14yo w/Diarrhea, could use some advice please

Hi All, I'm new to this forum and could use some advice. My tomcat Onslow will be 15 next month and about a month ago starting having a problem with diarrhea. He's never ever sick so this was a real surprise. The most he ever had trouble with was eating like a pig and throwing up occasionally. We woke up one morning and there were little drips of pure liquid diarrhea all over the house, and about 3 piles of vomit. I took him to the vet that day, who gave him subq fluids, anti nausea meds, and drew some blood for labs. The labs came back normal, liver function, pancreatitis test, kidneys, parasite check, basic blood panel, everything normal. Over the next couple of weeks we tried switching him to soft food ( royal canin Rx, then science diet EN) and the science diet EN hard food. Tried antibiotics. Kept him at the vets for the day. Nothing made much difference. The vet gave him short acting steroid which helped for a few days, xrayed him and saw that his colon looked full, but no masses or anything. One day about 2 weeks into it Onslow was laying on his side in the litter box just straining over and over, so I began to wonder if he was constipated. The vet gave him an enema, and he seemed to get better for about a week after that, no more diarrhea, but still not his normal self, still no real normal stools. Occassionally something very small and formed, but nothing like usual - he usually competes with my dog for who can have the largest poop, if you know what I mean. After almost a week he was right back to where he was when this started - drips of diarrhea, vomiting, sort of stumbling a little with his back legs while trying to use the litter box. So I took him to a second vet for another opinion. He basically said that the other vet did the right things, that he could tell by feel that he definitely wasn't constiptated, that he could give him a longer acting steroid and see if that helps, but he said "let's face it, you're only going to get another 2 or 3 years out of him anyway, and there's the financial considerations" which I thought was pretty insensitive. The steroid seem to help for about a week, (still not normal though) but yesterday and today he's been back to the same way when we started all this. Not eating much, drippy diarrhea, and occasionally he's making this weird meowing sound and moving his back legs like he's having intestinal cramps. He isn't doing too bad otherwise though, still begging in the kitchen occasionally, but is really becoming a shadow of his pushy self. He's lost some weight, but he's usually kinda porky, so he's still at about 10.5 lbs. He's been to the vet 5 times now and they both basically said "huh". I'm totally frustrated, I want to make my boy better but I don't know what to do at this point. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I'm probably going to end up taking him back to the vet if he doesn't improve but I don't know where to go from here. By the way, in case it makes a difference, he has a sister from the same litter who is fine and normal. Thanks for listening...Cathy in Tx

Dumb ?? as it looks like the vet was through ... did they do urine test s... ie get urine from the bladder? could he be having arthritic issues? Is he still eating the RX diets? If not what is he eating?

I went back and checked the itemized bills and it doesn't look like that was done. He has seemed to be drinking and peeing normally this whole time though, and when he pees in the box there's none of that leg shaking, but then he does sit lower down when peeing.

did they do a stool sample.. with his age I would ask about arthritis ... My KK started getting it about then

I would gather up his medical records, with test results and all, and take him to see a feline specialist. The sad fact is that cats are a minority in vets offices and vets are more used to treating dogs. Seeing someone who specializes in cats could make a big difference. That vet may know about some additional tests that can be done. It sounds like your current vet has done all the standard stuff.

I really have no clue what is going on with your boy. I have a cat with inflammatory bowel disease and he has had dripping diarrhea but he doesn't vomit and steroids does help him. But like with your cat his tests are normal. I'm really wondering if he does actually have some sort of blockage or growth in his intestine. Stuff like that wouldn't necessarily show up on an x-ray. An endoscopy may be in order to see exactly what is going on in his intestine. It's not cheap though but if you can afford it that's one thing I would really consider. Ask the feline specialist.

I hope you can get to the bottom of it so that if nothing else Onslow will start feeling better.

Agree with above! At this point, I would also take my cat to a specialist. They are expensive, but you will get answers and will be treated with sensitivity regardless of the age of your cat. That was wrong of the vet to make that comment to you about not having much time left with your cat anyway....... Hope you boy can get some relief very soon

There's a cat hospital not far away, I think that's a great idea. Thanks for your quick replies, you all are so nice In the meantime, I started thinking abut what to give him that would get him to eat and be gentle, so I boiled some chicken and he scarfed a couple of tablespoons like he hadn't eaten in a week. Ic'll see how he does overnight with that, hopefully he keeps it down ok.

Wonder why they didn't try Flagly? It does help sometimes with Diareah.

No idea why they didn't try flagyl. The frustrating thing is that both vets sort of had the attitude like this was probably just one of those things and it would probably pass. Even though this is a 14 yo cat that has never been sick a day in his life. He and his sister are incredibly healthy, everyone says how young they look. He kept the chicken down overnight, there was a little bit of drippy diarrhea in the litter box, but we'll see. I'll call the cat hospital today to get an appt in the meantime. My hope is that this is just kitty IBS and we'll manage it with diet, I really really hope that it's not something more serious, not ready to lose my snarky boy just yet.

Sending good wishes your way. I do hope nothing serious is wrong and the runny poos stop.

What kind of antibiotics did you try? Flagyl/metronidazole is usually the first thing tried when a kitty has diarrhea.

I hope it goes well at the kitty vet. It's always good to get a fresh pair of eyes look at the problem too.

Good luck

My guess on the Flagyl is AGE ... It is notoriously hard on livers ( Yes it is a mainstay for many vets and is a great drug at times)