Hello I’m new here and not quite sure what posts are allowed or accepted and I mostly just need someone to share my experience with. I’ve been dealing with a very sick cat for a good 4 months now. His name is Tiger and he’s just a year old. It started with diarrhea in June I took him to the vet and they said it’s probably a parasite and put him on medication. That didn’t work, so they switched the antibiotic, but that didn’t work. They did bloodwork, and an ultrasound and over the next 3 months out him on countless medication to no avail. He’s still very thin and having constant diarrhea. The only other option was going to a specialist which we did, he put him on a specialty medication. Didn’t work. We went back to his regular vet to do another ultrasound. They are pretty convinced it’s not cancer, they’re almost sure it’s a bacterial infection or parasite but none of the medication is working. His regular vet has consulted 4 other vets and none of them can figure this out. I’m not ready to give up and he’s so young but I feel like there’s nothing else we can do. I’m really upset because I love this cat so much but if he’s not happy and not living the life that a cat should be what else can I do? He pretty much just lays around all day, but his eyes show life and when we hold him and pet him he purrs and seems happy. I’ve never dealt with such a sick pet and it’s very difficult. Any advice or helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Vet can’t figure out what’s wrong
- Thread starter Shelbzz
- Start Date
I'm so sorry. I've had many similar experiences. My advice is to continue to offer him different types of food to keep him eating, love him, and be kind to yourself. So much about cat health is unknown. Sadly cat health studies are a small fraction of dog health studies. I will tell you that with a couple of my rescues, offering real food ( cooked chicken) helped them turn the corner as terribly ill kittens. I hope at least one of the vets recommended fluids - with constant diarrhea, the kitty is likely dehydrated. You can be taught how to give Sub Q fluids. I've had cats riddled with cancer react really well to fluid supplements. They succumbed to the disease in the end, but with hospice care, it's about quality of life. It sounds as though your beloved cat is battling a major disorder of some kind. But it also sounds as though he's in an incredibly loving home and what more could any of us ask.
What kind of food are you feeding him. If it's a cheaper dry food like friskies it may have dye in it and that's what's causing it. Sounds like a sensitive stomach. I would try Purina One or Science Diet or something along that line. They even make food for sensitive stomachs.
I feel a little bit frustrated, reading this because it sounds like your vet really isn't telling you what's going on.
Worms? Fleas? Ticks? Giardia? What?
Didn't the vet perform a test to confirm? Did the vet tell you the results?
Like when you take your car to the mechanic because it's not running right and he throws $1,000 worth of parts at the problem when all he had to do was change the fuel filter. You're stuck with a $1,000 repair bill and a car that still doesn't run right but all you really had to do was put in a new filter that costs less than $20. You probably could have fixed it, yourself, if you had known!
This vet needs to have their feet held to the fire! Not only does it sound, to me, like they are just guessing at a diagnosis, they are pi$$ing into the wind with treatments, too!
What do they know FOR SURE?
Have they absolutely ruled out worms, mites, fleas, ticks, giardia or other things? What tests have they done to prove it?
If they've done all kinds of bloodwork and ultrasound tests, what do they know for sure?
Have they ruled out poisons or toxic things around the house?
I'm not trying to scare you but I'm just giving examples of things that THEY should have asked you about?
What kinds of plants and things to you have in the house? Could the cat have gotten into a plant that is hurting him?
Household chemicals? Mold spores? Allergies? Something in the water?
Could the cat have been bitten by some kind of insect or harmful animal? Snakes? Poisonous spiders or insects?
What about bad food? How many times do you read in the news where companies recall contaminated pet foods?
Has your vet asked you to check for any of these things. (Or other things I haven't thought of?)
Whenever you have a pet with some kind of "mystery disease" the vet should give you a piece of paper with a checklist of things for you to take home and look over to make sure that none of those things are going wrong in your house.
Are there any things that YOU might have thought of which could be causing your cat's symptoms?
Have you told the vet? Have they even listened?
Somebody needs to grab this vet by the shirt sleeve (proverbially speaking) and tell them to get their act together!
Vets who don't talk to their clients really peeve me off!
That's the reason why we left the first vet we took Casper to visit.
It was a really nicely decorated place and all the people were smiley and talked nicely but they didn't communicate and, when I asked questions, they started to get snippy with me.
Our current vet doesn't have the snazziest of buildings. It's nice but it's not all fancy and decorated. It's basically a building out in front of a barn. However, the vet knows her stuff and she communicates well. Ask her a question and she tells you what she thinks. Tell her something and you get a straight response. None of that "nice talk" that doesn't really say anything.
