Sick cat baffling the vet

[ceruleankat]

So I realize the internet is not a doctor and all, but I'm hoping someone else has had a cat act like this.

My cat Calli is about 7, longhaired, started out weighing about 9 lbs. About two months ago, I noticed she felt light when I picked her up, and she'd started throwing up a lot - often times it was just bile, or a hairball, but sometimes food as well. That went on for about a week before I could get her into the vet. She'd lost about a pound at that point, and they did all the basic tests and found not much of anything - a couple things that were very slightly outside normal range, but those were things that get elevated when a cat has been throwing up a lot. The next week I ended up taking her in at 3am - she'd been throwing up white foam on and off since 11pm and started trying to hide and wasn't responsive, and I freaked out. They said her body temp was low and her bloodwork that round showed some liver issues, and she'd lost a half a pound. They took xrays and found nothing unusual, and gave me denamarin and metronidazole. The next week I was able to get her in to another vet for an ultrasound, which again, didn't show anything helpful - her liver was a little off and her intestines had a texture to them, but they still dont' know what's going on. I'm waiting to hear back on another set of blood tests still. They gave me an antibiotic, an appetite inducer, and something for her liver. She'd lost another half a pound at that weigh in.

Today I took her in for a weight, and she'd gained 2 ounces, which is a plus, but she's barely eaten or drunk at all today, just a few little mouthfuls and a couple treats. For the most part, the whole time she's been her usual self, active and responsive and trouble making, bringing me her toys and wanting to cuddle. She's stopped grooming entirely, and is matting super quickly now that her fur has gotten very oily - they gave me some laxaton to try on her, and when I tried smearing it on her leg she wandered around for an hour before one of the other cats licked it off for her. Arg!

One of the things that's really thrown me is that she's always been a neat, quick eater of anything you give her, and since a little before I started to notice her loosing weight, I had also noticed that she was being a messy eater - grabbing a piece of dry food, taking it out of the bowl and crunching it in the air, leaving crumbs scattered all around her dish. She was (is) tilting her head oddly when she eats, and sometimes makes a really weird grinding noise when chewing on something. In the last two weeks, she's gotten even weirder about food and will keep going over to the dry food, picking it up, dropping it outside the bowl, and ignoring it. She takes treats about half the time now, instead of always, and when I try wet food, she'll lick it dry but not actually eat anything. She acts like she's hungry and eager for food, but then doesn't seem to be able to eat it. On the plus side, she hasn't thrown up in almost three weeks. The vets did look at her teeth and didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

I'm starting to get to the point of freaking out - I've already spent more money than I can really afford on all these tests, they still don't have any useful clue, and she's not really getting better. Plus, trying to give her five pills a day and a liquid antibiotic is becoming almost impossible, as she hates being pilled and I don't have anyone to help. It's getting to the point where if she even thinks I'm going for the pill bottles, she hides under the bed.

 

[red top rescue]

My friend's cat has had some of the symptoms you describe and when the vet was cleaning his teeth he discovered a very small mass under his tongue that he thought was a cyst.  To be on the safe side he biopsied it, and it turned out to be a nasty kind of carcinoma.  The cat is now on chemotherapy but still has a terrible time eating and makes a real mess of everything.  My friend has to pretty much bathe his front half every 2 days because he drools and has food in the drool and gets it all over himself when he grooms.  I hope this is NOT the problem with your cat, but you might have your vet examine him under anesthesia, especially in the mouth and under the tongue area.  This thing my friend's cat has would never have been seen without the cat being totally out and having his teeth cleaned.  Her cat is 14 years old.  So far, other than the messy eating, he is tolerating the chemo well, but this type of cancer has a pretty bad prognosis.

 

[crimmie]

How frustrating for you...I'm sorry Calli is going through this
I think asking your vet to take a better look inside Calli's mouth is a great idea. Maybe a CT scan or MRI??

