lack of appetite and mystery vomit..

Background: all 3 of my kitties started the transition to all wet diet back in August. They all successfully have only ate canned food for a good while now but I've been mostly free feeding it as their bodies adjusted.
I have noticed over time they have been eating less and been taking it down to 3 scheduled meals a day. I just figured they were finally figuring out when they were full and adjusted
Last two days, all three are not even very interested in any of their meals. I've seen Hestia eat and Solomon is still begging for his all meat treats so I'm not as worried about him.. Kuan Yin seems generally uninterested in it all so I'm getting a little worried now.
They have tons of variety..each meal is always a different brand. At first I thought they were just being finicky so I started pulling other kinds out of the pantry. Same reaction. And this morning I found vomit that was bubbly and kind of yellow. There was vomit on the couch yesterday but I thought it was from my boyfriend's dog who frequently gets into things she shouldn't. But this morning's was in a place only the cats are allowed. So now I'm really worried.
Kuan Yin's taking baby food which is her fave thing. But not nomming as much as she usually would. And kind of quiet. Right now is when they all play the most so I'm just observing everyone really carefully and deciding if it's time to go to the vet yet. Everyone is eliminating normally as far as I can tell. I have a food delivery coming at noon with new brands for them to try so we'll see if that generates any interest.

I am not sure why you are switching foods? But most cats do well on a combination of dry and wet. Just because it is the same BRAND of wet, doesn't mean that it will agree with the kitty. If you find a flavor they like and they all eat that flavor, stay with that flavor and don't add other types to it. Anytime you switch flavors within a BRAND ( say Friskies for example) you run the risk of one or two kitties have problems with it. Unlike us, cats don't necessarily need variety in their foods. In the wild, they stick to mice, rodents, bugs and such-and they don't change their minds and decide to eat something else.

Well, maybe I should rephrase that; I'm not constantly switching foods but like to have three different brand/flavors that they like at any given time. Then I keep those three flavors stocked. If they start to get tired of one or ignore it, then I may substitute something else for them. They get a chicken based meal for breakfast, a turkey for lunch and a beef based for dinner. I feel like they'll be more well rounded this way rather than stuck on only one brand and flavor. Are you saying they should only eat one kind of food all the time?
I have researched this and no longer feel okay feeding them kibble. They stopped eating kibble last summer and have been thriving since. Lost weight and softer and more active.
But I do see what you're saying..is there such thing as too much variety then?

Here is an example of their diet (all canned)

Bkfst: Chicken Soup for the Cat lovers soul

Lunch: Evolve Turkey Formula

Dinner: Evangers Beef & Liver

Things in the pantry that I may offer if someone is seeming finicky:

Before Grain Quail

Evo Venison

Felidae Grain Free

Life's Abundance Instinctive Choice

Well I saw Hestia vomit about an hour ago, it is her. Booked for 3:45pm today with a different vet. Love our current but they are booked until next week and farther drive. This one comes highly reccomended and actually has experience with tigers as well as eight cats of his own..near our small town so much easier to get in with him right away too. Hope he is good.
No one's touched their breakfast but Kuan Yin did lick up some baby food and Solomon is begging for treats (didn't give him any, would like to see him eat some real food first if I can). I don't know, maybe they are just not hungry. Keeping a close eye on everyone now no matter.
Hestia is 13 so I'd feel better bringing her in straight away and she may need a senior panel done anyway. Everyone is almost due for their wellness exams so we just might do them all a bit early this year..I'll let you guys know how it goes. We'll start with her and go from there.

Kuan Yin is now VERY SICK. Severe vomiting and diahhrea of bright yellow liquid everywhere. Please keep her in your thoughts, I am very upset. She is going to the vet ASAP.

Oh no! I hope everything is ok! Keep us updated. for your babies.

Have you gotten back from the vet's yet? Did you find out what was wrong? I hope Kuan Yin is ok!

Hi, we just got home.
$500 later and the girls are both stable...
Hestia is hyperthyroid. She had a full senior workup and everything else is okay. She was given subq fluids as she was dehydrated and methimazole..will recheck her thyroid in 3-4 weeks.
Kuan Yin we have some clues but not definite diagnosis. We did a CBC and she had elevated WBC, Lymph, and Creatinine. Levels were quite high so we proceeded with xrays. Kidneys looked good, some irritated stomach lining, some fragments of something working thru her intestine but no blockage. She was given subq fluids, antibiotic injection, amoxycillin to be taken orally and k/d food and will be rechecked in a week. At this point we are just guessing this is some kind of genetic defect in the kidney but not sure but tumor was ruled out and everything else looked as it should. He also said it might just be some kind of virus affecting her kidneys. Going to treat her at home with the meds and special food and see what her bloods are like next Monday.
My poor girls..it's odd how they both got sick at the same time for completely unrelated things.

