vomiting and diarrhea *PICTURE WARNING

[Shalenarh]

Hello. My 16 year old cat, Boo has been to the vet in March for blood in his urine. We’ve done everything we could do. His blood test came back and everything looked great aside from the elevated levels of BU and Creatinine which we already knew of. He’s gotten x-rays done, everything looks good. The vet even did what she could do Ultrasound wise since I can’t go out of town to see a specialist. His bladder looked good to her. She recommended 5mg Famotidine to help with his puking.

April 3 he had one of his puking episodes where he would just puke clear sometimes foamy liquid all day. He’s been doing this for a while and it’s not all the time. I’d say about every couple of months. This was the first thing he went to our former vet about, we did blood work and it looks good and then she just gave us Fortiflora for his puking. He continued to puke that weekend twice on April 4 in the morning and then was fine the rest of the day. Eating, drinking water. Then on April 5 he ended up puking in the morning again and it had a bit of blood (picture below). I waited until that Wednesday to let the vet know because he just stopped puking completely and was fine until then.

April 23 he’s been puking still and to add to that he is having diarrhea. But he seems to be straining? He dropped a little diarrhea left and would come back a few minutes later and do that again. He is still peeing, but I was watching him and I noticed his urine is really blood red (picture below). Saturday he was still puking but no diarrhea. Today, he did the same diarrhea(straining?) and did that 4 times. I noticed his butt was covered with diarrhea and we cleaned him up. Aside from this he is acting a bit withdrawn, he hasn’t eaten since last night (10pm) and he’s drinking water still.

I’m scared and feel guilty because I can’t do anything more than what we’ve already done for him. Which the Vet has said they have done everything they can and are at the end of their line of what they can do for him. The only other option is to go out of town to see a specialist to look further into Ultrasounds. But right now we can’t do that.

 

[catsknowme]

Oh my .... you must be so concerned. Can you seek a consultation with a holistic vet? My vet and I use herbs (born & raised country) along with conventional medications. For urinary, intestinal and respiratory issues, marshmallow root & slippery elm are very soothing and red raspberry leaf & chamomile are good for nausea. Slippery elm and marshmallow root are very, very soothing and often provide fast relief for inflamed mucosal tissues, even in people, for bladder infection, kidney pain, diarrhea cramps, anal irritations.
At the very least, I would syringe unflavored pedialyte into his mouth in small amounts but frequent intervals so he doesn't get an electrolyte imbalance. Offer boiled chicken or hamburger broth instead of food at the very beginning, to give the inflamed gut a chance to settle down. I use a large pinch of himalayan/pink salt in the cooking water. When he shows interest in eating, you can add boiled rice water (simmer white rice in twice the amount of water for at least an hour to make a thick "congee") and tiny bits of meat.
Please use only filtered, bottled or good fresh well water - the chemicals in tap water are too harsh for geriatric and the young or fragile patients. Also, make sure that there are no perfumes nor fragrances and especially no Febreeze in the cat litter.
I will check frequently for updates & send my prayers and vibes

 

[catsknowme]

I forgot to add that in the pharmacy where I work, our pharmacist says vomiting, diarrhea and headache can be side effects of famotidine.

 

[Shalenarh]

To be honest I’ve never heard of a Holistic vet and I appreciate the advice! I already use both bottled water and filtered water depending what I have on hand at the time. He’s been taking the famotidine since April 7. In the beginning he would take it without any worry but within the last week he’s just been not wanting to take it. Is there any specific pedialyte I would want to get aside from unflavored?

 

[catsknowme]

You have excellent instincts about water! I use store brand or Pedialyte ® , whichever is cheaper. You can make a homemade version following this recipe but the commercial electrolytes are supposed to absorb better.
Pedialtye

 

[MissClouseau]

Is he eating kidney disease food? What is he eating?

Also, did they check for bacterial / viral infections?

 

[Shalenarh]

Sorry for the late reply. Right now he is eating Fancy Feast Gravy which I add water too. The vet said it wouldn’t hurt to let Boo have the renal food. But the only one they have at my vet is the Royal Canine Renal Diet E, the pate kind. My other renal cat ate this for about a month before he started weaning off and just wouldn’t eat it anymore. I did give Boo the renal diet but i’m not sure if it’s the type of food (Pate) or not but he just licks it and it flattens down and then walks away. My cats are gravy lovers and I saw on chewy they had other options so I plan to order some when I get paid but they were out of stock. So by Friday if they are still in stock I will order some. Though I wish they came in bigger sizes instead of the 3oz.

Regarding the bacterial/viral infections. Yes, everything that can be done has been done and nothing has shown up. According to the vet he is completely healthy (aside from the blood in his urine) especially for a cat his age. As of right now, I’ve taken Boo off the Famotidine, he hasn’t puked and the diarrhea has stopped. I’ve looked at his urine there is still blood in it but not what it looked like in the picture.

 

[catsknowme]

I highly encourage you to ask your vet about marshmallow root. A lot of people add it powdered to canned food but I prefer to use it as a decocotion (decocotion is like a tea except simmered, covered, over low heat instead of steeped into tea). Some people use tinctures but a tincture often has alcohol as a preservative and you don't want that. You can look at #5 of this article and prepare a list of questions to ask you vet. Marshmallow root is exceptionally soothing for kidney & bladder irritation - it works amazing for people, too - often faster relief than using pyridium.
Top 5 herbs for cats | Animal Wellness Magazine

 

[Shalenarh]

So this morning, I woke up to see Boo has puked and it has tiny blood clots in it. I have called the vet just waiting for a call back. He is acting normal, even crying at me for food as this is when I will usually feed them. But I’m not sure if I should feed him.

 

[Shalenarh]

Update. Vet said to put him back on the Famotidine. Recommended I crush it up and put it in his food but he did notice and refused to eat. So I decided to mix the crushed pill with water and put it in a syringe. That worked though he was not happy about it.

 

[catsknowme]

Apparently the vet feels that the stomach bleeding is from too much stomach acid. Since Pepcid (the brand name famotidine) is an over-the-counter product, it should be fairly innocuous. The blood in the urine is probably from that medication. I took a screenshot that lists sideeffects.

 

[Shalenarh]

Unfortunately, Boo has had blood in his urine for a while now since December and the main reason we went to see the vet. The root cause is only a speculation by the vet from either a tumor or stones they can’t see or something else where a specialist needs to be involved to see what’s going on.

 

[catsknowme]

Poor Boo!! I hope that it is something that can resolve itself. Have you read this article? Cornell University has some good info as well but it is rather dry reading.
Blood in Cat Urine: What Does it Mean?