6 year old Morty isn't doing so well

[daftcat75]

You didn't say anything overly political. I just wanted to shut it down before it got started.

Is Po named after Kung Fu Panda?

Krista was her name at the shelter. I liked it so I didn't change it. Of course, she probably had hundreds of nicknames over the years.

 

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Po isn't named after anyone. I just thought he kinda looked like a Po. He didn't seem to respond to any of his previous names either so we just named him for how he looked.

I think Krista was a good choice.

 

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Morty Update:

We just got back from Morty's vet visit. I didn't get the chance to ask about the previous folic/B12 tests that the other vet was supposed to call back with, but I'm assuming they were normal since no one has said anything.

All of Morty's levels are completely normal and his labs were all perfect. I mentioned to my vet that I was worried because on a good day only about 1/4 of the antibiotic went down and she said that it was perfectly fine. Since his levels are good and they never found an actual infection she's not concerned. I also asked if he could get something for his occasional asthma. I've heard that cat asthma attacks can be deadly so I just wanted to be sure that there wasn't an inhaler or shot I could have on hand for him. After describing the symptoms she told me that since they do not happen very often and they don't tend to be long incidents, he's likely better without treatment. I guess asthma treatment is usually through long term steroids and can often be really expensive, and she thinks he may be better without that.

She said she would give me a call at some point next week so we can go over his food plan. I asked if it should be a zoom meeting or how I would set up the appointment and she said not to worry about that. She would pretty much just call me on her own time to go over it with me. I'm really happy to have found a vet like her.

Anyway, Morty was under the dresser for a while but he's perked up now. Poor guy. I'll post updates on his future diet plan when we get it figured out. I think the main reason I've been posting all of this is for my own comfort, but part of it is just in case someone else is going through the same situation. I found a ton of threads really useful for Morty, but none that were exactly what he's gone through. If he does have IBD, it also doesn't seem as common for cats to only have vomit symptoms, so hopefully that will help someone else out in the furture. For a really long time I avoided looking into IBD because he had normal stools, which now I know isn't the sole determinant of IBD.

Anyway, I have a cat food picture to come. I figured I would take a picture of all the cat food I've managed to compile over the past year in sorting through Morty's sickness. Keep in mind I have two other cats that have been getting through a lot of the rejection food as well...but I think the photo will be a little shocking.

 

[daftcat75]

Krista’s IBD was vomiting. She didn’t start having poop issues until the clostridium infection. When the poop issues returned, I first thought that the infection returned. But when that came back negative and she started losing weight, that’s when my worst lymphoma fears were coming true. IBD can progress to lymphoma. Many believe they are not different conditions but merely different points of progression of the same condition. And to further complicate matters, some lymphoma cats never have any symptoms except weight loss. I recommend weighing him monthly as long as his weight is stable. If he starts losing weight, weigh him no more than weekly for both your sakes. I recommend a baby scale (about $50 on Amazon) over a bathroom scale. They are much more accurate. I’ve seen my bathroom scale give me almost a half pound variance over three consecutive readings. That makes it useless when trying to monitor a cat’s weight maintenance/weight loss.

Do you still have to give the antibiotics?

 

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Krista’s IBD was vomiting. She didn’t start having poop issues until the clostridium infection. When the poop issues returned, I first thought that the infection returned. But when that came back negative and she started losing weight, that’s when my worst lymphoma fears were coming true. IBD can progress to lymphoma. Many believe they are not different conditions but merely different points of progression of the same condition. And to further complicate matters, some lymphoma cats never have any symptoms except weight loss. I recommend weighing him monthly as long as his weight is stable. If he starts losing weight, weigh him no more than weekly for both your sakes. I recommend a baby scale (about $50 on Amazon) over a bathroom scale. They are much more accurate. I’ve seen my bathroom scale give me almost a half pound variance over three consecutive readings. That makes it useless when trying to monitor a cat’s weight maintenance/weight loss.

Do you still have to give the antibiotics?

Really?? Wow, I didn't realize that she started with only vomiting as well! I will start weighing him more often. I actually have a pretty expensive and accurate scale. It always gives me the same readings when I weigh myself multiple times. Usually with Morty I just hold him and subtract the weight. I also forgot to mention, the vet weighed him in at 12.20 pounds! This means he's gained another .4 pounds back...unless he's just constipated or something. He's almost back to his 12.8 original weight, although I'm not sure if it's necessary for him to completely get back there. He was getting a bit chubby.

She said to go ahead and finish the prescription up but not to fret if none of it goes down. As I mentioned previously, I know she thinks a lot of what the emergency vet did was unnecessary...but I'm still happy I took him in. What made up my mind when I was debating taking him in was the thought of what would bother me more: 1) A few thousand of debt 2) A dead cat I could have saved. So I don't have any regrets in that area, although my fiance does feel like we were "scammed". I disagree though...it's clear to me the vets were just doing their jobs and covering all bases.

