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- Aug 24, 2018
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Murphy has reduced appetite that has gotten worse over the course of a year. He vomits clear or sometimes beige liquid when he goes too long without eating. If he is free fed and willing to eat, there is no vomiting. He has diarrhea that I think is triggered by dry food. If he does not get dry food, there is no diarrhea (but since he’s fussier with wet foods he currently does get about 30-40% dry food in his diet.)
He had an ultrasound that was 100% textbook normal - no signs of thickening/inflammation of the stomach/intestines, no tumors, etc.
But my formerly eats-anything boy spent the last year becoming a very fussy eater, lost 1.5 pounds in four months (his weight was already trending downward before that), and feels like a skeleton with a fur covering - SOMETHING is making him sick.
Other details:
I’m worried all the focus on food sensitivities and potential IBD treatments like the steroid he will be starting on soon might lead to missing something else if the problem is not IBD (especially since the ultrasound did not show signs of IBD - I’m not sure how common it is to have IBD but look normal on ultrasound).
What else besides IBD might produce symptoms like this?
He had an ultrasound that was 100% textbook normal - no signs of thickening/inflammation of the stomach/intestines, no tumors, etc.
But my formerly eats-anything boy spent the last year becoming a very fussy eater, lost 1.5 pounds in four months (his weight was already trending downward before that), and feels like a skeleton with a fur covering - SOMETHING is making him sick.
Other details:
- He is around 10 years old
- I think it might be painful or uncomfortable for him if I pick him up by putting my hand under his abdomen to support his weight, but it’s hard to tell for sure
- He has had two dentals in the past year since that was the first suspicion, his teeth are in good shape
- He has asthma, treated with a fluticasone steroid inhaler, plus albuterol when he has an attack. There haven’t been any changes in his asthma symptoms and his attacks haven’t increased.
- Sometimes he acts hungry like he wants to eat and will sniff food, approach the bowl from several angles to sniff and occasionally even open his mouth like he’s going to take a bite, but then not eat. And then continue begging for food even though there’s already a food he likes in his bowl. Other times he just has no interest in food at all.
- We use a wide low-sided bowl to avoid any potential whisker issues
- Despite obsessive observation of his food intake, I can find no correlation between what he’s been eating and when he feels good/bad. He is more likely to have low energy/hiding when his food intake is low.
I’m worried all the focus on food sensitivities and potential IBD treatments like the steroid he will be starting on soon might lead to missing something else if the problem is not IBD (especially since the ultrasound did not show signs of IBD - I’m not sure how common it is to have IBD but look normal on ultrasound).
What else besides IBD might produce symptoms like this?
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