Sick cat help?

I adopted my cat from a shelter a year ago. Shes 2 years old now. When I had her spayed last year, she weighed 5 pounds. She has always been small. Recently she lost weight, and has been vommiting with diarrhea. I checked the ASPCA's webiste for the symptoms and saw it points to worms, so I bought a Drontal deworming pill from my vet. She threw it up, so I bought her another. Im not sure how long until I should see some improvement. Due to some recent job issues (hours got cut) I cant afford the vet bill with all the testing that they want to do at this time. I was wondering if anyone would be able to give me some advice?

She does eat and drink, always has a bowl of dry food and fresh water available. She eats and drinks about the same as she always has. -I've started giving her a spoon-ful of wet cat food 2-3 times a day to try to get some weight back on her.

She does not have fleas, I gave her flea drops and a flea bath (a week after applying the drop).

No behavioral issues or changes. Shes very friendly, loving, affectionate, and has to be on someones lap 24/7.

I gave her the 1st worm pill on Tuesday (the 24th) and the 2nd worm pill on Friday (the 27th). Her appitite hasnt changed since, and Im not sure how long the pill takes to fully take effect or how long until she will start gaining weight.

I plan on taking her to the vet this Friday (the 3rd) if I dont see any changes.

Please let me know if you've gone throught something similar, or have any advice. I hate seeing my babies sick, and I dont want to lose her.

How much vomiting and diarrhea? How often?  How soon after a meal? What's in the vomit? How long has it been going on?

Is she indoor only? Have you used new chemicals in house cleaning?

Did this start before or after the flea treatment? What flea treatment did you use?

Does she seem underweight? Are her ribs easily noticeable?

Examine the cat as per this video:


Notice anything?

The vet should agree to do a fecal test without you bringing in the cat. Where I live, the pet stores have weekly vet mobile clinics and you can bring in the fecal sample for testing for like $20.

i wouldn't give a cat that is having D&V a Drontal - in fact I wouldn't give one to any cat.  I have to go to the vets for it (UK) but Milbemax is just as effective and a fraction the size.

Is she dehydrated?  Check and see if her scruff springs back when you lift it.  Personally I would not feed her for a day, give her water if she is dehydrated, and go to the vet the next day if the cat wasn't improving.

And in the UK, most of the flea treatments that are safe and effective are vet only.  Frontline is available without a prescription, and one other, but the one thing I'd never use are the various drops, pills and baths from the pet shop.

Lots more on flea treatment here:  http://www.fabcats.org/owners/fleas/info.html

I wouldn't feel comfortable withholding food for more than 12 hours tops.

In this situation, if the cat is losing weight quickly and probably dehydrated, I would provide as much food as the cat is willing to eat especially wet food since it is filled with water.

Your kitty may have leukemia or IBD.  My kitty has IBD - Irritable Bowel Disease (it's different in cats than in humans).  She was vomiting after every meal and had very soft stools.  She lost a lot of weight (she was a heavy girl to begin with - 18 lbs!) After about $1500 in vet visits and being told she might have cancer or leukemia, I found out she had IBD.  They put her on prednisolone and that helped her stop vomiting after every meal and her stools hardened.  She gained 2 lbs and is now a good size - 11 lbs.  Prednisolone is dangerous long term, however, and I do not want to keep her on it, so I need to change her diet.

What food are you feeding your kitty?  She may have allergies.  Some are caused by carbs and starches.  You could try a specialty meat like duck or venison.

The vet prescribed my kitty a hypoallergenic diet but that didn't work (the base ingredient was rice!) - she still was vomiting, so about a month ago I switched to a grain free diet - the main ingredient was duck.  That helped slightly.  I was able to reduce her meds to half.  But I think dry food is hard for her to digest and the starches upset her tummy, so I am trying to switch her to a wet food diet.  I would see what happens with the wet food?

Just fyi - the aspca offers pet insurance for 23 dollars a month and they will cover up to 80% of diagnostic testing (I spent a whopping $900 on an endoscopy) and they covered about 700 dollars of it - took about a month for them to refund me.  Just make sure you don't list it as a pre existing condition or they won't cover it.

