Opinions on ongoing health issues

This is going to be long but I want to see if anyone might have any thoughts on what might be going on with my poor kitty. My 8 year old female calico cat has had a rough 2 months. She was healthy other than having feline herpes when she was a kitten, which she recovered from a long time ago.

2 months ago she starting throwing up. At first it was just once a day and started to increase to several times a day. She still had an appetite and drinking water so I wasn't too concerned. I went online and heard that can happen with a new bag of cat food so I went and bought a new bag but she was still throwing up. I finally decided that something was wrong when I noticed she was getting skinny (she went from 16 lbs to 9 lbs) but still didn't look starving, just thinner and was still active and being her normal self so I honestly thought it wouldn't be anything serious.

When I took her to the vet the doctor said it was probably her liver after taking her blood and she was beginning to become jaundice (her gums looked good and her eyes were not yellow). He gave her a shot to help with the nausea and some IV fluids and said he would call me the next day with the results. Her blood work showed an increase in liver enzymes etc and that she was anemic. I took her in and she stayed for a night and received a jump start on the medications and fluids. We were able to bring her home after 1 night and she was on Baytrl (sp?), a bile thinner and prednisone. She had a great appetite and the vet wanted to check her in two weeks to see how everything was going. She was back to eating and being a crazy cat so it was a great two weeks.

On the follow up appointment her blood work only showed her as anemic but everything else was normal. We had finished the course of Batryl (sp?) but stopped the bile thinner and prednisone per the vet. The vet was concerned about the anemia so we had to wait for more blood results to rule out parasites and if the anemia was regenerative or non-regenerative. Of course, her blood work came back as negative for parasites and her anemia was non-regenerative (her results were right in the middle when they tested her reticulocytes so the vet considered it as non-regenerative).

At first the vet wanted to put her on shots to stimulate her bone marrow with two thoughts: 1. her bone marrow just needed a jump start and her red blood cells would increase and all would be fine or, 2. cancer. After consulting with another vet he decided to that since her kidneys were fine that we would give her a iron/B12 liquid and a small dose of an appetite stimulator (we started this on 08/27). Her appetite was increasing even without the stimulator but I figured it couldn't hurt. The plan was to test her bloodwork again in three weeks as long as she was improving.

 During this process we found a brand of canned food that she liked since she seemed to throw up when she would eat her dry food. She was eating great for a week or so but Saturday night she didn't seem that interested in her wet food so I went and bough her some food for sensitive stomach/skin. She has been eating that along with some wet food and not throwing up at all. All was going good, my stress level went down and I was able to sleep and eat.,

Now, just as I was getting comfortable, I noticed Sunday night that she kept going to the litter box. She wouldn't go far from the litter box and when she did it wasn't for long. At first I thought she was constipated because when I checked she did have a bowel movement but she kept going to it and that is when I noticed that she was peeing but not very much.  She was still eating and drinking and even playing throughout the evening so I was tying my best to wait until the vet opened on Tuesday (thanks holiday). However, this morning she started not going to the litter box but other places in the house and only a few drops here and there. I started to panic a little when the spots looked orange/red.

I took her to the emergency vet because I know how fast a cat can decline. They looked her over and said that since she is eating, drinking and still being very active that she isn't in critical condition and if I wanted to I could wait to take her to my normal vet in the morning. $85 for a slight peace of mind but if she declined (started throwing up, not moving etc) I could bring her in and get the $800+ tests done to figure out was is going on. The vet said it could be anything from a UTI, liver, pancreas, kidneys etc.

This evening she has been peeing drops here and there all over the house and peeing on herself when she is laying around but still eating and drinking and active (not really playful but moving around). I have also noticed that she is licking her private area a lot as well. I am planning to take her to the vet first thing tomorrow morning (they open up at 7 AM).

