Please help with my ill cat HELP

Thanks kittymonsters and jcat,

I think that I will not try mixed diet (dry+wet) anymore. After buying the Almo lamb+rice dry food, it started well. She ate 9 gr when I filled her dish, she seemed to like it. But then she ate less and less, and from 3 pm to 6:30 in the morning of the following day (today) she ate nothing.

I think my cat is multi-allergic to almost everything in dry food that is not meat. All food has some allergen, when it is not corn, it is rice, chicken, potatoes, or that long list of vegetables that "natural dry food" has.

She seems to feel real fear for dry food. She prefers not to eat. So I have selected some wet foods based on their composition and not in if they're famous foods or not.

I also talked with another veterinary from the same clinic that I go. He said me that there were allergy test. They cost 400 euros +300 to make the vaccine to immunize against the allergies she may have + 3 months of treatment. It is just 50% effectiveness, and may be aggressive for some cats. 400+300+200 = 900 euros in a treatment just 50% effective and that may end if no dry food alternative because ALL dry food contains some cereal, vegetable or chicken.

If effectiveness was at least 80 or 90 percent I may do it, but this is plain stupid because it is really random and in addition there is no dry food to choose.

She also rejected raw chicken meat that I tried to feed her, that is something that she always liked. I think that she instinctively rejects what is harmful for her.

So I tell you what I'm going to do, and please tell me if you find it's right or not.

I will be feeding her with 3 cans of 100 gr of wet food, at 7:00, 15:00, and 23:00, so there's 8 hours between meals.

This is because sometimes she asks for food all night and we can't sleep. We are trying to educate her to not eat by night from 23 to 7.

I will use some foods that are 11% protein, 4-5% fat, 2% ash, 0,5 cellulose, humidity 82%

I have used this calculator to know that it's more or less 76 calories per 100 gr. I have calculated that these cans have 2% carbohydrates.

http://www.scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

Is this ok? Is 8 hours between meals acceptable? Sometimes she eats 250 gr or less per day, never uses to eat 300 gr. Is this right?

Also, if you know some vitamins for cats that work for you please tell me. Thanks

I haven't read this thread to discover the problem. I don't believe my cat has allergies, but she likes to nibble all day long. In addition to her regular wet food, I have discovered Blue Buffalo Organics. She really likes it. They make several varieties - www.bluebuff.com. My cat has CRF but won't eat the prescription food and she is very skinny.

I am now very sad because she seems to be unable to be without eating for more than 3-4 hours. She has vomited saliva and something white. I could not wait until 23:00, and this means that we'll have to wake up several times at night to feed her.
If we place the can out, she doesn't eat it. We don't know why she can't be without eating frequently, and why does the can to be recently opened or she refuses it.

PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by jordi

I am now very sad because she seems to be unable to be without eating for more than 3-4 hours. She has vomited saliva and something white. I could not wait until 23:00, and this means that we'll have to wake up several times at night to feed her.
If we place the can out, she doesn't eat it. We don't know why she can't be without eating frequently, and why does the can to be recently opened or she refuses it.

PLEASE HELP!

Click to expand...

I wish I could offer words of encouragement. My cat refuses food too if it's been out more than a half hour. Sometimes adding some vegetable oil to the food helps and she will eat it. You might try raw chicken liver, but not too much, and check with your vet first. I put it in the food processor and freeze it in ice cube trays, giving her one cube every other day or so.

She is allergic to most things, and chicken may be one of them.

Your feeding schedule is exactly like what I would like my kitties to do. They used to be on this schedule, but for some reason since I moved they are not anymore. Now they want to eat all night. They can go 10 hours during the day, but want to eat at 20:00 then again sometime between 3:00 and 5:00 then again about 11:00 am. My new thing to try is feed them a larger amount at 22:00 and hope they let me sleep until 6:00.

With Lilit right now I am wondering if she is vomiting due to nausea, then she feels better a while later and is hungry again because her stomach is empty from vomiting. So she is stuck in a cycle of eating, feeling sick, vomiting, then getting hungry again...

Did your vet give you anything to decrease nausea for her? White foamy vomit of saliva usually indicates an acid type nausea in cats. This is common in cats that have CRF. Here we use famotadine (Pepcid AC) which is a common over the counter acid reducer. It sounds like Lilit really needs something to soothe her stomach.

Jcat is in Germany, so she may know better what medications are commonly used in Europe vs. the USA.
Some other members that may be able to help with country differences are Stefan Z who is in Sweden, JennyRanson who is in France and NortherGlow who is in Finland.