When you walk out of the vet's office, you know what your pet's problem is. You know the prognosis and you know exactly what to do to help your pet get better.
If your current vet doesn't start giving you straight answers, I'd suggest finding a new vet who will.
PROBABLY a "parasite?"
Worms? Fleas? Ticks? Giardia? What?
Didn't the vet perform a test to confirm? Did the vet tell you the results?
Why? What reason did the vet have for giving antibiotics? If they didn't have a good reason to give antibiotics, how do they know whether it's an infection? Of COURSE, antibiotics wouldn't work if it wasn't an infection!
It sounds like the vet is taking the "scatter gun" approach... trying random stuff to see what works.
Like when you take your car to the mechanic because it's not running right and he throws $1,000 worth of parts at the problem when all he had to do was change the fuel filter. You're stuck with a $1,000 repair bill and a car that still doesn't run right but all you really had to do was put in a new filter that costs less than $20. You probably could have fixed it, yourself, if you had known!
How can they know? How can they know ANYTHING, at this point?
This vet needs to have their feet held to the fire! Not only does it sound, to me, like they are just guessing at a diagnosis, they are pi$$ing into the wind with treatments, too!
What do they know FOR SURE?
Have they absolutely ruled out worms, mites, fleas, ticks, giardia or other things? What tests have they done to prove it?
If they've done all kinds of bloodwork and ultrasound tests, what do they know for sure?
Have they ruled out poisons or toxic things around the house?
I'm not trying to scare you but I'm just giving examples of things that THEY should have asked you about?
What kinds of plants and things to you have in the house? Could the cat have gotten into a plant that is hurting him?
Household chemicals? Mold spores? Allergies? Something in the water?
Could the cat have been bitten by some kind of insect or harmful animal? Snakes? Poisonous spiders or insects?
What about bad food? How many times do you read in the news where companies recall contaminated pet foods?
Has your vet asked you to check for any of these things. (Or other things I haven't thought of?)
Whenever you have a pet with some kind of "mystery disease" the vet should give you a piece of paper with a checklist of things for you to take home and look over to make sure that none of those things are going wrong in your house.
Are there any things that YOU might have thought of which could be causing your cat's symptoms?
Have you told the vet? Have they even listened?
Somebody needs to grab this vet by the shirt sleeve (proverbially speaking) and tell them to get their act together!
Vets who don't talk to their clients really peeve me off!
That's the reason why we left the first vet we took Casper to visit.
It was a really nicely decorated place and all the people were smiley and talked nicely but they didn't communicate and, when I asked questions, they started to get snippy with me.
Our current vet doesn't have the snazziest of buildings. It's nice but it's not all fancy and decorated. It's basically a building out in front of a barn. However, the vet knows her stuff and she communicates well. Ask her a question and she tells you what she thinks. Tell her something and you get a straight response. None of that "nice talk" that doesn't really say anything.
When you walk out of the vet's office, you know what your pet's problem is. You know the prognosis and you know exactly what to do to help your pet get better.
If your current vet doesn't start giving you straight answers, I'd suggest finding a new vet who will.
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2013
- Messages
- 784
- Purraise
- 1,313
What color is his diarrhea? If it's very pale tanit might be pancreatic insufficiency. That can be determined with a specific blood test. Has he been tested for FIV and Feline leukemia?
Hello,
I had a similar experience with one of my cats. I got him at 8 weeks old and he suffered with extremely bad diarrhea, bad enough that I had to open the windows! He went through a lot of blood work but there was nothing indentifiable other than maybe future IBD with where his bloodwork levels were at. After a long course of antibiotics to sooth his gut my vet recommended a list of supplements such as probiotics and digestive enzymes.
Turns out that he is allergic to chicken which is the main ingredient in a lot of cat food brands. I started him on a raw diet of novel protein and overnight the diarrhea stopped and he started to gain weight!
He is now 5 years old and continues with his raw food diet.
Maybe switching his diet will help with your fur baby
I had a similar experience with one of my cats. I got him at 8 weeks old and he suffered with extremely bad diarrhea, bad enough that I had to open the windows! He went through a lot of blood work but there was nothing indentifiable other than maybe future IBD with where his bloodwork levels were at. After a long course of antibiotics to sooth his gut my vet recommended a list of supplements such as probiotics and digestive enzymes.
Turns out that he is allergic to chicken which is the main ingredient in a lot of cat food brands. I started him on a raw diet of novel protein and overnight the diarrhea stopped and he started to gain weight!
He is now 5 years old and continues with his raw food diet.
