13 yr old lost weight, is throwing up a lot...

No barf in over 24 hours! She ate tons of the Pure Bite treats yesterday and almost an entire can (5.5 oz) of wet food. So far today she has ate almost one can of wet food and more of the dehydrated chicken treats, she refuses to eat dry food though. I guess she has put herself on an all wet food diet. She's sleeping a lot. Hopefully I can get her in tomorrow. It's so annoying having to wait for a vet to be open >.

Glad you're taking her to the Vet tomorrow.  

As she's a senior kitty, the most common issues in senior cats are: diabetes, hyperthyroidism and kidney disease -- which can all cause vomiting, weight loss.

Ensure the Vet has a good look at her teeth and gums, too......a bad tooth or major gum disease can cause cat to not want to eat (and you mention kitty no longer wants to eat dry food) and untreated can lead to kidney disease.

And yes, testing for hyperthyroidism is often a separate test that you have to request.   Just to note........if I was you I would request a "FREE T4" be done instead of just the regular T4 as Free T4 is a lot more accurate and sensitive in senior cats (whereas a basic T4 in a senior cat can often come back 'normal' even though cat does have hyperthyroidism).

Ensure that a Urinalysis is done as well as that provides valuable info re:  kidney disease and the whether the kidneys are concentrating urine well.   Helps show if sugar in urine, or blood (sign of UTI). 

Ensure electrolytes are also done with bloodwork, particularly Potassium....as all of the vomiting and lack of food your kitty has had can lead to low levels of potassium which is critical to treat with vet prescribed supplementation (low levels can directly impact muscle function, including the heart which is a muscle, and can cause lethargy, hindleg weakness, constipation, lack of appetite).

So glad to hear Lulu is eating and keeping it down. Thanks for keeping us updated. Such a pretty girl.

Lulu :heart3:

the_food_lady said:

Glad you're taking her to the Vet tomorrow.  

As she's a senior kitty, the most common issues in senior cats are: diabetes, hyperthyroidism and kidney disease -- which can all cause vomiting, weight loss.

Ensure the Vet has a good look at her teeth and gums, too......a bad tooth or major gum disease can cause cat to not want to eat (and you mention kitty no longer wants to eat dry food) and untreated can lead to kidney disease.

And yes, testing for hyperthyroidism is often a separate test that you have to request.   Just to note........if I was you I would request a "FREE T4" be done instead of just the regular T4 as Free T4 is a lot more accurate and sensitive in senior cats (whereas a basic T4 in a senior cat can often come back 'normal' even though cat does have hyperthyroidism).

Ensure that a Urinalysis is done as well as that provides valuable info re:  kidney disease and the whether the kidneys are concentrating urine well.   Helps show if sugar in urine, or blood (sign of UTI). 

Ensure electrolytes are also done with bloodwork, particularly Potassium....as all of the vomiting and lack of food your kitty has had can lead to low levels of potassium which is critical to treat with vet prescribed supplementation (low levels can directly impact muscle function, including the heart which is a muscle, and can cause lethargy, hindleg weakness, constipation, lack of appetite).

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My vet doesn't have any openings until Thursday! Luckily there are 3 other vets in the same building, so I'm going to try to get in with them, but she's the cat specialist. I got an email just as I was about to call them when they opened and am waiting to hear back again. So frustrating! Last night she scared the crap out of me. I'm actually feeling really sick right now. She literally has me worried sick. She was eating great yesterday, then at night got up and threw up everything she had eaten, then threw up liquid a few times. She then fell asleep on a chair and was being unresponsive. That's where she was when I went to sleep. Now she appears to be fine again! She woke up my mother and forced her to give her treats (which is bad if she's going to get testing done right? aren't they supposed to fast?) and she's walking around, playing with the other kitties... The vet better have an opening!

Vets leave openings in their schedules for emergencies. Instead of using e mail, call the office and tell them you have an emergency. Lulu definitely needs to be seen today. the blood work needs to be done and fluids will help her feel much better. All paws crossed for her.

Got her in! At 2:30! Yay! I don't know the vet now but whatever. 
 

I'm in NJ near where the hurricane hit so I think they are still really busy with people bringing in their pets from that... but yay I got in!

Lulu

Please keep us posted

the_food_lady said:

And yes, testing for hyperthyroidism is often a separate test that you have to request.   Just to note........if I was you I would request a "FREE T4" be done instead of just the regular T4 as Free T4 is a lot more accurate and sensitive in senior cats (whereas a basic T4 in a senior cat can often come back 'normal' even though cat does have hyperthyroidism).

