# Bizzare Chews



## darnpunk (Feb 10, 2005)

Hello all, 

This post is going to be very detailed. I have a female cat around 1 yr and 6 months old, named Merkey. She's a happy cat but recently, me and my family members found out something strange happening to her. She's beginning to chew nothing and look as if she's choking on something.

We know she had furballs before and usually she will just vomit it out. But this time round its totally a different action. Following on, I will describe her behaviour.

Here goes:
Whenever she starts using her tongue, like for cases where she smells food and licks her nose wanting to eat, she will start to chew nothing vigorously and do the choking behaviour. At times, it gets so bad that she will use her paws to like 'dig' out something from her jaws/mouth. Almost looking like she smack herself. 

Its going to be quite hard to visualize it through my words but probably one of you ever felt like choking and tried very hard to force it out. This is something that's happening to my cat. I checked her jaws and teeth and nothing seems wrong. She do this very often and its been going on for more than 3 days. I also massage her throat and neck area often hoping to make her feel better.

This choking like behaviour has caused her to stop eating her biscuits and shes going for soft food like tuna meat and sardines instead. Just a few hours ago, she tried to eat wet food (tuna) but only managed to eat only a very very small portion.

This worries us alot and I have no idea if I should bring her to the vet yet hoping it will be a normal thing among cats. It's very hard for me to open up her mouth to really check as she can get quite violent and bite us. And if I were to bring her to the vet, with her violent condition, I bet the vet would sedate her. I do not wish for her to go through anaesthatic again as she looked very upset when she had her spaying last year.

My only possible guesses are she's got ulcer on her lips or the inner parts of her jaw, toothache or something's really stuck on her throat cos shes been trying to force out something.

Have anyone of your cats gone through this? Pls advice. Is there anything I can do to make Merkey feel better?


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

my advice is you should take her to the vet, but BEFORE you do that, I hope you have a video camera, because you should shoot her doing this because I guarantee you, she won't do it in the vet's office :?


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## NewRagdoll (Feb 2, 2005)

*Of course you should*



> This worries us alot and I have no idea if I should bring her to the vet yet hoping it will be a normal thing among cats. It's very hard for me to open up her mouth to really check as she can get quite violent and bite us. And if I were to bring her to the vet, with her violent condition, I bet the vet would sedate her. I do not wish for her to go through anaesthatic again as she looked very upset when she had her spaying last year.


Of course you should get her to the vet, immediately. There is something wrong with her...why is the need to get her to the vet even in question? I'm hoping this is something minor, but it could be a sign of something very serious and every moment you delay could be increasing the risk dramatically. 

Also, you probably need to reexamine your feeding habits and the foods you give her.


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## vanillasugar (Nov 11, 2004)

Get her to a vet, and I agree with tim, see if you can get a way to video this behaviour to show the vet.

Also, Tuna and Sardines are VERY bad for cats. They're okay once and a while as treats, but she should definaltey be getting real food. Please do go out and buy some tins of soft food (browse the health and nutrition forum for good brands). She'll be getting all the nutrients she needs that way.


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## BoscosMum (Apr 29, 2004)

My parents cat was doing this...from the sounds of the description.

The cat had damaged its tounge and actually removed some of the rough stuff on a cats tounge. It happened from his neuter surgery.

Has your cat had any surgery lately?


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## darnpunk (Feb 10, 2005)

Its the public holidays here and some vets are not opened. So I guess I will wait till it opens. That way I can observe her condition as well. She's less 'choking' now and has started to eat again. Btw when I mentioned tuna, it is Whiskas tuna and salmon flavour in the small tins packaging. I will not give my cat bad food as I understand the nutrients she needs.

Lets hope she gets better. Should I give her milk to drink or should I stick to plain water?


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## darnpunk (Feb 10, 2005)

BoscosMum said:


> My parents cat was doing this...from the sounds of the description.
> 
> The cat had damaged its tounge and actually removed some of the rough stuff on a cats tounge. It happened from his neuter surgery.
> 
> Has your cat had any surgery lately?


My cat had her spaying surgery back during July last year so I don't think its cos of that. But I will try check her tongue. What do you mean by damaged tongue and removed some of the rough stuff? Hows ur parents cat now?


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## NewRagdoll (Feb 2, 2005)

*No to milk....*

Absolutely do not give your cat milk. Also, Whiskas isn't the best of food choices, but not likely your issue here. However, most Whiskas is low in proteins, lacking in some nutrients, heavy on by products as opposed to straight meat. In addition, too much fish isn't good. 

