# Howling cat after being neutered



## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

Hi !

So our cat just turned 1 yesterday, we got him Neutered a few weeks ago (about 3 weeks ago). Over the weekend, we went away, so we took the cat to my mother's house. Everything went well, my mother has a cat (12 years old), and they barely looked at eachother, the interaction went well. However, since we brought him home, we notice he howl's like he never has before! And it sounds HORRIBLE, he does it when he is just walkign around, as well, he did it the other night, he woke up with howling. He has done it early in the mornings as well. And right now, he did it while he was eating. He doesn't seem in pain, i was thinking it was an attention thing. But he never did it before leaving him at my mom's house. I think he saw a cat for the first time, and he now know's what's out there. We live in a Condo, and once in a while have taken him outside. He goes on the balcony once in a while. But what could this be from? Is there anyway to stop it? It sounds horrible.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Welcome to CatForum and I hope we can help.
To me, it seems as if your kitty is simply upset with the changes and/or is lonely and is calling to try to find/locate something/someone. Could you consider adopting another kitten/young-cat so they could play together? Some adoption places will let you bring a kitty home to 'try out' for a few weeks to determine if the fit is good with your resident cat. IME, introducing younger cats tends to go smoother than intro-ing older cats, _though exceptions abound_. 
If you cannot get another kitty, I would simply go reassure him when he yowls; pet him, talk to him, distract him from his cries. I had a kitty who did this, but I suspect she was becoming senile and "getting lost" if she left my bedroom. This makes me think your kitty is 'looking' for the other kitty.
Best of luck!
heidi =^..^=


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

In our case, our cat howled like that a few times before she began having seizures. Looking back, the howling seemed to be a signal like, "I know I'm sick." Hopefully that's not your situation.


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## oboea2d (Jan 30, 2010)

I had a similar thing happen to my kitten. I took him to the vet and it turns out that the vet did not stitch up the kitten's scrotal sack after cutting off the testicle. The "stump" was sticking out of the sac and was very painful. When I took him back to the vet, he put a stitch in that area and the problem was solved. Hope this helps.


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## StitchyKitty (Jan 3, 2010)

I agree with Heidi. It sounds like your kitty is just trying to locate/look for the other cat that it met. As Heidi said, you should look into adopting another cat. If you can't adopt another cat, then you should go and pet him/talk to him when he howls. Reassure him that everythings okay.


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

Well we have good news. He has been back to normal for alost a week now. Seems now that he is back home he is happy as can be.

I think he was just messed up from being outside of his element.

Petting him and talking to him did help when he was howling.

thanks for the help.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Yay! Seems like he was just discombobulated with all of the changes at one time. I'm glad he's calmed down and everything has returned to normal.
h =^..^=


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## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

Man, thats the second time today I hear the word "discombobulated ", and Ive never heard it before in my life. The first time today was in a Mike Tyson quote, btw.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

faithless said:


> Man, thats the second time today I hear the word "discombobulated ", and Ive never heard it before in my life. The first time today was in a Mike Tyson quote, btw.


Oh!  Watch it, or I'll bite your ear! :twisted: :wink :mrgreen: 

I think I first came across 'discombobulated' in a Stephen King book. A word I use that I *know* I got from a Stephen King book is "muzzy", or "muzzy-headed". My Husband gigged me on that one and when I came across it when re-reading the SK book it was in, I showed it to him with a "So there!" :lol:


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## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

:lol:


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

seems the howling cat is back.
today alone he is done it 3 times and its 10 36am

I just dont get it. I got him DA BIRD this week. He loves it.


But **** the howling is ugly.

Do Neutered Cats still howl?

Its seems he howls and then goes to pee. He also drolls when he is howling.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Hmmm, well, if he is still howling it could be that it takes between 30-60 days for the excess testosterone to fully excrete from their bodies. Or he is remembering the other cat and is calling for it. Or he has a problem ... is his drooling a normal thing? If it isn't, I think I'd be taking him to the vet to make sure everything is okay and there isn't anything medical making him cry.
Best of luck,
heidi =^..^=


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

Well over the last 24 Hours things have gotten very bad for little stripes.

As it turns out his little howling stints got worse and worse.
2 days ago instead of howling he began to drool and then followed it by going PYSCHO. He would run anwhere and everywhere. This was happening about 3 times a day.
So then thursday we noticed some blood from his back paw. We took him to the vet. the vet looked at him and said everything was ok. the Vet gave him some medicine for the injury and we went home thinking Stripes are happy and healthy.