 

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So this is my cat food store...ahem...I mean supply.

But really, this is gonna look pretty extreme. Why do I have such a big collection? A lot of reasons around Morty's allergies. When he first started having issues with dry food I got a bunch of different canned food. Unfortunately, he got tired of the same types of canned food so I had to venture out to other brands and flavors. I even got a collection of freeze dried treats to add on top. Then I figured out Morty had a fish allergy. Luckily we've gotten through almost every single food with fish by now (with the exception of tikicat chicken/quail) so you won't see much fish here, but that is what caused me to venture out for more options. Morty got even pickier with wet food, so I manually went through catfooddb and found all of the highest rated and semi-affordable brands I could get. The only wet food brand I actually like at this point is tikicat though, even though they have a habit of mixing proteins.

The vomiting was still continuing intermittently so I got a number of limited ingredient foods like duck, beef, turkey etc. in hopes of figuring out what else was the problem. I went through a similar situation with cat litter, but we've been able to get through all of that already.

Because of covid I didn't buy cans at a time, but cases. This is because I'm high risk because of a lung issue and try everything I can to not go to a pet store if I can help it. So I would get cases of 8, 12, and 24.

Then we started transitioning to raw. This was great because Morty was okay having the same few proteins, so I stocked up to save the most on shipping and to not have to worry. I didn't expect to have to stop raw completely.

Then after what happened recently, I ventured out again to find as much turkey as I could, and then chicken. Here is where you'll see the most questionable wet foods, like fancy feast. Ugh. I also decided to get some bone grinds without meat so I would have it ready once he could transition. Anyway, I swear I'm not a hoarder lol. All this food will be eaten by my 3 cats, this is basically just to show how frustrating a food allergy and a cat who will not eat the same thing twice can be. I'm seriously hoping to not have to get any more food for at least 6 months to a year at this point. I'm grateful that Po has no allergies and Goose just has the beef issue as of now.

This is 30 pounds of raw in my fridge thawing and about 60 pounds in my freezer.

4 Cases of 24, 1 case of 8, 5 cases of 12...and a Morty!

 

[daftcat75]

Which cat likes the vodka and which likes the rum?

 

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Which cat likes the vodka and which likes the rum?

Lol I can tell you shop at Costco as well.

Edit: Nevermind I just realized one picture shows what they are.

 

[daftcat75]

Lol I can tell you shop at Costco as well.

Edit: Nevermind I just realized one picture shows what they are.

I don’t shop at Costco. I don’t like the crowds and the lines, and I resent the portion sizes. They are excessive for just me. I briefly had a membership. But it felt like they had their own currency in those warehouses where the lowest denomination was $9.99 and everything else was multiples of that.

 

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I don’t shop at Costco. I don’t like the crowds and the lines, and I resent the portion sizes. They are excessive for just me. I briefly had a membership. But it felt like they had their own currency in those warehouses where the lowest denomination was $9.99 and everything else was multiples of that.

I understand what you're saying. I like them for bulk vegetables, toiletries and...alcohol. Everything else I usually don't bother with and half the time it's not even cheaper than the grocery store. I get extremely anxious and claustrophobic inside because of all the people so I usually would just try and go right when they open or right before they close to avoid it. Now I just pay the extra fee and get it through instacart.

 

[daftcat75]

I coined a word a number of years ago. I think it was a social media challenge to combine two words to make a new one. Bliss+misanthrope

I love Instacart. It’s been my mask and distancing and everything else in this pandemic. Well worth the fee and the tip!

 

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Okay, I'm stealing this word. Would the adjective form be blissanthropic or blissanthropical?

I really like it for that reason, but also because I live upstairs and have to park somewhat far away from my apartment, so lugging heavy things up is a pain. Whenever I use Instacart I try to order as much as possible to save money on delivery and fees, and then I just leave 25 dollars for the poor soul who has to make 5 trips getting the stuff up. This is another reason I have so much cat food. I've thought about getting their monthly subscription, but I don't think it's really worth it.

 

[daftcat75]

I think it would be -thropic like philanthropic. Sadly we don’t say philanthrope anymore.

 

[fionasmom]

Okay, I have a ton of cat food as well, all in the name of earthquake preparedness.

I also don't shop at Costco or have a membership any longer. When I had my pack of dogs years ago I did get a membership as it was much cheaper to prepare food for them than to buy high quality dog food. However, it finally dawned on me that their chicken parts were noticeably smaller than what was sold in the markets.

