Cat gastritis /ulcer, vomiting?

[Sevilay28]

Hello, I was writing in another topic, but I think I can reach more people if I say a specific disease. A month ago, my cat started vomiting 4 or 5 times a day. Necessary treatments were made, her health status was checked. So you don't have to say "hey, have you checked biochemistry, x-ray, ultrasound, " because I did everything. On the 10th day, an endoscopy was performed and it was seen that the stomach was completely covered with hairball, she was taken to emergency surgery. Likewise, the intestine was cleaned. She stayed there for 5 days. And here we are on the 14th day of the surgery. My cat continues to vomit in the same way. The professor at the faculty hospital could not perform the endoscopy (because she received new anesthesia) but she eliminated everything else, she saw that the stomach wall was irregular on the x-ray, eventually my cat diagnosed gastritis. Likewise, the veterinarian who performed the surgery, while performing the endoscopy,sHe said she saw injuries in the stomach.
I used medpamide, antepsin, famotidine, antibiotics, but it continued the same way. She is at the hospital today. By intravenous feeding, she will receive pantoprozole, ondansetron, and antibiotics. Please anybody whose cat has gastritis or ulcers, Tell me if she or got better. The vets here can't find a cure. I am so tired. Please.

 

[luda macka]

Hii, I'm sorry to hear about what you're going though with your kitty. I don't have too much experience with it, but I do have some, so I thought I might share it. If anything, it might provide some solace that you are not alone

I have three cats at home with me, and one of them (Pippin) one day randomly started vomiting. Also several times in one day, just like yours did. He couldn't even keep his water down. As soon as he would start either eating or drinking, within 15 minutes that would come out of him. It was really distressing to witness him like that.

We took him to the vet, did tests (blood tests, x-ray, ultrasound..) but they didn't find anything, only some free-form fluid swishing around between his organs. They did discharge him with pain meds, and he was given some anti-nausea medication as well with fluids. Two days passed and he was back to the usual vomiting and clearly being in pain. We took him back, and then they actually found that his spleen was completely changed/enlarged and had some necrotic tissue growing, and on top of that he was also diagnosed with pancreatitis. Both me and my vet speculate that it was like both of those things kinda feeding into each other which then caused like this "perfect storm" where suddenly everything explodes in your face type thing.

And well, after the successful operation, and the slow healing process, he recovered. Then few months later it happened again. And the only thing we could have done was take him to the vet every day for next two weeks so that he would get IV fluid administered, along with pain meds and anti-nausea meds, along with some medication to stimulate his appetite as he wasn't eating and this cat is a FOODIE. So him not eating and not wanting to eat is just huge alarm bells.

And then you know, few months of peace, then it happens again. Rinse and repeat. So I have had 4 episodes so far? Over a one year/year and a half time span. First few times it was pancreatitis, then one time it was gastritis, and then last one I think was pancreatitis again. What causes it- my vet and I haven't really found a cause but all I know is he needs to eat gastrointestinal food (not all the time) and normal cat food that is a bit on the lower end of fat content percentage. And much to Pippin's joy, the vet said how he needs to have food available at all times (I mean, this cat...) , otherwise if he is left without food for too long, his stomach might get irritated which causes him to vomit, which then could potentially start the cycle anew. He is also given 100% wet food diet.

In his day to day- he's been okay. Although I do fear another episode randomly showing up. I feel like usually by now there are some warning signs but it's still hard to "predict". I feel like one of his signs could be where he is eagerly and annoyingly begging for food and when you give it to him, he smells it and doesn't eat it. But the only reason I'm not 100% sure about it is because he can be picky with SOME wet foods but not all, so it's give and take with him.

I really wish you and your kitty (she's really adorable btw!!) good luck. It can be tough to deal with it, especially if there isn't any apparent cause. The worst thing about gastritis/pancreatitis is that it takes time/days to heal and deal with, as there isn't simple medical therapy for it (like you know, of you have a bacterial infection? here's some antibiotics and see me in 7 days). It's only mostly supportive in terms of giving IV fluids so the cat is hydrated, getting pain and anti-nausea meds so they can keep their food down and then slightly changing and watching what they eat.

 

[Sevilay28]

Hii, I'm sorry to hear about what you're going though with your kitty. I don't have too much experience with it, but I do have some, so I thought I might share it. If anything, it might provide some solace that you are not alone

I have three cats at home with me, and one of them (Pippin) one day randomly started vomiting. Also several times in one day, just like yours did. He couldn't even keep his water down. As soon as he would start either eating or drinking, within 15 minutes that would come out of him. It was really distressing to witness him like that.

