we’ve been through a multiple month long ordeal with my cat who had strange symptoms, like enlarged lymph nodes and random extremely painful episodes of muscle cramping, and the vet recently figured out that the source of the problem was toxoplasmosis (the other possibilities on the table were lymphoma and IMPA but we were able to rule those out… phew!).
this diagnosis makes perfect sense: the week before his first symptoms, he had been catching and eating an average of 5 mice per day. he LOVES to hunt, and he is a very high energy cat.
after clearing up his symptoms, we stopped the medication. but a week later, he started exhibiting them again… after another mouse killing spree! this time, the toxo count in his blood was even higher, so he’s gone back on the medication.
i’m stressed that this is just going to be a cycle of him going on killing sprees and then getting sick with toxo again. i’m wondering what we can do to re-direct his blood lust, and to compel him to hunt slightly less. i know this is just his cat instincts, but i feel like even slightly less hunting would do him some good. does anyone have advice on this? i’m thinking of switching him to raw food, and trying to stimulate his hunting drive with toys a little more, so any recommendations would be appreciated!