Help me diagnose my cat!

Last month, the cat suddenly became very sensitive about her rear end.  If you pet her there, she'll bite.  She limps a bit now, too.  (Still getting around OK, though, and still jumping on the table.)

The vet thinks it's arthritis, but after two weeks of arthritis drugs, she got worse.   The drugs made her throw up a lot, too, so we stopped them.  Does arthritis come on that suddenly, anyways?

I'm wondering if it could be impacted scent glands.  Or another problem inside her anus?  Or???  Liver and kidneys are fine.  Any ideas welcome, my vet is stuck on the arthritis, and I think he's wrong.

It seems odd that arthritis would affect her in the bum area. Wouldn't it be more common in the legs? I don't know anything about catty anal glands, but there's a lot of information here. I hope it's helpful.

Hips and legs can get arthritis, and the cat walks a bit funny anyways.  The neighbad's pitbull got into the house and broke both her back legs about 10 years ago.  So, it could be arthritis, but I just don't think it would come on that fast.

Thanks for the link!

This probably won't help you at all -- but I had a tomcat once that got a big abscess (from fighting) just above his tail (nothing to do with his anus).  But it took us awhile to figure out why he was hissing at us when we tried to pet him, and he was limping too.

My dear departed Poochie (tabby) had the same thing.  For years she hated being touched in the butt area--but I know that a lot of cats don't like that because male cats approach from behind for mating and female cats don't enjoy the mating experience at all. 

We always assumed it was something like that.  But then her back leg started going funny when she walked and we were pretty sure that was arthritis.  Maybe the butt thing was the arthritis starting in the hip area or maybe it was just because of the other reason I mentioned.

Sometimes things *seem* to come on fast but really was developing for some time and only when it gets to a crucial point do we the owners notice it.

Is your cat overweight at all?  I think, but I'm not sure that can make arthritis worse. 

I think it something was impacted in your cat's intestines you'd know because she'd have trouble going to the bathroom.  Check the box to make sure.

not sure what it might be, but I've found this site helpful for a lot of questions:

http://www.vetinfo4cats.com/catindex.html

There's also one for dogs that I've referenced a lot. It's just a bunch of questions answered by a vet.

perhaps you can take her to another vet for a second opinion?

Thanks for all the reading material, guys!  Just more info: cat is not fat, and has always loved being patted on her bum.  To a 'kitty porn' degree...  She is having some pooping issues, and is running scared from the box afterwards.  That's why I'm thinking it's bum problems.  I'm going to check in with another vet next week sometime, but still reeling from last week's bill.  300 pounds!!

Another possibility, and I'll check it out... can cats get gout?  I switched her to Felix wet food last year, as she was losing too much weight on her regular Science Diet chow.  Might be time to put her back on good quality food.

Her 22nd birthday is coming up soon, but I'm in denial about that being the cause of her problems.

Wow!!  22 years old--that's quite a ripe old age for a cat!  Congratulations to her !  But I must say I'd be surprised if any problems she may have *aren't* age related.

Good to know she's not overweight.  She may be constipated from the dry food?  Did the problem start when you switched over to dry?  I'd definitely get her back on good quality wet food--stinky though it may be. 

OMG 22  ! Shes only 1 year younger than me!!!  You must be taking very good care of her! I hope she feels better soon

Yeah, 22 is a bit over the average (15-19).  Our farm cat also lived that long, even though he was an outdoor cat.  He was trapped and killed by a maniac, so he should have had a few more years.  For this one, as long as she can get around, do cat stuff, and not be in pain... the end isn't necessarily near.  We can afford the bills, thankfully.

Cats are a VERY long commitment! 

Oh, my vet recommends dry food.  A bit of wet as a treat, or to hide drugs in, but that's it.  I only switched to wet to help her gain weight. 

That's great that she's 22! Wow!

But, I have to agree with Andee. It seems likely that she'd have a few age-related problems by now. Poor little thing.

My cat eats only dry food as well, per vet's instructions. It's very expensive stuff, but is healthy, nutritious, etc. as well as really good for his teeth.