We that night he did one of his POSSESED episodes. These episodes last about 30 seconds to a minute.
Then on friday at about 8 pm he did it again. This time we noticed that his Back paw nails had been competley grinded. They were all broken and shaved right down and bleeding. Since it was late we had to take him to Emergency. THey took a look at him and we described what was going on.
They did blood work. The Vet called this morning and everything is ok with the blood.

This whole thing has made our family very very sad.

It seems these are seizures or feline hyperesthesia syndrome
the vet gave us Phenobarbital for him to take twice a day. 15 mg and they gave him some needles valium etc, at the vet.


Well since we have been home he has done it alot more times. He has done it 6 times today alone. the vet has said it could take afew weeks for the meds to start helping.

We are devastated. I dont tknow if this is a good thing, because of this he actually seems to have a shorter episdoe.

Thank God this is a long weekend. we are going to keep him on the meds and see if things improve. I an home this week so i am gonna try my best to make him better.

So far we have spent 700 dollars at the vet with this. We cant afford to do much more.

We also changed his food today to GRAIN FREE food.we are hoping this will help as well. Called Wellness Unconditional Love Complete Health.

does anyone have any info for us?
This little guy means the world to us. But we cant afford neurological testeing.

if you have anything that can help us post here or feel free to email me at [email protected]


thanks


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Wow. It seems like he has an extreme case of hyperesthesia. atback 
Google MuttCats and/or LittleBigCats websites and check their articles for feline hyperesthesia, they have some great information. Personally, if I were in your shoes I am not sure I would pursue neurological testing especially if it could not give me a definitive answer and a highly treatable condition. On the plus side, I do think the phenobarbitol *does* work, so try to give it time. Also, I think that was a genious move to change his diet to grain-free.
Best of luck!
heidi =^..^=


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

Thanks for the kind words heidi.

today has been a hard day for us. He has had about 10 different bouts. We try to keep him close. I know this might not be the best thing but he tends to be on a ramage, meaning he could harm himself.

We called the Vet a little while ago. He said to just keep giving him the pills and it should get better.

He thinks its seizures. Poor stripes seems to be out of body. I am going to try and record this but so far both of us have to try and calm him down. He is crazy when he starts.

Other then that he eats alot, Drinks alot and just hangs around us.

I hope he will get better. What do you think our options are long term?

thanks in advance.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

crystalicious said:


> What do you think our options are long term?


Truly, I don't know.  Our Marmalade had a mild case of hyperesthesia and our vet didn't think it was severe enough to warrant treatment. All Marmy would do is maybe 1-3 times a week, he'd all-of-a-sudden stand up, shake a back foot, run quickly, stop just as quickly and lick his back, over his tail while rippling his fur a little.
He was sensetive when being petted over his lower back, so I limited my petting to only his head and shoulders.

I hope some of our vet-tech members will chime in, they may have more information for you.
heidi =^..^=


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

hey heidi i looked at those sites u gave me and could not find any info onwhat he has.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Huh. Maybe I'm not remembering what articles they have ...

From Little Big Cats
Overstimulation Petting Aggression:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... aggression
Redirected Aggression:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... acasestudy
Tail (body language signals):
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... rthanwords

YES, I did remember incorrectly, sorry!  Here, I've googled some Feline Hyperesthesia topics for you to check out.
http://www.purelypets.com/articles/feli ... thesia.htm
http://www.cathealth.com/hyperesthesia.htm
http://www.petplace.com/cats/feline-hyp ... page1.aspx


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

well today he seems to be having them every 3-5 hours instead of every 2 hours.

we are praying for him and trying everything we can to keep him feeling ok.


I read alot of stuff.

The Vet says they are seizuers.

Might take him to a less expensive vet, cause the emerg is very expecsive.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Oh, yes! The Emergency Vet IS expensive! You'd be better off to find a good M-Sat vet with a strong cat-practice.

I want to try to explain a little something, please do not think "seizure", even if the vet described it that way. I don't think of FHS as a 'seizure', though it *can* be described as 'seizure-like', but I feel there is a difference. The similarity, IMO, is that it certainly does have something to do with crossed nerve signals, but I just cannot think of 'seizure' in this way, as the way *I* think of seizures like we see in people acting for TV/movies.
Granted, _I could be all kinds of WRONG about my opinion_, so I'll hope that some of our vet-tech members can help explain it better.
h =^..^=

PS ... can you pick up and try some herbal things? Several people here have had GREAT results calming a kitty down naturally with Composure Liquid and Rescue Remedy.


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

well he had 2 eposides in 2 hours. ANd now he is not being very reponsive. He is breating very and sleeping. His breath is very very heavy.

I dont know what to do anymore. I am getting the feeling that the end is coming. We have been giving him his meds but it does not seem to be helping.
We are also in rough shape because of this.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

crystalicious said:


> We are also in rough shape because of this.


