6 year old Morty isn't doing so well

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Google has proven me wrong. Barium studies can be performed in cats. Sometimes it's done as a meal with barium added to it since the milkshake would be a hard sell. In other cases, especially if the cat isn't eating or is otherwise being uncooperative, they insert a esophageal tube solely for the purpose of injecting the barium liquid directly into the cat's stomach. Then they would take X-rays as the barium "lights up" the insides. I imagine a barium study on a cat would easily add another $1000 to the bill.

But you would get pretty pictures like this:
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This is a dog. First one is the stomach and small intestines. The second one shows the small and large intestine.

That's really interesting actually, but I don't even want to think about another vet bill right now.

Side note, he let me take the bandage off his paw no problem. I don't think he even realized I was doing it.

 

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Morty Update:

I gave Morty his Cerenia. It wasn't too difficult but I did have to pry him out from under the dresser, poor guy. Immediately after he just started drooling so much. It was dripping down everywhere and lasted about 20 min. I took a couple photos but they fail to do it justice.

As predicted when he used the litter box he had nearly liquid poop. He did seem to be struggling a little bit as well. Keep in mind this is a cat that I have never once in the past 4 years of having him seen any diarrhea. But again, to be expected with all the stuff he's on.

He hasn't eaten anything yet. I put out three different brands of canned turkey that I already had here (Instinct, Blue, Essence) but he's not very interested. They said he needs to eat an hour before one antibiotic and then I have to wait another hour in between that to give him the second one, so it may be a long night. I was told I can lure him with treats and I literally have 15 different bags here of rabbit, duck, turkey, chicken, organs etc. I ordered a ton of different ones a couple weeks ago from chewy for meal toppers. Unfortunately, EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. is freeze dried. Ugh. So looks like I may be venturing out to Petsmart tomorrow to find something for him. Most treats have some type of fish added so it might be hard. I'm also high risk for covid (because of a previously collapsed lung) so I've really been trying not to go anywhere. But anyway, we will see how the rest of the night goes and hopefully I get a call from out vet soon.

 

[daftcat75]

The drooling sounds like he tasted the pill. If he’s not vomiting anymore, I would ask your vet if you can give him a Cerenia break to see if that’s affecting his appetite.

 

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The drooling sounds like he tasted the pill. If he’s not vomiting anymore, I would ask your vet if you can give him a Cerenia break to see if that’s affecting his appetite.

Yeah I did have to break it in half so I wouldn't be surprised if some crumbs did. I tilted his head back like I was taught a few years ago by another vet and dropped it right down his throat but idk. And yes I definitely will. It does say it's supposed to increase his appetite though so idk if it's that or the antibiotics. We will see when they call me.

 

[daftcat75]

Cerenia is not an appetite stimulant. You can ask about one. Mirtazapine is an appetite stimulant. Your vet may even have Mirtaz which is a transdermal gel version of mirtazapine that you can rub inside his ear.

 

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Cerenia is not an appetite stimulant. You can ask about one. Mirtazapine is an appetite stimulant. Your vet may even have Mirtaz which is a transdermal gel version of mirtazapine that you can rub inside his ear.

I didn't think it was either! But then I read the instructions and she wrote "Cerenia mg tablet: Give 1/2 tablet my mouth once daily. For nausea, vomiting, poor appetite. Due Friday night." Maybe she meant by that it will help with appetite by preventing nausea? Idk but after seeing he went from 12.8 lb to 11.6 lb I'm not super happy. Before I took him in even though he was puking, he was still eating and keeping some of it down. Anyway, I'll see about getting him off that as well as the additional antibiotic.

 

[kittenmittens84]

The vet probably prescribed cerenia for poor appetite because nausea can really put cats off their food. If they take one bite of the food and then walk away, or sniff and then walk away, lick their lips a lot, make a grinding chewing type noise, or sit in the half crouched position with their neck sticking out, they’re probably feeling some nausea.

 

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The vet probably prescribed cerenia for poor appetite because nausea can really put cats off their food. If they take one bite of the food and then walk away, or sniff and then walk away, lick their lips a lot, make a grinding chewing type noise, or sit in the half crouched position with their neck sticking out, they’re probably feeling some nausea.