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm still wondering about that "texture" that her intestines had.  What's that all about?  Obviously not the normal texture?  But not a mass?  There have been cases of cats with intestinal masses that, oddly enough, EAT the was you describe

.  But I also thought about FORL's, which often aren't even detectable except during a dental, because the signs might be under the gumline. (from what I understand)  But I believe they are very painful and would certainly prevent crunching on dry food. Have you tried giving her any wet food? 

What are the 5 meds you are giving her everyday?  Can you put all 5 together in an empty gelcap and give her only 1 larger "pill" per day, or do they have to be given separately? 

 

[ceruleankat]

@ Red Top Rescue Yeah, I keep going back to thinking it's something with her mouth, because of the oddness in the way she eats. Plus, I’ve had severe teeth problems myself in the past, and that hurts like crazy. I think if nothing else comes back defintively from these blood tests, I’m going to push for a closer mouth exam, maybe xrays.

@ crimmie Unfortunately the cost of a CT scan or a MRI is waaaaay outside my budget.

@ mrsgreenjeens What I udnersttod from what I was told – normally the intestines are more smooth, wheras right now hers have a slightly accordian like texture. They were thinking about the possibility of something like IBS, though they did say it could also be caused by the fact that she had been throwing up so much. No masses though. She's being super weird about food – her regular dry food, she'll eagerly stick her head in the dish and grab a piece or two, but not actually eat them. But kitty treats from a bag or can, with the same dry, hard crunch, she gobbles up. And she won't be fooled by me putting some regular food in a treat bag and trying to give her that – but oddly enough, she aso won't touch the treats if I put them in any sort of bowl or plate. She also eats softer treats fine, but won't touch wet food of any texture – I’ve tried shread, flaked, those gravy packets, pate, pate mixed with water – either she sticks her nose in it and give a lick or two and then wanders off, or sometimes will like all the gravy up and lick the pieces of meat dry, but won't eat them. It's driving me nuts!

The meds she's on are Denimarin, Metronidazole, Cerenia, Veraflox, and Mirtazapine. The Denimarin is supposed to be given on an empty stomach at least an hour before eating. The Mirtazapine is every other day, the Metronidazole twice a day. The Veraflox is a liquid. I have been trying to put two pills together in the pill shooter at once, so they'll both hopefully get in together, but that makes it even worse when she does spit them back up. So, no matter what, she needs to be pilled twice a day, plus a liquid. It doesn't help that most of the pills are half or quarter doses, so they don't slide down very easily even with a little squirt of water. I tried crushing some and adding them to the dose of Veraflox for one go instead of two, and while it sort of worked, now she's even worse about letting me do the plain Veraflox whereas before that, she didn't mind that one. I might try putting some of them in a gel cap though, I hadn't thought of that. How big would it be, though? It's super frustrating because I’m generally good at pilling cats – one of my previous need pills three times a day for a couple months, and while he didn't like it, it was doable – but she's difficult even for the vets to do.

 

[crimmie]

CT scan and MRI would be light years away from my budget too!! We all do the best we can for them...Sending answer vibes!

 

[mewcatmew]

I know this is a simple answer, but since she is a long haired cat have you tried hairball medication? Sometimes hairballs can get stuck in the throat and cause issues like you describe. 

 

[tigerlilly64]

It sounds like you really care about Callie, and have been doing all you can to help her. Cats tell us what's going on with them through behavioral changes, and every fiber of my being is screaming that Callie is saying that there's a problem with her mouth, hence the suddenly messy eating, licking instead of chewing, etc.. You're a great cat mom, because you're paying attention to these details.
I'd bet most of my money that Callie has a dental abscess, cracked tooth, other dental problem, or other significant issue with her mouth that's causing her weight loss because of her dramatic change in eating habits. When it hurts to chew, cats don't eat enough to sustain their bodyweight. While dry food is better for dental health, it's not better for a cat with dental disease. Does Callie eat better when provided wet instead of dry food? If so, 9 times out of 10, that means it's dental. I'd have my vet - or another vet (second look/opinion) - take a very thorough look at Callie's mouth, if I were you.

The intestinal finding may or may not be significant. Sometimes, there are findings that aren't causing problems or indicative of other illness. I wouldn't look at that further until dental issues had been ruled out with a certainty. Good luck! I'm sending healing thoughts and prayers! I know how stressful this is for you and Callie, too.

