Something is bothering Flowerbelle, I need ideas please!

Flowerbelle has been "off' for a week now. Her appetite would come and go, and as the week progressed, she became less and less active, and then Friday morning hid under the bed, which she NEVER does. So we went to the vet immediately.

We didn't do blood work or imaging - the vet will on Tuesday if she's not better. Vet found nothing wrong with her, no fever, no stuffy nose, nothing felt lumpy, bumpy or swollen, her colon was empty (and I saw her have a bowel movement the day before and everything was fine).

The vet's recommendation was small meals frequently and cerenia (anti-nausea med).

The cerenia made no obvious difference, and she'll eat 1/4 ounce up to 5/8 of an ounce (though that's with extra water) at a time. She normally eats one ounce of food three times a day; she's normally excited about it, and she normally eats anything. She would LIVE on liver if she could; currently she will wrinkle her nose at freeze dried liver powder, which normally she absolutely LOVES.

I noticed Friday after the vet visit that her tummy is very urpy and gurgly. So I've been giving her 1/2 a 10mg pepcid at night, and 1/2 in the morning. But it doesn't seem to be doing anything. :dk:

I coaxed her into eating about 2.5 ounces yesterday. She slept all day today (and all yesterday), and I just offered her food again at about 3:30 this afternoon. She did a perky run from the kitchen counter to the bathroom where I took the food, which is new (for this past week), and clearly wanted food. But as soon as she took a bite, her stomach went all gurgly. She sat there until it stopped, then took another few licks... and it went all gurgly again. This went on for about 1/4 ounce, at which point it was clear she wasn't going to eat any more food.

Obviously I'm calling the vet tomorrow. But any thoughts in the meantime? Why is her tummy so urpy and gurgly, and what should I do to help it calm down? Anti-nausea medication (cerenia) and pepcid are my go-to meds for this, and they're not helping.

Will she eat egg yolk, or maybe a bit of plain yogurt?  Those are my go-to foods for upset tummys.

Is her mouth OK? Throat? I really have no advice, but many warm vibes sent your way!

Well, there is potentially an issue with her throat or up in her soft palate, but it hasn't prevented her from eating for the months since the issue started. She doesn't seem to have any issue chewing, though right now I'm giving her baby food as it's plain and bland, easy to digest. All the diagnostics that can be done have been done save the CT scan, which we're saving up to do (it costs about $1,200 - $1,400). Hopefully we'll be able to do it in July. :cross: The endoscope of her throat found nothing wrong, which is why the CT scan - need to see what we can't see on the surface.

But a problem with her throat wouldn't explain all the urpies/gurglies the minute food hits her stomach, I wouldn't think? :dk:

She hates egg yolk, but I'm using baby food (Beechnut chicken: Gerber's has cornstarch in it now). I can try yogurt, she does love it (normally). I have been giving her a double dose of the probiotic daily (which she also loves).

Could she have caught the same bug that caused Ming Loy's pancreatitis?
Many that she's feeling better soon!

From what I understand, she's hungry but isn't eating, right? And yeah, tummy grumbles can happen with a lack of food.

I'm certainly not insisting that her problem IS upper GI, but it's my best guess.

That was my first thought, and the first question I asked the vet. :nod: From that perspective, the vet said anything is possible - especially as they have no idea what causes pancreatitis, and for all anyone knows, half the time a cat is sick if imaging was done, the pancreas might appear inflamed - though in many instances when pancreatitis is diagnosed, there's no inflammation, it can only be detected by the SPEC fPLI test - and in other cases, the SPEC fPLI is normal, yet imaging reveals an inflamed pancreas. She also said it's possible it's the same bug, but has no impact on her pancreas.

But basically, she didn't bother doing imaging, because the treatment would be no different. At this point, saving up for her CT scan is the more important diagnostic.

I took home more fluids, but with Flowerbelle's blood pressure and heart murmur issues, she didn't want me to administer fluids unless she became dehydrated - which she isn't. She was really well hydrated at the vet, and that hasn't changed.