After all of that (sorry again for such a long post), could she have had some rebound to the antibiotic she was on earlier? It is hard to believe she would have great blood work and then her kidney's going bad or liver getting bad again. Has anyone dealt with this type of situation?

I am very anxious and stressed out and can't wait to see what the vet thinks of this new situation. I know you guys can't give medical advice but I guess I am just looking for support. I fear that this is cancer but I am hoping for the best. Thanks for taking the time to read this very long post.

I'm sorry your cat isn't feeling well.
I am so glad you're taking her to your regular vet.
My first thought is irritable bowel (nausea, throwing up). Second though is a UTI or cystitis (spelling). Another course/different antibiotic is sometimes needed to get rid of a UTI. And I think you have to get to the bottom on why she is anemic and why she lost so much weight.
Keep us posted please.

Sounds like a urinary track infection, UTI. Being ill and making visits to the vet, stress , can bring on a UTI. The red you see is blood because she is straining to go pee. Keep her away from fish. The vet will give you the right antibiotic to treat the UTI. Good luck and keep us posted.

I'm sorry your kitty isn't feeling well. It does sound like she has cystitis or a uti. does she eat dry food? I have two kitties that are "Crack" addicts {Dry food addicts} but they are females that drink a lot of water to compensate, Your vet may put her on a special diet of canned food if its cystitis or uti and prescribe an anti biotic keep us posted and we'll be praying for U.

I wanted to thank everyone for the replies. The vet thinks it is/was a UTI and Bladder infection (possibly caused by stress). They gave her a shot of antibiotics and she is on a pill to help with her bladder spasms along with an appetite stimulant. The vet said to also start giving her the bile thinner again as her liver enzymes increased a little.

The vet told me that this is just a bump in the road and he doesn't think she is moving backwards and this isn't related to the anemia or liver issues from 2 + weeks ago. I picked her up Wednesday (the vet actually wanted me to pick her up early because she was being so feisty and clawing at them when they were working on the animals around her) and she has been eating/drinking and slowly becoming her normal self (for now).

They did x-rays while she was there and they showed she had a lot of gas in her intestine and it looked like some thickening of the intestinal wall which could mean nothing (just gas), IBD or lymphoma but the vet was not really worried about that right now. They were ore concerned with her anemia and bladder issues.

Her hematorcrit went up fro 23 to 25 but the Vet didn't think that was enough to really be significant. She tested negative for heartworms, FIV and FeLV. Her hematocrit has been stable this whole time so that is positive but again, still not good for it to be around 23-25. The vet would like it to be in the mid 30's if not higher.

As it stands right now they have ruled out parasites, viruses and solid tumors. But this whole time and even now they still think it could be something treatable or cancer. Once she finishes the anti-spasm pills and appetite stimulant she will be put back on prednisone. Starting next Wednesday she will just be on her Iron/B12 liquid, bile thinner and prednisone and see how she handles everything. I am hoping for no new infections and see if she will gain some weight. In 2-3 weeks (as long as she is doing well)  the vet wants to do more bloodwork to see if her hematocrit has increased.

If the anemia hasn't changed, then the next course of action is for her to see an internal medicine specialist for an ultrasound and possibly a biopsy of her intestine or bone marrow biopsy. I am on the fence on the bone marrow biopsy (I have had several of these and I can only imagine the pain since they have to cut her to do this procedure) or if they want to do exploratory surgery just because I don't want to cause her unnecessary pain or possible complications. I would rather have her for a few months, happy then a few weeks in pain and suffering.  If it's cancer, there isn't much they can do other than try to give her a good quality of life even if its a slow, chronic leukemia.  If its IBD, then I would prefer to change her diet and see how everything goes before surgery. If they think its just anemia from chronic infection (those are usually regenerative anemias) we would hopefully see improvement in her next round of bloodwork results.

Basically, we are still not sure what it is (something treatable or cancer) so I am just enjoying the time we have together. I am doing whatever I can for her and hopefully I will be positing positive results in a few weeks.