Waiting possible IBD/lymphoma diagnosis

Hi everyone

My cat, Leo, is almost 11 (he'll be 11 in May). On March 17, I took him to the vet for a checkup and his distemper vaccine. The vet was concerned about his weight -- Leo has lost 2 pounds in 15 months. The last time I had him in, he was 12.3 pounds, and now he's down to 10.4. So, the vet listed a bunch of things that could have caused him to lose weight: various organ diseases, cancer, gastrointestinal disease, endocrine issues, and old age. He didn't think it was old age because Leo isn't that old. He ordered a bunch of blood tests and a urinalysis.

I got the results of the blood work and UA on Monday, March 20. With the exception of a slightly elevated white blood cell count, everything else looked great.

The next step is doing x-rays and an ultrasound, which I have an appointment for next Friday, March 31. The vet told me that he'll be looking for an obstruction of some kind, and/or inflammation of the organs in his GI tract. If he sees any signs of IBD or lymphoma, I've already decided that I won't be doing a biopsy (too expensive, too invasive in the case of the abdominal surgery, and if it is lymphoma I am not going to do chemo). Meds and diet change are fine. 

Of course, I have done nothing this entire week but read about IBD and lymphoma, and I am so worried that Leo has one of the two. The only two symptoms he has are weight loss, and vomiting, which he does about once a week. These are the conditions under which he vomits: about an hour before breakfast, he'll bring up some bile/foam. Immediately after eating dinner, he'll regurgitate the entire meal. The other times it's a hairball. I do think that the frequency of the vomiting has increased in the past... maybe three or four years? I always just thought he was sort of a "pukey" cat, and it wasn't anything to worry about, but now I'm afraid that I missed the early signs of IBD. 

Other than those two symptoms I mentioned, he acts like he always had. Great appetite, drinks water but doesn't seem to be excessively thirsty, no litterbox problems, meows for food the way he always has, purrs, no problems jumping up onto things, still runs away when the other cat chases him, still sleeps on my head (really, my pillow) every night. 

I know there's nothing I can do but wait until next Friday, but I'm just really worried and want to talk to people who understand this. I went from "My cat is totally fine and just needs a checkup" to "My cat is dying" in the span of like three days. 

I have been dealing with an IBD cat for several years.  IBD is a very tricky deal.  I didn't go for the endoscopy, either,   If it were to be cancer, I wouldn't do anything either, but weight loss in an IBD cat can also be diabetes or hyperthyroid.  And if he is throwing up a lot, he isn't getting his nutrients, either.

My cat also has transient diabetes and can only be on wet food, due to this.  His diabetes is in remission right now, since he is on all canned diet.  Merrick, Wellness are the two I use right now, grain  free. 

There is a drug, metronidazole, an antibiotic anti inflammatory that we have had him on in the past.

Then there is Budesonide, a steroidal anti inflammatory  ( I use it in the form of Rhrinocort spray for sinus allergies ) that we have made up in a liquid suspension at a compound pharmacy.  That has really helped his constant soft stool.  He has had more of the stool problems than the nausea, but one time, during the stress of us running from a hurricane, he had both and had to be treated as such.   He can only be on Budesonide liquid a couple times a week b/c you can't have a diabetic on steroids regularly, but I have been checking his sugar and he is good so far and this really helps his soft poop and diarrhea issue.

There is also another drug, an anti nausea called Cerenia  ( seh-REN-ee-uh ) that is an anti nausea with anti inflammatory properties, too. This one can be used short term for nausea, while the other stuff calms his stomach down and metronidazole will clear up any infection in the GI tract. 

You might check your doctor and see what they think about any of these meds.

Make sure they check him for diabetes, too b/c cats that have IBD also seem to get thryoid stuff, diabetes, etc.  And weight loss is also attributable to hyper thyroid and diabetes.

Keep us posted. 

Hi Therese, thanks for your insight on this. How long have you been dealing with it with your cat?

I ended up having to take Leo to the emergency vet today because he kept trying to urinate and wasn't getting anything out, or if he did, it was a tiny amount. I watched him go to one litter box, squeeze out a few drops, and then go back and forth between all three boxes and produce nothing.

At the animal hospital, they determined that he's not blocked, but does have an inflamed bladder. They gave me a painkiller and... something, it relaxes the smooth muscles or something, and samples of Royal Canin Urinary S/O. When I got home I gave him the meds and mixed some of the prescription food with his normal stuff, and he ate it. And he urinated! A tiny bit but still, I'm happy about that.

They did an ultrasound to look at his bladder and when we'd already left the vet I noticed that in the paperwork they gave us, they mentioned seeing some GI tract thickening. But they weren't really loozing for it, just trying to get at the bladder. They couldn't do a U/A because there wasn't enough urine in his bladder.

This has been a long week.