Slippery Elm for vomiting--how long did it last?

Hi, 

Thanks to this amazing site, I found slippery elm for my golden-girl kitty who vomits frequently. I started giving it to her the beginning of this year and she went from vomiting 3-4x/week to 1x/week. I was elated, as despite frequent vet visits, nothing else worked. The problem is, about a week ago it stopped working. Just like that. At first I thought I prepared the syrup with too much heat, but after remaking it, she is back to vomiting every other day. 

She also has asthma and is now battling what we think is a viral eye infection. I think the eye/URI discharge drains down and causes her to cough more. And I think when she coughs, she tends to vomit more. 

She's been tested for many things and we left off with that she likely as IBD (though she never has diarrhea.) 

Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone had an experience like this? Where SE worked wonders and then suddenly stopped? Do you have any tips on how else I can help her? I am afraid to put her on prednisolone because her immune system will plummet and the infection will take over. The antibiotics she's been on recently haven't helped much either. I wanted to get her a culture to see if we could target the right antibiotic, but her vet said that it wouldn't be very reliable...though I don't really understand why. 

Well, if anyone has any advice how to help my kitty, it would be most welcome. I should also note, she is an incredibly picky eater. I've tried home-made food and she won't touch it, so at the moment I'm stuck with high-end low-allergy canned foods (Halo and Weruva Cats in the Kitchen.) 

Many thanks :-)

nekolove said:

Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone had an experience like this? Where SE worked wonders and then suddenly stopped? Do you have any tips on how else I can help her? I am afraid to put her on prednisolone because her immune system will plummet and the infection will take over. The antibiotics she's been on recently haven't helped much either. I wanted to get her a culture to see if we could target the right antibiotic, but her vet said that it wouldn't be very reliable...though I don't really understand why. 

Well, if anyone has any advice how to help my kitty, it would be most welcome. I should also note, she is an incredibly picky eater. I've tried home-made food and she won't touch it, so at the moment I'm stuck with high-end low-allergy canned foods (Halo and Weruva Cats in the Kitchen.) 

Many thanks :-)

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Sort of. I've been giving SE to my suspected IBD kitty for about a year when he started vomiting almost daily again. Vet visit and repeat blood work showed he's now hyperthyroid, so we're getting ready to treat that in hopes that it clears up the vomiting issue, as gastrointestinal issues and vomiting are actually common with untreated hyperthyroidism. 

How old is she and when was she at the vet last? Might be time for a follow up and repeat blood work. 

If everything is clear you could increase her SE. How much and how often are you giving it to her? I give my cat 1/2 tsp syrup once a day but when he's bad I increase it to twice a day before meals. 

missmimz said:

 
Sort of. I've been giving SE to my suspected IBD kitty for about a year when he started vomiting almost daily again. Vet visit and repeat blood work showed he's now hyperthyroid, so we're getting ready to treat that in hopes that it clears up the vomiting issue, as gastrointestinal issues and vomiting are actually common with untreated hyperthyroidism. 

How old is she and when was she at the vet last? Might be time for a follow up and repeat blood work. 

If everything is clear you could increase her SE. How much and how often are you giving it to her? I give my cat 1/2 tsp syrup once a day but when he's bad I increase it to twice a day before meals. 

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Thank you. She is 13 years old. Hyperthyroidism hasn't come up for her yet...her last complete blood panel was done I think it November 2015. She's been to a couple of different vets since August 2015. We wound up taking her to an internal specialist who ruled out pancreatitis. But I don't know if hyperthyroidism was ruled out already. He never mentioned it. Is it part of the standard blood tests, or a very specific test? In looking at her symptoms, she has just a few (increased thirst/urniation, vomiting). Her coat seems fine. 

What was working for her was 1 tsp of the SE syrup before each meal (2x/day.) I tried to reduce it and her symptoms came back only after 6 weeks. I don't know if she's having a flare up? Or could SE go bad? It's not expired and is in capsules. 

Well, thank you for sharing your experience. I will schedule another vet visit and ask about this. 

It's not part of routine panel so I would ask about having a T4 ran if it wasn't done. Early hyper-t has very mild symptoms. My guy had a "high normal" T4 in June 2015 and abnormal in January 2016.

If I forget to give my cat his SE for two days he'll start vomiting multiple times a day and won't eat. I've tried to reduce his dose twice with the same result. I'm hoping once his hyper-t is treated the vomiting gets better.

You could try different SE. I use the Now brand powder.

Good luck

I'm assuming her kidney levels were ok since they were not mentioned. She's eating well, yes? I know you said she's picky, but want to make sure the volume she eats is normal. Hyper-t is definitely something that needs to be considered in older cats, so I agree that if the T4 wasn't checked already, it should be.

Donutte said:

I'm assuming her kidney levels were ok since they were not mentioned. She's eating well, yes? I know you said she's picky, but want to make sure the volume she eats is normal. Hyper-t is definitely something that needs to be considered in older cats, so I agree that if the T4 wasn't checked already, it should be.

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Thank you, Donutte. Her kidney levels were slightly higher than normal. The internist wasn't concerned about it (but I am.) I think she's eating a little less and she seems to be losing weight. She seems thinner. I was thinking it was because she's had a lot more energy lately (after giving her a vet-recommended immune support herb), but now I don't know. I'm giving her a break from the herbs and the Bach Flowers that I started giving her about a week ago on her fur. Now that I'm typing it, it seem's too coincidental that starting the flowers marks the increase in her vomiting....I wonder if that set off her reaction even though it's supposed to be harmless.

The earliest I can get an appointment with the internist is March 5th! I might have to try and bring her in sooner. I will definitely get her checked for Hyper-t. She'll need a blood panel again, too. 

Do you happen to any of the blood work values from the last time?

And March 5th? Wow. That sounds like how long it took for a groomer once (my Maple really needed someone else to handle her that one time because she's huge), but not a vet's office. I very rarely have to wait beyond the next day for an appt, and 90% of the time it's same day.

Donutte said:

Do you happen to any of the blood work values from the last time?

And March 5th? Wow. That sounds like how long it took for a groomer once (my Maple really needed someone else to handle her that one time because she's huge), but not a vet's office. I very rarely have to wait beyond the next day for an appt, and 90% of the time it's same day.

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I do have blood work from last time. I think it was late November. What numbers are you thinking I should look at? 

I know. I'm debating what I should do. At this point she's been seeing an Internal Medicine specialist (ruling out pancreatitis, etc.) and he's on vacation next week. My options are to bring her to a different specialist who hasn't been working with her and see her on the 29th. I'd have to pay the higher initial consult fee, I think. I suppose it would be a second opinion.

nekolove said:

I do have blood work from last time. I think it was late November. What numbers are you thinking I should look at? 

I know. I'm debating what I should do. At this point she's been seeing an Internal Medicine specialist (ruling out pancreatitis, etc.) and he's on vacation next week. My options are to bring her to a different specialist who hasn't been working with her and see her on the 29th. I'd have to pay the higher initial consult fee, I think. I suppose it would be a second opinion.

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Creatinine, BUN/urea, and SDMA if they did that one (it's fairly new, not all labs include it by default).

Hi Donutte,

It looks like they did test her thyroid. These are the numbers:

Total T4: 2.2 (range is 0.8-4.0)
Creatinine: 2.2
BUN: 43 (range 14-36)

There was no BUN/urea and
There was no SDMA...what is that?

I decided to get the earlier appointment with the other internist. Worth a second opinion. So far she hasn't vomited, so wondering if it was the flowers.