Oh that's interesting to read. Before I took him in I did notice some unusal neck movements, that's one of the main reasons I decided to take the plunge actually. He's still just sleeping on the bed at the moment, maybe with some slight lip licking but that just may be from the pill that made him drool. If I don't see him eat something in the next couple hours I might just try the paw technique. Back when he had bad hairballs that worked great to get him to eat the hairball paste. He might not get as much down with just wet food on his paw, but at least he will have something in there before I give him the antibiotics.

 

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Morty with his shaved belly and arm. I can't lie it looks pretty funny lol. Poor guy.

 

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Morty Update:

So no call from the vet and he's still not eating. I tried 7 different kinds of canned food and even cooked up some ground chicken organs to get anything in his stomach. The best I could do was get him to lick a little food off his paws and put a bit in his mouth. After this I gave him the liquid antibiotic. They told me all of these needed to be given by Friday night so I was hoping what I got in his stomach would be enough. He drooled like crazy again. He seems to also have trouble going to the bathroom. Twice I've seen him go to the liter box now trying to poop and not getting anything.

I tried to give him his "human sized" liver pill and for the life of me could not get it to go down. It was in the back of his throat so many times but he kept spitting it out. It doesn't help that he hasn't had water either. I called the vet and they told me I could crush it up and put it in the syringe, but the other antibiotic (which is HUGE) I could not give him. So we did this and it went horribly. We crushed it up and mixed it with chicken juice from one of the canned foods and he ended up just coughing it up over and over. Then huge trails of drool poured off his face for at least 30 minutes.

So now Morty is thoroughly traumatized and afraid of me and I'm about to lose my mind on these vets. It makes no sense to me why they would send me home and make me give him 5 pills and one syringe per day when he's hardly even eating, and without giving me any advice on how to do it. I've given normal sized pills to cats before but never anything this big. But now I'm also afraid that he may have gone too long without the antibiotic and I'm afraid of antibiotic resistant bacteria. I guess all I can hope for at this point is the great possibility that he never had a bacterial infection to begin with, considering they never found one, just symptoms that could relate to one.

I'm going to call them again tomorrow and see what they say. I swear if they tell me to take him back in I'm going to lose it. I paid 4k to have a mildly sick cat come home with liquid poop (and then unable to poop) and no appetite, minus 1 pound of body weight. Anyway, I hope this is the end of my ranting for tonight.

 

[daftcat75]

Both of you take the night off. He’ll be alright if he misses a dose. But do try to get a hold of one vet or another tomorrow to see about an appetite stimulant and what to do about the other meds. Maybe they can simplify it with liquid or transdermal meds. Or fewer meds.

Leave some food out for him overnight if you can. Maybe a plate of food under the dresser with him. Canned food can be left out for hours.

 

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Morty Update:

So last night he was him some terrible pain and I know it was my fault. I thought that maybe the bit of food I had gotten in his mouth and on his paw would have been enough for that first liquid antibiotic that I was able to give him but it wasn't. He was very stiff and rigid and a bit twitchy. He let out one long groan last night but other than that was silent. It also seemed throughout the early evening and night that his left ear was itchy and bothering him, which is very strange. He's normally a very stiff cat in his movements, we've always compared him to the cat on Sabrina the Teenage Witch because sometimes he just moves so robotically, although now I'm second guessing that it may have always been a side effect from pain, I'm not really sure.

This morning he seems quite a bit better. He ate a little bit of the Instinct Turkey and I'm hoping at some point he had some water because he did pee. I also saw more pure liquid poop in the litter box. He seems more talkative this morning and has been enjoying the sun, the window sill, and the scratching post.

I called the same emergency vet about an hour ago asking about a change in meds and an appetite stimulant, as well as mentioning the diarrhea, but they said the vet wasn't available and would give me a call back when she was. It's interesting because they said if he had stool changes or wasn't eating to call them immediately but okay. They also told me the Cerenia wouldn't cause him to lose his appetite so to keep giving it to him but idk, we'll see. He wouldn't need his next dose of that until tonight so if I can get him off it that would be great. The less they make me shove down his throat the better.