The other possiblitiy is that she may not be absorbing her nutrients so her body is wanting to eat more. The vitamin B12 protocol I posted a link to in an earler post is supposed to help with this. This is the only extra vitamin (other than those in a necessary to a balanced diet) that is starting to be considered a must for animals (people too according to my immune doctor) with any kind of intestinal tract problems. The studies being done on this show it helps with malabsorption issues and weight gain/ maintenance.

We have started my kitty on this and it is making a difference. This is injectable Vitamin B12, specifically cyanocobalamin. I can get a bottle that will last over a year for $12.OO US. (about 8.44 Euros). This is a prescription that is picked up at a human pharmacy. It is given as a shot just under the skin and is really simple to do. All the information on how much to give and how often to give it is in this link. http://www.cvm.tamu.edu/gilab/research/cobalamin.shtml

I think it would be worth it to print this out and talk to Lilit's doctor about starting this protocol for her. My vets did test my kitty's Cobalamin (B12) level twice, but the test is expensive. B12 is not harmful and inexpensive so we don't test now, just follow the protocol. For cats it is 1/4ml once a week for six weeks, then 1/4 every two weeks for 6 weeks, then once a month.


Also, I am wondering if Lilit is actually having pancreatitis attacks and it is not a food allergy. My vets here originally thought my kitty was allergic as well, but he isn't. He has autoimmune IBD, plus chronic pancreatitis. The pancreatitis attacks are what make him act like he is afraid of his food. He will come like he is hungry, then run and hide under the bed. He then starts vomiting yellow foam and will not want to eat for a few days.

The fact that you said Lilit usually really likes some raw chicken, but now when she is not feeling well she is refusing to eat it makes me wonder if the chicken is making her not feel well or if her stomach is hurting and making her not want to eat.

For the pancreatitis, it is important to have pain medicine, something to settle the stomach and stimulate appetite ( There is a new medicine here, Mirtazapine which stimulates appetite and decreases nausea. You only have to give it once every three days) and to give fluids while the vomiting is going on.

For IBD and the food allergies you are already doing what you should be trying.

I don't blame you for not doing the testing and the shots for the allergies. I was never offered that here, but if I had been I wouldn't have done it either. Even though my kitty was already on a limited ingredient, no grain, diet the vet had me try the special food, becaue he could have been allergic to chicken as well.

We did Royal Canin/ IVD Duck and green pea and the Venison and green pea. He did the same thing on them, fine for awhile then the vomiting and stop eating. Here we also have Natural Balance that makes an over the counter version of both the Duck and Venison formulas which are much less expensive than the prescription diets.

Has your vet talked about doing biopsy's of Lilits intestines? This is what gave us our definitive answer for my kitty.

My Stomper has to stay on his 2.5 mg of Prednisolone everyday, plus his homemade food to keep his IBD under control. Then we do the extra stuff when he gets a flare up of pancreatitis.

I have made the mistake of giving him a greenie treat or using a pill pocket for his daily medicine and caused a very bad set back. He cannot have any kind of store bought treat, even just one


I forgot to say in my other post about my homemade food. I don't use bone and I don't use bone meal as a replacement. Because of having a CRF kitty as well, I have to make sure the calcium to phosophorus ratio is right at the 1.2 to 1.4 to 1 ratio. without having too much phosophorus for the renal failure kitty. Using bone or bone meal adds way too much phosphorus which is very high in muscle meats. So I use calicium supplements only to balance the phosphorus.

One more thing, how old is Lilit?

Sorry I have posted you a small novel. I just want to get as much information to you as possible. Hopefully your vet will be able to help you sort through what I have said and see if any of it might be helpful for Lilit.
I know how hard it is to have a very sick kitty and not know how to make them better. I hope you get some sleep and that morning finds Lilit improve from yesterday.

Thank you for such an informative reply, this gives us lots of data that we may look to solve this.

I think we will try some time to really test if this is allergy. If in 2 months the attacks don't repeat, it is allergy. If it repeats, I will talk with the vet about all that you say.
The veterinaries usually don't accept our opinions, you are very lucky of having one that is not arrogant to think that he's always right. That's why I come here, hoping that some owner of cat can help me. You are really helping me now, if the allergy is not the explanation, I will try the things you say.

Some notes:

You say that "So she is stuck in a cycle of eating, feeling sick, vomiting, then getting hungry again..." but she is not in a circle. When she eats wet, she does not vomit. It is when she has not been eating for more than 4-7 hours, and she just throws saliva because she has digested the food well.
Her droppings are now completely normal and lacking of smell. She seems hydrated, I don't think she has renal failure. What signs of that illness do the cats with that show? I have read about it but lack of a practical, real reference.

