Cat flu: lower gi only

Long time lurker, haven't posted for months. Now I need help.
Dahalia is going back to the vets, third time in three days. Just wanted to get that stated first.

But important to first state this about Ritz. Female, around seven years old. The reason I joined TCS years ago. Developed nausea, vomiting anorexia around December 26, 2016 Two visits to vet, two sub-q, two anti-nausea shots, one appetite stimulant, x-ray. She started to recover around December 31. Fine now, making up for lost calories. Blood work and urine normal, but for a slightly low white blood cell count. (She is covered by pet insurance.)

Dahalia: female. Rescued from underneath a car July 2015, now around two years old. Immediately diagnosed with kidney issues (best guess after extensive blood work and ultrasound: genetic or recovered from ingesting toxin). Now around two years old. Spayed, etc. Asymptomatic. (I posted in TCS about Dahalia back in July 2015 and January 2016.)


Dahalia: December 30. She started to display the same symptoms as Ritz--vomiting, anorexia, inactive. To vets Monday January 2 (excellent vet; head of animal hospital; supports Raw Feeding). **Vital signs normal.** Anti-nausea meds. Maybe she has what Ritz had? She ate a tiny bit of smelly Meow Mix Monday afternoon after turning down Baby Food. Seemed okay though no interest in food. Tuesday morning, woke up to vomit five or six places, including the MM and mucus. Back to different vet, Relief Vet. **Vital signs normal. Not much stool, some gas.** Vet thinks she has a 'sensitive stomach'. Another ant-nausea shot.
No change. No appetite, no interest in baby food even when I put it in front of her under sofa.
This morning (Wednesday) still no interest in food, and she gagged/tried to throw up twice; nothing came out. Going back to initial excellent vet today at 5:20 p.m. (no earlier appointments available). She is peeing--which actually worries me because she isn't eating/drinking. And has kidney issues.
She has lost around .5 pounds since October 2016. Blood work in October (urine only?) was normal, except for a slightly elevated BUN.

Question (finally!): any idea what is going on with her. I'm puzzled what her vital signs are (still) normal, yet she feels lousy.

Thanks. This is a picture of her when I rescued her, around six months old.

Not sure what you are feeding.  You mentioned baby food and you mentioned Meow Mix, and you mentioned raw when talking about vet.  It could be food poisoning.  I had that with a mom and kittens several years ago, high quality canned food, nothing seemed wrong, mom ate it, an hour or two later started vomiting, kept vomiting so I took her to the vet the next morning.  Kittens started vomiting too on the way to the vet.  He prescribed a liquid called Amforal which is an antibiotic or combination of antibiotics that is concentrated in the gut and acts only there, not on the whole body.  After 2 doses maybe 4 hours apart (whatever interval he suggested) the vomiting was gone and by the next day all was well.

I had a case of this food and started dividing it up into two batches (by the production dates on the cans).  Some of the cans in the batch that I had fed them from "sloshed" when shook and others did not.  None of the cans in the other batch sloshed.  Rather than return them to the store where they MIGHT be sold again, I threw them away.  

I've only had one other occasion to use the Amforal when a friend's cat started vomiting after eating her normal dry food.  It was a brand new bag (one should always be suspicious if sickness follows using one's normal food from a new bag) and the amforol cured her cat too.  I told her to save the bag but get either a different food or another one with a different batch number.  Later it turned out her bag was from a batch that was included in a recall! 

Since your cats' illnesses were 4 days apart, it does sound more like a nasty stomach virus, but it could also be related to their food in some way.  If Amforol works fast, as it did for me, that usually pretty much indicates that it WAS a bacterial infection, not a viral one.

red top rescue Sorry I didn't reply sooner.
Long story short:
I feed raw, supplemented by about .5 oz or less of canned food (Fancy Feast Classic; Soulistic, other high end canned food).
Ritz got sick first; Dahalia had eaten the same food and didn't get sick. So it wasn't the food (raw or otherwise).
Within a day of Ritz getting better, Dahalia got sick. Same symptoms.
I took her to the vets Monday, January 2.
After the first (second?) anti-nausea shot Dahalia seemed a little more interested in food. Ignored the baby food, did eat about two tablespoon of very smelly Meow Mix. Threw that up around six hours later (middle of the night) Wednesday the 4th.
Fast forward five days (today, Friday):
Her blood work is normal, even her kidney levels. X-ray wasn't alarming (something that is probably just a shadow showed up). No sign of blockage, obstruction. She is peeing normally.
Still not interested in food. Still not eating. Wednesday the 4th.
We/the vet began syringe feeding her with Ensure for Cats late Wednesday night, which she kept down. She did not keep down the 'Ensure" tried to feed her Thursday morning. So back at the vets Thursday where she stayed overnight, and today (Friday) is still being syringed fed. Anti-nausea drugs; holistic medicine. Appetite stimulant. Two enemas. Hydration. She tolerated the feeding at the vets yesterday (Thursday), except the one given at 2:30 p.m, which she threw up. May have simply had enough at that point. She was given some canned food late yesterday; no interest.
Thursday night I dropped off a solution of Slippery Elm Bark per the vet's request; and also some lactose free yogurt (homemade) and baby food. (She is use to those foods. Not so much canned food.) Also dropped off her bed and blankets she normally sleeps on when she's not sleeping on the sofa, on my lap, or next to me under the bed covers.
The good news is: she is spunkier. Initially she hid in the back of the cage; she is now appropriately hissing.
The working diagnosis is: constipation, which diagnosis the pet insurance company *may* cover. Anorexia is excluded, as is anything to do with the kidneys. I am waiting to hear this morning from the vet how she is doing.
Goal: she keeps down what she drinks/eats; and starts eating regular food.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Both cats should be tested for FELV/FIV, and this could be viral gastroenteritis (Ritz had a low WBC), Dahlia had same symptoms pretty much near the typical incubation period for transmittable feline viruses - another rule-out should be gastrointestinal parasites, bacterial infections such as e-coli, camphylobacter, coccidia, salmonella etc.  Feeding raw will always have the potential to cause these problems.  Cultures can be done to confirm both issues.

It could also be coincidental with one or the other having a pancreatic episode.  Vet can use the fPLI to send to a lab for confirmation.

Ritz said:

Any ideas? Thanks.

Click to expand...

IBD?  Unlikely for both cats but possible....  Ultrasound to look for inflamed intestines or other structures, pancreas, lymph nodes.  Agree with Cat Tech about fPLI test.  But symptoms and weight loss consistent with IBD. Could do a trial of prenisolone and if symptoms abate then its diagnostic....