I was obviously freaking that I'm doing something wrong. We've had bugs roll through the cats before - but it was one or two cats getting sick every day or two, and they'd get better inside of one to three days, and it would take a week to roll through most of them. We suspect it's me bringing something inside because of my close contact with the ferals multiple times a day. And this could very well be something like that (though knock wood, no one else - so far - seems to be affected). :nod:

The only difference in the course of treatment with Flowerbelle and Ming Loy is the use of clavamox - and once on clavamox, Ming Loy improved rapidly, and didn't need cerenia or anything. To my knowledge, she never had an urpy, gurgly stomach. So it could be as simple as Flowerbelle needing the antibiotics.

Flowerbelle had no fever... but Ming Loy didn't either, and she didn't have an elevated white blood cell count. So the differences are Flowerbelle's really urpy stomach, and the use of fluids and antibiotics in Ming Loy.

peaches08 said:

From what I understand, she's hungry but isn't eating, right? And yeah, tummy grumbles can happen with a lack of food.

I'm certainly not insisting that her problem IS upper GI, but it's my best guess.

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Actually, she's eating really small amounts every couple of hours, as opposed to one ounce meals three times a day. So I'm pretty sure there would be less reason for her stomach to be urpy now than normally. :dk:

And yeah, I think it's upper GI too. I just don't know now how to help settle her tummy. She was definitely feeling better this afternoon - wanting food, being perky... but after trying to eat again, she went back to her hiding spot.

Is this the kitty that some of us thought esophageal varices was a possibility for? What is she eating?

Yes, but at least the endoscope showed no structural issues, thus the pending CT scan.

As to food, I've tried her regular meals (boneless PMR) with mostly chicken or chicken thigh; chicken baby food; ground rabbit and ground llama (all of of which she normally loves). I've doubled her probiotic; I've tried no probiotic. I've been using cerenia and pepcid a/c the last 2.5 days. I split the pepcid into AM and PM doses rather than one 24 hour dose. I've also used Fortiflora to entice her; and her beloved liver powder - which with that on there, she won't even go near now.

Any new ferals? Thinking with mating season a sick cat maybe roamed through carrying something. I had that few months ago.  Lucky I only ended up with my 2 regular outside cats sick but nothing to major.  I would look into her blood sugar.  Any strange smells on her breath?
 

Yeah, if she isn't clearly on the upswing by Tuesday, she'll get bloodwork done. I haven't noticed her breath, but good question. I'll check next time. I haven't noticed any strange smelling pee, though that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

I'll be calling the vet tomorrow morning to ask how she wants to proceed. As of Friday, she wanted her back in Tuesday if she wasn't feeling better. But I wasn't aware of how urpy her tummy was when we saw her.

There is, in fact, a new feral - and another one we haven't been able to trap that comes by fairly frequently but annoyingly, not regularly (he's been here off and on since December, actually), and he does need a vet visit. His breathing is raspy, he's beat up, and his eyes are goopy. The new one needs to see the vet ASAP - his leg is hurt. We've been putting out the trap when it's not raining, but I think we're going to have to put together a drop trap for these two. Thank goodness they're both males; neither causing a problem. The rest of the ferals seem healthy - but they're probably all carriers of stuff the indoor kitties would be more susceptible to.

We also just moved the RV, and thus have been touching - in excess - all the stuff that's outside. :lol3:

So it's a real possibility I brought something inside. It's happened twice before. This is just new. I recognize the other - whatever it is - now. Someone gets diarrhea for a day or two, someone else gets it, and it rolls through most of them, staggered by a day or two (that's how we know it's not the food). Flowerbelle gave it a miss both times; Chumley and Lazlo gave it a miss the second time. It lasted usually two days, at most three, though I use Diagel whenever there's diarrhea that's illness-related, not food-related, so I don't know if that kind of bug would be self-resolving or not. Whatever this is - it isn't that. This doesn't affect their stool, just energy and appetite. Assuming that this is the same thing Ming Loy had....

