I've had cats for a while now, but this one has me stumped. I am wondering if any of y'all have any similar experiences to share taht might offer a clue or at least make me feel better.
Mojo is guesstimated to be 5ish; we adopted him from a shelter in July, after he was turned in as a stray. He is seemingly a supremely confident unshakeable outgoing cat -- when we first walked into his cat room at the shelter he came over, stood on his hindlegs, and licked my 2 yr old on the forehead, and he seems entirely unafraid of people, loud children, shelter dogs, and in fact most things except loud gravel trucks going very close by him.
However, he periodically refuses to eat. Like, will eat NOTHING, and syringe-feeding seems to make it worse. Right now is the third time in 3 months. It comes on fairly suddenly (slows down eating for a day or two, then bam, No More Food), lasts for a week or two, and thus far has ended within a day or two. He licked a little butter this morning and had a small amount of kibble, and has been suddenly extremely affectionate (his head is on my left hand as I type this right now, pls excuse resulting typos
) so *hopefully* he is coming out of this episode.
We have spent about $1100 on vet bills on the little bugger so far, but after bloodwork, fecal, xray, and ultrasound, the vet can't find anything wrong other than his intestines are (inexplicably) very fluid-filled. We have tried medications, Feliway, every sort of tempting food on teh whole darn planet, and I have built him an elevated walkway over the kitchen and am partway through making an extensive outdoor run for him and his 3 companions.
The vet says it's stress. I'm not disagreeing, but I am just sort of wondering... he seems to go from extreme happy playful high to extreme sad curled-up hunger-strike low so rapidly and completely with no particularly obvious provocation. If he was a person, you'd say "hey, he needs his lithium doseage adjusted"
Has anyone ever had another cat that GENUINELY (not just humorously or sarcastically) seemed manic-depressive? Or in any other way comparable to Mojo?
Thanks for any stories or suggestions,
Pat
Mojo is guesstimated to be 5ish; we adopted him from a shelter in July, after he was turned in as a stray. He is seemingly a supremely confident unshakeable outgoing cat -- when we first walked into his cat room at the shelter he came over, stood on his hindlegs, and licked my 2 yr old on the forehead, and he seems entirely unafraid of people, loud children, shelter dogs, and in fact most things except loud gravel trucks going very close by him.
However, he periodically refuses to eat. Like, will eat NOTHING, and syringe-feeding seems to make it worse. Right now is the third time in 3 months. It comes on fairly suddenly (slows down eating for a day or two, then bam, No More Food), lasts for a week or two, and thus far has ended within a day or two. He licked a little butter this morning and had a small amount of kibble, and has been suddenly extremely affectionate (his head is on my left hand as I type this right now, pls excuse resulting typos
We have spent about $1100 on vet bills on the little bugger so far, but after bloodwork, fecal, xray, and ultrasound, the vet can't find anything wrong other than his intestines are (inexplicably) very fluid-filled. We have tried medications, Feliway, every sort of tempting food on teh whole darn planet, and I have built him an elevated walkway over the kitchen and am partway through making an extensive outdoor run for him and his 3 companions.
The vet says it's stress. I'm not disagreeing, but I am just sort of wondering... he seems to go from extreme happy playful high to extreme sad curled-up hunger-strike low so rapidly and completely with no particularly obvious provocation. If he was a person, you'd say "hey, he needs his lithium doseage adjusted"
Has anyone ever had another cat that GENUINELY (not just humorously or sarcastically) seemed manic-depressive? Or in any other way comparable to Mojo?
Thanks for any stories or suggestions,
Pat