Hi! I just found this forum and wanted to know if anyone knew of any answers for my cat Emmit's problem.
My family has several pets and love them very much. They are like children to my wife and me. Emmit was born to a mother that suffered a traumatic brain injury as a kitten. In all honesty, she never should have been allowed to have a litter but she was pregnant before we knew it was even possible. In short, of the five in the litter, Emmit was the smallest and most frail. He was also the only one to survive. The mother just couldn't care for the babies and although we tried, we couldn't save them all. Emmit was always, clearly challenged. His development seemed to stop and we considered him to be mentally challenged because of his lineage and circumstance. But we loved him and gave him the best home we could.
Emmit was our 'little miracle baby.' Then when he was about four or five months old, after a bath - some inappropriate flea powder was applied that according to the Vet tended to 'short-circuit' a cat's nervous system. We spent a fortune and the Vet worked furiously...and Emmit lived. He was our 'little miracle.' He had residual problems with depth perception and coordination - i.e. plunging his face into the water when trying to drink. But he seemed happy, played and was content.
In the last few months as Emmit approaches his first birthday, he has become somewhat lethargic. He always had some bowel issues - but nothing dramatic. The drama started in the last month or two. He cannot control his bladder or bowels. No matter what food he ate, he had a significant problem with control and never used the litter box. We tried several different tactics suggested by the Vet and friends to deal with it and eventually started to consider trying to find a safe home for him where his issues wouldn't be a problem...like a farm or something.
My wife and I couldn't bear to part with the baby and so we set up an environment for him on the porch of our house. He has a spacious heated house, with food and water nearby - and an entire yard to use as his litter box - he can come and go as he pleases and sometimes still comes inside while we can keep a watchful eye on him.
But lately he seems even more lethargic, sneezes and coughs and is just simply disinterested in most things. My wife feels that Emmit is going to...well, not be with us much longer. We've loved him so much, spent so much to help him and tried so hard to give him a good life...I just don't want to give up on him. I can't really spend much more at the Vet, and I am out of ideas. So I found this place in a frustration search of the internet. What could Emmit's problem be? It hasn't even been a year since the Vet did everything under the sun to him and brought him back to us. He has had his shots and medicine.
Does anyone here have any ideas? Your input would be greatly appreciated!
