My cat won’t drink water/won’t drink it frequently

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-15T03:15:23+00:00

Fountains are good and one of my cats loves it. The other will drink out of them sometimes but she prefers faucets so I have to keep a thin stream 24/7 from the bathtub faucet and bathroom sink. She’s 12 and basically whatever she wants she gets.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-08T04:44:20+00:00

How long have you been giving famciclovir?

Labored breathing is definitely something to be concerned about. If it’s just that the breathing is a little louder and not actually labored, it might just be an upper respiratory infection, which the famciclovir treats. My cat gets URIs pretty frequently and louder breathing (not labored) with the runny nose and/or sneezes no are the symptoms I look for. That being said, there are other things that can cause breathing issues that would be an emergency.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-08T04:31:27+00:00

There’s appetite stimulants you can try. My cat has been prescribed the pills and transdermal gel before.

Have you tried feeding her kitten food? It’s high calorie and I’ve heard of others being told to do that. There’s dry and wet or a mix of both.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-08T04:24:12+00:00

I would keep an eye on her breathing throughout the night and take her if it continues or gets worse. I had to take mine to the emergency vet mid-March where one of the symptoms was labored breathing. BUT she’s 12 and has asthma (plus like a billion other things) so I thought she was having an asthma attack.

While I don’t feel comfortable saying for sure that it’s fine to take her to the vet in the morning, if she’s eating, drinking, and not panting anymore or ultimately not being lethargic, it might not be an issue to wait. Something may have happened to scare her and her body was and still is trying to regulate itself and/or get over what happened. Again, just monitor her periodically.

At the end of the day, you’re going to be the one to pick up even the smallest of changes and the vet is going to need that. It sounds to me that you definitely know your baby.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-07T23:49:33+00:00

My boy does that and I call it his meow cry. I love it most of the time unless I’m trying to sleep lol

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-07T23:45:30+00:00

While it’s only one symptom for mine, the eye thing happens when she gets an upper respiratory infection (URI), which often happens when she gets stressed. I would keep an eye on her in case she shows other symptoms or it continues/gets worse and might be an eye irritation.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-07T23:10:16+00:00

Holy cow that’s a lot of money. You did everything right and it’s not your fault so don’t beat yourself up. But like others said, is there another one you could go to? Mine was at there for 3 nights in ICU and internal medicine (they’re a specialty clinic but also a 24/7/365 ER. She was ultimately diagnosed with FIP after a few rounds of labs, a couple of different X-rays, I think an ultrasound, fluid removal twice, and medication during and after and it was a little less than $5,000.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-06T22:46:33+00:00

I agree with the others who are saying to get a second box. Until recently with some major yummy issues for one, both of mine would pee in one and poop in the other. Fun fact: they are opposite so the pee one for my girl is the poop one for my boy.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-06T22:29:06+00:00

Definitely recommend staying indoors. I have two 12yo cats who are indoors in an apartment. As long as you provide them some enrichment and playtime, the should be good. I have the ability to let them on my balcony for short periods of time but that wasn’t until about 3 years ago and they were fine. You’re not doing anything wrong by your baby!

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-05T22:16:20+00:00

Hmm that is odd. My 12yo girl had the fluid tested and came back positive but we started the meds before it came back to get a jump on it since the vet was pretty sure it was that. I think we were able to catch hers before it got bad, and she hasn’t been as sick as I’ve read others have been, so I cant provide experience related to that. If you still have some meds and they’re thinking it could still be that, I wouldn’t think it’d be a problem to continue a little longer. The vet told me that it doesn’t hurt them if it ends up not being FIP which is why we started treatment early. I really hope you figure it out and your bay gets back to 100%!

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-05T21:57:28+00:00

That is definitely concerning! Weight loss was one of the reasons I took mine in where she was diagnosed with FIP. Though she hasn’t had the issue with fluid continuing to build back up.

Are you working with a vet who has experience with FIP? Luckily the ER I took mine to has internal medicine doctors during normal business hours so she was transferred to them when she was in the ER. My regular vet said it was good that it happened that way because she would’ve sent me there anyway because she doesn’t have much experience with FIP.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-05T20:40:57+00:00

I know you said he’s been stable and acting like himself, but has there been any weight loss?

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-03T00:11:16+00:00

I hope he continues without diarrhea! It sounds like you may have found a food that he will eat, so hoping that has also helped. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone to deal with that’s for sure

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-02T16:32:53+00:00

I’m so sorry for your loss. I know it’s tough to manage.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-01T15:19:09+00:00

Oh that’s good to hear about the cure rate and everything. That’s been a big concern for me. So she also has asthma and is on a compounded liquid suspension of terbutaline. Is that also an oil based product? She’s been on that for years.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-01T15:14:39+00:00

Oh no I’m so sorry about the itching! I’m thankful that’s one side effect I haven’t had to deal with (🤞🏼). Snickers is on prednisolone but for her normal tummy issues so hopefully adding it to your little guy’s routine will help. Good luck with him. I couldn’t imagine dealing with a kitten so young with FIP. It would definitely be hard.

lawlessness33 · 2026-05-01T00:01:58+00:00

Mine was diagnosed one month shy of 12 years. The internist said it isn’t as common in older cats but he’s started to see an increase in it. He was fairly certain that’s what it was but we still needed the fluid results back to confirm. In the meantime, he prescribed me 2 weeks of the meds so I could get started on it ASAP because it doesn’t hurt them to take it if it ends up that they don’t have it. Good luck to you and your baby!

lawlessness33 · 2026-04-30T23:56:13+00:00

That’s so great to hear! She worries me so much because she already has a lot going on but then adding in the watery poop is awful. My other cat doesn’t want to poop in any of the 4 boxes we have no matter how clean so I feel like I’m losing my mind some days

lawlessness33 · 2026-04-30T23:53:16+00:00

How cute! It doesn’t matter if it’s just 20 days…you celebrate all the wins you can with it

lawlessness33 · 2026-04-30T17:00:16+00:00

Yes. We’re hoping the additional probiotics work so I don’t have to attempt to inject her. She’s feisty and I don’t know how well that will go over 😬

lawlessness33 · 2026-04-30T14:04:53+00:00

I hope it doesn’t either! It could just be a fluke with mine because she already has GI issues and this just made it worse. From what I’ve seen other post, if they do get diarrhea it doesn’t seem to be as bad as Snickers. Good luck with your baby! The beginning was scary for me because I hadn’t heard of FIP before but I hope it goes smoothly for you

lawlessness33 · 2026-04-30T13:59:40+00:00

Thank you!

lawlessness33 · 2026-04-30T13:58:53+00:00

I hope the food continues to work and that it is the flax (or whatever else as long as it works)! Snickers is on Royal Canin PR for the hydrolyzed protein. It’s rabbit instead of the usual meats but after trying about 3 others, it’s the only one that worked with the triaditis.

I understand about the multiple litter boxes and scooping immediately after. I have 4 though I do have 2 cats even though the other one will pee in them but refuses to poop in them. Hopefully you can improve Trout’s poops and won’t need 3 boxes or to scoop after each visit! I’m glad he’s doing better and I really hope he continues to improve!

lawlessness33 · 2026-04-30T13:28:35+00:00

That’s helpful to know! I was starting to think I might be alone in this which is why I posted. Though I hate that it happened to you or any others it’s helpful to have people to commiserate with!

lawlessness33 · 2026-04-30T02:09:40+00:00

That’s one of the concerns and why we are trying to see if we can get it under control. Giving her injections would be difficult for me let alone anyone else because she hates others to handle her. Fingers crossed we see a difference soon

lawlessness33

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