IBD and Hypercalcemia

My 15 year old cat, Eddie, has been struggling with a combination of health issues for the past several years. Since 2010, his blood work has showed slightly elevated creatnine and a gradually elevating serum calcium. The calcium went unnoticed until January 2015, when it passed out of the normal range. At that time, he had been on a renal diet (k/d, g/d, NF) for 2 years. 

So, after ionized calcium was checked to confirm the diagnosis of hypercalcemia, I transitioned Eddie to a raw diet. 

I can't remember when the vomiting started. We moved to a different house in 2012. It may have been around that time. It was always a pre-dawn vomit consisting of fluid and hair. It happened a couple of times a week. I didn't think much of it. When Eddie ate Nature's variety Instinct raw, the vomit also contained the bone chips from that food. We eventually switched to Rad Cat. Eddie was generally feeling well, though he seemed to be swallowing frequently and loudly. And he seemed a bit constipated, so the vet recommended adding Miralax to his food. 

After 7 months on a raw diet, right around Thanksgiving 2015, Eddie's appetite dropped and he appeared to be in pain. He refused to eat his raw food. Thanksgiving turkey, turkey cold cuts and ham baby food were the only things he would eat for several days. The vet felt thickened intestines and sent out blood work. Creatnine and calcium still high, higher actually. Lots of inflammation. Ultrasound was performed and showed thickened intestines, enlarged lymph nodes and possible pancreas scarring. Eddie's weight dropped. We decided to treat for IBD, foregoing invasive biopsy. Prednisilone, B12 shots and probiotics were prescribed. Diet was changed to canned cat food with novel proteins - nonprescription. 

Vomiting has decreased. It is now food-specific. When Eddie vomits, it most always contains chunks of carrot, whole peas or bone chips, along with hair and other fibrous material. After trying many different foods, I settled on two that don't contain those items: Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Venison and Green Pea, and Merrick Limited Ingredient Salmon. 

We took Eddie to an internist to try to get some better insight. He focused his attention on the hypercalcemia, telling us to continue our course of action for the IBD. He put Eddie on calcitriol - a form of vitamin D that can actually cause hypercalcemia, but can also work in the kidneys to regulate calcium. We'll see how that goes. We'll be testing in another 4 weeks. 

This is where it really gets frustrating. Things were going great - Eddie's appetite is excellent - but eventually, he lost interest in those foods. So, in order to avoid further weight loss, I've been trying others. The novel protein thing makes it tough. Back and forth to the pet store, buying and returning food after food. Nature's Variety all has whole peas and/or carrot chunks and bone chips. Eddie doesn't like duck. Orijen dry food makes him vomit. I tried a teaspoon of raw mixed into canned. It caused projectile vomiting, so I haven't tried it again. Ziwipeak dehydrated raw venison was vomited up whole. Everything else is fish-based, which he loves, or contains chicken products. Fish is generally not considered a good choice for hypercalcemic cats because of vitamin D or cats with renal deficiency because of high phosphorus. But I have run out of other options. Hello tuna. 

With all of this, we still have no idea what has caused the IBD. Food allergy? Allergy to the new house? The hypercalcemia? And what of the high creatnine level? It has actually shown improvement on the last blood test. How does it all fit? Am I running in circles trying to find novel proteins for nothing? 

Anyway, that's my story - long, I know. If anyone has any thoughts or has had similar experiences, I'd appreciate some feedback. (FEEDback, get it?)

Poor Eddie!  And poor you.  What a struggle.  I don't know anything about hypercalcemia--I'm bumping this post up in hopes someone who has some experience will see this.  

Thanks! As an added bonus, we went to urgent care last night after Eddie became suddenly weak in his hind limbs and nauseous. After noticeably stumbling for 30 minutes or so, he vomited and stumbled for another hour before I called the vet and was told to take him to emergency. At emergency, all they could find was that his body temp was 97.something. Really low. No idea as to the cause. He was in a warm house all day. He's better today. Temp is back up over 100 and he's walking better - slow but better.