I'm going to look for some more foods he likes today since the Rawz shipment has not come in yet. I know he likes Petsmart's Simply Nourish Venison, and I think it's an overall pretty solid food so I'll be getting some of that. I think I might also wander around at petco for a bit and see if I can find a good treat he's allowed to have.

Here is a picture of him from last night. He just randomly stuck his tongue out like this. I'm not sure if it was from the pain or because he was so tired. Probably both.

 

[daftcat75]

I know he had his teeth done in August. Is that right? Or am I thinking of a different cat? Teeth can change quickly. I know you’re still reeling from your bill. But maybe ask your regular vet to give a look and a poke when you take him in for a recheck of his liver values. I have a number of pictures of Krista like that. And I’m believing, in retrospect, that at least some of them were something like brain freeze after hitting a painful tooth.

Like she just needed a moment before she wanted to move her tongue back in her mouth again.

You spoke to a vet tech about Cerenia. Vet techs don’t often read the labels for all the side effects. My father was a pharmacist. I studied pharmacology in college. (Though that degree is literally still in the envelope it came in. I don’t work in a pharmacology/biochemistry profession.) I do read those inserts or look them up online. It’s not a common side effect. But under rare side effects: lethargy, loss of appetite, and (ironically enough) vomiting. Look up on Google or YouTube what a nauseated cat looks like. If he’s not vomiting anymore and he’s not licking his lips rapidly like he’s trying to hold back or bring something up, he probably doesn’t need the Cerenia anymore. It’s not as important that he takes every dose of Cerenia like it is with antibiotics. If you skip the Cerenia, it won’t affect the infection, if he has one. Maybe ask about skipping the Cerenia tonight and seeing if he’s better or worse for it.

Can he have tuna? I don’t remember. If it’s ideology more than allergy that you don’t feed fish, maybe this is a time to make an exception. Krista was impossible to pill. I frequently had to figure out how to hide her medicine in something attractive (that wasn’t a trigger food for her like all those pill pocket products.) Maybe you can look for one of those lickable treats that the antibiotic can be mixed with.

The liver pill is Denimarin? Big blue horse pill? The vet’s heart is in the right place. But I think I read that it takes weeks for those liver supplements to work. I don’t know that you’re going to get him to take this one for weeks. It’s also not supposed to be broken. When do you talk to your regular vet next? This is another one I think the risk is low if you let him skip another dose just to make things easier today.

But if I haven’t said this before, don’t go changing his meds on the advice of an Internet stranger. When you talk to the vet, ask him if you can skip this and the Cerenia and if he needs both antibiotics? Tell him you’re having trouble with patient compliance (he won’t take all his meds) and you want to make sure that if you’re only able to get one or two in him before he protests and hides, that you want the most important one or two meds to focus on.

He has to eat to poop. So if he hasn’t been eating well and he’s straining or having liquid poops, that’s likely the antibiotic clearing out any “back log.” If he’s liking the Instinct turkey, even a little, stick with that. Changing foods on him rapidly will also upset his stomach. If he’s nibbling, if he takes more than a bite or two, that’s a good sign. He may still be a little nauseated from all the meds and you might just have to feed him small bits throughout the day rather than expecting him to eat his daily intake in two big meals like your other cats. If you can (if you can keep the other cats away), I would leave food out for him all day. Maybe replace it every few hours. But let him nibble when he feels like it. Otherwise you can just offer him small portions throughout the day. If you do want to try a different food to see if he will eat more of it, just take it slow. Do a naked transition: pretend the old food is still on the plate and only offer a 1/4 portion for those first few meals. Then tomorrow you can offer half portions. 3/4 portions the next day. And on the fourth day, he can have full portions of the new food. It’s a slow food transition when there’s no old food to transition from (because he’s not eating it or enough of it.) You can try other foods too. But keep the portion sizes small until you’ve found a winner to proceed to the next portion size.

