Hi all,
I thought I'd make another thread to talk about Yoshi since her problems have changed a bit & the other thread has seemed to die off. Here's a summary of what's been going on with her:
About 3 months ago, I took her to the vet for a normal check-up and they noticed that she has been losing weight steadily over the past few years. The attributed this to her having a lot of her teeth removed 3 years ago, making it hard for her to eat her dry food (she was only fed Nutro dry food at this point, and I had noticed that her appetite was decreasing). They recommended that I switch her to wet food to make it easier for her to eat and gain weight. She had been on wet food in brief periods before (2 weeks when she got her teeth removed) and had no problems with it.
I put her on the same wet food (Nutro) that she was on a few years ago when she had her dental issues, and she immediately got very sick (explosive diarrhea all over the couches). I took away the wet food, assuming it was causing it, but even after a week of being back on her dry food, the diarrhea continued. I took her to the vet where they did blood work, a physical exam, and a urinalysis and found no problems. They prescribed Metronidazole but it unfortunately gave her seizures so we had to stop giving it to her.
The diarrhea continued but she was still eating, drinking, and playful, so the vets weren't too concerned. They did do another blood test and took a look at her thyroid levels, which were slightly elevated, but not high enough to be considered hyperthyroid and they didn't think it was causing the problems. They gave me some prescription food for her (Royal Canin GI High energy wet food), and told me to give it some more time but the next step would be an ultrasound.
She loved the prescription food- she ate it all up every day and gained 2 pounds. The diarrhea seemed to get a bit better, but was still present. During this whole time period she was also throwing up sporadically (once every couple of weeks) but I didn't think too much of it. She ate the prescription food for a week or two, but the diarrhea persisted. After doing some research and wanting to avoid a costly and expensive ultrasound, I decided to transition her to raw food to see if something dietary was causing these problems. After transitioning (which took about 5 days), she ate the raw food for about a week and her stools actually began to improve. I was so happy!
Then one day, she suddenly refused to eat the raw food and threw up about 5 times in one day. In addition, she had started coughing up a hairball every day. After this, I was fed up & decided it was time to book the ultrasound. I put her back on the prescription food (it was the only thing she would eat), and she had her ultrasound. They found nothing wrong with her, which was equally relieving and frustrating since something is clearly bugging her tummy. The only thing they found was they her kidneys had a bit too much fluid in them, so they checked her kidney enzyme levels, but they came back normal.
At this point, she was happily eating her prescription food again and maintaining a healthy weight, but still having diarrhea and sporadic episodes of vomiting. The vets basically said "we're stumped" and told me that as long as she is eating and doesn't seem lethargic to just monitor her and take her back in about a month to do more blood work. I was fine with this since she was eating and playful, and didn't really know what else could be done at this point.
Then yesterday she refused to eat again. I offered her the raw food, dry food, lactose-free milk, prescription food, everything I could think of and she refused. She also threw up about 5 times again (yellow and foamy, bile looking). And of course, still having diarrhea. I eventually got her to eat a little bit of raw chicken breast just on its own, but she threw it up (it looked undigested) a couple hours later. She seemed very lethargic and didn't like to be touched (she is normally very cuddly).
This morning, she refused to eat her food again. She drank a little bit of lactose-free milk, ate a little bit of Parmesan cheese, and had a few cat treats (greenies), which is better than yesterday, but wanted nothing to do with her raw, dry, or wet food. She is more cuddly and vocal today though, and has not thrown up (yet).
I have no clue what to do at this point since she has been to multiple stressful vet appointments with no solutions. The only thing I have yet to do is get her stool tested, but this has proved to be a difficult task since she is just having diarrhea right now. I'm still trying to get a sample from her to bring to the vet, but other than that, I don't know what to do. The vets do not believe it is related to her thyroid since it is only slightly elevated, and they're nervous to put her on antibiotics because of her reaction to the Metronidazole. They said that it could be something dietary causing it, but it seems that everything makes her sick. I've compared ingredients in all of her food, eliminating ingredients that I think may be causing the issue, put her back on the Nutro dry she was on for years, but the diarrhea (and now vomiting) continues. It's so frustrating because some days she seems to be doing fine (aside from the diarrhea), but then about once or twice a week she refuses to eat and gets very sick.
I don't know what the vets can do at this point, and Yoshi is 11 so I don't want to put her through more stress. She also hates pumpkin and refuses to eat it, so that's not an option. I have been giving her S. Boulardii for about 3 days, and it has not helped yet. She didn't have any yesterday though since she didn't eat at all.
I know that cats need to eat and I will take her back to the vet today if necessary. I'm going to call them as soon as my phone is charged up. I just don't know what they can do at this point since we've already done numerous blood tests, a urinalysis, an ultrasound, and checked her kidney enzyme levels.
She has never had any health issues aside from some dental problems when she was 8, but that was taken care of with no problems. I'm a student and although I would go into debt if it meant taking care of her, I'm running out of funds needed to do more expensive tests.
The vomit is always either undigested food or bile. No blood or anything like that. The diarrhea is a normal brown color, very smelly, and ranges from being a water-like consistency to like pudding. In addition, I have also noticed some strange behavior- she goes #2 in her litterbox, and sometimes pees in it, but I have been catching her peeing on the rugs around the house multiple times. Google indicates that this is a sign of a UTI, but that was ruled out with all the tests done on her...
