Post-Hospitalization Questions

[stephanietx]

My cat, Tumbles (6yo, neutered) threw up all day Friday.  Took him to the vet Saturday and after x-rays, urinalysis, a cerenia shot, and fluids, the vet diagnosed him with gastroenteritis.  Sent us home with food, an antibiotic, fluids, and something to settle his tummy.  He refused to eat the rest of the day on Sat and all day Sunday. 

We took him to a different vet on Monday and they kept him until today.  Sent the x-rays off to the radiologist to double check for blockage and none found.  Radiologist agreed that it's gastroenteritis.  Another UA showed no crystals, but blood work Started him on fluids.  No vomiting, but not eating.  Yesterday (Tues), they gave him an enema and he finally had a bowel movement.  Still not eating. 

Today, I talked to the vet.  Tumbles was so scared and freaked out at the vet's that he was cowering in his litter box and wouldn't eat.  They gave him an appetite stimulant and he ate about 1/3 of a can of SD a/d.  Thinking he would do better at home, we've brought him home for the night.  So far all he's done is drink a lot of water and rest.  Hasn't eaten anything we've offered him. Not his dry food, not his wet food, not the SD a/d that is like kitty crack.  The vet didn't want to give us an appetite stimulant because he wanted to see if Tumbles would start eating on his own tonight at home.

One issue is that we have 4 cats.  One is hissing, growling, and swatting at him.  One is hiding and afraid of him.  The other one is ambivalent.  It's a tense situation.  I have Feliway running and I've sprayed the house with another calming agent.  I've also added it to their water. 

He has not eaten since last Thursday and he NEEDS to eat.  My questions are:

1. Is it normal to drink a lot of water in this situation?  (His blood work today showed everything was good.)

2. Should he start eating once he's comfortable and our home calms down and gets used to having him here again?

3.  Any other ideas or suggestions? 

He has to go back to the vet tomorrow because he has a catheter still in his leg.  If he eats, they said he can get it removed and we bring him back home. If he doesn't eat, he'll have to stay again. 

I'm desperate and looking for help. I've never had a kitty in this situation before.

 

[ruthm]

Sorry to her Tumbles still isn't much better:-(   I would try to keep Tumbles separated from the other cats; they may be sensing he isn't well, plus, he came home smelling like the vet, so the others may continue to attack him. What did your vet use- Mirtazapine or cyproheptadine? 

How is Tumbles reacting when you place food down? Is he looking interested at all? Or is he sniffing and walking away?  I still wonder if he isn't nauseated and something like Ondansetron/zofran might help him. I wouldn't give an appetite stimulant without something for nausea though.  My kitties did so much better with cyproheptadine, when needed.  My kitten Buster had a really strong vocal reaction to mirtazapine, so now I have notes on both kitties files, no mirtz, only zofran and cerenia and cypro.

I hope the situation changes, but if not, I would consider an E-tube.

 

[cat nap]

[thread="327964"]Post Hospitalization Questions#post_4120936  [/thread]
@stephanietx...  I would agree with 'RuthM'...at this point I would talk to your vet about placing an E-tube for feeding.

(One of the other members on this site, mentioned the costs, and I was surprised at how reasonable it seemed, and it made it much more easier than trying to syringe feed.

Her costs were in the range of $140-200 US dollars, which surprised me, since I had thought that it would have been high hundreds to thousands.)

Tumbles sounds like he really fears the vet's place, so I'd think he would recover quicker at home.

As to your questions:

1. He might be drinking a lot of water due to the meds he is on, plus it might be soothing to his sensitive stomach.

2. I don't think his lack of eating has anything to do with the other cats, but like Ruth mentioned, the one that hisses might just be picking up that Tumbles is sick, and also hates the vet smells.

3. I don't know how gastroenteritis is diagnosed, but could Tumbles be allergic to one ingredient in his previous food, and that caused him to go off of all food.

Ask your vet if something like Pepcid AC would help, or slippery elm bark, for coating his G.I. tract, if

Probiotics would help if he is still on antibiotics, and if any of the meds would cause inappetence.

Did the vet check all his teeth, sinus cavity?

Have you tried all smelly foods, tuna, chicken baby food (without garlic or onions), or any number of wet foods, and even treats to get him eating again?

I'm not so sure how appetizing the A/D food is, it has all the nutrients, but who knows how it tastes to cats,...so maybe there are others that your Tumbles would prefer.

(If he only prefers dry, then ask for dry sample bags, some vets will have these, and some pet stores, too.)

I really hope that Tumbles gets back to his regular self and heals quick.

Sending you mega healing vibes.

