Guinness's Story

I adopted Guinness in November from a girl who's other cats were bullying him.  When I picked up Guinness she had told me he was passed around from 4 different homes in the last two weeks.  He was pretty thin and had a bit of a limp in both his back legs and he was on medication to treat "any parasites he may have".   I took him to the vet a few weeks after I got him as he had become very lethargic and stopped drinking water.  The vet told me he has a stage 4 heart murmur and may just be stressed from being passed around so much.He told me to keep an eye on him over the next month or so and bring him back if anything changes.  About a month ago I noticed Guinness was rapidly losing weight.  His appetite has tripled since I first got him and he has become a lot more social and active but it seemed he was getting smaller and smaller every day.  I took him back to the vet and they told me it may be a fungal infection or hyperthyroidism.  They did a wellness program with him that included blood work and urinalysis.  Everything came back completely normal and the vet was stumped.

I have kept him on a steady diet and he overall seems like a very happy cat.  He is very social and affectionate and loves playing with my kitten.  But he has now started throwing up a few times a weeks.  Yesterday I found a spot of blood in the vomit.  The vet is suggesting a trial of steroids for him (which makes me a bit nervous), ultrasounds, x-rays and more testings.  I have not gotten a straight answer about anything I could be doing at home to help him or what could be wrong with him after ruling out their assumptions after the wellness program.  I honestly cannot afford all the testing the vet wants me to do with Guinness and I don't know what else I can do.

Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

Without knowing what the cause is, it's hard to tell you what to do.  Did the vet have any suspicions as to what he thought it was?  My old kitty started losing weight, her bloodwork was normal, but we sent out a pancreatitis test as she was tender there upon palpation (to Texas A&M) and it came back high so she was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis. She was put on medications and is doing a lot better now.   If your cat is eating a lot then it could have some sort of malabsorption problem where it can't utilize all the nutrients it eats.  Lots of different possibilities

My kitty has been on a steroid for over 3 years now for IBD.  They have completely cleared up his symptoms.  The main issue that can come with long term use is diabetes.  Many vets use a steroid trial as a diagnostic tool for IBD, if it works and all bloodwork is normal than it is probably IBD.  If he has IBD he may need B12 shots because of absorption issues.