Sandy

Sandy is one of our cats and at the end of 2014/early 2015 she started having some health issues.  To back track a little at the end of 2012/early 2013 I noticed that Sandy was over-grooming on her stomach.  It started as a small patch and I took her to the vet to make sure it wasn't anything to be concerned about.  The vet said that it was usually anxiety related, but there was nothing physically wrong with her and unless she over-groomed to the point of bleeding we could just ignore it.  Sandy never seemed anxious, so I didn't think much of it.  The pictures below I took when I first noticed the small over-groomed spot:

Since late 2012/early 2013 Sandy's over-grooming continued to spread.  It got to the point where it was most of her stomach and even the insides of her back legs.  But, she still didn't seem anxious to me and otherwise everything seemed normal with her.  Then in November 2014 she peed outside the litter box and there was blood in her urine.  I immediately took her to the vet where, of course, they couldn't get a urine sample.  They gave her pain and anti-inflammatory meds and she seemed OK in a few days.  Then the same thing happened exactly 2 weeks to the date of the first time.  That time they were able to get a urine sample, but there was no bacteria which meant no urinary-tract infection.  We did the same pain and anti-inflammatory meds and she seemed OK.  At that point they said she probably had urinary cystitis - basically an anxiety response where she feels like she has a UTI and has all the symptoms (small amounts of urine with blood in it), but she actually does not have an infection - it's basically all in her mind.  

This seemed completely crazy to me!  How could a cat who's whole life is eating and sleeping be that anxious?!  Well, in exactly another 2 weeks it happened again, so back to the vet.  This time I asked for some more tests to be run just to make absolutely sure there wasn't bladder stones or anything like that causing these issues.  When those tests came back clear we decided to try anti-anxiety medicine for her.  The catch - it takes 4-6 weeks to know if it's helping!  But, the more I thought about it the more it made sense that it was an anxiety issue.  I thought back to the over-grooming and how that had increasingly gotten worse over the last 2 years.  It made sense to me that the over-grooming could progress into idiopathic cystitis.  

So, we started her on the anti-anxiety medication at the beginning of December.  She continued to have flare ups every 2 weeks exactly  - which also made sense for it to be anxiety related not a physical problem.  This was a really rough time for me.  When the idiopathic cystitis flare up started happening Sandy was NOT herself.  Her personality changed and she basically stayed in our bedroom most of the time.  I was so worried that she wouldn't get better or this was a sign of a larger/worse issue that might end with her having to be put to sleep.  I love my cats very much and want them to be happy and healthy.  Because idiopathic cystitis is an anxiety issue there is no telling when the flare ups will stop on their own - they will eventually, but in the meantime my cat was suffering.  

After 2 more flare ups after starting the medicine we FINALLY started to see improvements!  After 6 weeks on the medicine she had a smaller flare up that we were able to deal with at home without taking her to the vet.  I was SO thrilled that the medicine was working and things were looking up for Sandy!  Her personality also started to come back and she seemed much more like herself again. I cannot say how HAPPY I am that this medicine is working and Sandy is back to herself again.  Even if we have to give her this medicine for the rest of her life I am fine with that!

Before Sandy's health issues I really thought that people who had their pets on anti-anxiety medicine were crazy.  That they either didn't know how to deal with their pets or their own neuroses were coming into play.  Now I know that these kinds of issues can crop up in the most laid-back of pets and seemingly out of nowhere.  I'm so thankful for my awesome vet's office who helped us through this issue with Sandy.  I'm also SO thankful that these medicines are available and are working for us I can also say that before Sandy's health issues I have never prayed so hard for one of my cats as I did for her during those 2 months.  I prayed for her EVERY day and I know that that helped her AND me get through those rough months.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone.  I really struggled during those months with Sandy's health issues and now that we've moved on to better days I just wanted to write about it in hopes that it might help someone else out there who's dealing with something similar.  I'm so thankful to have my Sandy back and healthy again!