Many vets are closed? Are any open? I just don't understand why you let it drag on to this point. Rule of thumb-Cat Sick=VET. While it could be a tongue problem or something minor like fever blisters, not to scare, but at the other end it could be cancer sores building up in mouth or esophagus. It could be an obstruction-maybe one that is now being dislodged, but could be just passing to another area of the body.


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## darnpunk (Feb 10, 2005)

I am not dragging this on purpose. It so happened that we noticed this strange behaviour of hers on Chinese New Year's Eve. And here in my country chinese new year holidays are usually on a 3 days basis. That means for 3 days almost all shops, foodcourts and etc are closed. This including the vet unless its an emergency. I am hoping for it to open tmr so that I can send my cat to the vet asap. I hope that nothing serious happens to her too.

Just like you, I am raring to go to the vet for my cat's checkup. And what food do you suggest other than Whiskas?


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## NewRagdoll (Feb 2, 2005)

*Don't know the foods available in Singapore....*

But I suggest premium foods like Innova, Wellness, Evolve in the U. S. There are some excellent web sites on how to select. You might start with cats.about.com for some food ideas. Also, peruse this board. Mainly look for meat, not by-products or meal to be the primary ingredient. Limit fish consumption. Stay away from Corn. Look for added nutrients. Now, do many cats live long healthy lives on grocery store brands like Whiskas and Fancy Feast? Absolutely. However, there are better products.


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## emma_pen (Nov 2, 2004)

I think this really really sounds like dental disease. PLease let us know what the vet says.

Ems


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## darnpunk (Feb 10, 2005)

Hello all I just got back from the vet. The vet suspects hairball or something soft stuck in her throat. He inspected her stomach and couldnt find anything hard inside except that its very compact. That's because she ate before going to the vet. So his assumption was that even if something is stuck, it would be soft, hopefully hairballs only. Since Merkey's stool is normal, he went on and checked further. He also inspected her mouth, teeth and gums and find everything of her healthy. Her pulse as well.

Surprisingly, the vet gave my cat a TUNA flavoured lubricant. It's weird but I had to take it. This lubricant is in gel like form which I have to feed my cat with for a week and observe. If things persists or get worse, they have to perform an X-ray on Merkey.

On food advice, he actually suggested canned food rather than biscuits. He claimed Merkey is bright and alert and shows interest for food (tested that too). On my side I tried my best to explain what Merkey went through but was assured that she is healthy except for her vetching and choking behaviour.

Hopefully it will really be just hairballs and go away. Thanks to ALL of your replies. I used every advice from your replies and asked the vet regarding it and good answers were given like taking care of her gums, teeth and the right choice of food.

Lets pray for Merkey and all cats in the world to be safe. *prays*


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

hopefully it's one of those things that can't be explained that will disappear in a couple days. keep us posted how it goes.


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## darnpunk (Feb 10, 2005)

Hi all!

Some updates on Merkey. As I am typing this out, she's asking me to play with her so I guess that's a good sign. Well its 630am now and I woke up earlier just to make sure Merkey let off her waste as she's not been doing it since the vet visit 2 days ago.

Finally this morning, she did. I inspected her waste and found some thick fur at some parts of it so I assume it is really hairball. However I will still observe her 'choking' behaviour. She's been eating more than usual and getting back to her biscuits as well. I hope not to overfeed her. Like they say, a healthy person is a person who eats, and a healthy pet is a pet that's eating!

Someone suggested me to try feed her wheatgrass occasionally to prevent/remove hairballs. Any say on that anyone? I am also willing to try natural methods to keep a cat healthy.


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## DesnBaby (Apr 18, 2004)

darnpunk said:


> Someone suggested me to try feed her wheatgrass occasionally to prevent/remove hairballs. Any say on that anyone? I am also willing to try natural methods to keep a cat healthy.


We use cat grass.


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## darnpunk (Feb 10, 2005)

Cat grass? Must I grow them or is it packed to feed? Cos wheatgrass here in some pet shops require us to grow it first.


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## DesnBaby (Apr 18, 2004)

We grow ours. We just water it & let it in the sun to grow.


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## darnpunk (Feb 10, 2005)

Hi everyone,

Merkey is fine now and back to her normal self. In fact more joyful than before. She wakes up purring, greet us in the morning and always hinting to us to catch her with her come-and-get-me stares. I have yet to try the cat grass but sooner or later I will. She's been eating well.

However, she kind of prefer wet food nowadays rather than dry. Anyway, someone from another forum mentioned something about barfs for their kitties. Anyone of you feed barfs to your cats? Pls share.


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