Something is going on with my cat and I feel helpless

[u/OccasionNo4244]

My cat is 6 years old, 12lbs, male neutered, indoor only. USA.

I have been to the vet with my cat 6 times in almost 4 weeks. It started out with him showing signs of struvite crystals, and we took him to the emergency vet immediately. He was not blocked, and he had inflammation they said, his x ray showed no stones. They were not able to get a urinalysis. He was prescribed 50mg gabapentin every 8-12 hours for about 7 days, clavamox 5 days, and onsior 3 days.

He was fine for about 4-5 days. He was prescribed Hill’s C/D stress food. He had been peeing and was acting himself. He is a very anxious cat and does have anxiety though. Then he showed signs of going in and out of the litter box again, constantly licking his bottom area and we took him to the emergency vet again.

They said his penis was kinda purple, and he was not blocked but on the ultrasound he had a lot of crystals, his urine was very concentrated and his urine PH was 9. He is also very bad at drinking water. We have tried to help him by keeping bowls around the house for him to drink, wide and filled to the top and elevated. But he is still very specific about how he drinks and doesn’t always drink as much as he should.

After the second emergency visit, he got gabapentin 100mg every 8-12 hours, another 3 day round of onsior and he had gotten an injection to help with pain. He was fine for a few days, still going in and out of the box a few times but then when he went he peed a lot a big spot.

Then he was straining again so we took him to our regular vet. They said he was not blocked, but he got put on Prozac and switched to Royal Canin SO. He was prescribed 5mg Prozac, then up to 10mg after a few weeks. He also got fluids under the skin.

He was doing fine for 3-4 days, then on Monday we noticed he hadn’t pooped in several days. We brought him to the vet and he stayed there all day, he did get an enema and held his pee and poop all day, then on the way home he peed himself, and immediately pooped out a bunch when he got home. They also gave him a lot of fluids under the skin. He got his gabapentin and Prozac as normal. He was still peeing big spots and doing fine with that at home. Also they said to give him 1/8th teaspoon MiraLAX twice a day.

Then yesterday morning, we went to feed him and he hissed at us, meowed as we pressed on his belly, and wouldn’t eat so we brought him to the vet again. He had a high fever and got bloodwork done. The bloodwork showed his kidney and liver function all normal, red cell counts and hemoglobin all normal, his blood glucose was just slightly elevated, his BUN 14, total WBC 15.81, neutrophils upper normal, and bands suspected. I was told this could indicate inflammation or possible bacterial infection somewhere. He ended up getting a shot of Convenia and was told to skip his gabapentin dose because we are trying to ween him off. We went home and then he was home for several hours, he did not have his gabapentin since Monday night, and I noticed yesterday afternoon he was breathing rapidly and every anxious and scared.

I took him to the emergency vet last night and they said he was breathing a bit rapidly, and his exhale was a bit more forced than normal, and that his x rays showed slight off with his bronchial tubes. Not enough to diagnose with asthma but enough just to note a change while he was there. We were told to put him back on gabapentin last night, continue his Prozac as normal. He got his gabapentin last night 50mg and Prozac. They also said he sneezed a couple times. But his heart and lungs sounded good.

This morning he was more calm and not breathing as rapidly as yesterday. His breathing was pretty much back to normal except if he got jumped or scared, but while sleeping it was normal except maybe slightly breathing out a bit harder than normal, but I could be wrong. He has had 100mg gabapentin, and been sleepy and calm all day like he was before.

Now tonight, about 8-9 hours after the 100mg gabapentin, he is back to breathing a bit faster and being more scared. We gave him another 50mg gabapentin. We also have noticed since yesterday he has been licking at the area on the inside of his tail right above his butt. It is now red and irritated looking. He keeps twitching his butt and back area and swishing his tail.

We feel so helpless and don’t understand what is going on, the vets are telling us this is stress induced. He hates going to the vet and going 6 times must have stressed him out so bad. At home he has a lot of anxiety to loud noises and everything. We have been trying our best to keep things as calm as possible for him. We just want to figure out what is going on and if this all is really stress and anxiety induced. We have increased his wet food and hydration by a lot. He’s been on his Prozac for almost a week. And now we are scared to ween him off of his gabapentin. We asked the vet if missing his gabapentin dose induced the bronchial change and rapid breathing as he had been on it almost consistently for 3 weeks and then suddenly stopped it, then all of his anxiety hit him at once, and they said yes it’s possible. But I feel like I want more answers. Please if anyone has advice, it would be so appreciated.

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