 

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I know he had his teeth done in August. Is that right? Or am I thinking of a different cat? Teeth can change quickly. I know you’re still reeling from your bill. But maybe ask your regular vet to give a look and a poke when you take him in for a recheck of his liver values. I have a number of pictures of Krista like that. And I’m believing, in retrospect, that at least some of them were something like brain freeze after hitting a painful tooth.
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Like she just needed a moment before she wanted to move her tongue back in her mouth again.

You spoke to a vet tech about Cerenia. Vet techs don’t often read the labels for all the side effects. My father was a pharmacist. I studied pharmacology in college. (Though that degree is literally still in the envelope it came in. I don’t work in a pharmacology/biochemistry profession.) I do read those inserts or look them up online. It’s not a common side effect. But under rare side effects: lethargy, loss of appetite, and (ironically enough) vomiting. Look up on Google or YouTube what a nauseated cat looks like. If he’s not vomiting anymore and he’s not licking his lips rapidly like he’s trying to hold back or bring something up, he probably doesn’t need the Cerenia anymore. It’s not as important that he takes every dose of Cerenia like it is with antibiotics. If you skip the Cerenia, it won’t affect the infection, if he has one. Maybe ask about skipping the Cerenia tonight and seeing if he’s better or worse for it.

Can he have tuna? I don’t remember. If it’s ideology more than allergy that you don’t feed fish, maybe this is a time to make an exception. Krista was impossible to pill. I frequently had to figure out how to hide her medicine in something attractive (that wasn’t a trigger food for her like all those pill pocket products.) Maybe you can look for one of those lickable treats that the antibiotic can be mixed with.

The liver pill is Denimarin? Big blue horse pill? The vet’s heart is in the right place. But I think I read that it takes weeks for those liver supplements to work. I don’t know that you’re going to get him to take this one for weeks. It’s also not supposed to be broken. When do you talk to your regular vet next? This is another one I think the risk is low if you let him skip another dose just to make things easier today.

But if I haven’t said this before, don’t go changing his meds on the advice of an Internet stranger. When you talk to the vet, ask him if you can skip this and the Cerenia and if he needs both antibiotics? Tell him you’re having trouble with patient compliance (he won’t take all his meds) and you want to make sure that if you’re only able to get one or two in him before he protests and hides, that you want the most important one or two meds to focus on.

He has to eat to poop. So if he hasn’t been eating well and he’s straining or having liquid poops, that’s likely the antibiotic clearing out any “back log.” If he’s liking the Instinct turkey, even a little, stick with that. Changing foods on him rapidly will also upset his stomach. If he’s nibbling, if he takes more than a bite or two, that’s a good sign. He may still be a little nauseated from all the meds and you might just have to feed him small bits throughout the day rather than expecting him to eat his daily intake in two big meals like your other cats. If you can (if you can keep the other cats away), I would leave food out for him all day. Maybe replace it every few hours. But let him nibble when he feels like it. Otherwise you can just offer him small portions throughout the day. If you do want to try a different food to see if he will eat more of it, just take it slow. Do a naked transition: pretend the old food is still on the plate and only offer a 1/4 portion for those first few meals. Then tomorrow you can offer half portions. 3/4 portions the next day. And on the fourth day, he can have full portions of the new food. It’s a slow food transition when there’s no old food to transition from (because he’s not eating it or enough of it.) You can try other foods too. But keep the portion sizes small until you’ve found a winner to proceed to the next portion size.

Yes, he and one of my other cats Po had a couple thousand worth of work done last August. They both have a type of hereditary feline dental/gum disease, I thinks it's similar to gingivitis. Anyway they each got a few back teeth pulled (and Po a front one that was loose) as well as a cleaning and treatment of the gums. I think it's possible he may have more teeth issues, but I don't think that's what caused this. This happened when he had the liquid antibiotic after not eating really anything, and it's the first time I've ever seen it. It was definitely a response to pain though, which makes me really sad. He was in a lot of pain most of the night but is luckily better now.

He is still licking his lips quite a bit, actually, or at least he was as of yesterday. I couldn't tell if it was from nausea or from dry mouth, but with the amount of meds they have/had him on it could be either. I did ask them again about the Cerenia and I'll post it below in my next update. Either way it's tough to tell when he's also having these drooling attacks. Poor guy.