 

[stephanietx]

My first thought was something going on with her mouth or teeth. That would be my first check.  Then, look at her food.  I had a cat who couldn't tolerate anything that had fish in it.  Eliminating fish from her diet cut out the vomiting and anorexia and she returned to normal eating.  I would also work to switch her to a canned food, if you don't feed her that already, as that's much easier for kitties to eat and digest.  If you can afford it, go grain free.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Originally Posted by ceruleankat  

. I might try putting some of them in a gel cap though, I hadn't thought of that. How big would it be, though?

 IF you want to combine any of her pills with the Denamarin, then the gel cap would need to be at least big enough to put the Denamarin in, along with the other pills.  Those empty gel caps come in all kinds of sizes, so I guess you might just need to go to a pharmacy and check them out.  I know that Denamarin is fairly large, isn't it, and it's not supposed to be split, or crushed, or anything

  The advantage of the gel caps is that they not only had the taste of any of the pills, but they can combine several pills, AND there are then no sharp edges

.  Th disadvantge is that they are a little bigger.  But if you're good at pilling, that should be ok.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

So I realize the internet is not a doctor and all, but I'm hoping someone else has had a cat act like this.

My cat Calli is about 7, longhaired, started out weighing about 9 lbs. About two months ago, I noticed she felt light when I picked her up, and she'd started throwing up a lot - often times it was just bile, or a hairball, but sometimes food as well. That went on for about a week before I could get her into the vet. She'd lost about a pound at that point, and they did all the basic tests and found not much of anything - a couple things that were very slightly outside normal range, but those were things that get elevated when a cat has been throwing up a lot. The next week I ended up taking her in at 3am - she'd been throwing up white foam on and off since 11pm and started trying to hide and wasn't responsive, and I freaked out. ...

One of the things that's really thrown me is that she's always been a neat, quick eater of anything you give her, and since a little before I started to notice her loosing weight, I had also noticed that she was being a messy eater - grabbing a piece of dry food, taking it out of the bowl and crunching it in the air, leaving crumbs scattered all around her dish. She was (is) tilting her head oddly when she eats, and sometimes makes a really weird grinding noise when chewing on something. In the last two weeks, she's gotten even weirder about food and will keep going over to the dry food, picking it up, dropping it outside the bowl, and ignoring it. She takes treats about half the time now, instead of always, and when I try wet food, she'll lick it dry but not actually eat anything. She acts like she's hungry and eager for food, but then doesn't seem to be able to eat it. On the plus side, she hasn't thrown up in almost three weeks. The vets did look at her teeth and didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

I'm starting to get to the point of freaking out - I've already spent more money than I can really afford on all these tests, they still don't have any useful clue, and she's not really getting better. Plus, trying to give her five pills a day and a liquid antibiotic is becoming almost impossible, as she hates being pilled and I don't have anyone to help. It's getting to the point where if she even thinks I'm going for the pill bottles, she hides under the bed.

Don't forget to [have the vet] check out the throat, esophagus, etc.

 

[ceruleankat]

@MewCatMew We did try a hairball medicine, didn't seem to do anything. She's never had a problem with hairballs before, though (lazy self groomer!)

@tigerlilly64 Actually, se does worse with wet food – she'll lick wet food dry and then have no problem crunching up dry treats. It's so weird. Also, while her messiness with food was going on for a couple months, during that time she was still consuming the same amount (I have to referee when they eat, so I’m there watching the whole time), but still losing weight despite getting the same amount of calories. I am deeply suspicious that there is something wrong with her mouth, but haven't pushed for xrays of that specifically yet. The other vert I took her to didn't see anything off about her mouth with a visual eam either, but you never know.

@mrsgreenjeens Yeah, the Denamarin is pretty big, but it's also the easiest to get in her, so I could go with the others in a gel cap and it still by itself.

