My 9 year old cat, kitty, has been having some sort of illness for about 8 weeks ago. Over the course of a weekend at that time, she vomitted about 6 times. I took her to the vet where they did senior panel bloodwork, physical exam, and xrays. The "diagnosis" was gastritis. She did have slightly elevated pancreatic and liver enzymes, but everything else was fine. We gave her the 10 day course of amoxicillin recommended by the vet and for the most part, she stopped vomitting (the frequency went down to about once every 7-10 days.) It has now been about two weeks since she last vomitted, which is good, but she isn't eating very much and is becoming very skinny (I think she's lost a pound in the last 8 weeks, so she's down to only 8 pounds).
The thing is, she seems hungry and interested in food. I did change her food to Hills z/d (low allergen) about two weeks ago, and stopped giving her treats and dairy (we used to let her have some milk from the ceral bowl.) She seems to like the flavor of the new food (but clearly misses the treats) but it appears she has a hard time chewing. She'll get some in her mouth, then flick it out and shake her head while extending her tongue (I hope that makes sense.) I've noticed that she does this even when she is not eating - so just sitting around she will shake her head while sticking her tongue out, as though something is stuck in her teath or throat.
So part of me suspects a tooth problem. BUT, at the same time, I noticed that in terms of drinking water, she seems to hover over the water bowl, licking the air most of the time and only barely touching the water. She seems like she might be mildly dehydrated. Finally today I just gave up and gave her chunck tuna in water, which she devoured. I didn't want to traumatize her little tummy, so I only gave her about 1/4 of the can and will give her more this evening.
Also, she's had persistent discharge from her eyes - it seems to be a dark brown color. Lastly, she seems withdrawn. I couldn't find her before we left the house today, but my husband finally did - she was wedged between the sofa and end table, someplace we've never seen her.
I've called the vet to see about getting in tomorrow, but in the meantime wanted to know what you all think. We're very worried about her - but she's only 9!!! That's too young for something very serious
Thanks for any thoughts.
Elizabeth
The thing is, she seems hungry and interested in food. I did change her food to Hills z/d (low allergen) about two weeks ago, and stopped giving her treats and dairy (we used to let her have some milk from the ceral bowl.) She seems to like the flavor of the new food (but clearly misses the treats) but it appears she has a hard time chewing. She'll get some in her mouth, then flick it out and shake her head while extending her tongue (I hope that makes sense.) I've noticed that she does this even when she is not eating - so just sitting around she will shake her head while sticking her tongue out, as though something is stuck in her teath or throat.
So part of me suspects a tooth problem. BUT, at the same time, I noticed that in terms of drinking water, she seems to hover over the water bowl, licking the air most of the time and only barely touching the water. She seems like she might be mildly dehydrated. Finally today I just gave up and gave her chunck tuna in water, which she devoured. I didn't want to traumatize her little tummy, so I only gave her about 1/4 of the can and will give her more this evening.
Also, she's had persistent discharge from her eyes - it seems to be a dark brown color. Lastly, she seems withdrawn. I couldn't find her before we left the house today, but my husband finally did - she was wedged between the sofa and end table, someplace we've never seen her.
I've called the vet to see about getting in tomorrow, but in the meantime wanted to know what you all think. We're very worried about her - but she's only 9!!! That's too young for something very serious
Thanks for any thoughts.
Elizabeth