Can anyone help me with this? I feel like I've tried everything but I can't figure out what's going on with her. Every test comes back normal, but something is clearly wrong
I thought I'd make another thread to talk about Yoshi since her problems have changed a bit & the other thread has seemed to die off. Here's a summary of what's been going on with her:
About 3 months ago, I took her to the vet for a normal check-up and they noticed that she has been losing weight steadily over the past few years. The attributed this to her having a lot of her teeth removed 3 years ago, making it hard for her to eat her dry food (she was only fed Nutro dry food at this point, and I had noticed that her appetite was decreasing). They recommended that I switch her to wet food to make it easier for her to eat and gain weight. She had been on wet food in brief periods before (2 weeks when she got her teeth removed) and had no problems with it.
I put her on the same wet food (Nutro) that she was on a few years ago when she had her dental issues, and she immediately got very sick (explosive diarrhea all over the couches). I took away the wet food, assuming it was causing it, but even after a week of being back on her dry food, the diarrhea continued. I took her to the vet where they did blood work, a physical exam, and a urinalysis and found no problems. They prescribed Metronidazole but it unfortunately gave her seizures so we had to stop giving it to her.
The diarrhea continued but she was still eating, drinking, and playful, so the vets weren't too concerned. They did do another blood test and took a look at her thyroid levels, which were slightly elevated, but not high enough to be considered hyperthyroid and they didn't think it was causing the problems. They gave me some prescription food for her (Royal Canin GI High energy wet food), and told me to give it some more time but the next step would be an ultrasound.
She loved the prescription food- she ate it all up every day and gained 2 pounds. The diarrhea seemed to get a bit better, but was still present. During this whole time period she was also throwing up sporadically (once every couple of weeks) but I didn't think too much of it. She ate the prescription food for a week or two, but the diarrhea persisted. After doing some research and wanting to avoid a costly and expensive ultrasound, I decided to transition her to raw food to see if something dietary was causing these problems. After transitioning (which took about 5 days), she ate the raw food for about a week and her stools actually began to improve. I was so happy!
Then one day, she suddenly refused to eat the raw food and threw up about 5 times in one day. In addition, she had started coughing up a hairball every day. After this, I was fed up & decided it was time to book the ultrasound. I put her back on the prescription food (it was the only thing she would eat), and she had her ultrasound. They found nothing wrong with her, which was equally relieving and frustrating since something is clearly bugging her tummy. The only thing they found was they her kidneys had a bit too much fluid in them, so they checked her kidney enzyme levels, but they came back normal.
At this point, she was happily eating her prescription food again and maintaining a healthy weight, but still having diarrhea and sporadic episodes of vomiting. The vets basically said "we're stumped" and told me that as long as she is eating and doesn't seem lethargic to just monitor her and take her back in about a month to do more blood work. I was fine with this since she was eating and playful, and didn't really know what else could be done at this point.
Then yesterday she refused to eat again. I offered her the raw food, dry food, lactose-free milk, prescription food, everything I could think of and she refused. She also threw up about 5 times again (yellow and foamy, bile looking). And of course, still having diarrhea. I eventually got her to eat a little bit of raw chicken breast just on its own, but she threw it up (it looked undigested) a couple hours later. She seemed very lethargic and didn't like to be touched (she is normally very cuddly).
This morning, she refused to eat her food again. She drank a little bit of lactose-free milk, ate a little bit of Parmesan cheese, and had a few cat treats (greenies), which is better than yesterday, but wanted nothing to do with her raw, dry, or wet food. She is more cuddly and vocal today though, and has not thrown up (yet).
I have no clue what to do at this point since she has been to multiple stressful vet appointments with no solutions. The only thing I have yet to do is get her stool tested, but this has proved to be a difficult task since she is just having diarrhea right now. I'm still trying to get a sample from her to bring to the vet, but other than that, I don't know what to do. The vets do not believe it is related to her thyroid since it is only slightly elevated, and they're nervous to put her on antibiotics because of her reaction to the Metronidazole. They said that it could be something dietary causing it, but it seems that everything makes her sick. I've compared ingredients in all of her food, eliminating ingredients that I think may be causing the issue, put her back on the Nutro dry she was on for years, but the diarrhea (and now vomiting) continues. It's so frustrating because some days she seems to be doing fine (aside from the diarrhea), but then about once or twice a week she refuses to eat and gets very sick.
I don't know what the vets can do at this point, and Yoshi is 11 so I don't want to put her through more stress. She also hates pumpkin and refuses to eat it, so that's not an option. I have been giving her S. Boulardii for about 3 days, and it has not helped yet. She didn't have any yesterday though since she didn't eat at all.
I know that cats need to eat and I will take her back to the vet today if necessary. I'm going to call them as soon as my phone is charged up. I just don't know what they can do at this point since we've already done numerous blood tests, a urinalysis, an ultrasound, and checked her kidney enzyme levels.
She has never had any health issues aside from some dental problems when she was 8, but that was taken care of with no problems. I'm a student and although I would go into debt if it meant taking care of her, I'm running out of funds needed to do more expensive tests.
The vomit is always either undigested food or bile. No blood or anything like that. The diarrhea is a normal brown color, very smelly, and ranges from being a water-like consistency to like pudding. In addition, I have also noticed some strange behavior- she goes #2 in her litterbox, and sometimes pees in it, but I have been catching her peeing on the rugs around the house multiple times. Google indicates that this is a sign of a UTI, but that was ruled out with all the tests done on her...
Can anyone help me with this? I feel like I've tried everything but I can't figure out what's going on with her. Every test comes back normal, but something is clearly wrong
Sometimes, coming home is the best medicine there is! Should this be IBD, I know a couple of members with a LOT of experience who will be more than happy to help you in any way that they can!
