wondering about blood test results for cat that was weak/barfing allot

[khayr]

Shylo had actually vomited a couple times within a few weeks before the big episode that had me rushing him to the vet, but I had just passed it off as his food not agreeing with him at the time. The vet that talked to me explained what was going on and said that gallstones take a long time to form, so it's likely he had been dealing with them for a while and it was only just recently that the gallbladder actually became obstructed (which triggered the intense vomiting that day). We opted for surgery to remove the stones/blockage and now he is on a medication called ursodiol which helps dissolve any forming stones and keep his bile more liquid. Without the xrays/ultrasound there was nothing else that really was a red flag for the obstruction besides the vomiting, although the vet said that in the few cases she's seen over the years that jaundice can also be a symptom (kind of a yellowing around the eyes usually).

If you'd like, the thread that I had started for him (which was mostly asking about diet stuff but gives a good rundown of what happened) is here. Because of the stress on his digestive tract he actually ended up developing diabetes, but he is doing 200% better now and actually just had a nice play session with me a little while ago. I'm working on getting him transitioned to a raw diet right now also, which I think is definitely helping at least manage the diabetes aspect of it for sure. My hope is that with the diet change he'll go into remission.

The night that I rushed him to the vet he threw up at least five times (maybe more)... the first two had food in them that was fully digested (no whole kibble pieces), and all of the other following ones were white and yellow and sort of foamy (these ones were bile). He was also heaving a bit like your cat was.

I'm no expert on finding vets (this place is five minutes down the road from me and has worked out really well despite the cost), but it may be worth it to at least get an ultrasound or xray done! Without those I'd have never known what was going on.

Sorry for the lengthy post, these have a tendency to get away from me, haha.

 

[khayr]

Any update on your kitty yet? Was thinking about him today... I hope he's feeling better.

 

[zoneout]

Bile is yellowish I am fairly  certain.    Brown fluid sounds like the intestines are backing up.   It`s counter-intuitive but there can be diahreah with a blockage not just vomiting.

 

[quiet]

If you can't find a feline specialist look for an internal medicine specialist. The initials would look like this; DVM DACVM.

 

[LTS3]

Try looking for a feline-only vet on the American Association of Feline Practitioners: http://www.catvets.com/cat-owners/find-vets-and-practices

To find an internal medicine vet, try the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine: http://www.acvim.org/PetOwners/FindaSpecialist.aspx

For other specialists, try the AVMA's web site: https://www.avma.org/ProfessionalDe...nized-veterinary-specialty-organizations.aspx

 

[damac]

thanks for all the help, i think its crazy allot of these smaller vets won't just refer things out if they are over their heads?  it drives me nuts, but sadly i have experienced the same thing with an injury this past year with multiple doctors and insurance

anyway so i went to another highly rated place from yelp with some more crudentials for felines.

at face value the cat appeared in good health even though all the stuff i have complained about have continued. 

they did an ultrasound but offered to have one of those specialists come in and apply their fee towards the specialist which seems very nice

she couldn't find tumors, etc. but thinks she sees fluid around the liver, thus recommending the specialist which i appreciate.

i am waiting for them to call me back with the appt. which i hate, but it must be done and i will definately share what i find when the time comes.

i feel very guilty because the diahrea is really stressing us.  poor guy makes himself a spot in a clean big litter box and there is so much at one time that it pools and touches his feet and he runs all over the carpet and it gets all over even though we put the box in the bathroom with a litter collection strip.  we aren't able to be with him round the clock.  and im scared about what he might feel during the initial crash before the vet visit.  it hasn't happened again but when he barfs he does sit in the corner for the half the day instead of hang out with me.

 

[zoneout]

When they sit in the corner by themselves (or in a closet, behind furniture, etc...)  they are not feeling well.   Many times I see people say that cats hide pain but that is not always the case if you know the signs.   Especially when they are barfing it could be from nausea or GI pain so they try to be alone.    Also, heavy barfing will dehydrate them and cause electrolyte loss which in turn makes them feel even worse.    If they are sitting in the `meatloaf position`  with their head drooping down - it is definitely not a good sign.   At that point they seriously need help with hydration and possibly meds.

 

[damac]

they did an ultrasound with a specialist and did some tests on a couple organ samples.

they were thinking a tumor needs them to take out his spleen to address what they see but tests didn't conclude this was the cause of his other issues with the liver, his diahrea and barfing.

so mast cell disease and they are making it sound like i could see the specialist they talked with about a treatment approach but its just to extend his life a bit at face value at best.

hes a 15 year old siamese and they are also trying to mention the risks just for surgery which isn't minor but cats can bounce back from.

it is wierd talking to these vets because i feel like it if were a person they would have a plan of attack and have a better diagnosis?

with the information they are giving me i honestly don't know what to do.  i don't think hes in pain.  the barfing is one thing to clean up, but the diahrea is almost impossible to deal with.  even if i leave multiple large litter boxes he goes so much in one sitting that it pools onto his legs and he drags it around the house.  nobody can be with him 24 hours/day

 

[zoneout]

I know exactly what you mean. Many times the vets seem clueless. I would give S. Boulardi a try. It's a probiotic that has some good reports on improving diarrhea. There are posts about it on here.

 

[damac]

i went to see an oncologist, wow who knew there were so few of these for pets?  i got a listing from the association for accredited practioners and there were less than 40 in california?

