Hi- I recently posted for the first time over in the Cat Nutrition forum. I have a senior cat (almost 17 y/o) with some health issues. He was diagnosed with CKD about 5 years ago. We’ve checked his values yearly every since (most recently in April 2021) and they’ve stayed only slightly elevated and haven’t got much worse. However, over the last 10 months he has significantly dropped weight (from 8.5 lbs to 4 lbs), constantly throwing up, and soft stool since September 2020. We’ve been in and out of the vet since then and here is an overview of what we do/have tried...
- 50mL of Lactated Ringers (Sub-q fluids) 2x per week to help with dehydration
- Tried 2 rounds of Metronidazole with no luck
- Completed 1 round of Prednisolone (Steroids) with no luck when the vet started thinking IBD...no change
- Had Thyroid tested...everything looked fine
- Tried a few different foods the vet has recommended...no luck with weight gain. Always been eating normal amount but not gaining weight.
The vet wants to do an abdominal ultrasound to check for intestinal wall thickening/GI lymphoma and from there put him on a stronger dose of pred. My post in Nutrition was in hopes that me taking changes in his diet in my own hands might help. So I took him off dry food completely and started introducing Rawz Duck flavor wet food into his current k/d wet food. Well after only 36 hours and not even fully being on Rawz, he seems terrible. Before everything bad was physical (weight loss, etc) but he was still great and acting the same. Now he’s down a few ounces (3.11 lbs), so lethargic, and just hangs his head. He’s also having terrible bathroom issues. He’s always been bad with every once in a while about peeing in the dog bed because the CKD (been looked at a few times and never diagnosed with UTI...the vets always come to the conclusion he’s just being a brat) but the last 36 hours he’s peed everywhere. Today alone he peed on my pillow while I was sleeping, on the dog bed, and in the toy bin. And these are the times I didn’t catch him in time. There were several other times I scooped him quickly and took him to one of the litter pans. The one good news is his poops seemed to start taking a more solid form...but he was obviously struggling going. I several times some him straining to go...sometimes leaving nothing and sometimes just something small. Once 36 hours hit and he seemed so off, I brought back out his normal dry food. But he is still so off tonight.
I really have no idea if this all is just a huge coincidence that his decline lined up with the diet change. Or if the diet change is the reason. Can a diet change like the change from wet/dry combo to wet food only with a new wet food being introduced cause constipation and frequent inappropriate urination? Or does this time sound like it could be something more (eg UTI, IBD flare up) instead of “him being a brat” like it’s been in the past? Looking for any input and advice. Of course it’s the weekend too so my vet doesn’t open back up until Monday for me to get him checked out. And lastly, does another round of stronger pred for a cat with the issues I mentioned above make sense? I see so many mixed reviews on this site. Thanks for letting me ramble- sincerely from a stressed cat owner.
- 50mL of Lactated Ringers (Sub-q fluids) 2x per week to help with dehydration
- Tried 2 rounds of Metronidazole with no luck
- Completed 1 round of Prednisolone (Steroids) with no luck when the vet started thinking IBD...no change
- Had Thyroid tested...everything looked fine
- Tried a few different foods the vet has recommended...no luck with weight gain. Always been eating normal amount but not gaining weight.
The vet wants to do an abdominal ultrasound to check for intestinal wall thickening/GI lymphoma and from there put him on a stronger dose of pred. My post in Nutrition was in hopes that me taking changes in his diet in my own hands might help. So I took him off dry food completely and started introducing Rawz Duck flavor wet food into his current k/d wet food. Well after only 36 hours and not even fully being on Rawz, he seems terrible. Before everything bad was physical (weight loss, etc) but he was still great and acting the same. Now he’s down a few ounces (3.11 lbs), so lethargic, and just hangs his head. He’s also having terrible bathroom issues. He’s always been bad with every once in a while about peeing in the dog bed because the CKD (been looked at a few times and never diagnosed with UTI...the vets always come to the conclusion he’s just being a brat) but the last 36 hours he’s peed everywhere. Today alone he peed on my pillow while I was sleeping, on the dog bed, and in the toy bin. And these are the times I didn’t catch him in time. There were several other times I scooped him quickly and took him to one of the litter pans. The one good news is his poops seemed to start taking a more solid form...but he was obviously struggling going. I several times some him straining to go...sometimes leaving nothing and sometimes just something small. Once 36 hours hit and he seemed so off, I brought back out his normal dry food. But he is still so off tonight.
I really have no idea if this all is just a huge coincidence that his decline lined up with the diet change. Or if the diet change is the reason. Can a diet change like the change from wet/dry combo to wet food only with a new wet food being introduced cause constipation and frequent inappropriate urination? Or does this time sound like it could be something more (eg UTI, IBD flare up) instead of “him being a brat” like it’s been in the past? Looking for any input and advice. Of course it’s the weekend too so my vet doesn’t open back up until Monday for me to get him checked out. And lastly, does another round of stronger pred for a cat with the issues I mentioned above make sense? I see so many mixed reviews on this site. Thanks for letting me ramble- sincerely from a stressed cat owner.