I WISH, more than anything that he could have any type of fish. He loves it, like most cats. He cannot though. Any type of fish (including non-pharmaceutical grade fish oil - AKA cheap fish oil) will make him throw up. On a good day, it might just be once randomly during the day. On a bad day, immediately after eating and intermittently for the next week. Before we took fish out of his diet he was throwing up every other day, and before we removed dry food it was a few times a day. I just wish there was a good treat I could give him after the meds that he would like. Since he can't have anything crunchy, freeze dried, dehydrated, grain, or fish that leaves very few options. He used to love the Tiki Cat Lickable ones but they all have tuna.

Horse pill? Yes, but nothing compared to the second antibiotic Clavamox. I'll put a picture of them side by side. Keep in mind this large square pill need to be given twice a day and each dose is 1.5 pills.

Also, the only problem I foresee with staying on the Instinct turkey is that Morty (sometimes after the first meal, sometimes after the first day) will refuse to eat the same thing after a while. What's interesting is that he will eat the same protein though. Back when we were ruling out the fish allergy we gave him a combination of Instinct, Nulo limited, and Blue turkey as they all were single protein and it worked for a while. So I'm thinking I might need to do something like that again, and then if eventually that doesn't work we'll have to try other things like venison again. He's a picky boy. Another thing about his eating, most 5-6oz cans say to feed about 2 per cat per day. Morty has never eaten that much. Honestly, he probably would eat 1 can on a good day. Interestingly enough, whether it be his metabolism or lack of energy (maybe laziness) he always stayed normal to slightly overweight. When we switched to raw was the first time since he ate dry that he's eaten proper portions. It was really great to see, although he's probably the one cat in the world that started to get fat from the raw lol. He put on at least 1.5 pounds since we made the switch. My old vet said he should be around 11, but as a long/tall cat I think he looks better around 11-12. He was up to 12.8 from raw.

But anyway, I think that strategy may be helpful in his situation for his stomach problems, but maybe not his finickiness. He's a cat that will always try any new food once, and usually consume a lot of it. It's the second time that becomes tough.

 

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Morty Update:

So another vet at the emergency clinic called me back and I told her about what was going on. I mentioned the drooling, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and my inability to give him the horse pills. She seemed perplexed for a second about the drool--which if you google drooling cat medicine, it literally says "bad taste, not swallowing, or stress". So clearly we're not being efficient enough getting it down his throat so I'm going to work harder on that. Anyway she wanted to speak with the other vet that prescribed the meds and mentioned she would call me back.

While waiting for her call Morty started eating a good amount of the Instinct turkey! I have a feeling because the Cerenia and antibiotics where administered a while ago by that point, he was starting to get hungry. This was great news, but I'm aware that once he's dosed up again it will probably be the same thing, so at this point I was still hoping for an appetite stimulant.

Anyway, the vet called back and said I no longer had to give him the two horse pills! THANK GOD. There was seriously no way those were getting down his throat. They did, however, insist that I continue giving him the Cerenia and the Obrax liquid antibiotic (that upset his stomach last night) because I told them I could actually get that down his throat. They prescribed him Metronidazole twice a day to replace that antibiotic and said it should help with his diarrhea. They also prescribed him a topical Mirtazapine to give once every 48 hours for appetite. This came to 87.56, which is pretty much what I expected. They also have me two cans of the food they were feeding him and a can of turkey baby food. I think those were free. First ingredients on Hills i/d Digestive Care: Water, Pork Liver, Chicken, Rice, Potato Protein, Chicken Fat, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp. First ingredients on Royal Canon Gastrointestinal: Water, Chicken-By-Products, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Corn Flour, Brewers Rice Flour, Pork Plasma, Fish Oil. He will not be getting this unless he literally eats nothing else. The baby food is Gerber: Ground Turkey, Water, Cornstarch.

