Very Sick Kitty- Need Advice Please

Hello, 

The love of my life, June, a 8 year old female cat is very sick.  I noticed she vomited a few times in September and took her to the vet. They said it was most likely hairballs.  Approximately one month later, I found two large yellow bile spots on my bed. I immediately took her to the vet the next day and she had elevated ALT levels.  We did an ultrasound that following Monday and the internist said everything looked great and gave us anti-nausea meds.  Two weeks later, I was up all night with my cat vomiting, I took her back to the internist.  Now, they did an endoscopy and we are waiting on results.  The internist noticed some mild inflammation in the stomach and would call us with results in 5-6 days of biopsies. However, in the meantime my cat is becoming sicker and sicker. She is refusing to eat her dry food and is so lethargic and depressed.  I am thinking it is most likely IBD but am very concerned about this waiting game with the internist.  Should it be taking this long? Should they start her on treatment before the biopsy results? At what point, is sick too sick? Any feedback on what I can do to help my cat would be greatly appreciated, thank you. 

she needs to go back to the vet a cat can not go more than 24 hours with out food. You can try and give her wet food treats baby food stage two turkey. she needs to eat. I hope some one with more experance logs in and helps with more advice than me. No eating get her to the vet asap

Our situation is different be we opted for an E tube and are feeding Kitten that way. I am surprised they did not insert at the least a nasal tube to get some food in her. Or have her on an IV drip. Go back. You're spending a fortune on diagnostics while your cat is perishing from lack of treatment before your eyes.

I have never had a cat to do this so I am not sure, and this may seem really crazy. But is it possible she could have acid reflux. Its just when mine acts up really bad I will throw up the yellow stuff.  

The throwing up of bile makes me wonder if this could be a pancreatitis attack.  I just got Hekitty over one about 2 months back, so, admittedly everything sounds like a pancreatic issue to me right now, but she was lethargic, would not eat, throwing up bile.  Just those symptoms made my vet suspicious.  There isn't a specific treatment, but they give subcutaneous fluids and pain meds, and it generally passes fairly quickly.  I had to give Hekitty one dose of an appetite enhancer to kick-start her eating afterwards, but it worked, and I ended up toss the other two doses.

There's an article on here that has some tips for trying to get a cat to eat (I'll add it once I find it again). In the meantime, have you tried any of these things to try and get your kitty to eat?
 

- trying a different cat food that is available at the store

- trying Hills a/d (available at the vet)

- mashing and warming up pate-style cat food

- moving it to a different location

- moving the food around with your finger

- finger-feeding to get your cat to taste the food

If you are not able to get an e-tube, or if you have to wait for whatever reason, you can also try syringe feeding. But I'm guessing you don't have those at your disposal (I ordered mine on Amazon but they still take some time to arrive), the stuff above can still be tried. Otherwise, it may be necessary to insist that the vet assist with feeding via nasal tube. It's an emergency situation that requires drastic action at this point to at least stabilize her. 

The vet can also provide appetite stimulants, but those only work if there isn't some issue causing stomach upset. They may try Pepcid and/or anti nausea meds first. Going by what you said about her symptoms, I'm guessing they would possibly do both. Appetite stimulants obviously wouldn't work well if a cat is just throwing up all the time.

Vets can get very caught up in getting test results and forget that there is this living thing in front of them needing help right now. Even if something is wrong, they still need to stabilize the patient before treating the illness. 


Edit: here is the article http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-get-your-cat-to-start-eating-again

I would try offering some plain meat baby food, turkey or chicken, no onions or garlic with a little bit of plain baby Pedialyte (clear).  The Pedialyte will help balance electrolytes and keep her hydrated.  You could also mix in some grain free canned food if she takes to the baby food.

Also, does your vet carry Clinicare? It can be bought online but again, that takes time. It's like Ensure for kitties. It smells awful but cats love it. It may appeal to her as well.

Also, I realize that doesn't help right now, but just spewing my thoughts.