Oh, man! atback I'm so sorry. I really don't know what to advise...
Keep him calm/comfortable. I think I'd call the vet to ask about the labored breathing and sleeping, especially if he is being lethargic while awake. I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm no help at all, all I can offer is a shoulder to lean/cry on...
heidi


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

I think we are going to take him to emergency. it might be that the eposides are casuing brain damage.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I am so sorry.... atback


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

it has been 20 mins and he has not come out of it.

we are in rough shape. i think we have 2 put him down.


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## ETrescued (Oct 22, 2009)

This is so terrible. Often times with people, each seizure deprives the body of oxygen, and I fear that this might be the case with your kitty.

Sending healing thoughts your way.

-BP


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

I'm so sorry to hear about this latest news. As I said, my Rookie's howling did precede her seizures by about a week. When you said he had been drooling, it definitely reminded me of what Rookie went through too. 

We did the same as you with getting a diagnosis by a vet (they said it was primary epilepsy, so that may be different from your situation), but also recommended going to a neurologist as a next step. They said there would be about a 50/50 chance a neurologist would find the root cause of the problem. 

For whatever comfort it may bring, the vet said the seizures themselves aren't painful to the cat. They're out of it, they won't remember them, and the seizure itself doesn't harm them. The only danger is that they may hurt themselves while thrashing around, like a cat who has a seizure at the top of a flight of stairs and then falls down the stairs, or something like that. But I was comforted knowing that the seizure itself doesn't hurt them.

I know how upsetting this all must be. I'm so sorry you and the kitty are going through it.


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

well i have never met anyone here but you guys have been great.

I am 100% heartbtoken.

He has about 5 seisures within 3 hours.
atleast 30 over the last 3.5 days.

We had to put him down.
Vet said they could try and give meds but he had a fever. 

I think we did the right thing. He was out little angel.

I can not believe this all happend so fast.

These were violent epoisdes and he could not take it any more.


:dis :dis :dis :dis :dis :dis :dis :dis :dis :dis :dis :dis


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Oh, my God. atback You *so* did the right thing for him. I admire you for having the courage to be unselfish and set him free from his failing body, knowing your heart would break. 
(((hugs for you)))


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## ETrescued (Oct 22, 2009)

Yes, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. How tragic and so quick 

Does the vet think that the seizures were the result of the fever?

You now have a wonderful kitty angel watching out for you :angel 

-BP


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

He had about 30 seisures the past day. These have been the harderst days of my life.

The Vet said that the fever was just came due to the sesiures.

It was very hard to set him free.
We are getting a clay foot print.

He was very speical to us.

Thanks to you guys for helping us thru this tought time.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Loves, purrs and hugs sent from this household to yours...


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## ChelleBelle (Sep 14, 2009)

I just finally caught up on this thread... to my dismay.

I am so sorry that is what happen to your kitty. You and your family are in all our hearts and prayers. As hard as it is, at least you loved him enough to make such a decision. Many of us have been there, and it hurts incredibly much. You are in good company here with other animal lovers, and we do understand your pain and will listen if you ever chat about him.

'Chelle


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

I'm so, so sorry. I sent you a PM. 

So often these illnesses come on quickly and we lose them before we've had a chance to adjust to it, and this is another case of that. 

I'd love to see pictures of your kitty if you'd like to share them.


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

we will post some soon. we are having a very hard time with this.


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## hoofmaiden (Sep 28, 2009)

I'm so sorry . . . . 

Am I correct in the assumption that this cat was normal until after he was neutered? If so, PLEASE find out from the vet the precise anesthetic agents that were used during the procedure. I would be very interested, and we might be able to learn something from this horrible loss.


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

well things are not getting much better for us. Its so hard to lose him.
i called the vet 
he said they used propofol and isoflorane. 
the operation was done jan 4 2010
he passed away Feb 14. they dont think it was linked.More then likely genetic.

Coming home to an empty house is killing me.


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

well things are not getting much better for us. Its so hard to lose him.
i called the vet 
he said they used propofol and isoflorane. 
the operation was done jan 4 2010
he passed away Feb 14. they dont think it was linked.More then likely genetic.

Coming home to an empty house is killing me.


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

well things are not getting much better for us. Its so hard to lose him.
i called the vet 
he said they used propofol and isoflorane. 
the operation was done jan 4 2010
he passed away Feb 14. they dont think it was linked.More then likely genetic.

Coming home to an empty house is killing me.


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## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

Im so sorry for your loss.


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## Dave_ph (Jul 7, 2009)

What a shock.


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## crystalicious (Jan 27, 2010)

been trying to upload pictures, so here's a link of pics of Stripes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/?saved=1


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