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Just a quick comment on the Free T4 test: it should not actually replace a Total T4 test, but be run in conjunction with it. It also costs quite a bit more than just the Total T4, so that might be a consideration for someone on a budget. Where the Free T4 test comes in handy is when a cat has normal Total T4 values (which have either been suppressed by another illness like say diabetes or kidney disease, or the hyperthyroidism is mild or in an early stage) but the cat is still exhibiting the signs of having hyperT. So a Total T4 test is still the best place to start, and then a Free T4 may need to be run depending on those results. Doing just a Free T4 without a Total T4 for comparison can return false positive results. More info here: Confirming the Diagnosis of Hyperthyroidism in Cats: Serum Free T4 Concentrations

Ugh! I thought since my vet was out I'd have one of the other nice lady vets.. Turns out they all took off. I had this awful male substitute vet (he doesn't work there normally, I didn't know they had any men on staff ever) He was totally worthless. He came in and right from the start was talking down to me, and it obvious that he totally didn't like cats... he goes "So she's like 13, 14" I'm like... it says it on her chart! He reads off the symptoms I told the tech about and is like "So like, do you consider her throwing up to be weird". I'm like. ... "yeah... she throws up randomly but not every day for days in a row".  I mentioned her weight loss and he's like "Oh she's only had one appointment here. Earlier this year" -said in tone like I never take her to the vet, I just switched to this one earlier this year- "What was her weight before you brought her here earlier this year." "10 pounds". 

This is the part I wanted to kick him in the head. In January Lulu weighed over 9 pounds. She has lost 1.5 pounds since then and is barely 8 pounds now. He goes

"Oh, so her weight hasn't really changed since then". And totally dismisses my concern over her weight. That's a lot for her! She only weighed 9 pounds to begin with! He then states that "throwing up could mean anything" -lists horrible diseases in nonchalant tone- "So we're going to have to run a number of tests, starting with blood and xrays and if those don't show anything we're going to have to run more tests". I tell him I don't have a lot of money (I'm obviously young, I didn't go with a parent, he really should've that). He rolls his eyes and leaves the room, coming back with the prices. The xrays were way too much money so I opted for just the bloodwork. He left without a word and never came back, a tech came and got her blood and then I checked out. No advice on how to make her eat, no expressing concern or anything. This is why I hate male vets!!! The woman I see is a total cat lover and is very very nice to me and my  cats, explains everything clearly, gives me all my options... Not this dude. Gah! The CHECK OUT lady gave me more info than he did! The blood test includes urinalysis and fecal!!! He didn't say anything about what it included! He seemed shocked when I asked him about the T4 he had this look like "she knows what she is talking about?!" 

Sorry I have to rant. I'm so annoyed. Lulu was a very bad kitty for him. She doesn't even like the lady vet that much but this guy didn't know how to handle a cat at all. He gave up on trying to open her mouth. My vet has no problems with her. He was struggling just to get her heart beat. I would have preferred just the tech to do everything, she did more for me than this dude did. Ugh ugh! 

So anyway, I'm getting the results back tomorrow. The blood test, which includes T4 and also a urinalysis and fecal examination apparently, was 117$ which is a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. It's labeled "senior screening" so I guess they bundle all of it together, because I was told in Jan that just a blood test would cost me $150. I have to get the urine and stool sample in within a month. That should be fun to get! 

Lulu isn't eating again, she's too PO'ed right now. This is normal for her though, she never eats for a few hours following a vet visit. 

I hope they call in the morning because I have school tomorrow. I have so much stuff due. I'm so stressed out. 

and I misplaced my bag. I hope I didn't leave it at school on Thursday. It has my wallet in it. The bank was closed so I couldn't take out money but luckily I have a jar of money for situations like this. So stressed. 

Oh my gosh, what a HORRIBLE experience! Just reading your post has made me so angry I don't know what to do with myself. Your vet will be in tomorrow? I would call and insist on speaking to her about the lab results. And please please tell your vet what you told us here. No one should be treated in such a way, ever, let alone when they are worried sick about their beloved pet.

That IS a significant weight loss, you are correct. When a cat weighs only 9 pounds, just about anything is a significant weight loss. She lost over a pound? That's...what 10 percent of her body weight? I'm not good with percentages, but it's something like that.

Oh boy, I've got to go scrub the tub or something I am so angry I could strangle someone.

