Worried about sick cat

Dollhouseskins

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Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster.
I’m so terrified for my baby, Franz. He seems to be sick and not getting much better with no explanation. He’s only 5.5 years old and was the peak of health from birth until now.

Yesterday he puked bile and foam a few times (2 we were around and confirm, possibly more because he was hiding.) He’s always been a picky eater and had some puke problems because of hair balls and sensitive stomach so I called the vet and they gave us a possible new wet food to try. Later in the evening we noticed he was absolutely exhausted, so we tried to give him some wet food which he absolutely loves. To say he is food motivated is an understatement, he constantly steals his brother’s food. At this point he refused all food and water and started hiding and we immediately thought something was wrong. We were deciding on whether or not to take him to the emergency vet when I picked up some laundry and found all of his wet food regurgitated from the night before. This would have happened the evening before after 10 PM which leads us to believe he probably puked way more than three times.

We took him to the emergency vet and they ran vitals and a physical and both returned normal. The emergency vet recommended anti nausea meds and fluids and monitoring so that’s what we did. We got him home after the meds and he was completely motionless, save for going to hide a few times. He did pee twice last night just fine. Nothing abnormal in the box. This morning we offered food and he refused again so we took him to our normal vet.

Still very lethargic and refused food at the vet, they ran blood work, x rays and a physical. They said he had some discomfort in his abdomen, which the emergency vet didn’t find but all blood panels and X-rays were normal.

Now we are force feeding high calorie wet food every two hours with no change in the lethargy, though it’s only been a couple hours. Anyone ever experienced this before? My childhood cat went into kidney failure so I’m hyper sensitive to symptoms like she had, which were hiding and not eating or drinking. But the vet said nothing indicates organ failure or anything crazy. It’s just so bizarre to have such symptoms with no real zause and all tests showing normal.
 
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Dollhouseskins

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We think it would have been Sunday, which all looked normal (no blood.) No signs he pooped yesterday and no signs of poop today.
 

Jem

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And prior to Sunday, can you remember when?
He has a history of hairballs and tummy issues, vet noticed abdominal discomfort...I'm just wondering if maybe he's constipated?
My cat is prone to hairballs and when he gets constipated, he will be less energetic and not eat as much, if it's really bad, he'll refuse to eat and has on occasion thrown up bile.
And with spring here...have you noticed more shedding - which means ingesting more fur?
 
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Dollhouseskins

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Unfortunately we can’t remember :( but he was completely normal eating and drinking and acting through Sunday night.

He’s definitely been shedding more and grooms his brother so we have noticed a slight up tick in fur balls. Vet said he tracks all looked clear on the X-ray but not sure if that would show constipation
 

Time 2 Recognize

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Maybe call the vet and double check with them if his intestines were cleared/not backed up. Assuming they did a full x-ray and have view of his digestion system, I would hope they looked at that and considered blockage. So it could help to confirm with them that they did not see anything. I personally would ask they send the X-rays to me because not a vet -but its good to see how it looks if that makes sense...also makes it easier to get second opinion if you might try online consult with a vet (I'm in quarantine land so these things are on my mind).

Assuming nothing causing a blockage and he has just not pooped from not eating much the last 24-48 hours, Is it possible he ate something that he had a bad reaction to? Since the vet checked his blood work etc. and says all is well with organ function and nothing visibly blocking him, it might be that he ate something (plants? Something off the floor maybe or any new treats/foods?) that he's reacted to...maybe take him a couple days of very bland, easy diet and get as much into him as you can.

So sorry you and your guy are going through this and I hope he starts to feel better ASAP! If his tummy is upset from something and he did all that throwing up yesterday, that could totally be why he is lethargic. Sounds like he is keeping food down now? Some things just take some time to resolve :( I know how frustrating it is to not have answers as to why or what caused something!
 
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Dollhouseskins

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Maybe call the vet and double check with them if his intestines were cleared/not backed up. Assuming they did a full x-ray and have view of his digestion system, I would hope they looked at that and considered blockage. So it could help to confirm with them that they did not see anything. I personally would ask they send the X-rays to me because not a vet -but its good to see how it looks if that makes sense...also makes it easier to get second opinion if you might try online consult with a vet (I'm in quarantine land so these things are on my mind).

Assuming nothing causing a blockage and he has just not pooped from not eating much the last 24-48 hours, Is it possible he ate something that he had a bad reaction to? Since the vet checked his blood work etc. and says all is well with organ function and nothing visibly blocking him, it might be that he ate something (plants? Something off the floor maybe or any new treats/foods?) that he's reacted to...maybe take him a couple days of very bland, easy diet and get as much into him as you can.

