Cat very sick

morgana

Our cat Mickey started to get real quiet and subdued on christmas eve and became lethargic that i rang the vet on christmas day. He was running a fever so he was put on antibiotics, and he did pick up after a day or two and was slowly getting back to normal and eating and drinking. We saw him having a good feed on Sunday night, and unfortunately i heard him bringing it all up a few hours later (all undigested, and another vomit later with just foamy stuff).

On Monday morning he then was as before, somewhat responsive but just lying around and no interest in food or drink. So back to the vets he went. He was still running a fever but the vet felt an obstruction in his tummy so surmised it being a furball and gave us some oil based product to help it being dislodged and expelled and to ring him on THursday.
Unfortunately there was no improvement in his condition, he still refused any food or drink so we took to giving him some food with a syringe. He perked up a little bit on Wednesday (new years day) in that he was a little more alert and responding to petting and purring and started to drink a little water if we put it to him and splashed it a bit. Rang the vet first thing on THursday morning and he immediately said he need to be hospitalised.

Since than he had an xray (clear), a poop (hard) and was put on a drip which made him perk up but still refusing food.

Blood work was inconclusive and puzzling with very high blood sugar (apparently the girl in lab had never seen results this high) and elevated liver function but he is not showing the symptoms of either Diabetes or Cushings'.

He is maintained on the drip over the weekend, his condition is stable. The vet ordered another test to come in on Monday and they will take blood for another blood test again on Monday to see if those results are consistent.

The hope is that he starts eating over the weekend - knowing him, he might not, he is a stubborn little bugger.

So its more of a waiting game, the vet nurse said they have never come across a case like this and that he might consult with a feline professor in London.

The last 10 days have been a total emotional rollercoaster and it is hard to stay positive. I am bouncing between hope and despair, trying very hard to focus on other things.
I am starting to absolutely HATE weekends as nothing substantive gets done. Our vet has gone beyond the call of duty on this, he is now on holidays and still directing his treatment and keeping us informed.

Sorry for the wall of text, it already helped to get it all written down.

sparkle_23

So sorry to hear that. Nothing worse than a sick kitty. If only they could talk and tell us what's wrong! Really hope you find some answers and that the kitty feels better soon

Pumpkinseeds

I'm really sorry about your cat, hopefully he will get better soon. As Sparkle 23 says, if only they could tell you what's wrong. Will keep my fingers crossed for him. Keep us informed how he's doing.

SillyMangoX

So sorry to hear this, I know how utterly draining it is having a sick cat, but take each day as is comes and cherish every moment! Hopefully it will all work out for the best

morgana

Got a tentative diagnosis today - pancreatitis. He is still not eating so he will come home tomorrow afternoon and get some appetite stimulant meds in the hope that he starts eating at home. This is absolutely critical.

cuckoo

Morgana - hope he starts eating asap.

fingers crossed.

--LOS--

Did the vet give your cat an ultrasound? Our cat was very ill recently too, turns out she had eaten part of a toy ball and it was stuck in her stomach, she was operated on to have it removed. Not the kind of thing that would show up in an xray. Luckily the vet was very good and acted very quickly, she wouldnt have made it if it was left any longer, an infection had started, a small bit of her stomach was removed, thankfully she is fine now, still on special food though but back to her normal self. I hope all turns out ok for your kitty.

RaRaRasputin

morgana wrote: »

Got a tentative diagnosis today - pancreatitis. He is still not eating so he will come home tomorrow afternoon and get some appetite stimulant meds in the hope that he starts eating at home. This is absolutely critical.

Hey morgana, first of all best of luck for your cat of course. Some months ago our cat was very sick (happened quite suddenly) and the vet was confused by the symptons as well, turned out they never found out what had made him so sick but it got better after some days of antibiotics on the drip.

Our cat also refused to eat a lot at the vet's as he is nervous, but as soon as he got home he started eating, so keep your head up, the little one might surprise you all if he wants to.

Stevie888

Best of luck Morgana I hope your cat gets well soon

morgana

A little bit of good news. The test was indicative of pancreatitis and he ate a tiny bit of food last night. We are bringing him home later this afternoon and take it from there. Can't wait to have the (actually not so) little fella back with us!
Of course a swallow does not make a summer, I am very cautious yet so happy he ate something, the first time since Sunday week.

That's Micky:
Micky
Micky talking to our new addition, Sammi the kitten

aonb

lovely that Mickey is home with you.
Its so horrible having a sick pet (mine just recovered after hospital too)
What is his absolute favourite food? Mince it up really small, and just small amounts several times a day to encourage him to eat.
Is he on meds for the pancreatitis? I hope the prognosis is good, and that he will recover and be back to normal soon. He looks like a lovely chap!
Sending him lots of good wishes!

morgana

Micky is now home, bright and alert and after checking out all his safe spots he ate! He had one of his favourite stickies and a bit of Sheba. So its now a little bit every hour or two and he will go on Prednisolone for a week to kick-start his appetite as well (we shall see how I get that into him, but I have my little tricks too.)
First we need him to get to eat regularly then we will see what else he needs. Thankfully the vet will be back home Sunday as well.
We are also still waiting on the more specific pancreatitis test results to come in (TLI) - but that will take a few days.
Further treatment hasn't been discussed yet as we first need to get him back on his paws.
There still may be bad news ahead if the underlying cause is cancer but thats another worry for another day.

