[bizi]

yesterday our cat, short hair calico, Harriet, 10 years old, part siamese...started sqeeking.
She acts fine.
Purrs eating , drinking, happy cat but is now squeeking instead of her usual talkative self.
She stopped squeeking today and is only "talking" in a very quiet manner. like whispering her usual talking that she does.
Any one have a cat who knows about this.
Hate to make a wasted vet trip...she hates hates to go to the vets.
I guess we will watch and see.
I was reading up on line about cat coughs etc....if she were sick she would show some signs like not eating or tiredness....lethargic etc.
thanks
bizi

[mrsD]

can get colds like you or I.

If she continues...
1) eating more?
2) pestering you more?
3) losing weight?

These are signs of hyperthyroidism in cats. That requires a vet visit.
Swollen thyroid compresses the larynx and changes voice.

But then she may just have a "cold". If so that will pass. The other will stay.

[DiMarie]

Bizi, does she tend to get hair balls?
Did she ever sound like a Wheeze? Our cat has allergies and wheezes.
Good sign that purring and eating OK, If tthings are going in, and coming out, is good.
Oh, I guess as she is purring there is no chance she got into something eating it and got caught?
De;s youngest cat is always walking around with ribbon, feathers, pices off Katie's feathery Boa, hair from a brush....
Hope it sonds better soon,
Di

[bizi]

thanks you two!
She is overweight....has quite a hanging pendulum...
we call her a ham loaf..lol
no wheezing
Never thought about her thyroid but it does seem to be some sort of blockage perhaps...I was even thinking a tumor but hubby thinks that it would not come on that quickly.
She has sqweeked in the past but only once or twice with months inbetween.
WE are going to watch her...she is like a goat and will eat anything plastic bags rubber bands candy wrappers, etc....
She is very lovable and our baby....
and so cute when she now sqweeks to us...purring happy as can be.
I will keep you posted.
bizi

[Jomar]

our old mama cat {15yrs??}{part Siamese} squeaks when I pick her up - she's petite but has pendulum belly too.
but other than the squeak everything else seems normal.

[mrsD]

Sheba has a huge lion belly now. She lost some weight and now this thing hangs...
it almost touches the floor!
But her skin is very loose now, tho she seems much better (almost 20 yrs old)

I would caution you not to make medical assumptions based on purring.
Purring basically is a survival mechanism and cats do it when injured or sick.

I learned this when I took our dying cat (had cancer) to be euthanized.
I thought her purring was disturbing, and the Vet explained that cats purr alot when sick or in pain.
(this was news to ME).

http://www.animalvoice.com/catpurrP.htm

There is another clue found in a study performed by Dr. T. F. Cook, (1973) The relief of dyspnoea in cats by purring, New Zealand Veterinary Journal. A dying cat who could not breath (they were considering euthanasia), was found to breath normally once it began purring. The purring opened up the cat's airway, and improvement was "remarkable and the next day commenced to eat...." Three species of cats have a strong harmonic at exactly 100 Hz, the vibrational frequency found to relieve dyspnea. One species within 2 Hz and one species within 7 Hz of 100 Hz. It could be that the cat's purr decreases the breathlessness by vibratory stimulation.

Is it possible that evolution has provided the felines of this world with a natural healing mechanism for bones and other organs? Researchers at Fauna Communications believe so.

Many of us think of purring as a "love" communication. But in reality cats use
it for self healing.

Our two cats with no health issues, don't purr much. Oreo the youngest shows love with her treading (more like a major massage). Tippy rarely purrs at all, and if so very quietly--you have to feel her to see if she is purring.

But the old Sheba with her arthritis etc..purrs all the time. LOUDLY.
Sheba was given about a year to live 3 yrs ago. She is still with us. She limps.

[bizi]

WE had a cat who lived to be 20...i think...her name was Jennifer.
She was a great mom kitty to about 11 litters if I recall correctly.
That is interesting about the purring...I will watch her some more of course...she has purred like this her whole life....we got her as a kitten.
She still runs about for treats no panting acts "normal " in every way....I had heard that cats even purr when nervous like at the vets.
WE have a vet who comes to the house if you can imagine that..a doctor who makes house calls.
He charges more but it is worth it not having them so traumitized with going to the vets for vaccines etc. last time we did that they hissed at each other for 3 weeks.

thanks for the article linkage....
bizi

[Nikko]

I wish I could help, but I think you got a lot of good information. I only have dogs and cockatiels.

Watch her, have the Vet come to the house, if nothing just to ease your mind.

Hugs, Nikko

[bizi]

I am glad that I took Harriet to the vet this morning. She is 13 pounds.
She has a low grade fever and She has a sinus infection, upper respiratory infection....
He gave her a steroid shot and liquid anti biotics for twice a day.
She cried all the way there and back....breaks your heart...she is sleeping now probably from the shot.
Oh and I had to take up her food incase he had to sedate her but he did not...so when we came home that is the first thing I did was put her food down and that made her happy.

He asked about hobbes our other cat who has kidney disease or something else....hobbes is down to 6.5 pounds...he said that he doesn't have long before he passes so we can feed him tuna with oil or anything else that he wants...I told my hubby that when he called....he is his cat...
Both Our cats are such a joy to us....we love them dearly and this will be so hard where hobbes goes.

[fiberowendy2000]

Well at least you found out why she was squeaking. Sorry she is sick, but I am sure she will be as right as rain in no time.....kitties they are a mystery sometimes.