Anyway I appreciate the other vet referring me to this one since they said it was over their head, cost $160 for 10 minutes of talking.

Besides the mast cell they found little specs in the liver, and also some slight thickening of the digestive tract.

So the specialist was saying a plan of attack if labs allowed it would be to take out the spleen and get samples of things while in there to biopsy for cancers and that could require treatment in itself with pills down the line.

She said he might live another 18 months on average if things went by the book.

I would be curious if others went through with this kind of treatment?

Of course they offered an approach with pills, etc. to try and mask the problems going on, which would be cheaper.

This may sound cold but does anybody think it would be crazy for me to make a deal with the regular vet that says they can take out the spleen cheaper, and sign a waiver or something, and just take the cat straight into surgery without any labs?  If something went terribly wrong on the operating table or during initial recovery I could then just put him to sleep.

Sadly there is a money issue in the short term that I can't get around.  I was thinking surgery and post treatment is better than just treating the symptoms and he might not have the same quality of life.

 

[goholistic]

I'm so sorry about your poor kitty's diagnosis. I don't know anything about taking out a cat's spleen. But I, personally, don't know that I could put my 15-year-old cat through that kind of surgery. There are the current issues, which are already a challenge, then the addition of recovering from serious surgery.

In skimming through the posts again, I see that the diarrhea was kind of on and off. Are you keeping a journal of everything you are giving him (what, when, how much, etc.)? Perhaps there is something specific triggering the diarrhea? Have you tried using a good probiotic? You said he had diarrhea since the first vet visit. Not only could it be the new food (as @mrsgreenjeens already mentioned), but the 10 days of antibiotics could have wiped out his healthy gut flora.

 

[damac]

i am jumping around a bit but based on the cat eating and maintaining weight our gut feeling was that he wasn't ready to go, he just needed some help.  after reading about mast cell effects of the spleen and how that can effect him we had blind faith that it would be good to get his spleen and mass taken out to give him a better quality of life and potentially it doesn't spread, etc.

so we went ahead with the surgery saturday and got a call that night that we could bring him home even though they said he could stay a few days for monitoring.  what really pushed me over the edge is this vet has a bording place as well and although we discussed cost they never mentioned nobody was there to monitor and care for the pets from 7pm-7am.  that was a terrible way to find out about this, he could have went into shock or had fluids build in his belly, etc.  she thought he would be fine but i said no way and picked him up.

they went over his meds and that the pain meds might make him settle down.  i couldn't believe it he was rubbing his head against the carrier door and wanted to be pet just like normal.

got him home and let him out to explore, keeping him away from counters to jump on and he walked around as if nothing happened?  he was in better shape than pre surgery, the vet did say everything went perfect in there.

he peed right away and was hungry, that was his mission!  they said limited food and water so he didn't gorge and it was hell.  he licked up what we spread out slowly, a fraction of his normal food and the pain meds made him alert and he would pace around.

had had his first bowel movement, solid pellets 4am this morning!

he is eating even more than his normal routine as of now and they said let him eat/drink on his own.

now we keep an eye on his wound until a checkup later this week.  we are crossing our fingers that he can move beyond this issue.  no barfing or diahrea yet.

i am so angry the first vet led us on, but glad i found this site and searched around after i got fed up with them.  i was totally uneducated on what to do.  the vet said his intestines, etc. all looked good and the spleen was slightly enlarged with some bumps in it.  we are hoping it was causing issues with the fluid around the liver as well which just looked a little discolored in an area, no masses.

they told us they have meds to help if he starts up with the barfing and diahrea but for now hes on pepcid ac 1/4 pill a day and 1/4 pill twice a day benadryl, and temporary antibiotics/pain.  we are going to wait for the next bloodwork to see how he has been doing and what his liver does before continuing the denamarin.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Wow!  Quite an update.  Glad he seems to be doing do well, so quickly

So...future prognosis? 

 

[damac]

I'm not sure, I guess anything is possible but maybe the labs will tell us more when we go for a checkup later this week.

Cat is getting around fine but sadly today he went into a rut again.  He still eats and drinks but he had 2 barfs today, looks like a couple feedings each all came up at once.

And he had 4 bowel movements today, 2 that were soft and almost formed, 1 like toothpase and the last one almost liquid

So that is what was happening before, good days, then a bad day.  He still goes for the food right after barfing

The only thing I noticed is none of his poops have smelled like death like before surgery and these barfs didn't sting my nose either.

He just ran out of pain meds and hasn't taken denamarin since before the surgery.  We were doing to give him a break and discuss drugs to treat symptoms next visit.

He is on antibiotics but these patterns kept happening when he wasn't on them.  I experimented with portion control and specific food selection for a couple weeks at a time before surgery just to see for myself.  I think its some deep rooted problem since it didn't help.

Vet was saying maybe its ibd as well and that maybe surgery would help, maybe not?

Also not sure if the benadryl/pepcid ac needs time to build up, if not doesn't seem like that helps either.

Very sad, its hard to take care of him like this, I guess I will have to force the issue with the vet?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Gosh, I'm sorry about the "backsliding"  Maybe he's just eating too much, too fast so quickly after his surgery?  Hopefully once your get the labs at your follow-up you'll have good news. 

Keep us posted.