You can also try and see if there is a low fee clinic or vet school in your area.  A few towns over from me there is a vet school and they don't charge for visits, only medicines.  Unfortunately I cannot go there because I do not have a car (I live in the city).  But I would look and see if they have a place near you?

I got BOTH the flea treatment and deworming pill from the vet. This all just started, and became noticable last week, which is why I got her the worm pill. She does not throw up after eating. Its completely random. She is indoor/outdoor, by her choice -not mine. (I wont make her unhappy by keeping her indoors). The flea treatment is Advantage -I prefer to use Frontline Plus, but didnt have enough money the day I bought the meds.

There are no close places to take her that are 'free/low cost', and generally no close places to me. I live 30 miles from the closest vet, which in my opinion isnt very far -but my gas gauge doesnt agree.

I switched her from Kit-N-Kaboodle to 9 Lives-Plus Care (suppose to help digestive and urinary tract, which I bought because my other cat has chronic urinary tract issues -which his new diet is helping with) over a month ago. Her appetite didnt change, but this week I decided to get her a small bag of the Kit-N-Kaboodle to see if she would eat more. I was thinking the new food might be making her sick. Still, appetite hasnt changed. Today, I gave her a bath (she got muddy this morning) and I kept her in until she was dry. I noticed she was drinking ALOT and her scruff kinda stayed 'up' from when I was holding her in the sink.

Also after she was dry and I ket her outside, I happened to look out the window and saw her and her belly looked a little swollen. I felt it and it kinda felt 'bubbly', like maybe gas. (She has been pretty gassy lately)

Stools havent been watery, just loose. Light colored. Same color as the vomit. Basically the color of the food if I mush it all together in some water.

The thing that I would be worried about is that she got into some sort of toxic substance. Outdoors she could be exposed to engine coolant, insecticides/weed killers, poisoned rodent, tainted water and I don't even know what else.

It's good that she doesn't have real uncontrollable diarrhea.

I would consider keeping her indoors for a couple of days to see if the symptoms subside. Dehydration is worrisome and I would do anything to get fluid in her - wet food, pureed boiled chicken (with cooking water), cat milk or lactose free milk. 

Dontral is only for worms. She may have giardia or  coccidia which would require other treatments. I would not treat without a diagnosis.

So she is still active, playful, wants to go outside?

For dehydration oral rehydration works well.  There are plenty of recipies to make it on the Internet - you end up making a litre but it costs almost nothing to make - and a small (10ml) syringe (no needel!) works well for slowly putting it in the side of the cat's mouth.  If the cat weighs 5kg then 5ml every few hours will help a huge amount.  But if the cat is still dehydrated it needs the vet.

And personally I wouldn't bath her while she is ill.  A damp cloth will get the worst of the mud off.

Hi, sorry about your kitty.  My buddy has some of the same issues, soft stools, gassy BMs and he has dry heeving, nothing comes up.  He has lost weight and I have taken him to the vets.  He has had a complete blood work up and now the vet is thinking hyperthyroid, his pancreas levels are also a bit raised. 

I don't say this to scare you but to point out that I couldn't tell what was wrong with Buddy by looking at him.  The blood work can give a better idea of what is going on with your baby.  It may be something very simple but maybe it isn't.  If not then the sooner you find out what it is the easier it is for your kitty and for treatment.   I am also on a very limited income, I was surprised to be approved for "Care Credit".  It is a line of credit that can be used for pet care or some of your own medical costs such as dental work.  When I applied for it I was unemployed and I got a $500 limit.  You can apply for it online and it only takes about 10 minutes to know how much you get.  They give you a number that you can take to the vets office if you need to go before you get a card in the mail .  Just google care credit, I think it is carecredit.com. 

If your baby will eat canned food add a little water to add moisture, or try mixing water in the dry untill it is mushy and see if your baby will eat it.  You have to keep water going in.

Good luck, and keep us informed about what happens.

Janice and Buddy