 

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Morty Update:

Today was the first day since taking him to the vet that he's thrown up. Actually, this has probably been the longest he's gone without throwing up in at least a few years. Anyway, normally he'll create three piles but today it was just one. He did it out in the living room and I had to really restrain him while he tried to go for the carpet in the bedroom. This time it was quite liquidy and happened shortly after eating, but it wasn't regurgitation because I heard the noises from the other room. I've gotten accustomed to hearing those rythmic gag noises, so I know to drop everything the second they start.

I'll try and write down everytime he throws up and what he consumed just before. Today it was the Blue Wilderness Chicken. Notable ingrediants: chicken, chicken broth, chicken liver, potatoes, natural flavor, flaxseed, guar gum, cassia gum. I hate it when companies add things like "natural flavors" because I have no way of knowing what they're made of. I also don't see why my cat needs potatoes...I miss raw feeding a lot. I cooked up a little bit of chicken liver the other day and the cats really loved it. The stench it left in my apartment was sooo bad though.

I was planning to reintroduce turkey once he finished up his antibiotic, but now that he's still throwing up I don't know anymore. On top of that, for all I know this could be a delayed reaction from the vets that decided to give him food with fish oil. I wish it didn't take up to 3 months for allergic reactions to subside.

 

[daftcat75]

Is it this one?
BLUE BUFFALO Wilderness Mature Chicken Recipe Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 24 - Chewy.com

I would suspect the carrageenan which is a known irritant. Can you find another chicken-based food he likes that doesn't have carrageenan? That's going to do a number to his gut if he eats that all the time.

 

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Is it this one?
BLUE BUFFALO Wilderness Mature Chicken Recipe Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 24 - Chewy.com

I would suspect the carrageenan which is a known irritant. Can you find another chicken-based food he likes that doesn't have carrageenan? That's going to do a number to his gut if he eats that all the time.

It's actually not that one even though they're in the same packaging...this one doesn't have fish oil or peas.

BLUE Buffalo Wilderness Chicken Recipe Cat Food Review

After a closer look it does have carrageenan. I didn't realize this could be an irritant, although I see now on catfooddb it does list this as a questionable ingredient. Since he eats a different brand every day he probably only has this like once every 7-10 days. I will stop giving to him ASAP and look out for that in any of the other foods that I have. Thank you!

 

[daftcat75]

Guar gum is okay. I wouldn't lump it with the other gums as a suspect ingredient. (I'm more suspect of flaxseeds in cat food seeing as cats can't utilize those forms of omega-3's.) Guar gum is considered to be one of the more benign gums. It may also be beneficial as a pre-biotic. But carrageenan and agar agar I would avoid as non-negotiables. Not all cats are sensitive to xanthan gum. But that's potentially a suspect one too. Xanthan gum makes smooth foods smooth. In Krista, it made her poops smooth too. Velvet Mousse in, Velvet Mousse out. Those few days I fed her Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse until I figured it out, I lovingly refer to as The Moussening.

 

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Guar gum is okay. I wouldn't lump it with the other gums as a suspect ingredient. (I'm more suspect of flaxseeds in cat food seeing as cats can't utilize those forms of omega-3's.) Guar gum is considered to be one of the more benign gums. It may also be beneficial as a pre-biotic. But carrageenan and agar agar I would avoid as non-negotiables. Not all cats are sensitive to xanthan gum. But that's potentially a suspect one too. Xanthan gum makes smooth foods smooth. In Krista, it made her poops smooth too. Velvet Mousse in, Velvet Mousse out. Those few days I fed her Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse until I figured it out, I lovingly refer to as The Moussening.

That's good to know. I have a feeling flax was added in place of fish oil. I've heard that they may be able to get a very small amount of omegas from it, but probably not enough to make it worth it. All of these gums and additives are just ridiculous. Hopefully Morty can get more adjusted to cooked food so I don't have to worry about them anymore, but for now he's not especially enthusiastic about it.

 

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Morty Update:

So the emergency vet called back with his results. She was looking them over again and realized she had forgotten to call me. Anyway, his PLI test was normal so she doesn't suspect pancreatitis. I can't remember what the other test she mentioned was called but it had a similar name to that--she decided not to order that one since he doesn't have stool issues. The B12 was in the normal range. The folate was low, which she said is a sign of chronic GI issues. She told me that she wants him to stay on Orbax (antibiotic) for a full month. I'm glad I finally found a way to get him to eat it.

I mentioned that Morty threw up this morning and I said I thought it could possibly be from carrageenan and she agreed that it's a possibility. She told me that he needs to be on a hydrolyzed protein diet for the next two weeks. The only hydrolyzed protein diet I've heard of is the Royal Canon/Science Diet one and I cannot possibly see how all of the carbohydrate fillers in that food would help his GI track. Anyway, she said she would send this info to my vet and also let them know that she suspects small intestine GI issues....so IBD?