Maybe switching his diet will help with your fur baby
Sounds like an allergy to me too. Irritable Bowel causing his sickness and diarrhea. Switch foods to an allergy/sensitive stomach one and SLOWLY introduce others if it doesn't change.
I had a similar experience a few years back, lots of tests showing nothing. With mine it was an allergy to chicken. You might have to do food trials, remove one protein at a time to start. Also give him s boulardii for the diarrhea. I use this one.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0013OVW0E/?tag=
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0013OVW0E/?tag=
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #9
Thank you for your reply and kind words. I’ve had other people tell me to try real food and I haven’t yet because his vet wants him to only be on the medicated food, Royal Canin, so I’ve been giving him that but at this point I think I need to try something else. He is in a very loving home and he’s such a sweet kitty. Thank you again I really hope he gets better soon.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #10
We switched to a medicated food, royal canin, awhile ago so he’s only been eating that.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #11
They did test for parasites when we first took him, they did a fecal sample and blood tests the problem is there’s come parasites and bacterial infections that are hard to diagnose.
They did ask questions and they still ask questions about plants, food anything in the house that he can get into. I can’t think of anything in our house that can be causing him any issues.
I have had a lot of conversations with my vet and we went to a specialist and like I said in my post there’s currently 5 vets working on tigers case. I don’t think this is a situation where my vet doesn’t know what they’re doing. This is a very unique situation that apparently doesn’t happen very often. And it’s very upsetting to everyone that we can’t fix tiger.
Given you have so many vets working to help Tiger out, I have to assume that one of them performed a full fecal PCR panel rather than just the standard fecal testing (flotation, smear, centrifuge). The PCR panel will pick up more bacterial, viral, and/or parasitic conditions.
Also, nearly every RC product I have seen contains chicken - does the one your vet has you giving Tiger contain chicken? If it does, given how many cat owners on this site have cited chicken as the culprit behind their cats' digestive issues, you might want to talk to the vet about that aspect. Most of them also contain wheat gluten and/or wheat flour. Have they checked to see if he is allergic to chicken, or any other ingredients, by any chance?
I know these are probably dumb questions, but felt compelled to ask anyway.
Also, nearly every RC product I have seen contains chicken - does the one your vet has you giving Tiger contain chicken? If it does, given how many cat owners on this site have cited chicken as the culprit behind their cats' digestive issues, you might want to talk to the vet about that aspect. Most of them also contain wheat gluten and/or wheat flour. Have they checked to see if he is allergic to chicken, or any other ingredients, by any chance?
I know these are probably dumb questions, but felt compelled to ask anyway.
I agree may be you should try a new recommended vet and have you tried royal canin biscuits for sensitive stomachs
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #14
I don’t know if they performed a PCR panel I will have to ask them. I just know they did a fecal sample a couple different times. But I did just check the can of food and the first ingredients are chicken by products, chicken, and chicken liver so I am definitely going to ask the vet about that. Thanks for your reply!
I don’t know whether chicken is the cause of your cat’s illness but it is possible.
If chicken is the cause, the solution is simple... Don’t feed the cat any chicken.
It is also easy to find out whether chicken is the problem... Stop feeding chicken and see if the cat gets better. If the cat gets better, you have found the solution.
It is always best to try easy solutions first. Eliminate a potential problem then watch for results. Then act accordingly, based on the results of your experiments.
That’s how “smart people” do things.
If chicken is the cause, the solution is simple... Don’t feed the cat any chicken.
It is also easy to find out whether chicken is the problem... Stop feeding chicken and see if the cat gets better. If the cat gets better, you have found the solution.
It is always best to try easy solutions first. Eliminate a potential problem then watch for results. Then act accordingly, based on the results of your experiments.
That’s how “smart people” do things.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #16
Yeah... it is possible chicken can be the problem and it’s possible it’s not. Obviously nobody knows what the problem is that’s why it’s continued on for so long. I like having good communication with his vet and I let him know anytime anything changes so I will talk to him about my experimental diet changes. I really appreciate all the helpful advice from all the nice people on here. It’s been very stressful during these past few months. Thanks so much for your reply!I don’t know whether chicken is the cause of your cat’s illness but it is possible.
If chicken is the cause, the solution is simple... Don’t feed the cat any chicken.
It is also easy to find out whether chicken is the problem... Stop feeding chicken and see if the cat gets better. If the cat gets better, you have found the solution.
It is always best to try easy solutions first. Eliminate a potential problem then watch for results. Then act accordingly, based on the results of your experiments.
That’s how “smart people” do things.
