Older cat won't eat, can't figure out what's wrong, help!

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mausmom

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Hi all, first post with this account but a long time reader.  Hoping someone can give me something to work with, here.

I have 2 cats, one is about 10 and the other, Mau, just turned 15.  About a month ago when I was in finals in school doing 13 hour days I noticed he was looking a bit ragged, like he hadn't been grooming regularly.  He then developed diarrhea pretty badly (hitting the side of the dome litter box, ugh) and began losing weight rapidly.  He went from around 15 pounds to 12 pounds in a couple of weeks.  He is not vomiting.  He began to lose interest in food and became listless.  For awhile, he'd eat treats and special things like chicken if I hand fed him, but after awhile he simply refused to eat at all.  He'd lick at food and chew it up some and then spit it out, and look at me for more.  Eventually he just gave up on it entirely.

I took him in to the vet and he had a full senior wellness blood panel and his urine was tested.  Everything came back normal - I was concerned about renal failure but there's no evidence of it.  His temperature and other vitals are all normal.  He's obviously skinny, but on palpation the vet felt no abnormalities.  She gave him metronidazole for a week for the diarrhea and a small dose of pepcid AC to counteract any stomach discomfort, which didn't seem to help, and his appetite dwindled to nothing no matter what I offered him.  He began to lick his lips somewhat frequently and sit up close facing the wall, which is odd behavior for him.  At this point he was still drinking water normally (not excessively), but still felt a bit dehydrated so I began giving him subcutaneous fluids (about 150-200ml/day) just to help counteract any fluid loss from the diarrhea.  

We went back to the vet, and the did an x-ray of is body cavities.  She said there was some minor moss of definition, but no masses and everything looked normal to her.  She sent him home with mirtazapine and a/d food to stimulate his appetite.  As far as I can tell, the medicine just made him really stoned.  Huge pupils, staggering when he walked, staring into the fireplace.  He DID eat a bit after the first dose, not as much as normal but a decent amount, but then stopped again when the dose wore off in 3 days.  I dosed him again to no effect.

At this point, his diarrhea has stopped for the most part (he sometimes has loose stools but it's not explosive and frequent like it was, and it's been normal more often than not), but his appetite is zero.  I mix the a/d with some water and syringe feed him a can to a can and a half over the course of the day, which he absolutely hates me for.  He's urinating normally (he had a crystal blockage about 10 years back so I'm always paranoid about that reappearing), he's not messing himself, no vomiting at all.  He's just not eating and he's starting to not drink water, either (that I've been seeing).  I haven't been giving him subQ fluids for the past several days, he's a little dehydrated but nothing really concerning (he gets s lot of fluid in the syringe feeding).  He lays in the same spot all day, doesn't clean himself, isn't affectionate and seems to have trouble walking steadily like he's weak in the hind legs.  To be fair, he's a rough old guy and he's showed a little progressive weakness in the hind quarters over the last few years, so I'm not sure if it looks worse now just because he's weak and exhausted in general, or not.

I'm at a loss.  I haven't changed his diet, and my other cat is just fine.  I make them overnight apart with separate litter boxes so I can monitor what Mau does, but the other kitty is as spiffy as ever.

Mau has some dental issues that I haven't been able to afford to get taken care of yet, but it's nothing super severe and it seems odd that he'd deteriorate this fast from something like that, which is what my vet is suggesting.  He's not drooling and I'm not noticing any increased or abnormal shyness about his mouth.  She's also suggesting an ultrasound, but I'm not sure I can cover that, either, and she seems unconvinced that she'd actually find anything.

The last 2 days he's gone from skinny and empty in the middle to looking kind of swollen...but he continues to void normally.

Anyone have an idea what could cause this decline when everything seems to be checking out so far?  I'm at my wits end over here.  :(  Could it really be something as simple as a toothache?  =/
 
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katluver4life

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Yes, it certainly can be. Especially since everything else has been ruled out by the vet. Cats can not tell you they are in pain so they just stop eating and grooming. Cats going for prolonged periods of not eating are at risk for liver disease. Hepatic Lipidosis which can be fatal. You need to address his dental issues.
 
