I'll try to make this concise as possible, but Jack has had a long and hard couple of months. He is 11 years old and up until this year has been in good health. Back in April, he grew constipated, stopped eating and was acting lethargic, so I took him to the vet. The vet felt a mass in Jack's abdomen, so he did a scan and discovered what he thought was a large tumor in his intestine. I chose not to put Jack through chemo, and the vet gave him a steroid injection which he said should shrink the tumor enough for Jack to use the litter box as well as make him feel better. I had him checked again 10 days later.
At the second appointment, the doctor felt Jack's abdomen again and his eyebrows shot up. He told me the mass was less than half the size, and it felt different - it was pliable instead of hard. He took Jack for another scan and brought back the images from both that week and the previous ones. Even I could see the difference. The vet was cautious, but he said he had never in all his years of practice seen a tumor change that drastically, and he was now wondering if it was something much less sinister, perhaps a foreign body Jack had swallowed or a large hairball that was breaking up and passing through. At the third appointment two weeks later, the mass was barely visible and couldn't be felt. Jack had gained back most of the weight he'd lost and was looking 100% better as far as eating and playing. We had a final check up a month later and the mass was gone. The vet decided it was likely a large hairball (since Jack is an obsessive groomer and has tons of them) that got stuck, and the steroid shot loosened it so it could break up.
All was well for a few weeks, then Jack began having bouts of vomiting. Unlike when he was so sick, he would simply throw up once and then go on about his day without appearing to be in pain. But it worried me, and in the beginning of July I took him back to the vet. The doctor said that if the mass had not shrunk so quickly and dramatically, he would be worried that it had in fact been cancer that responded well to the steroids and was now growing back, but he was still fairly confident that it had been a hairball. He did another scan and there was nothing there. He decided that everything Jack had been through had wreaked havoc on his digestive system and he was simply getting tummy upsets from eating too fast or stress. I'd also been experimenting with different foods to help Jack put back the weight he'd lost, and that could have been hard on him as well.
We went home and Jack didn't throw up again until about two weeks ago. This time though, he didn't snap back immediately. He seemed less energetic, and though he was still eating, it was noticeably less. This went on for about a week, then last Friday he looked lethargic and wouldn't eat at all. He threw up a bit of bile three times that day, a few hours apart. We went back to the vet on Saturday. Jack was dehydrated, so he got subcutaneous fluids (and you could actually see him perk up right away) and an appetite stimulant. He had another scan, and there are no masses. The vet did an IDEXX Snap test for pancreatitis in the office, and said the results indicated a possibility of pancreatitis, though it wasn't definite. He ordered a full blood count/blood chemistry and the results came back on Monday. He was negative for everything - no pancreatitis, kidney or liver disease or infections. Jack seemed to feel better, still not eating as much as he should (once the appetite stimulant wore off - he did eat a lot that first day.) We're still going with the sensitive digestive tract.
This morning, Jack ate more than he has in the past week or so - about half a can of Fancy Feast and some bites of Science Diet Sensitive Stomach formula (dry). He drank some water too. He seemed normal enough for most of the morning, even wandering back into the kitchen to nibble at the food a few times. He curled up in his bed for a nap, and after about two hours I offered him some more Fancy Feast. He didn't get up. He would respond when I spoke to him, but he looked exhausted and spent most of the afternoon in his bed. He finally got up in the late afternoon, but he still looked wiped. I picked him up and sat him on my lap and he lay there with me for about an hour. Now he's back on his bed, sleeping but twitching his tail if I talk to him. He hasn't eaten since this morning. I'm pretty sure his stomach is bothering him, between the not eating and seeing him lick his lips occasionally, which the vet tells me is a sign of stomach discomfort.
I don't know what to think. Could this just be more of the same? Did Jack simply eat too much too soon this morning for his sensitive tummy? My vet isn't in again until Tuesday due to the holiday, and I don't even know what he could do at this point, since he did all those tests a week ago. I also feel like another trip to the vet is going to cause Jack so much stress it will just do more harm than good. And I don't know what, if anything, I should do to help Jack at home to feel better, or if I should just let him sleep it off.