Today I bought some vitamins with arginine and B12 (and other things) to see if they help her and also help to recover muscle mass.
During some time, we used similar vitamins and she was better, played again (she had not played almost nothing for years) and became very energetic. But that was a too natural brand and they decayed quickly, making her feel sick.
These vitamins don't have this problem, so let's see.

I think she will benefit of anything that helps better digestion and I'm also wanting her to recover muscle mass, that she has lost due to cortisone and illness.

I know that B12 is better injected, but for now I will wait to see if it is allergy, to not stress her too much. SHe is very, very nervous, gets stresses very much with syringes and all that. My cat was very nervous all that time when she changed from one vet to another.

Sorry for your cats, one comes to love them very much, I hope your problems get also solved. I wish you the best.

Lilit is 13 years old. I know that vets consider that a cat is old with 7 years, at least my previous vet thought that, but when Lilit was cured from the bronchitis and took her vitamins, she behaved and looked like a young cat. I dream with getting to this point again, not sure if I'll get it.

I was very lucky to have my old vet, I miss her since I have moved to a different state.

I asked about Lilit's age because there are several different things that could be going on in addition to the food allergy or IBD issues if she was a senior cat. These two things can cause the same symptoms that you are seeing that may be food allergies.

One is chronic renal failure, which as I mentioned before can cause the acid stomach type nausea you are seeing. Many CRF cats require more frequent smaller meals and an acid reducer. CRF can also cause dehydration, increased drinking and increased urination. Some cats can also become quite boney looking with loss of muscle mass. My CRF kitty does not look ill at all though.

Common blood and urine tests are needed to diagnose CRF. They check the blood for the creatinine and BUN ( urea nitrogen ) and the urine for the specific gravity.

With all the recent tests Lilit has had done, your vet most likely has already ruled this out as a possibility. If you are not sure it would be worth a call to ask them just in case. If caught early renal failure can often be successfully managed for many years. There are people here at TCS that have kitties that are 8 years out from diagnosis and still going strong.


The other thing I was wondering about is hyperthyroidism. Based on what you said in your last post that Lilit is not vomiting up her food and seems to be digesting rapidly and needing more, hyperthyroidism is a strong possibility when coupled with her age. Hyperthyroid cats tend to be hungry! This condition will also make a kitty lose muscle mass despite eating a great deal. Sometimes their fur will get strange either oily or "spikey" looking. This is again very treatable if caught early.

The vet may not have checked Lilit for this unless you specifically asked them too. This is one that the earlier it is caught the much better the prognosis is.

I know they say 8 is old but I have had a cat live to be 24 and many that lived to their late teens. You are right to want to have many more good years with your girl.

Thanks for your support, kittymonsters.

Maybe I do a blood test in the next weeks, I want first to see if her hunger is stabilized and has no more gastritis, because it may give abnormal results.

There is no weight loss in Lilit. In fact, she is even a little fat sometimes. The only moments that she loose weight is when she could not eat so much, or when she does more excercise.

Yesterday she ate her food and then sprinted through the balcony running fast. Jumps to the bed quickly. This looks better.

Last year, when she was with the bronchitis, my old vet did her more than 15 X-rays (something that I didn't like), and 4 or 5 blood tests. In the blood tests, BUN was normal more near than a low level, but creatine was slightly over the normal levels. I asked all the vets about a liver illness, or a digestive problem, but all them said it may be a renal problem, although there is no urea at all (even low) in blood.

Good news, for now...

As Lilit needs to eat often we bought some special food so she can eat it at night and that does not decay so fast.

So we went and bought a can of Friskies Gold Diamond that consists in tuna with shrimps in gelatin, like a pie. The fish is not over cooked, and really smells well. It has almost no fat, no carbohidrates and 15% protein.
It is a little expensive, but less than other "premium" foods that have rice. THis has NO rice NOR cereals, just meat.
We thought it was good also to give her some more protein, as she has been so many years with little protein.

She loved it, although at the beginning she looked like she did not recognized it as food. I had to tell her how to chew her food. I think she has forgotten how to chew due to years of eating dry, that she eats without chewing it.

She ate almost all the can between 9:30 and 12:00 and at 2 in the morning she ate some small pieces that were left in the can. Then she slept and did not vomit or had any problem until 6:50 in which I gave her a new can.

And today she was less sleepy, more active, and has better color on the eyes, deep green. She also has more appetite, and ate all her food without problems.

We have bought 10 more cans to give her 1 daily at night, as this seems good for her, and she likes it very much. Seems that this high in proteins food heals her stomach.

It is a little expensive, but less than other "premium" foods that have rice. THis has no rice nor cereals, just meat.