Pumpkinseeds

Over the years we've often had to give our cat Felix pills for weeks on end. He was on various different antibiotics for a few months and it was a nightmare getting him to take them, there's no way we could have popped them down his throat. I got a cheap pestle and mortar from Tesco, I think it cost about a tenner, and crushed each dose into a very fine powder. Then I could mix the powder into stinky food like Whiskas oh so pouches, particularly the chicken one.

Also hiding it in tuna juice or salmon juice and covering it with a little bit of the fish helped. Strangely enough the really cheap tins of tuna are the best for hiding pills in as they're very flaky and our cats virtually just suck them up so don't have time to taste pills in it. Glad he's home with you:)

morgana

First pill is in him - safely hidden in a bit of liver pate. He gobbled it up no problem at all.

My other trick is to crush them (just a spoon works for me) and add the tiniest drop of water and put them into the cat's mouth (either right in if possible or around, they will lick it off) - this is tried and tested as the other cat is on a low dose of predni for the summer to reduce irritation due to fleabite allergy.

SillyMangoX

Soft cheese is also brilliant for getting pills into them! Great to hear that he is eating again, cats can really be tough to get eating again especially while hospitalised so it's best he's at home in familiar surroundings

morgana

Micky is eating what is offered quite enthusiastically and is alert, grooming himself and walking around occasionally. Administering meds in liver pate is still a hit :P.

iora_rua

If Micky goes off the idea of meds hidden in pate, you could always try goat's yogurt (I've used a dessert spoonful from one of those little Glenisk tubs). I read somewhere that it's better for them than cow's milk products. Delighted to hear he's on the mend!

Zapperzy

iora_rua wrote: »

If Micky goes off the idea of meds hidden in pate, you could always try goat's yogurt (I've used a dessert spoonful from one of those little Glenisk tubs). I read somewhere that it's better for them than cow's milk products. Delighted to hear he's on the mend!

Thought I was the only mad one buying goats yoghurt and milk Cows milk gives one of mine the runs and the other projectile vomiting but goats milk is a big hit

Glad to hear he's eating and up and about, hopefully he continues to get better There seems to be a lot of boardie pets not well at the moment

morgana

So far, so good. He has been improving every day since coming home and gained back a lot of the weight he lost . The vet will be back tomorrow, and the results of the definitive test for pancreatitis are expected for Monday as well.
At the moment the treatment is purely symptomatic, we will see what the vet says.

morgana

He went in today to have some more blood taken, thankfully he was very good and the vet could take it without needing an anesthetic. He is not fully out of the woods yet, but will finally be allowed outside tomorrow . Hopefully that gets his activity levels up as well. Still waiting on the TLI test results, but looks like his condition can be managed with a low carb diet . No more supermarket cat foods. He will continue on his usual food and meds for another 10 days until we are sure he is fully back to normal. Then the search for an acceptable food commences

Pumpkinseeds

I find Applaws dry cat food very good. My cats love the chicken variety, they won't eat the mixed chicken and salmon one though. Applaws is grainfree as well as being about 80% protein. We had our foster kitten on Royal Canin babycat dry food and she wasn't thrilled with it, but we started her on Applaws kitten this afternoon and she was wolfing it down.

Have a look at Zooplus.ie too. We usually buy from the Zooplus.uk version as it's often cheaper, there's a link at the bottom of the Zooplus site that takes you to each countries site so you can price compare. Each of the products has detailed info on all the ingredients as well as customer reviews and trial sized portions, so you don't end up with lots of food the cats won't eat.

morgana

Yes i've already had a good look there - there are quite a few suitable foods there. He prefers wet food, the Animonda looks good (and reasonably priced) - we'll have to see what he likes, lol. Will probably buy a range and then see what we are going to settle on. Luckily enough whatever he doesn't eat, there are the other two which will happily oblige :P - everything gets used eventually!

Pumpkinseeds

morgana wrote: »

Yes i've already had a good look there - there are quite a few suitable foods there. He prefers wet food, the Animonda looks good (and reasonably priced) - we'll have to see what he likes, lol. Will probably buy a range and then see what we are going to settle on. Luckily enough whatever he doesn't eat, there are the other two which will happily oblige :P - everything gets used eventually!

Yeah some of mine liked the Animonda too, they ate the Feringa for a while then stopped. Fuss pots:D

mymo

Mine all love the bozita wet, it's good value too, rabbit or reindeer are their favs.
I also feed applaws dry, and mine only eat the chicken, won't touch the chicken and salmon mixed one.

morgana

He is more or less back to normal once he was allowed back outside - and he'll be coming off all meds end of this week and, all going well, we will start him (and the rest of the gang, we might as well) on grain-free food some time next week.
The blood work is more or less back to normal so its now down to controlling it by diet (carb free or low carb) (our vet was delighted, he considers him an interesting case, lol - they apparently only come along every 3 months or so).
Now fired off an order to zooplus.de - even with shipping it works out cheaper than the Irish site and their selection is better and they have a handy heading of grain-free foods. I ordered Smillia, Bonzita, Animondo and Grau as wet foods and Porta 21 as a dry food (the only affordable grain-free dry food). Amazingly all of those are not that much more expensive than the supermarket stuff, if they like them it will just take a bit of planning to get a new supply in time.