 

Update us, when you can, on how things go today, with Tumbles.

 

[stephanietx]

Thank you both for answering.  We went back to the vet today and they removed his catheter.  Yay!  He is so much less stressed now and the stress level in our house is decreasing.  He ate less than a half a 5.5 oz can of a/d around lunch time today, then followed that up with about half his normal serving size of crunchies, so he's starting to settle down and eat.  He also ate a small serving of food last night, but I honestly think he was just stressed out and exhausted. 

We put our older cat who was hissing, growling, and trying attack him in kitty jail last night (very large dog crate) just so we could all get some rest and chill out.  These two have always had a tenuous relationship at best.  The are both dominant kitties and my older kitty would prefer to be the only cat in the house.  This is exactly how she (the older one) acted when we brought Tumbles into our home 6 years ago. 

The vet still doesn't want us to give him an appetite stimulant since he is starting to eat.  He says the drinking is because he's eliminating more and has the loose stools.  If he gets dehydrated, we do have supplies to give him fluids at home.  The vet also said that all of these behaviors are pretty much what you see with gastroenteritis.  He said that once he starts eating, most of that should calm down.  We're supposed to feed him Science Diet i/d for a few days until his poops have firmed up, then we can go back to his regular food.

 

[cat nap]

What a fantastic update! Yay! Way to go, Tumbles.

He's eating again. 

His system is probably slowly feeling better, and of course, he's happy to be home, so less stressed.

I think it's good that your vet is holding off the appetite stimulant, since adding more meds might just cause more side effects, and since Tumbles is starting to eat on his own, that must be a good sign.

I kind of smiled at the part about the 'kitty jail', but only because I think it's a great idea for misbehaving cats.

(I have to remember the 'dog crate jail' for cats, in the future...if any of my fur crew misbehaves.)

Your older kitty just sounds like a tough female cat, who has to tell the younger males off, especially when one of them does not want to eat, and comes home smelling like antiseptic vet place.

Sure, a mama cat would probably lick and encourage her young ones to eat, in a more gentle fashion, but I guess your older kitty has no time for being gentle and licking Tumbles...so swiping, hissing and growling gets more to the point. Hopefully, the stint in kitty jail calms her down a bit.

Actually, all jokes aside, I think that our cats do pick up when one of them is not feeling well, and it's probably just a defence mechanism, to make sure they don't get sick, too.

Sending more health vibes that Tumbles continues to improve, and that the rest of your fur gang behave. 

 

 

[stephanietx]

Thank you @cat nap.  My older kitty, Hannah, would prefer being the only kitty.  When he's not here, she's the top cat, soooooo..... Now that he's back, it's a different story because Tumbles is really the dominant kitty.  Tumbles continues to eat.  He's had 2 more servings since earlier.  He's drinking less water now and he's not visiting the litter box quite as often.  Just need to get his poops firmed up and things will be good.

 

[cat nap]

@stephanietx....I just hope that Hannah decides that kitty jail is not worth it. 

 

 

 

  After 6 years you'd think that they'd be easy on one another.

But since she is older, Tumbles has to acknowledge that fact, too,...and show some respect for his elders, or at least walk carefully around her.

So does Hannah, preferring to be the only kitty, hassle the other cats, too?

Or I guess it's just that having 'top cat status' means everything.

Hey, it sounds really good that Tumbles is eating more. Hopefully, that i/d food will firm up his poops.

But really it will be good when he's back to eating what he normally does.

May each day continue to get better.

 

[stephanietx]

Hannah is usually the one getting picked on. She's 12 and she's got some chronic health conditions.  We'll get it all worked out.  Just need lots of patience and time. 

 

[posiepurrs]

One of my old girls does this about every couple of years. The vet has never found the reason. She just throws up, has loose stools and stops eating - all tests are normal.  I usually have to syringe feed her for about a week. I offer her really STINKY food from time to time and sooner or later she will eat. I do keep the stimulate on hand but have only had to use it once.

We did have an instance a few years ago where I bought some bad food. It was a nightmare! I had all the cats vomiting, 2 ended up at the vets because I was having to syringe feed them. Vet diagnosed it to be food related, I contacted the company and they paid the vet bills. You may want to talk to your vet about the food.

 

[stephanietx]

I have 4 cats and he's the only one who's had an issue, so I'm pretty sure it's not a case of bad food.  He has always had a sensitive tummy, though and we're always careful when introducing new foods.  Usually he gets diarrhea, but this time it presented differently.  We generally don't rotate foods for this reason.  We wouldn't even be looking for a new food if the manufacturer of his old food hadn't ceased production.