So sorry you and your guy are going through this and I hope he starts to feel better ASAP! If his tummy is upset from something and he did all that throwing up yesterday, that could totally be why he is lethargic. Sounds like he is keeping food down now? Some things just take some time to resolve :( I know how frustrating it is to not have answers as to why or what caused something!
Thank you so much, the vet told me she didn’t see anything except a bit of stool in his intestine.

He has been doing a lot of sunning on our exposed porch and trying to eat bugs so that could be it. Not sure on plants but my feeling is he did eat something not so good. Got him on gastro food now too to help with blandness. He is keeping food down (2 syringe feeds so far) which is good. Peed another time too and it looked normal. The exhaustion is just beyond scary. Wonder if it might be compounded by vet stress + medicine they gave him too.

I appreciate the kind words! I’ll check with our vet again tomorrow and keep monitoring.
 
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Dollhouseskins

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Thank you so much, the vet told me she didn’t see anything except a bit of stool in his intestine.

He has been doing a lot of sunning on our exposed porch and trying to eat bugs so that could be it. Not sure on plants but my feeling is he did eat something not so good. Got him on gastro food now too to help with blandness. He is keeping food down (2 syringe feeds so far) which is good. Peed another time too and it looked normal. The exhaustion is just beyond scary. Wonder if it might be compounded by vet stress + medicine they gave him too.

I appreciate the kind words! I’ll check with our vet again tomorrow and keep monitoring.
enclosed* porch not exposed 😖
 

Time 2 Recognize

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The exhaustion is just beyond scary. Wonder if it might be compounded by vet stress + medicine they gave him too.
Yeah I think the recent repeated vomiting and depending on the medications, that could add to him being super tired. Can look up side effects of the meds (I find vets never talk about what they are). And if his tummy/digestion got upset from something, that also makes them not want to move around much and just sleep it off until their system settles...Is he just sleeping a ton and not doing much else, but still responsive? The keeping food down thing is GOOD. It sounds like some TLC, time and rest, he should start to perk up in a day/few days. I know how scary these things can be...keep in mind he has improved over the previous day and that's good! Hope each day he improves more and more and soon be back to himself :)

On the bugs thing, there could be something to that -I wonder if the vet might know. My cat has found a stink bug here and there and batted them around (until they spewed stink sauce) and I've always wisked them out the door/killed and removed them because I figure if she ate one it could be mildly toxic/nauseating.
 

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Did you try a hairball remedy like malt paste? Or probiotics, like Fortiflora which might help to get him eat too. That would be my next route to try if I were you.
 
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Dollhouseskins

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Yeah I think the recent repeated vomiting and depending on the medications, that could add to him being super tired. Can look up side effects of the meds (I find vets never talk about what they are). And if his tummy/digestion got upset from something, that also makes them not want to move around much and just sleep it off until their system settles...Is he just sleeping a ton and not doing much else, but still responsive? The keeping food down thing is GOOD. It sounds like some TLC, time and rest, he should start to perk up in a day/few days. I know how scary these things can be...keep in mind he has improved over the previous day and that's good! Hope each day he improves more and more and soon be back to himself :)

On the bugs thing, there could be something to that -I wonder if the vet might know. My cat has found a stink bug here and there and batted them around (until they spewed stink sauce) and I've always wisked them out the door/killed and removed them because I figure if she ate one it could be mildly toxic/nauseating.
He was barely responsive but a tad! Mostly just sleepy and tried to refuse force feed but we got some in.

The best news is this morning at 3 AM he was scratching on his scratch pad and starting purring again! Around 6 AM he ate some kibble and he has been having a small amount of kibble and treats throughout the day. No water yet but we are watching. He seems to be getting back to himself.

We did end up calling the ASPCA poison hotline to discuss and we think it may be related to a lavender essential oil I defused a lot on Saturday and Sunday. I had no idea about essential oil and the vet never asked me or brought it up! We removed the diffuser and wiped everything down and let in fresh air to try to help. Could just be coincidence but I’m tentatively hopeful he will get back to his former glory soon! Thanks for being there and talking through this ❤
 
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Dollhouseskins

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Did you try a hairball remedy like malt paste? Or probiotics, like Fortiflora which might help to get him eat too. That would be my next route to try if I were you.
We actually usually give him Sentry hairball paste 2-3 times a week. He hasn’t had any in a few days because it was hard to mix into the force feed tube. Hoping we can get some in him tonight with him self eating wet food. Never seen Fortiflora but I will research now! Thanks!
 
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