If they are not eating properly please force feed them some Nutrical a few times a day. You can also forcefeed some baby food. It is very, very important that cats eat and drink as their livers can shut down from lack of food.

I hope your kitties will start getting better soon. It's so nerve wracking when they are sick.

Tink80, I would highly recommend discussing replacing Amoxicilin for something else... one main side effect of Amoxicillin is diarrhea, and another is vomiting; it is also quite bad for an irritated digestive tract like that... If this was my cat, I would be discussing an injection of antibiotics - Convenia, if it works, of clidamycin (injections also), but I would try my best to not give it orally - especially amoxixcillin. A lot of cats who don't have diarrhea to begin with have bad side effects on it (I just went through a 4-month diarrhea with Bugsy that started because of it - Clavamox), and if the cat already has diarrhea and vomit, it can be even worst... Of course this doesn't happen to all cats, but those are two very known side effects of amoxi, and I personally wouldn't risk it... http://www.vetinfo.com/amoxicillin-for-cats.html

Thanks for well wishes.
Hestia has been eating since we came back. I think the subq fluids have made her feel good enough to start back on her own.
Kuan Yin ate the k/d straight away last night. She's about to eat breakfast now so we'll see how it goes.
I will keep that in mind Carolina. I am comfortable right now with the amoxi drops. She was passing bile because of lack of food so I think this is why she was having diarrhea. She had an antibiotic injection last night. She's had amoxidrops before after her spay with no adverse effects so I think we will stick with this for now but I will keep your advice in mind if her tummy does not improve or gets worse. I think it's a little early to be switching everything around, I'd like to wait and see how his method works but thanks for your input.

Oh wow was that all scary or what? We just switched to all wet in November, and had a problem with our Lazlo. Our oldest had been free feeding dry food for nine years, so it's been an off-and-on proposition for us over the past year, and we FINALLY got there. Lazlo started vomiting - but it appears his problem is just that his system can't take having his stomach empty for more than two hours.

I'm so glad you were able to get them to the vet so quickly. Hestia's new med regime will do the trick, and for Kuan Yin!

Kuan Yin had a recheck today. Her bloods are much improved. Nearly everything is balanced except her creatinine is still a bit off so we're doing fluid therapy and another round of antibiotics this week and recheck the creatinine at the end of the week. Got her more k/d for the time being and she got fluids today and another antibiotic injection and now she is home and giving herself a thorough bath. She's been steadily better and playing from what I see at home this last week so I was a little surprised her creatinine is not quite there yet but we're working on it.
Hestia has been doing great her recheck for her T4 is still a few weeks out but I'm pretty sure she's fine as she's been her normal lovey self.

That's great that she's feeling better!

After being at the vet office everyday this week for fluids, we rechecked Kuan Yin's creatinine today and I just got off the phone with him--

IT'S NORMAL!!!!!!!!!! I am so relieved and happy

Congratulations!!!

Hi, I just saw this thread - and find it so curious.

They're on canned food - good quality stuff - but, you're switching the flavors and brands with each meal (?)

What I find so curious is that they were (or one of them was) dehydrated?
Being dehydrated is something I would expect if they were on kibble, but, not canned ??

Tell me, are you re-heating the food with the microwave? If so, I wonder if you could be sucking all the moisture out of the food - ?? I thought about this a couple of weeks ago, and just started adding some bottled water to the food before I nuked it - so the moisture is still there, and they even have some gravy to go with the food.

Also, by feeding the different flavors, and different brands - if there was a problem with the food, how could you narrow down the food that is problematic?

So, how are they doing now? Hope I read a good report!

Hi, there
I don't reheat their food, since there's three of them I use up a whole 5.5 oz. can at a time.
We've got their diet down to three different flavors of Science Diet now and just a few wild cards left in the pantry in case they are bored.
Everyone is doing great. Kuan Yin seems completely recovered. Hestia got her T4 checked on Thursday and the meds are actually working a little too well so we're cutting her Methimazole dose in half.
Other than that, so far so good

NOW, that's what I like to read!!

Good news. Thanks.
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