We took him to the vet, did tests (blood tests, x-ray, ultrasound..) but they didn't find anything, only some free-form fluid swishing around between his organs. They did discharge him with pain meds, and he was given some anti-nausea medication as well with fluids. Two days passed and he was back to the usual vomiting and clearly being in pain. We took him back, and then they actually found that his spleen was completely changed/enlarged and had some necrotic tissue growing, and on top of that he was also diagnosed with pancreatitis. Both me and my vet speculate that it was like both of those things kinda feeding into each other which then caused like this "perfect storm" where suddenly everything explodes in your face type thing.

And well, after the successful operation, and the slow healing process, he recovered. Then few months later it happened again. And the only thing we could have done was take him to the vet every day for next two weeks so that he would get IV fluid administered, along with pain meds and anti-nausea meds, along with some medication to stimulate his appetite as he wasn't eating and this cat is a FOODIE. So him not eating and not wanting to eat is just huge alarm bells.

And then you know, few months of peace, then it happens again. Rinse and repeat. So I have had 4 episodes so far? Over a one year/year and a half time span. First few times it was pancreatitis, then one time it was gastritis, and then last one I think was pancreatitis again. What causes it- my vet and I haven't really found a cause but all I know is he needs to eat gastrointestinal food (not all the time) and normal cat food that is a bit on the lower end of fat content percentage. And much to Pippin's joy, the vet said how he needs to have food available at all times (I mean, this cat...) , otherwise if he is left without food for too long, his stomach might get irritated which causes him to vomit, which then could potentially start the cycle anew. He is also given 100% wet food diet.

In his day to day- he's been okay. Although I do fear another episode randomly showing up. I feel like usually by now there are some warning signs but it's still hard to "predict". I feel like one of his signs could be where he is eagerly and annoyingly begging for food and when you give it to him, he smells it and doesn't eat it. But the only reason I'm not 100% sure about it is because he can be picky with SOME wet foods but not all, so it's give and take with him.

I really wish you and your kitty (she's really adorable btw!!) good luck. It can be tough to deal with it, especially if there isn't any apparent cause. The worst thing about gastritis/pancreatitis is that it takes time/days to heal and deal with, as there isn't simple medical therapy for it (like you know, of you have a bacterial infection? here's some antibiotics and see me in 7 days). It's only mostly supportive in terms of giving IV fluids so the cat is hydrated, getting pain and anti-nausea meds so they can keep their food down and then slightly changing and watching what they eat.

I'm so sorry to hear that. My vet suspected pancreatitis as well, but I had her enzymes checked. There was no problem. But as you said, so much vomiting caused gastritis in you. I am really sad. I know very well what you are going through.the warning symptom is that she sniffs the food and licks her mouth and go. . Just like that before the vomiting attacks, she swallow too much and hearing that disgusting sound.
How is animal medicine not getting better when human medicine has come so far? This is so interesting. No one can tell me, 'oh, does the cat have gastritis? Take your blah blah meds, she will get better after blah blah days. ''
They're just trying. And that sounds ridiculous, it's not reliable.

 

[luda macka]

I'm so sorry to hear that. My vet suspected pancreatitis as well, but I had her enzymes checked. There was no problem. But as you said, so much vomiting caused gastritis in you. I am really sad. I know very well what you are going through.the warning symptom is that she sniffs the food and licks her mouth and go. . Just like that before the vomiting attacks, she swallow too much and hearing that disgusting sound.
How is animal medicine not getting better when human medicine has come so far? This is so interesting. No one can tell me, 'oh, does the cat have gastritis? Take your blah blah meds, she will get better after blah blah days. ''
They're just trying. And that sounds ridiculous, it's not reliable.

I know, it is really stressful. I read your other thread and found out your kitty is 2 years old.. that is really so young. I hope she pulls through and I will be thinking of her <3

I love cats so much, and that's why I joined this forum (and similar ones as well), and I just want to share my love of cats with other likeminded individuals but also help anywhere I can- whether that is offering advice or support.

But yes, sometimes veterinary medicine can be really frustrating, especially if you are coming from a country that isn't USA or UK regarding 'the west' (I'm really jelly of their technology over there...). I really struggle with it in my country as well. There are so many veterinarians I can visit in my town lol...

But please do not give up hope, I'm sure there is an answer. We are all rooting for you and your kitty, you have our support here. <3
And I know it can be really maddening some times too, but that's what makes having cats worth it in my opinion. Hell, I'd say it goes for any pet because the love you get back from them is indescribable and priceless.

 

[Sevilay28]

I know, it is really stressful. I read your other thread and found out your kitty is 2 years old.. that is really so young. I hope she pulls through and I will be thinking of her <3

I love cats so much, and that's why I joined this forum (and similar ones as well), and I just want to share my love of cats with other likeminded individuals but also help anywhere I can- whether that is offering advice or support.

But yes, sometimes veterinary medicine can be really frustrating, especially if you are coming from a country that isn't USA or UK regarding 'the west' (I'm really jelly of their technology over there...). I really struggle with it in my country as well. There are so many veterinarians I can visit in my town lol...

