[All] ♡ Medical advice | Cat health & illnesses

[Wingnettle]

I've got this idea when a user asked for a plot if greencough could be gotten during new-leaf.

Do you need a plot and you need to make an illness work? Are you unsure about some specific cat health related problems? (NOT about herbs!)
I'm offering free advice to make it clear! I'm a vet student, so I know a few things that could help you.

Note: I can make specific suggestions for health problems, but the cat won't likely know anything about it. Only medicine cats have a basic knowledge of wounds.

For example: I need a cat that gets an unknown illness and eventually dies, with the symptoms x,y,z.
I will give you a suggestion, or you can give me one and I'll help you build the illness evolution needed for the plot.
I must specify that I haven't studied many specific pathologies yet, so I'll probably have to do some research first! I'm just starting my 3rd year now ♥︎



You can use this form:
• Which symptoms should your cat have?
• Do you want a genetic or acquired illness/condition?
• How many moons is this cat? Is it a certain breed?
• What's the cat past? How/where does it live now?
• Has it already some condition/other problems?
• What should the outcome of the illness/condition be?
• Is there a bigger plot around the illness/condition?
• Mention: @Wingnettle


Note: it is advisable that you do not choose any illness with a contagious infective origine, otherwise the cats that interact with the sick will likely get infected too!

Also. Little kk tips appreciated! (I'm so broke aah)

[Wingnettle]

bump!

[beau]

you have any info of FCDR? mostly how it presents, how far it progresses, etc. I’ve been considering making a character who would have a taurine deficiency
@Wingnettle

[Wingnettle]

What's FCDR? I can tell you straightforward that a wild cat can't have this deficiency since taurine is an amino acid vastly found in prey (raw meat). I don't think either that there could be genetic/ereditary causes so I suggest that you look for another illness. @Naiad

[beau]

Originally Posted by Wingnettle

What's FCDR? I can tell you straightforward that a wild cat can't have this deficiency since taurine is an amino acid vastly found in prey (raw meat). I don't think either that there could be genetic/ereditary causes so I suggest that you look for another illness. @Naiad

FCDR is a retinal degeneration disease, which Abyssinian cats are prone to (he would have that breed in his bloodline), and it can be triggered by taurine deficiencies. I’m aware cats get taurine from consuming prey, the concept I have in mind is an overly stubborn cat who decides he will eat exclusively plants and suffer some health problems because of it, before begrudgingly going back to eating prey. I have no clue if I’d actually do anything with, he’s just a fun concept I’ve had bouncing around :P

[Wingnettle]

Originally Posted by Naiad

FCDR is a retinal degeneration disease, which Abyssinian cats are prone to (he would have that breed in his bloodline), and it can be triggered by taurine deficiencies. I’m aware cats get taurine from consuming prey, the concept I have in mind is an overly stubborn cat who decides he will eat exclusively plants and suffer some health problems because of it, before begrudgingly going back to eating prey. I have no clue if I’d actually do anything with, he’s just a fun concept I’ve had bouncing around :P

I don't think that it would be realistic/acceptable in a roleplay, anyway a plant-based diet for a wild cat couldn't last long - a cat needs to have MANY little meals throughout the day especially because of his protein metabolism. This cat wouldn't digest nearly at all plants, so they would have digestive problems, lack of energy (from protein and fats) and lack of important nutrients such as taurina. They would rapidly lose weight and starve to death before developing other health problems such as the retinal degeneration.
If we are talking about domestic cats who are fed a commercial vegan diet, that is a little different (and not always working), but wild cats? They wouldn't be able to eat any plant from the wild, since they are 1. Inadequate for consumption, 2. Not processed and 3. Honestly disgusting

[beau]

Originally Posted by Wingnettle

I don't think that it would be realistic/acceptable in a roleplay, anyway a plant-based diet for a wild cat couldn't last long - a cat needs to have MANY little meals throughout the day especially because of his protein metabolism. This cat wouldn't digest nearly at all plants, so they would have digestive problems, lack of energy (from protein and fats) and lack of important nutrients such as taurina. They would rapidly lose weight and starve to death before developing other health problems such as the retinal degeneration.
If we are talking about domestic cats who are fed a commercial vegan diet, that is a little different (and not always working), but wild cats? They wouldn't be able to eat any plant from the wild, since they are 1. Inadequate for consumption, 2. Not processed and 3. Honestly disgusting

alright, ty for the info! do you have any resources about retinal diseases in cats that you might be able to send me? as he could still inherit the condition, regardless of whether he has a taurine deficiency or not

[Wingnettle]

Originally Posted by Naiad

alright, ty for the info! do you have any resources about retinal diseases in cats that you might be able to send me? as he could still inherit the condition, regardless of whether he has a taurine deficiency or not

https://basepaws.com/blogs/news/prog...al-atrophy-pra
It's called PRA: progressive retinal atrophy
There's not much to say, except that at a certain age the cat starts to show vision loss until blindness.

[Estelle]

This is not something that would ever take place in roleplay, but is part of a backstory;
Would it be realistic for a three month old kitten to suddenly die from HCM/Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? I wasn't sure what could have caused her death as it was meant to be something sudden with little to no prior symptoms that weren't at all alarming and/or easy to hide. From what I found, HCM fit the bill - the only thing that bothered me is that it mentioned to be genetic in a lot of cases, but not all of them. Since I wouldn't want to dictate a genetic disease on a character that is not mine (the mother/father), I figured she could be one of the non genetic cases. But I would still really like to know if you think that works? Sure I've looked into it on several occasions, but I would still really appreciate to know what you think, and maybe know what you think could've happened if HCM doesn't work/isn't realistic :0

Additionally, it is possible for a kitten to be born blind, is it not? And if indeed so, would there be any specific causes behind it?

@Wingnettle sorry for the bit of a paragraph pfpf, but thank you in advance! It's really nice of you, and I've been wondering these things for a while

[Captain]

Hm. Well, I have my WindClan warrior, Lotuswhisper, who is set to run away with his forbidden RiverClan lover in the future. The original plan was that he was supposed to die from greencough or something along those lines since there was an illness running rampant through WindClan, but the plot is taking a bit longer than planned, so I might need more options on what illness he could contract that could kill him. He tends to overwork himself and not take care of himself, hardly eating and getting barely any sleep, etc. He’s been sick off and on for awhile now without really putting a name to it. He’s a maine coon if that matters at all, but yeah, any suggestions to possible illnesses? And the symptoms that can come with it? It will have to be fatal, but that shouldn't be too hard since he will be without any means of medicine soon and his lover has no knowledge of herbs whatsoever. @Wingnettle