They aren't going to be back in until Thursday I don't know why everyone is out, and why they would hire this guy while they're gone. They send the blood test out to another place and they will call me tomorrow (hopefully in the morning) with the results. I'm definitely not going back until my vet is back... he didn't even do anything that was worth the visit fee either. You don't need a visit to get a blood test done. If I had known he was just going to say "blood test! can't do anything until you do a blood test!" Then I wouldn't have scheduled her to see a vet. I'm so annoyed, I learned more from you guys and from googling "senior cat throwing up" than I did from him and I paid him. Ugh. Yeah, it's like 15% of her body weight. He just ignored her weight loss, "no big deal, she's basically the same as before". That is like a 125 pound person going down to 106 pounds in a few months. When I go in again I'll say something to her. I can't believe that guy.

I stopped going to my old vet last year because I had enough of him. The last thing he said to me before I dropped him was that my cat (different one) peeing on things was "obviously my fault, you must be doing something wrong" and that was it. He was also a man who hated cats. 

I brought out my fancy treasure chest of the cats favorite wet foods and she picked out a meow mix wet food (got it as a free sample!) and she ate about half of it. I know meow mix is bad, but I may have to pick up some more of their wet food if it's the only thing Lulu is going to want to eat. 

I have no idea who that guy vet was. The only staff members listed on the website were women. When I made the appointment the woman said my vet wasn't available until Thursday, but she didn't say everyone was gone! The place was empty when I went. Usually there are several appointments going on at once since there are four vets there. I'm assuming he's a substitute. If I didn't need to go back in the near future I would write a nasty note to them (they have a survey you can fill out on their website)...but I'm going to wait and say something to my vet if I need to make another appointment and will wait for her to come back. No way am I seeing that guy again.

Your baby sounds like my first cat. The Vet called him the '16 pound terror'. When he came into the exam room he had two long heavy-duty gloves and a huge net. He was not a 'cat' person but, at least, was a good Vet. Cats can sense a cat Vet and are more cooperative. Hopefully, the Vet you saw is a dog Vet and not a bad Vet. It may help you and others to discuss the substitute with the regular Vet. 

Anyway, I'm glad you got the blood work done. 

Good luck and keep us posted on the results

lizzimi said:

I brought out my fancy treasure chest of the cats favorite wet foods and she picked out a meow mix wet food (got it as a free sample!) and she ate about half of it. I know meow mix is bad, but I may have to pick up some more of their wet food if it's the only thing Lulu is going to want to eat. 

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I was amazed to find that most of the Meow Mix wet food is not bad. Only a few have by-products. The negative is all of them have fish as the main protein - even the poultry flavors.

I have a feeling a lot of male vets are just dog vets. Every one I've seen refuses to pet my cats, talk to them, or anything they just looked them over once and call it a day... then I see the same guys with dog patients and they are the complete opposite. The woman I see talks to Lulu to make her calm down (Lulu freaks out at the vet) and pets her and makes her as comfortable as possible. Lulu was freaking out with this guy and he didn't know what to do. I was trying to calm her down while he was manhandling her which didn't work too well. She definitely knew he wasn't a cat person haha. 

I looked up the meow mix food just now and I'm really surprised that there isn't by-products. That's the first thing that pops into my head when I think meow mix. There is fish in everything though wow. I gave her turkey and the first ingredient is Tuna. 

While meow mix isn't the best, it is food and it is wet. That is the most important thing for Lulu right now. She needs to eat, and she needs the moisture.

Got the results back. I wasn't home I was at school. My mother got the message and deleted it. Ugh!

She has kidney failure. I think I just got kidney failure myself. They need me to call back to talk about what to do. I want to talk t o my own vet.

I'm so sorry to hear but, depending on the stage,  CRF is manageable. Here is a link to a great site to learn more. The critical thing is to keep her eating and hydrated with a low phosphorus food. Tanya's site has some excellent  links to low-phosphorus food (<1%). If your baby is eating Meow Mix, that is good. Check the list and give her the ones with the lowest phosphorus she'll eat. The Real Turkey and Giblets is fairly low .71%.

http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm

If you get the blood panel numbers, let us know what her BUN is. 

Thank you so much for the link! I feel a little better now. When I go in I'm going to pick up a copy of her bloodwork. I'm hanging an art show tomorrow all day so I'm going to get my boyfriend to call in, hopefully. If not I'll make time to call in. My vet still isn't back in (thursday >.