Hi all,
This is going to be long so bear with me. Anyways, my cat Katie has been somewhat of an unusual cat but we've managed her health issues rather well. She basically has chronic constipation due to an old pelvic fracture that narrowed the pelvic canal so stool can easily build up. She is on miralax and that keeps her regular. She is blind due to a reaction to baytril but she gets along fine, other than that she has been fairly healthy for a 10 year old cat. She has had periods where her appetite has reduced, but usually that is attributed to either getting blocked up constipation wise, or a bad hairball. This has never gone on for more than 2-3 days before she goes back to normal.
About 2 months ago she had a bout of cystitis for the first time ever. We figured it was due to our new puppy causing stress, we have since managed that and she perked right up after a round of antibiotics that cleared it up. She had WBC and blood in the urine and it was moderately dilute at 1.023 so my vet said to watch her and we would do a blood panel to check her kidneys after my vacation. Oh and an aside, my other cat got a bout of cystitis as well a few weeks after Katie and he cleared up just fine same as her.
Fast forward to the beginning of June, Katie vomited food up 2 times in the morning. I though it was odd but she seemed fine otherwise so I left for a few hours to run errands and then came back to two more food vomit piles. This wasn't normal for her so I got her in to my vet and they got a blood sample and sent home some cerenia. She had lost a half pound since her uti in March so that was of some concern. I was thinking kidneys or diabetes, but bloods came back absolutely normal. Nothing out of normal range at all. The vet did mention her thyroid was in the gray zone for an older cat but still not hyperthyroid.
She did perk up again and I felt better as the blood panel showed no changes, but I have noticed her drinking more water. Nothing dramatic but I'll see her at the water dish several times a day compared to my other cat.
Fast forward to last Wednesday, she vomitted again 4 times all food and then she wasn't interested in food. I took her back to my regular vet who wasn't the one that did the bloodwork. She recommended another urinalysis, and an X-ray to start. Her urine showed blood again but no WBCs. Her specific gravity was 1.028 still dilute but better than last time. The X-ray showed a possible enlarged right kidney. My vet said this could be indicative of a kidney infection, could be normal Katie or could be nothing. Not to mention all the baddies like cancer and such. She is recommending an ultrasound as the next step so we can check the kidneys as well as her gastrointestinal system. She said other possibilities for her symptoms could be IBD, pancreatitis, a smoldering infection that isn't showing up in the labs or X-rays yet ( she actually had a patient that had that). The ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday with the specialist. In the mean time I'm just trying to keep Katie eating. I've bought all kinds of junk food. She normally eats acana dry and wellness canned or other high quality canned but now it is friskies, fancy feast ect. She eats a small amount and then walks away and that's if I'm lucky. Sometimes she will just sniff and walk away. She did vomit once yesterday, but that is it since Wednesday.
She is still coming up for purr cuddle time but she is also sleeping more and sometimes going under the bed which she does if she doesn't feel well. I'm scared to death that this is going to be bad. My old dog was diagnosed with a hemangiosarcoma back in February and we had to put him down because it spread. Again it didn't show up in the bloodwork either. I can't lose two pets in the same year. I feel like I'm going to the vet every week for something. I pray this is something treatable but her symptoms are so non specific, though I am worried about intestinal lymphoma. No idea what to do. I've been giving her slippery elm to help her digestive system. She gets cerenia if needed though sometimes she will vomit the pills as they are bitter. She is on zeniquin as a precaution if it is a kidney infection. So far no real improvement. She isn't getting worse but not better either. Hopefully the ultrasound will give us some answers.
This is going to be long so bear with me. Anyways, my cat Katie has been somewhat of an unusual cat but we've managed her health issues rather well. She basically has chronic constipation due to an old pelvic fracture that narrowed the pelvic canal so stool can easily build up. She is on miralax and that keeps her regular. She is blind due to a reaction to baytril but she gets along fine, other than that she has been fairly healthy for a 10 year old cat. She has had periods where her appetite has reduced, but usually that is attributed to either getting blocked up constipation wise, or a bad hairball. This has never gone on for more than 2-3 days before she goes back to normal.
About 2 months ago she had a bout of cystitis for the first time ever. We figured it was due to our new puppy causing stress, we have since managed that and she perked right up after a round of antibiotics that cleared it up. She had WBC and blood in the urine and it was moderately dilute at 1.023 so my vet said to watch her and we would do a blood panel to check her kidneys after my vacation. Oh and an aside, my other cat got a bout of cystitis as well a few weeks after Katie and he cleared up just fine same as her.
Fast forward to the beginning of June, Katie vomited food up 2 times in the morning. I though it was odd but she seemed fine otherwise so I left for a few hours to run errands and then came back to two more food vomit piles. This wasn't normal for her so I got her in to my vet and they got a blood sample and sent home some cerenia. She had lost a half pound since her uti in March so that was of some concern. I was thinking kidneys or diabetes, but bloods came back absolutely normal. Nothing out of normal range at all. The vet did mention her thyroid was in the gray zone for an older cat but still not hyperthyroid.
She did perk up again and I felt better as the blood panel showed no changes, but I have noticed her drinking more water. Nothing dramatic but I'll see her at the water dish several times a day compared to my other cat.
Fast forward to last Wednesday, she vomitted again 4 times all food and then she wasn't interested in food. I took her back to my regular vet who wasn't the one that did the bloodwork. She recommended another urinalysis, and an X-ray to start. Her urine showed blood again but no WBCs. Her specific gravity was 1.028 still dilute but better than last time. The X-ray showed a possible enlarged right kidney. My vet said this could be indicative of a kidney infection, could be normal Katie or could be nothing. Not to mention all the baddies like cancer and such. She is recommending an ultrasound as the next step so we can check the kidneys as well as her gastrointestinal system. She said other possibilities for her symptoms could be IBD, pancreatitis, a smoldering infection that isn't showing up in the labs or X-rays yet ( she actually had a patient that had that). The ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday with the specialist. In the mean time I'm just trying to keep Katie eating. I've bought all kinds of junk food. She normally eats acana dry and wellness canned or other high quality canned but now it is friskies, fancy feast ect. She eats a small amount and then walks away and that's if I'm lucky. Sometimes she will just sniff and walk away. She did vomit once yesterday, but that is it since Wednesday.
She is still coming up for purr cuddle time but she is also sleeping more and sometimes going under the bed which she does if she doesn't feel well. I'm scared to death that this is going to be bad. My old dog was diagnosed with a hemangiosarcoma back in February and we had to put him down because it spread. Again it didn't show up in the bloodwork either. I can't lose two pets in the same year. I feel like I'm going to the vet every week for something. I pray this is something treatable but her symptoms are so non specific, though I am worried about intestinal lymphoma. No idea what to do. I've been giving her slippery elm to help her digestive system. She gets cerenia if needed though sometimes she will vomit the pills as they are bitter. She is on zeniquin as a precaution if it is a kidney infection. So far no real improvement. She isn't getting worse but not better either. Hopefully the ultrasound will give us some answers.