Has anyone else gone through something like this with a cat?
At the second appointment, the doctor felt Jack's abdomen again and his eyebrows shot up. He told me the mass was less than half the size, and it felt different - it was pliable instead of hard. He took Jack for another scan and brought back the images from both that week and the previous ones. Even I could see the difference. The vet was cautious, but he said he had never in all his years of practice seen a tumor change that drastically, and he was now wondering if it was something much less sinister, perhaps a foreign body Jack had swallowed or a large hairball that was breaking up and passing through. At the third appointment two weeks later, the mass was barely visible and couldn't be felt. Jack had gained back most of the weight he'd lost and was looking 100% better as far as eating and playing. We had a final check up a month later and the mass was gone. The vet decided it was likely a large hairball (since Jack is an obsessive groomer and has tons of them) that got stuck, and the steroid shot loosened it so it could break up.
All was well for a few weeks, then Jack began having bouts of vomiting. Unlike when he was so sick, he would simply throw up once and then go on about his day without appearing to be in pain. But it worried me, and in the beginning of July I took him back to the vet. The doctor said that if the mass had not shrunk so quickly and dramatically, he would be worried that it had in fact been cancer that responded well to the steroids and was now growing back, but he was still fairly confident that it had been a hairball. He did another scan and there was nothing there. He decided that everything Jack had been through had wreaked havoc on his digestive system and he was simply getting tummy upsets from eating too fast or stress. I'd also been experimenting with different foods to help Jack put back the weight he'd lost, and that could have been hard on him as well.
We went home and Jack didn't throw up again until about two weeks ago. This time though, he didn't snap back immediately. He seemed less energetic, and though he was still eating, it was noticeably less. This went on for about a week, then last Friday he looked lethargic and wouldn't eat at all. He threw up a bit of bile three times that day, a few hours apart. We went back to the vet on Saturday. Jack was dehydrated, so he got subcutaneous fluids (and you could actually see him perk up right away) and an appetite stimulant. He had another scan, and there are no masses. The vet did an IDEXX Snap test for pancreatitis in the office, and said the results indicated a possibility of pancreatitis, though it wasn't definite. He ordered a full blood count/blood chemistry and the results came back on Monday. He was negative for everything - no pancreatitis, kidney or liver disease or infections. Jack seemed to feel better, still not eating as much as he should (once the appetite stimulant wore off - he did eat a lot that first day.) We're still going with the sensitive digestive tract.
This morning, Jack ate more than he has in the past week or so - about half a can of Fancy Feast and some bites of Science Diet Sensitive Stomach formula (dry). He drank some water too. He seemed normal enough for most of the morning, even wandering back into the kitchen to nibble at the food a few times. He curled up in his bed for a nap, and after about two hours I offered him some more Fancy Feast. He didn't get up. He would respond when I spoke to him, but he looked exhausted and spent most of the afternoon in his bed. He finally got up in the late afternoon, but he still looked wiped. I picked him up and sat him on my lap and he lay there with me for about an hour. Now he's back on his bed, sleeping but twitching his tail if I talk to him. He hasn't eaten since this morning. I'm pretty sure his stomach is bothering him, between the not eating and seeing him lick his lips occasionally, which the vet tells me is a sign of stomach discomfort.
I don't know what to think. Could this just be more of the same? Did Jack simply eat too much too soon this morning for his sensitive tummy? My vet isn't in again until Tuesday due to the holiday, and I don't even know what he could do at this point, since he did all those tests a week ago. I also feel like another trip to the vet is going to cause Jack so much stress it will just do more harm than good. And I don't know what, if anything, I should do to help Jack at home to feel better, or if I should just let him sleep it off.
Has anyone else gone through something like this with a cat?
I don't recall the vet mentioning acid reflux, so perhaps I'll ask him about it. I don't want to give Jack medicine without checking with the doctor first at any rate. It's very hard to change Jack's diet, as he is EXTREMELY picky. I didn't mention it in my novel of a first post, but we did try giving him a prescription diet that I purchased in the vet's office, a gastrointestinal formula Royal Canin. Jack wouldn't touch it, whether it was mixed in with his usual food or by itself. 
