Rescue Journal

i think monty is about to get kicked over to the medical room...

Carol · Aug. 20, 2010

he is not only causing problems over here...he is going to get himself injured or killed.
i am pretty sure it is the steroid injections that are affecting his brain..he is becoming more obnoxious and confrontational. he walks into the room, gets pissy cuz he sees a dog, starts crouching and growling and then freaks on them if anyone wants to see what is up with the freaky cat.

he and harold are developing quite a hate on for each other. monty was back at it again tonight, yanking on harolds chain...harold got pissed right back..i yelled at harold and tossed monty back over the cat area gate. monthy thought i should mind my own business so he bit my hand and then jumped back into the kitchen, laid right in the way and dared anyone to say anything about it.

monty has lived here for 2 and a half.....maybe 3 full years...he has never acted like such a jerk before...just in this past couple of weeks since his last steriod injection....he is getting them about every 6-8 weeks now because we can't find anything else to decently manage his chronic mouth pain.

this is going to be a big problem cuz he needs those steriods periodically to feel well and keep eating...i think the only thing i can do is get him out of the house before he makes something really bad happen.

hopefully the medical room will be ok for him and he doesn't start causing problems over there cuz after that the only place he can go is the shop and he will be lonely over there.

i have seen steriods totally mess up a dogs head and turn them from jekyll into hyde but in my experience, cats are usually fairly immune to this side effect...at least this is the first time i have ever seen it.

has anyone else ever seen it before in a cat on steriods????

Monty: This is so not fair. Harold: A wise decision boss

Comments

Rae

I have King my shepard on azithromycin for stomatitis and to date it's the only thing that has worked. He has extreme drug sensitivities and can't take even the lowest dose of anything without having huge reactions. It was almost to the point of having to put him down because I couldn't control his pain. He had ulcers all throughout his mouth, he couldn't eat and was losing weight rapidly. He's 375 mgs of azithromycin once a day and he's feeling pretty good. The drooling has stopped, his appetite has returned and the sores are about 80% cleared up. Fingers crossed that it continues to work :)

Jenn

Yeah actually there was a good 3 or 4 times when Monty and Harold were just standing beside eachother today, no problem. Harold would look at Monty but that was it. Perhaps there is a truce.

Carol

we use zithromax twice a week for the felv's and the chronic URI's but haven't tried it for the mouth cats..i hadn't heard of giving it daily for a month at a time...thx for the tip...since we have it, we will try it...will let you know how it works!!!!

it is nice to know that monty is not the only steriod induced psychocat out there...thx cynthia..hopefully if the zithromax works we can ditch the steriods all together and monty can return to his normally nice self.

by the way..he is still in the house, i was too busy to move him and tonight at least, he and harold seem to be at peace with each other...i appreciate this cuz i am tired!

Louise Z.

Carol, is Monty suffering from stomatitis? If so, have you tried him on azithromycin (Zithromax) for a 30-day course? That has worked very well for three of my cats suffering for LPS (lymphocytic plasmacytic gingivostomatitis). I have used it successfully in lieu of full-mouth extractions in three cats. BUT you have to do the full 30 days, once a day or it won't work.They are all eating dry food without mouth pain for many months now. The azithromycin is a god-send! You can also give .1 ml metacam daily for the first week or two until the azithromycin works its magic and kills the bacteria causing all that discomfort. Good luck!

Cynthia

Hi there, my senior tabby, Rocky, became very food-and-otherwise aggressive when put on steroids for severe IBD. He bit, stalked the dog, broke into cabinets searching for food...a real personality change. Fortunately since he improved and the dose was reduced, he has pretty much returned to normal. So perhaps it may be a case of finding the right dose, one that manages the problems without creating a psychokitty. Best of luck!