HELP - Lethargic, yowling cat, tests all normal.

leandra

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My 5 year old Siamese cat has been acting strange lately, and despite the multitude of tests we have taken him in for, nothing seems to be showing anything wrong, and I am getting more worried by the day.

About 2 weeks ago he began to act strange - lethargic, glassy eyes, mostly stopped eating and drinking. This lasted about 3 days. I was away at the time and when I returned home my mum told me how sick he had been. He usually gets up to greet me every time I return home and he did with much less enthusiasm. He is normally very vocal, but not chatting to me. He responded a bit when I brought out his favorite toy, but much less than normal - he's usually quite high energy.

About 8 hrs later at 6:30am, he woke my mum up purring licking her face - as if to say he was feeling better. The next couple days he seemed to get back to normal slowly, but on about day 4 he still seemed really off. He is extremely lethargic, and sometimes just randomly yowls. He seems like he is unhappy about something but he doesn't know what.

Meanwhile, we have had him in and out of the vets, they did urine testing and blood work, only very slight elevation of kidney levels showed up, but the vet says that doesn't correlate with his symptoms, and may have been slightly off due to being dehydrated.

He is eating, with encouragement, drinking a lot, urinating, and has at least one BM that I know of. His temperature was normal.

We don't want to put him through more tests when nothing seems to be showing up, but we are getting more and more worried by the day when he doesn't seem to be improving. This is a cat who normally is very active and constantly looking for action and attention. We just want our little guy back.

Can anyone help? Anyone with a similar issue? Anything would be so appreciated. Thanks everyone :)
 

denice

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The number one thing that I can think of that can make a cat sick with a decreased or complete lack of appetite and normal labs is IBD.  IBD doesn't necessarily include diarrhea, my kitty actually has the opposite problem with flares.  IBD will sometimes show up on an ultrasound but not always.  You could ask your vet about the possibility.  Many vets use a steroid trial as a diagnostic for IBD.  If there is a marked improvement with the steroid than it is probably IBD.  IBD does also have the characteristic of waxing and waning like your kitty seems to have.
 
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leandra

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Thanks Denise - the vet had suggested we could do an ultrasound but didn't think it would show much so we opted to not put him through it. What do you mean your kitty had the opposite with flares of IBD? He/she got diarrhea or did not get it? Our little guy doesn't have diarrhea, but my mum doesn't seem to think he's having BM's lately either, so he might be constipated, or getting there.
 

cprcheetah

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you might want to ask your vet about having a test for Pancreatitis done.  My cat DeeJay was showing similar symptoms and her bloodwork came back pretty much normal, we sent off a blood sample to Texas University for the Pancreatitis test (http://vetmed.tamu.edu/gilab/research/pancreatitis-information)  and it came back high.  She has chronic pancreatitis.  We treated it accordingly and she is back to being her normal self.  Something is causing you cat pain and discomfort. 
 
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scarlett 001

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Probably not the case but did the vet check his mouth thoroughly? The vet probably did but thought that I would mention it as this is on my mind tonight - as one of my kitties has not been eating as well the past week, and when I tried to look in his mouth tonight he got quite reactive, so I think he has another resorptive lesion and needs dental surgery (he has had them before).  Resorptive lesions (you can google this) can certainly make a cat lose his/her appetite as they are very painful. Your kitty is at the lower end age-wise for this, but it could be possible. But Siamese cats are quite prone to them (my cats with resorptive lesions are Siamese x).

My cat will "eat with encouragement" similar to your cat, but I think he is just eating what he needs to get by as it does hurt.
 
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leandra

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you might want to ask your vet about having a test for Pancreatitis done.  My cat DeeJay was showing similar symptoms and her bloodwork came back pretty much normal, we sent off a blood sample to Texas University for the Pancreatitis test (http://vetmed.tamu.edu/gilab/research/pancreatitis-information)  and it came back high.  She has chronic pancreatitis.  We treated it accordingly and she is back to being her normal self.  Something is causing you cat pain and discomfort. 
Thank you cprcheetah :) We did have him tested for pancreatitis and it came back negative. I asked one of those online vets about this situation and he has suggested thyroid so we will have that tested (although he doesn't have all the symptoms - I don't think it's it) just in case. Thanks again for the feedback :)
 
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leandra

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Probably not the case but did the vet check his mouth thoroughly? The vet probably did but thought that I would mention it as this is on my mind tonight - as one of my kitties has not been eating as well the past week, and when I tried to look in his mouth tonight he got quite reactive, so I think he has another resorptive lesion and needs dental surgery (he has had them before).  Resorptive lesions (you can google this) can certainly make a cat lose his/her appetite as they are very painful. Your kitty is at the lower end age-wise for this, but it could be possible. But Siamese cats are quite prone to them (my cats with resorptive lesions are Siamese x).

My cat will "eat with encouragement" similar to your cat, but I think he is just eating what he needs to get by as it does hurt.
Thanks Scarlett - we did at one point think it was that as the vet found two tiny red dots on his gums, my mum got him some oragel to see if it made it go away but it didn't seem to make much difference and she says he is not seeming to have a sore mouth at all. (In the past he has had mouth issues and freaked when his baby teeth were falling out - pawing at his mouth etc etc) I'm sure he would be doing that if it was mouth related. I think this is something systemic, deeper in his system. Thank you SO much for taking the time to write back. :):):)
 

denice

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My kitty always had constipation when he had flares.  I think that is why it took so long to to find a vet that would treat as IBD.  The way she explained it to me the thickening of the walls of the digestive system causes motility problems which then causes the constipation.  He seems very young for thyroid issues but anything is possible.  Unfortunately IBD is usually a diagnosis of exclusion, rule all other possibilities then it has to be IBD.  
 
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