But please do not give up hope, I'm sure there is an answer. We are all rooting for you and your kitty, you have our support here. <3
And I know it can be really maddening some times too, but that's what makes having cats worth it in my opinion. Hell, I'd say it goes for any pet because the love you get back from them is indescribable and priceless.

Life would be hell without my cat. She is my everything. I want a solution. Thank you for answering

 

[luda macka]

Oh I know, I am literally the same way with my three cats. I would not know what I'd do with out them. If I think about it too much, I literally start crying.

 

[Sevilay28]

Oh I know, I am literally the same way with my three cats. I would not know what I'd do with out them. If I think about it too much, I literally start crying.

Actually, a month ago, I was thinking what would I do if my cat died one day for no reason. I was crying in the middle of the night. a man whose cat died wrote a song for his cat. I was listening to hım while crying. And now we are here. There really is such a thing as the law of attraction. Whatever you think, what you call, what you give to the universe, it becomes.

 

[Sevilay28]

My comment below that song. It's exactly one month ago. It's like a joke that isn't funny at all

 

[luda macka]

Ohhh I know the feeling, it absolutely really sucks.
I will be definitely keeping you and your kitty in my thoughts <3

 

[FeebysOwner]

I did a search of this site to see what other posts there might be related to gastritis - most of them fairly old with OPs that are no longer active, except this one:
Causes of gastritis? | TheCatSite
Here is another, but it is one of the older ones with an inactive OP.
Gastritis Problems | TheCatSite
Also, a couple of articles, in case they might contain some beneficial information
Gastritis in Cats (petplace.com)
Gastritis in Cats: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment - My Animals
I don't know if any of it will be of help, but it is all I know to offer.

 

[Sevilay28]

It would be very helpful if I could reach the person in the second tittle. Thank you very much

 

[FeebysOwner]

That is sadly one of the OPs that hasn't been active since 2019. I just now tried to 'call out to them' but didn't even get a 'hit' on their name. M Mici ???

 

[daftcat75]

Might be in the same boat with my Betty White. It doesn’t seem to be the same reason she vomits twice. Sometimes it’s a hairball. Sometimes it’s a little digested food. Sometimes it’s a regurgitation. Often it’s a little bit of stomach acid. After the last huge hairball, she kept spitting up all day and a pink tinged one sent us to urgent care. The working theory is that she possibly has an ulcer. I’m supposed to give her sucralfate (medicine to coat her stomach and gut and give it a chance to heal) and prescription food (Hill’s I/D.). I’m fortunate that she likes the food. But she still has her moments of sniffing it and waking away. I haven’t tried the medicine with her because the amount and frequency freaks me out (3 mL!! four times a day!) But dragging this out is terrible on her. This morning’s hairball—since we started the food and put digestive enzymes in it—is a lot smaller than Wednesday’s. But it’s still happening. So I think the medicine wrestling matches begin today.

 

[Sevilay28]

I can't remember what I wrote here last.
We were also using pantoprozole and sulrafacte, but my cat had such vomiting yesterday and the day before

Might be in the same boat with my Betty White. It doesn’t seem to be the same reason she vomits twice. Sometimes it’s a hairball. Sometimes it’s a little digested food. Sometimes it’s a regurgitation. Often it’s a little bit of stomach acid. After the last huge hairball, she kept spitting up all day and a pink tinged one sent us to urgent care. The working theory is that she possibly has an ulcer. I’m supposed to give her sucralfate (medicine to coat her stomach and gut and give it a chance to heal) and prescription food (Hill’s I/D.). I’m fortunate that she likes the food. But she still has her moments of sniffing it and waking away. I haven’t tried the medicine with her because the amount and frequency freaks me out (3 mL!! four times a day!) But dragging this out is terrible on her. This morning’s hairball—since we started the food and put digestive enzymes in it—is a lot smaller than Wednesday’s. But it’s still happening. So I think the medicine wrestling matches begin today.

 

[daftcat75]

I think I managed to get 1/4 of a famotidine (Zantac 360) in her: 20 mg pill quartered down to a 5 mg dose.

She has the strongest jaw of any cat I’ve tried to pill. I noticed even the vet was having a hard time getting her mouth open for an exam. I will be looking for a veterinary compounded liquid preparation of famotidine.

But, given that she seems to be hungry again already after having a measly 15 gram reduced portion for breakfast, I think I was successful with the pilling. It’s a shame I had to shoot her with Carafate (sucralfate) and wait a couple hours before next meal. They say 1 to 2 hours. Maybe we’ll split the difference with another half ounce meal (Hills I/D stew which she clearly prefers to the pate) in 1.5 hours time.