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mausmom

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I'm feeding him in smallish amounts 4x a day to prevent that from happening.  The only other thing I can this of is pancreatitis, which I guess is difficult to diagnose even with an ultrasound sometimes.  I'm going to take him back to the vet by the end of this week...other than just having some of his teeth removed, is there anything I should ask about, or watch for?  

I'm also concerned about him going under general anesthesia when he's in a weakened state.
 
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mausmom

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I don't have the tests to look at, but the vet did say his thyroid looked good, so I suppose so.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I would think if it were his teeth, he would still at least attempt to eat, And you said he sometimes would actually take in his food, chew it up and then spit it out
.  That doesn't sound like a teeth issue to me.

The possible bloating now is concerning
.  Honestly, I have no idea what this might be, but am wondering if he has something that an xray might not pick up that an ultra sound might?  I know for diagnosing Pancreatitis they refer to ultrasounds vs xrays (and even then say it's still difficult).  But you said all his bloodwork can back normal, huh?  No elevated WBC or anything like that?   Gosh, this is a real mystery.  And it sounds like he's not grooming himself either is that correct?  Poor little guy.  He sounds miserable.

Does he seem the least bit interested in food?  Does he go to how bowl at dinnertime and even sniff his food?  What if you give him tuna fish?  What does he do?  Have you tried putting any "toppers" on his food to see if you can perk his interest? 

Do you have any feline specialists in your area?  It might be worth gathering up all his recent medical records and going to visit one if you can find one.  Maybe they can figure out what is wrong


 

goholistic

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This is a mystery. I have learned to read lab results on my own. It just seems odd that nothing would come up in the tests with this behavior. I agree that dental disease, if bad enough, can cause major issues. By the way, I prefer to use good multi-strain probiotic for acute cases of diarrhea in cats. But the important this finding out what is causing the diarrhea and loss of appetite. I'm sorry that I don't have anything useful to add.  :(
 
 
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mausmom

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Hi all.  I have a sad update.  This turned out to be abdominal cancer.  An ultrasound picked up masses in his liver and spleen, but nothing ever showed up on any blood test, or even the fluid they withdrew from his poor bloated belly.  I skipped the biopsy on the organs...I didn't think it mattered at that point, since he was too weak for exploratory surgery or chemo by then, and I don't think I could have afforded chemo for very long, anyway.

After 2 weeks of prednisone (which reduces his bloating and restored some smidge of his appetite on occasion) I scheduled with the vet to come and do an at-home euthanasia.  By this point, even with regular feeding and meds, he'd lost the use of his hind legs.  Man that he is, he dragged himself to the litter box so as to not mess himself - and he never did.  So proud of him for that, what a trooper.

Today was the day.  Unfortunately, he had a seizure while I was offering him some water, and he went rigid, moaned, and blood started coming out one side of his nose.  Then he relaxed, the bleeding stopped, and an hour later he seemed (relatively speaking) okay.  Then his breathing became fast and labored.  I figured he was on his way out, and I just held him and pet him as the breathing slowed and became shallow, then would pause, then resume...I heard a whine in his throat like a death rattle...and then he came out of it again.  10 minutes later, the vet was there.

We gave him a sedative and he went limp and compliant.  As we waited for it to calm him fully, he had another seizure, way worse than the first.  He moaned loudly, kicked his legs, and bit at the blanket he was lying on.  His paws were vibrating.  Thankfully the catheter was in already and we gave him the lethal injection immediately.  He would not have survived the night in any case, but at least I was able to get it over with a little bit sooner rather than letting him seize to death like that.

I'm crushed.  He went from healthy and active to seizing and dead within 5 weeks of the first time I noticed he looked a little under the weather.  My best friend told me that her dog startrd to have problems with his hind legs recently, so she took him to the vet and the dog seized and his heart stopped beating just from (apparently) the added stress of being at the vet.

Is seizure or cardiac arrest in an already fragile animal common in cases like this?  My baby was not happy about the strangers and being poked with needles, so he was stressed, but normally it would not have been unduly so.  I'm under the impression that he was 1 degree away already, and that little bit of stress just tipped him over the edge.  He was handling the sedative well, calm but alert and aware.  I'm just so confused.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I am so very sorry
.  When you feel up to it, you might want to write a tribute to your little man in our Crossing the Bridge forum
 
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