They told me that I can give him the above foods, his regular foods, or I can also cook him up chicken, pork, turkey, beef or eggs. This really took me by surprise because I didn't even think they would be for cooked food. Also, I'm a bit worried about them suggesting that without fortification from E-Z or Alnutrin. Although I guess if they're thinking it would just be short term maybe it wouldn't matter as much? Anyway, I went to the store and picked up more instinct and well as the instinct limited turkey pouches. I never buy the pouches because of their abysmal rating on catfooddb, but I figured it might be worth a try as a treat even if guar gum and chickpeas are big ingredients. I also found some turkey treats that are chewy by Whole Hearted, and they do only contain turkey as a protein source. They also contain oatmeal, potato and maple syrup so....yeah. I figure at least if there's no other protein in there though we may have some luck. Obviously we're also still waiting on the Rawz shipment.

When I got home Morty had eaten a bit more! I opened up a pouch of the instinct turkey and Morty seemed to like it. I'm not surprised as it fits his main two criteria for food: 1) Never had it before 2) Cheap ingredients. He ate a few of the chucks and a fair amount of the gravy. Then after a bit I decided to give him his new antibiotic. I feel so bad giving to him because I have nothing good to offer him afterword other than scratches. He's such a compliant boy too. He knows I'm about to crook his head up and make him open his jaw and kinda tries to get away from me when he knows it's coming, but he never scratches, bites or hisses. He just takes it and then looks at me like I tried to hurt him. Anyway, tons more drool again from this new liquid antibiotic so I guess I'm still doing it wrong. I think it's possible a little antibiotic came out in the drool as well because I could smell it.

He's stopped drooling now and happily on the window sill with Po, but I'm not looking forward to later tonight when I have to give him two more doses of antibiotics and the half Cerenia pill. Looks like he also is keeping at least a bit of an appetite for now.

Side note his left ear still seems to be bothering him. He's scratching at it and it seems to be twitching and shrugging a lot. I looked and behind both ears he as little wet marks (but obviously not water because it's not going away) so I wonder if they put something on his ears while he was there. I'm never seen him do that before.

Just before posting this he left the sill to come hang out. Got a funny picture of him winking.

 

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I JUST READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE APPETITE SIMULATOR. It says to spread "on the inside pinea of the cat's ear." So I think I have my answer to the ear question now, they must have been giving it to him while he was in the hospital. Why they didn't tell me that I don't know, but it would have been nice to know my cat was coming off an appetite stimulate. Kinda makes more sense to me now why he was eating there and then ate nothing last night. Anyway, I haven't applied it to him yet since he's still eating alright. He might get it later tonight or tomorrow though if anything changes.

 

[daftcat75]

Behind the ears is a weird spot to put it. But I was told it can be applied to any hairless spot that she (Krista) wouldn’t be able to lick or get to while grooming. That’s why behind the ears seems like a weird spot to do it. Because cats can and do clean behind their ears with the back of their paws.

I took this picture last year because I found it funny how blissed out the cat in the insert was when Krista was always very annoyed with the “wet willy.”

 

[daftcat75]

When you say he doesn’t want something a second time, is it because it’s leftover from the first time? Possibly cold from the fridge? If it’s leftovers from the fridge, spoon it into a plastic baggie and run it under hot water to warm it up to about lukewarm before plating it. This is how I got Krista to eat leftovers.

 

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Behind the ears is a weird spot to put it. But I was told it can be applied to any hairless spot that she (Krista) wouldn’t be able to lick or get to while grooming. That’s why behind the ears seems like a weird spot to do it. Because cats can and do clean behind their ears with the back of their paws.

I took this picture last year because I found it funny how blissed out the cat in the insert was when Krista was always very annoyed with the “wet willy.”
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I thought the exact same thing when reading those directions! Clearly they haven't updated anything.

 

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When you say he doesn’t want something a second time, is it because it’s leftover from the first time? Possibly cold from the fridge? If it’s leftovers from the fridge, spoon it into a plastic baggie and run it under hot water to warm it up to about lukewarm before plating it. This is how I got Krista to eat leftovers.

I wish. But no, it's fresh out of the can. If I cycle through and given him maybe....7 different types/brands throughout the week he usually has no problems. He just doesn't like the same meal more than once in a row. When he was on raw though pork was the exception to this. He would eat pork no matter what.