There must be something besides pepcid I can try to help calm down her tummy.... or maybe she does need antibiotics.... Poor Flowerbelle. But the good news is she is becoming more interested in wanting to eat, at least. :cross:

Sigh good luck with this weather.  I know how it is.  Over here my cats are almost all buddies so if one has it the next gets it. 

I hope the 2 boys are not to bad and you can help them out  Only other thing to keep in mind is hairballs but does not seem to be that. My husband has been helping me out as back has been an issue lately and he is like WHY are there hairballs daily?  Sigh welcome to the world of cats.  He comes armed with gloves and enough paper towels to wrap the cat let alone pick up a tiny hairball

:lol3: I can SO picture that! That would totally be Gary.

Aw, I'm sorry about your back, hun.

We only have four ferals that hang out around the RV (well, live under it, near it). And they're not overly friendly to each other. :lol3: They have a relatively peaceful co-existence. Well - other than crazy Khol, but they all know she's crazy. She hisses just in anticipation of SEEING another cat. None take her seriously, but they all avoid her. (Smart kitties).

Both Tommy (the "new" red tabby around since December) and the new B&W boy eat both here at the RV and at the feral feeding station.

you could try a different drug in the same class -- instead of Pepcid, try Zantac. 

Ooops - the point. Flowerbelle used to have an issue with hairballs. She'd throw them up several times a week, in fact. That's one of the reasons her asthma when undiagnosed for so long - I thought it was her hairball hack.

Since the switch to raw, she hasn't had ANY hairballs. Switching to raw didn't resolve the hairball issue in all of them: but the egg yolk they get weekly, and varying amounts of egg yolk lecithin has resolved the hairballs in all of them (for the most part).

Can you afford to feed egg yolks to the crew a couple of times a week? That might resolve the hairball problem during shedding season.

But back to Flowerbelle... even when hairballs were a normal part of her life, they didn't affect her at all. She'd still play, purr, eat, etc. In fact, she'd eat, immediately throw up - the hairball would usually come out with her food. I'd clean it up, and then she'd want her dinner again. :lol3: (Only the 2nd time she'd keep it down). I guess it's possible that since it's been over 1.5 years since she had one that IF this is one, it might put her off her food and make her not feel well enough to want to hide and sleep all day... I just doubt it. It crossed my mind when she was first off her food, so I bumped her egg yolk lecithin (she doesn't like egg yolks) a lot... but that usually resolves things inside of a couple of days when that is the issue. :dk:

detmut said:

you could try a different drug in the same class -- instead of Pepcid, try Zantac. 

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Yeah, that's what I was thinking - but I don't know which ones are safe, or what the dose would be. Is Zantac safe, and do you know the dose for a 7 pound cat?

I really ought to try to record her tummy gurgling when she eats a bite of food. It's really quite something, poor baby girl!

Found the zantac (ranitidine) info: http://www.petplace.com/drug-library/ranitidine-hcl-zantac/page1.aspx

Dosing Information

Medication should never be administered without first consulting your veterinarian.
The typical dose administered to animals is 0.25 to 1 mg per pound (0.5 to 2 mg/kg), every 8 to 12 hours.
The duration of administration depends on the condition being treated, response to the medication and the development of any adverse effects. Be certain to complete the prescription unless specifically directed by your veterinarian. Even if your pet feels better, the entire treatment plan should be completed to prevent relapse.

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So at the high end, that is 7mg for a 7 pound cat. The smallest tablet is 75mg.

I'll just wait to talk to the vet tomorrow morning.

She the type to have gotten into something?

Funny about Gary being like that too, I tell him really its just food and hair.  Not even digested out the other end food haha.  Khol, I know how you feel I have had/have some like that.

Will have to try egg yolks.  Mine would go for that, well most would.  Hope you are able to find out soon  Never saw that in any of mine.