Hairball blockage?

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Sonatine

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A small and slightly puzzling update. Amelia is doing pretty good overall. Sometimes she's still nauseous and it seems to be worse late in the evenings, but she's eating and using the box, and nothing seems amiss there. She eats a little more slowly but is persistent. It's clear she wants to eat.

She's still making the hairball cough though. And a few times, it's been productive; she's gacked up some stringy, slimy mucus. The most recent time was immediately after she'd eaten. In spite of this, she didn't actually appear to vomit up any of her food, just hacked up this gross mucus.

... This is gonna sound weird, but I collected a sample and stuck it in my fridge in case the vet wants to see it. I'm still debating whether or not it's weird enough to tell them about.
 

Mamanyt1953

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When in doubt, TELL THE VET! That's my rule of thumb. I also keep a notebook...well, two of them, one for me, one for Hekitty, that I write down questions for our respective Dr.s in, with enough space between the questions for me to take notes on the answers. It might help.
 

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Not weird to collect it at all! (I have a lot of cat poop photos on my phone currently...) I agree - you might want to ask the vet about it. I'm so sorry your Amelia is going through this but I am glad to hear she seems to be doing a bit better!

I'm going through something similar with my nearly 16-year old. Short veresion is basically she had lack of appetite and lethargy. All her blood tests were normal, her x-ray showed abnormal gas and her ultrasound was normal. She just went in for constipation and an enema and they think she has stasis or ileus, basically her digestive system isn't moving properly. I don't totally understand it or why it would happen and the vet said they couldn't say, either. She's on Cisapride now to help with that.

I am here in solidarity and for support that Amelia will recover and you will maybe get some answers! Is she on any meds right now?
 
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Sonatine

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She was eating so well, then refused her dinner this evening. She tried to eat when I came home from work but threw up a bit. I finally had some luck getting her ondansetron into her... Took a proper syringe from work (I work in a hospital) and used that after I'd crushed and dissolved the pill, and I think it worked. Poor thing was drooling from it. Must taste awful. I'll see if I can pick up some canned tuna to disguise the taste a bit.

She turned up her nose at her wet food, though. Could be that she's not feeling like eating the same stuff she's been throwing up. I offered her some kitten kibble I had sitting around and she inhaled it like it was mana straight from the gods, and hasn't thrown it up.

A friend of mine who's in vet school thinks it might be IBS. I'm not wholly convinced, mainly due to the sudden presentation and the fact that her ultrasound didn't really show anything suggestive of IBS, but at this point I don't really have much to go off of either way.
 

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So sorry to hear about your ongoing issues.. it is so frustrating..

One thing I used was Gel Caps for the meds, and a pill gun. I would put the pill in an empty capsule, and use the pill gun to dispense it. I found this so much easier. This way, your kitty does not taste the pill.. some of these meds are awful tasting.. very bitter.

I used a feeding syringe, non luer lock, to use some water as a chaser--- to help swallow the capsule.
You can get them on Amazon. I used to have a link to a capsule site, but...

Good luck..

I thought we had a good streak going with Geoffrey, but one day without brushing, and he vomited a bit of fur.. so frustrating..
 
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Sonatine

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We still don't know what is (was?) wrong, but Millie's doing pretty good. I spoke with the vet and he seemed to think that her mucus/cough could be related to esophagitis (in this case, irritation from all the acid reflux and gagging from before), or possibly a URI secondary to stress. But since she seems to still be improving otherwise, we're still just watching and waiting.

Amelia has decided that she doesn't want any wet food, not even canned salmon, since she was sick. She will only accept dry (I don't usually even feed her dry food, but she's always liked it and I had some onhand for the kitten). For now, I figure it's best to just feed her what she wants to eat, and I can try to renegotiate the wet food later. I do have some turkey babyfood that I'll offer to her. Maybe that will remind her that not all soft foods will either be full of meds or remind her of the taste of her own sick.
 

artiemom

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I am glad to hear that things are going a bit better; despite not having an answer.

I can emphathise.
Geoffrey has still been periodically vomiting hair balls. Still no reason for it. He is playing, drinking water, and eating. As you are going through: he is preferring the dry food over the wet.

The internist feels that he is well enough not to have him come in for imaging testing. We keep making a weekly appointment, and reschedule to the following week. Eventually, I will take him in, to be seen. Right now it is not urgent enough to stress him out with appointments.

I am brushing him daily, giving laxatone daily.
It is so frustrating. His stools are normal — just the hair balls.
 
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Sonatine

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Not much to say except that Millie is continuing to recover. She at least considered playing with her (annoying) sister cat, and is able to purr more easily. She also makes biscuits on me to let me know it's breakfast time. Not quite as energetic as before but getting closer.

She still only wants the dry kibble, and I'm worried that pushing wet food too hard too soon might put her off it even more. Side note: when I opened up a can of American Journey (just got some for the first time right before all of her issues, though I hadn't actually fed her any until after all of this started) she actually gagged from halfway across the kitchen. Guess that's what happens when you try to hide meds in it only to shove it down her throat anyway. The kitten's been having diarrhea too after eating it, so now I'm down to one cat who can eat that whole box I have left. I'll try and pick up some fancy feast for Millie. She usually likes it and maybe I can tempt her back to wet food with it.
 

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A small and slightly puzzling update. Amelia is doing pretty good overall. Sometimes she's still nauseous and it seems to be worse late in the evenings, but she's eating and using the box, and nothing seems amiss there. She eats a little more slowly but is persistent. It's clear she wants to eat.

She's still making the hairball cough though. And a few times, it's been productive; she's gacked up some stringy, slimy mucus. The most recent time was immediately after she'd eaten. In spite of this, she didn't actually appear to vomit up any of her food, just hacked up this gross mucus.

... This is gonna sound weird, but I collected a sample and stuck it in my fridge in case the vet wants to see it. I'm still debating whether or not it's weird enough to tell them about.
My cat Maggie has a similar problem. She throws up spit and fur before eating her first meal. She is fed 3x a day. I have started giving her hairball Remedy by Petlab Co. Expensive but so far it's working. The first ingredient is soy bean oil which is actually very good for cats
 

tarasgirl06

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I am glad to hear that things are going a bit better; despite not having an answer.

I can emphathise.
Geoffrey has still been periodically vomiting hair balls. Still no reason for it. He is playing, drinking water, and eating. As you are going through: he is preferring the dry food over the wet.

The internist feels that he is well enough not to have him come in for imaging testing. We keep making a weekly appointment, and reschedule to the following week. Eventually, I will take him in, to be seen. Right now it is not urgent enough to stress him out with appointments.

I am brushing him daily, giving laxatone daily.
It is so frustrating. His stools are normal — just the hair balls.
*Thanks for the hugs!* And yes, it's summer time, and no matter how much we brush, and no matter the fact that our cats have short coats, *furballs happen* :insertevillaugh:
 
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