- Joined
- Aug 3, 2018
- Messages
- 68
- Purraise
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A few weeks ago my kitty started throwing up horribly. She's an outside kitty (in a fenced yard with my chickens, dog, and other cats; no other animals can get in) so I don't know if she had been throwing up before and I just didn't know it, but when this started it was bad. I brought her inside and put her in the bathroom (she is not reliable with a litterbox) with food w/ forti-flora and water. She didn't want either, just started getting weaker, throwing up bloody watery stuff, and I popped her in a carrier and zipped her to the emergency vet. (it was late evening on a Friday) About a thousand dollars later, I found out that it wasn't pancreatitis, she didn't have a blockage, and although her white count was a little high and her intestines were a little inflamed, there was nothing obviously wrong with her. They said possibly GERD or IBS and gave me cerenia for nausea and sent me home with direction to see her regular vet if she didn't bounce right back. Well, she didn't bounce right back, so after syringe feeding her bone broth with chicken pureed in it all weekend (bc I had a kitten with digestive issues a long time ago and the vet threw up her hands after giving him everything under the sun, so I syringed him with bone broth for a few weeks, and he recovered and she got worse every time I tried to give her canned food in water) I brought her to the regular vet. 1500$ more in testing and 3 days of hospitalization later, I learn that she probably has GERD or IBS (sigh) and they sent her home with metronidizole (SP?) and amoxicillin and prednisolone and sucraflate for stomach upset and mirtazipine to stimulate appetite. It's been a week, and every time I try to give her any store-bought cat food (including the RX stuff the vet sent home, and even the latest stuff I got at chewy that's literally just meat and vitamins plus rice) she gets sick again. So I've been giving her home-made bone broth with the meat from the chicken diced up in - which she happily eats and is putting weight back on after losing so much when she wasn't eating for so long. I was also supposed to start weaning her off the prednisone today but when I didn't give her the AM dose she started going downhill again so I called the vet and they said go ahead and give the dose since kitty is coming back in tomorrow for a follow-up anyway. She perke right bck up in few hours but the vet is reluctant to keep her on prednisolone for more than a week without weaning her off. But I was reading that cats with IBS are sometimes on these meds for months. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be SUPER grateful, including anything to ask the vet while I'm in there, bc I don't know even what to say. Both the ER vet and the regular vet said 'GERD or IBS' but they hinted 'cancer' and said an ultrasound would be needed to see more clearly - and I read online that a biopsy would be necessary to know for sure anything- but I'm more of a mind to say 'hey, just give me enough pred. to last a few months, and every few weeks I try to skip a dose and see what happens.' I have an autoimmune condition and there was a YEAR when I literally couldn't get out of bed without prednisone every AM. Anyway, I was hoping someone here with an IBS kitty or a GERD kitty or anything could give me some ideas. Right now her symptoms are "I am a happy playful and energetic kitty as long as I get homemade bone broth with homecooked chicken, tilapia or turkey diced in three times a day and my prednisone am and pm but if I get canned food of any kind, I get lethargic and lose my appetite, same if I miss a dose of prednisone." She is eating and drinking and pooping and urinating just fine - and happy as anything... as long as she is eating very simple bone broth and diced meat, and getting her 2x a day prednisolone. Sorry for the ramble, I'm at a loss I guess. Thanks in advance!!!