So where I’m at with Betty is a working diagnosis of gastritis and possible ulcer. The plan is 4 days of Carafate given three times a day. Because it has to be buffered on either end by an hour or two, we have Carafate on the eights (8am and 8pm) and a lunch dose around 2pm. That puts meals at 6, 10, (noon if she wants one) and then repeat with dinners at 6, 10, and an overnight portion left out at midnight. Famotidine I will attempt on the sixes (6am and 6pm.) The hope and plan is that if it’s an excess of stomach acid that is causing her nausea and nibbling, then getting her on a regular famotidine schedule could alleviate that and allow us to grow her portions. Ideally, I’d like her to eat at least an ounce and a half at each meal. Right now I’m lucky if she wants to eat a half ounce (and it stays down.) I’ve seen her eat an ounce before when she came home from the vet with Cerenia and famotidine in her. And I’m praying that four days of Carafate is enough to heal that ulcer if she has one. Regardless, after day four, we’ll be changing over to slippery elm.

Yesterday she vomited about two hours after her second Carafate dose. I am hoping it was still an acid stomach from an earlier hairball. I had tried to give her a famotidine earlier. But she regurgitated that. I’m hopeful that this morning’s famotidine actually made it in her considering our wrestling match. If it did, that should provide her with twelve hours of relief. And the meal she just pestered me for and got Carafate instead I hope she will be ready for in an hour or two’s time instead. This Carafate is annoying. But hopefully it does its job and we can be done after the four days.

 

[Sevilay28]

Hi! I don't understand what you mean by hairball. So he had a hairball in his stomach before?
We also use pantoprozole instead of famodin, I observed that it works better. But I still don't know if she's healed or not. Because she looks letarjic, tired and doing that weird sitting.
COMING TO SULFACRAT, MY CAT ALSO GOT SULFACRAT YESTERDAY AND SHE VOMIT! I don't know if it's drug related or not, but when you said he vomited, it made me think. So I hope it's because of the sulfacrate.
I was inject ing her cerenia every 2 days for the drugs to take effect. So that she doesnt throw up and make things worse.
You're right, it's very, very sad to squirt goddamn sulfacrate in the mouth with a syringe, but same result happened when I give it the pill form.
So what I'm going to say is, I hope she's throwing up because of this sulfacrate so we can continue the treatment.

As for the food, she was eating another gastrointestinal food before, she was sniffing it and go but it seems like she likes hills i/d.

 

[Sevilay28]

My specialist feline doctor says it takes at least 14 days for the stomach to heal. Will 4 days of sulfacrate be enough? I hope it's enough. It's an effective drug. I wonder if there is no equivalent, the one who doesnt make her vomit?
Also, does his vomit smell? My cat's smells very bad. And strange sounds are coming from his stomach.

 

[daftcat75]

I don’t know if Betty’s gastritis is an ulcer or irritation from a foreign body she ate (I saw a tiny rubber band in a spit up pile last month.) But it does seem that when she has a hairball, it’s an all day affair. The hairball comes up easy enough. But her stomach keeps spitting up for hours and hours after.

The Carafate is not so bad. As long as the medicine isn’t something potentially harmful to me like my last cat’s chemo, I do taste my cat’s medicine to know what I’m inflicting on her. The Carafate is tasteless. That’s more than I can say for the famotidine. The famotidine is extremely bitter. The Carafate is just annoying because it inserts three to four hour intervals in the schedule where I can’t let my nibbler nibble. But then the goal is to heal the ulcer and control the acid so that my nibbler becomes a gobbler. My hope is that I can get her off all day nibbling onto scheduled feeding by eliminating the acid and nausea that’s been limiting her to nibbling all this time. In the meantime, I have also been supplementing her food with a probiotic and digestive enzymes to help reduce and possibly eliminate the hairballs.

 

[Sevilay28]

What do you mean by nibbling? What is he nibbling

 

[daftcat75]

My specialist feline doctor says it takes at least 14 days for the stomach to heal. Will 4 days of sulfacrate be enough? I hope it's enough. It's an effective drug. I wonder if there is no equivalent, the one who doesnt make her vomit?
Also, does his vomit smell? My cat's smells very bad. And strange sounds are coming from his stomach.

I have extra Carafate if we need to do this again or for longer. But I’m following doctor’s instructions this time. We don’t have an official diagnosis of an ulcer. For that, we would need an endoscopy. And I’m not paying for one of those until I’ve at least tried the doctor’s instructions.

The verdict is still out for how she does with Carafate. She took a 2 pm dose yesterday without any vomiting. But I think her acid stomach from an earlier hairball caused her to throw up her evening dose and the dinner she had two hours after. It’s been almost an hour and a half since her 8am dose and so far so good. But she’s been napping most of this time. Let’s see how she feels when she wakes up.

Slippery elm is an alternative to Carafate. It is better tolerated by a lot of cats who vomit with Carafate. It still coats the stomach and gut and thus it still requires that buffer time before and after medications. You can include it with food though.