Diarrhea, vomit, decreased appetite

writingislove

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Three days ago my cat Orville refused his dinner after being inactive all day, and I took him to the ER yesterday after the diarrhea and vomiting started on day #2. They did a full blood panel and she said it all looked great (although his “PLT” and “EOS” values were flagged as low on the print-out, but she didn’t mention those). They sent a urinalysis off but we won’t hear back for a couple of days. In the meantime, they have him fluids and sent him home with antibiotics. They advised to do an ultrasound in two days if he hasn’t improved. They weren’t worried about a blockage based on their exam of his belly, plus Orville is 11 and he’s never been one to eat anything but his food.

This morning he’s still not himself and I’m TERRIFIED because in December I very suddenly lost my other cat to an intussusception that started with these exact same symptoms. I’m still traumatized by it all and unable to process the fact that a hundred things could be making Orville unwell. So my question is, if it IS just gastroenteritis without a serious cause, could it take a few days for him to bounce back to his normal self? Does anyone have any stories they can share where it took a few days but your kitty was eventually okay?
 

fionasmom

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It is possible that if this is simple gastroenteritis that it will resolve itself with what you have done. However, that remains the big question, as you know. The ER recommended an ultrasound if there was no improvement and I would go forward with that since he is not better and you have reached their suggested time limit.

The fact that he is not eating, for a few days now, could become serious, leaving you with something else to try to handle. I would call the ER or your own vet, whichever makes more sense, and ask to continue on with treatment and diagnostics.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I HAVE had cats get ill, completely lose their appetites, vomit, have diarrhea and for no reason at all, get well. Of course, I immediately took them to get a check-up, and bloodwork came back normal, was given Hills A/D (because cats supposedly love it (mine don't naturally) and I started force feeding for a couple of days. Then as suddenly as it started, it stopped and everything went back to normal. That was a couple of years ago (before Covid) and it hasn't recurred since. Sometimes they get "bugs" just like people do.

From reading what you wrote, I think you might give it one more day to see what happens, since you were just in the ER yesterday and they said to give it two days. Did you take that to mean today or tomorrow? I guess it really depends on what time you checked him out of there. Did they give him any other meds other than the antibiotic, like anti-nausea meds? Is he still vomiting, or just still not interested in eating. The problem with antibiotics is, they can make them feel really lousy. (AND cause diarrhea :frown: ) I've had other cats who simply couldn't tolerate antibiotics. The "cure" was worse than what ailed them. They would completely stop eating and I honestly thought they were going to die from the side effects of them.
 
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writingislove

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Thought I'd pop in and provide an update. I waited the two days they advised to wait, but on that second day following his urgent care visit, Orville was still not eating or drinking and was still lethargic. Took him in for an ultrasound, it didn't reveal the source of the problem. They sent him home with anti-nausea meds that didn't help. By day #6 he was still throwing up, not eating, not drinking, and started to show neurological symptoms. Off to the ER we went.

He was severely dehydrated and still having diarrhea during his second ultrasound, so they admitted him and gave him IV fluids over 24 hours. They ran bloodwork and did imaging to rule out about a dozen things, but internal medicine got involved and narrowed it down to three possibilities:

1) A bad case of gastroenteritis that dehydrated him so badly he couldn't fight it without hospitalization
2) Inflammatory bowel disease
3) Low-grade gastrointestinal lymphoma

As soon as we got home on day #7, he started eating. He's been eating, drinking, and pooping normally since then so it appears the IV fluids did him a world of good. If this happens again or if his symptoms return over the next couple of days, we'll look more into possibilities 2 & 3 from above.
 

fionasmom

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Thanks for the update! Let's hope it is #1 and that a good recovery is possible. If it were to be one of the other two, both can be managed; keep us posted.
 

daftcat75

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If he's still taking the antibiotics, you may want to re-seed his gut microbiome with a yeast-based probiotic called saccharomyces boulardii.
My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

Because it is yeast based, it won't be killed by the antibiotics. When he's finished with the antibiotics, you will want to re-seed his gut microbiome with a quality probiotic like Proviable. Or one that my current cat and last cat did well with and didn't seem to mind eating despite its appearance (it looks like dirt):
Pet Flora | Cat Probiotics - Vitality Science

You can get it for cheaper in their Finnicky Cat Trial Pack. You can email their customer support if you need assistance in selecting the other samples to try.

You can also ask your vet about Hills A/D recovery food. I would save it for when he stops eating again. Or if you need to mix in supplements or medicine, the A/D is a great hider/chaser food as I learned and put to use from this video.

My Betty takes three pills a day (five if you count the re-packing I do.) She takes ondansetron and famotidine twice a day. Both of these are 1/4 pills that I re-pack into size five (smallest size) gelatin capsules. This makes one of the pills that she takes twice a day. The other pill is a "poop pill": fecal microbiota transplant (FMT). FMT is like super-probiotics. It replenishes your cat's microbiome by competitive exclusion using microbiome samples from carefully screened healthy donor cats.
Restore Cat and Dog Gut Health - AnimalBiome

Betty's getting just a little wise to the pill trick. She normally eats Hills I/D mixed with A/D. I/D is a chunkier food. A/D is extremely lickable. So even with putting the pill on the carpet, Betty was simply licking and flicking the pill away. Put that pill into a chunky food like her stew and she takes up the meat morsels and the pill in one mouthful instead of trying to lick around the pill.
 

stephanietx

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My kitty had gastroenteritis and required a 3-day stay in the vet hospital for fluids and food. He actually wouldn't eat while at the clinic, so we had to bring him home so he would eat and then take him in daily for a couple of days for fluids and a check up. We narrowed down the cause to a food change that disagreed with him. We've learned it takes about 2 weeks for the flare up to start after we've changed or introduced a new food.
 

Sinut

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Three days ago my cat Orville refused his dinner after being inactive all day, and I took him to the ER yesterday after the diarrhea and vomiting started on day #2. They did a full blood panel and she said it all looked great (although his “PLT” and “EOS” values were flagged as low on the print-out, but she didn’t mention those). They sent a urinalysis off but we won’t hear back for a couple of days. In the meantime, they have him fluids and sent him home with antibiotics. They advised to do an ultrasound in two days if he hasn’t improved. They weren’t worried about a blockage based on their exam of his belly, plus Orville is 11 and he’s never been one to eat anything but his food.

This morning he’s still not himself and I’m TERRIFIED because in December I very suddenly lost my other cat to an intussusception that started with these exact same symptoms. I’m still traumatized by it all and unable to process the fact that a hundred things could be making Orville unwell. So my question is, if it IS just gastroenteritis without a serious cause, could it take a few days for him to bounce back to his normal self? Does anyone have any stories they can share where it took a few days but your kitty was eventually okay?
Hi,
My cat recovered from gastroenteritis quickly after the rehydration process. I think, your cat will recover within 24 to 48 hours.
 
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