gave him and Kamella half a can of c-d each, and then went back to bed, the alarm being set for 6:09 AM.

At 6:05 I awaken to the sound of... something fast and rhythmic that I can't quite place. It takes me a moment to realize I'm hearing panting, and a bit longer to locate Shula, who is perched on a tub that's on top of my dresser, panting very fast. Also, he's hissing at Kamella periodically, although that's nothing new. He's been hissing at her when she annoys him for the past week or so. I go over to check on him and he lets me pet him, no fuss or pulling back.

In the kitchen there is cat puke. Quite a lot of it. Shula is still panting, and apparently attempting to poop, although not having much luck.

Eventually- after scooping the litterboxes to ensure that they're clean, if he can get into them, and cleaning up all of the cat puke, and putting a few crunchy anti-hairball treats in both cats' dishes- I go over to where Shula is lying stretched out on the floor near the water fountain. It's his usual lying-down pose, except for the panting and the fact that there is something edible in his dish and he hasn't tried to eat it yet. That part worries me, because this is Shula. He eats. You know how you breathe? Yeah, he eats almost that reflexively. I spend the next ten minutes sitting with the cat, petting him, trying not to freak out because I know it'll only upset him more.

Eventually, I realize he's not panting nearly so much, and that he's started purring. More than that, it's the manipulative purr, the one he does at 5:30 when he wants to be fed. Sure, it's a little jaggedy due to how fast he's breathing, but it's the same 'feed me' purr as usual. I get up and grab a can of the cat food.

Suddenly he's up at his food dish, chomping on the kitty treats. A quarter of a can of cat food later, he's not panting any more. He's also devouring Kamella's quarter-can, and I do mean devour. That cat's a furry orange and white locust. This seems reasonable enough, so I go and take my morning shower.

There is no puke when I come out, and no panting, and no hissing, and no fruitless attempts at urination or defecation. Shula's just wandering around the apartment per usual. He lets me pet him and he seems okay with Kamella, and even leans over to sniff my hand when I hold it out to him, which he wasn't doing when he was panting- he just stared at my hand when I did that. As far as he's concerned, everything's back to normal.

I'm at work now. I'm hoping Shula will still be all right when I come home. He was all right for twenty solid minutes before I left, so I'm just... I'm hoping he got sick from eating too fast and for once I happened to catch him before he calmed down.

Comments

[spooky-lemur.livejournal.com]

Crossing my fingers here that all's okay when you get home.

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I hope it was nothing more than a temporary stomach upset, or maybe gas (do cats get gas?).

[aduial-peredhel.livejournal.com]

I completely empathize. Every time Kuro vomits - or even looks like he might vomit - mom and I completely freak out. He's gotten better about not vomiting since he has been changed from dry to wet food, but every once in a while he eats too fast or too much for his own good.

I hope the kitty gets better. :3

[innerbrat]

Sounds like it might be a temporary thing. Maybe a bad can. Or something bad in his portion of the can? Or eating too fast. I hope he stays better.

[lions-wings.livejournal.com]

I don't know cats well enough to guess what's up, but I'm with everyone else hoping it's okay now.

[chanter1944]

Yikes, Shula-kitty! Here's hoping everything continues to be okay with him. Poor cat. Also poor Cam!

[chn-breathmint.livejournal.com]

You could try elevating his food dish? Marlene puked an alarming amount and the vet said it was reflux from eating too fast, from a bowl that was too low. We propped it about eight inches off the ground and she stopped doing it so often.

- Mel

[antepathy.livejournal.com]

My cats with their history...I'm kind of used to barf. But the other symptoms are upsetting. I certainly hope it's a one-off. Keep us updated?

[camwyn]

Yeah, one or the other of the cats seems to barf every couple of weeks. It's no big thing. Someone ate too fast, so I clean up and go on. It's the panting part that has me spooked, and the squatting. Shula's been on his happy bladder maintenance food for a year now, and he's been better about piddling in the litterbox this whole year than he'd been in the time I had him before, plus he's produced proper amounts of urine and all. I'm just hoping this was some kind of effort at expelling gas or something... I don't know. I won't know until I get home, poor boy.

And if he's all right then I'm sorry to have raised a ruckus for no reason. I just don't want him to be seriously ill, you know?

[camwyn]

Yeah, I think I'll start doing that. Just in case.

[batyatoon]

Oh poor fuzz. *hugs him, and you* I hope he's okay.