General update – The day after I posted this, she started showing interest in food again, and since then she's been eating pretty much as usual, her normal amount and with any mess either. I got some high calorie gel stuff as well to try and get more in her and she actually licked that off herself several times, rather than just staring disdainfully. She's been very much her normal, perky self, hogging attention and asking to play and talking back, so I thought things were really getting better.

Unfortunately, late last night she threw up an enormous amount of half digested food, and seemed a little quiet. When I woke up this morning, she was hiding in the closet, and when I brought her out, she was wobbling badly when she tried to walk. I went to get dressed to take her into the vet's before work, and when I came back into the room, she had peed herself and was just lying in it, panting. I got her into the vet's asap (lucky enough to live about ten minutes from one) and they starting working on her. The latest update around 3pm, they said her temp had gotten better, she'd perked up, and was eating again, but seeing her like that was such a shocker to me, I was convinced she was dying right then, and for the first time I’m starting to think she really might not get better, that I might have to make the decision about when to euthanize sooner rather than later.

I go to pick her up tomorrow morning, but I’m just a mess right now.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Oh no, I hope she continues to improve!

She is in great hands right now at your vet, I'm sure. Do you know what kinds of tests the vet did to try to pinpoint cause(s) for her vomiting?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

OMG, you must have been terrified

Any news yet on what her status is?

 

[ceruleankat]

Sorry for the delay in updating, this time *I* got sick, sigh.

Good news is that she's doing a lot better. They don't have any clue why she had that happen, thought that it might be related to one of the medications so had me take her off it, but that seems unlikely to me as she'd only gotten one dose several days ago. I brought her home a few days later and she's been almost her normal self since then, active and eating and gaining weight. The problem now is that while she was difficult to pill when she wasn't feeling great, she's impossible to pill by myself now that she's feeling better. I can get the liquids in her, but pills are another story, and everyone local is saying there's no way to compound the Denimarin, which is the worst one to get down her. Any suggestions? It doesn't crush well at all, and not only will she not eat anything with any meds in it, she'll then refuse to eat that thing by itself as well. I keep her nails cut very short, but she'll still bust out of any attempts to towel burrito her now. They were able to pill her at the vet when i brought her in for a weight, but it took two people and it's just me at home.

 

[ruthm]

Did you try the gelcaps?  You can get them from Thriving Pets or Amazon. I think it was size 3 that could fit a couple of pills. You dip it in butter and chase it down with a scoop of baby food.  Another trick I used was the Duck flavored Pill Pockets.  Others I know have used lunchmeat or cheese, but my kitty was diabetic so that wasn't good for her blood glucose levels.

Glad to hear she's feeling better; it's so stressful when they don't eat.

 

[ceruleankat]

@RuthM - Unfortunately, gelcaps don't change the fact that it's still a *pill*, and I need about six hands to hold her int eh burrito, open her mouth, and shoot the pill in while she goes insane. With liquids at least I don't really have to hold her mouth open. I've tried pill pockets and cheese and butter and baby food and three types of seafood liquid and hairball gel and lunchmeat and pretty much everything under the sun, and not only did she reject them all, she will no longer eat any of those things on their own, or accept any sort of treat from me. Food does not work.

 

[ruthm]

I feel for you, I really do,my precious kitty Tiger was hard to pill until I discovered those two tricks.  She never had to take denamarin, but I know people who have had to pill it and they say  it is easier if you syringe water prior and afterward,  I also am reminded that is has to be taken on an empty stomach or it can cause irritation and vomiting, sorry for my mistake. Is your kitty getting nausea meds? Mine had cerenia and alternately Ondansetron;she responded best to hand feeding.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Our Callie needed Denamarin too, but unfortunately, we found it IMPOSSIBLE to give her.  Everytime we thought we finally got one in her, we'd find it on the floor later, the little devil.  SO, I went out and bought Milk Thistle for Pets (liquid) and Vitamin E, per our Vet.  With the Vitamin E, we just use OTC Vit E, 100 iu (if you can find it), about 1/4 of the capsule.  I can't find 100 ie, so use 400 iu and use 1 drop.  I mix it into her food and sometimes she eats and sometimes not. 

Hopefully this will work for you