OK guys, I'm getting desperate. I'd really like some advice from the experienced. My apologies for the length of this, but I think it's important you know the whole timeline up until now.
My old grumpy guy, who is now 13, apparently had a spell of either severe constipation or GI obstruction over the weekend. After many interventions at the vet, he is now home--in the hopes he will eat at home---and so far he will NOT eat anything. He is on Zyrtec again due to allergies after not having taken it since last Autumn, so I wonder if the drying effect of this contributed. When his allergies act up he is prone to more hairballs, so we brush nonstop it seems and watch him closely. Long hair, allergies, washing more = occasional hairballs. So a bit of hacking/gagging didn't surprise me.
Here's the timeline of events pared down to the short & sweet:
Saturday--eating only a few bites, slept more than normal, didn't interact with the rest of us much at all. I suspected something was up. Didn't pay a lot of attention when scooping the boxes, hubby and I had a busy hectic day, just scooped them twice and didn't pay attention. He has always had his "off" days where he didn't eat much, but then ate like a hog the next day, so concerned, but not TOO concerned at this point. A bit of gagging today.
Sunday--refused to eat ANYTHING at all. I probably opened ten cans of different foods, got desperate and opened a can of tuna, he snubbed that too and left to go sleep on the bed. He slept again most of the day. Still drinking, peeing just fine---we noticed he had not pooped at all. 3 cats in the house, and yes, we can identify who's poo is whose very easily. Chubby poos like a small dog---Tina poos tiny tiny---Wurp is somewhere in between and there were none of his. Again, drinking and peeing as normal. Bit of gagging/retching, but again, thought possibly hairball issues. The not eating was my main concern.
Monday morning--he apparently ate during the very early morning hours and proceeded to vomit ALL of it up on the kitchen floor in 3 piles. Pure undigested canned food. It was like he did a binge-purge. No hair at all in it. No poop in the boxes, although lots of his pee (he doesn't cover and the other two do, so we recognize that as well). His tummy was hard and tight. Off to the vet we go. Afraid of hairball impaction.
Vet interventions---
X-ray shows his GI tract is full, vet said on palpation it was very full
Enema @ 3pm--produced a very very hard 1/2 inch BM, hard feces, no hair, followed by more that was softer. This enema made him vomit so profusely that the vet immediately said "he's staying with us". It actually alarmed the vet.
Enema @ 5pm--produced softer stools
Gave him Cerenia injection, Flocillin injection, IV fluids
Enema again Tuesday morning--liquid only, they said mainly enema fluid only came out
Another X-ray Tuesday morning shows GI tract clear, air in the GI tract. No indications of masses, no extended colon, no enlargement of anything, blah blah blah
I made them run the most extensive bloodwork panel they do ($200 one) and he came back all within normal range, with WBC slightly elevated, but they believe that is due to stress. Everything else on his bloodwork was A+. This included liver, kidney functions, all cell counts, thyroid, just freaking everything. I insisted on everything. Everything looks like a healthy cat, super-good for a 13 year old the vet said.
The vet and the vet tech that cared for him said he absolutely would not eat anything they offered him. I warned them he was picky and wouldn't eat Hill's Rx diet wet food at all, that he would absolutely starve himself. So they tried everything from Rx foods of various brands to Friskies canned. Nope.
The hopes were that it was stress, so they wanted me to bring him home to see if he would eat. Nope. He acts hungry, goes to the food cabinet, goes to food bowls and looks at them, but then walks away.
His little bum looks inflamed, he walks gingerly, and has scooted his butt across the carpet like a dog with worms quite a few times. He will be walking along, and plop his butt down and SCOOT. He acts like it is bothering him immensely!
He is very alert, purrs, was very VERY happy to be home when I let him out of his carrier yesterday, explored, and slept on my feet on the bed the majority of last night. Up this morning very alert. Refuses to eat. They sent me home with EnerCal (guess another brand of Nutrical) and I have given him 3 dollops on my finger this morning that I had to smear in his mouth to get him to take. Haven't seen him drinking. His subq "hump" on the front of his chest has gone down, so apparently it's all absorbed.
I'm not sleeping, worried sick, don't know what else to do. The vet told me if he does not eat after getting home, de-stressing, and resting a bit to bring him back for more fluids and possibly more intervention today. Gave him a 1/4th of a tablet of plain pepcid last night per the vet and he will get another in a few minutes. He also got a shot of Cerenia before he left there yesterday...although the vet told me he was going to give him an injection of famotidine (pepcid), it wasn't on my bill, and Cerenia was.
Oh one more thing--he hopped in the litter box this morning, sat there maybe 2 seconds, hopped out, and scooted on his butt from one end of the laundry room to the other.
Is there ANYTHING else I can do????
My old grumpy guy, who is now 13, apparently had a spell of either severe constipation or GI obstruction over the weekend. After many interventions at the vet, he is now home--in the hopes he will eat at home---and so far he will NOT eat anything. He is on Zyrtec again due to allergies after not having taken it since last Autumn, so I wonder if the drying effect of this contributed. When his allergies act up he is prone to more hairballs, so we brush nonstop it seems and watch him closely. Long hair, allergies, washing more = occasional hairballs. So a bit of hacking/gagging didn't surprise me.
Here's the timeline of events pared down to the short & sweet:
Saturday--eating only a few bites, slept more than normal, didn't interact with the rest of us much at all. I suspected something was up. Didn't pay a lot of attention when scooping the boxes, hubby and I had a busy hectic day, just scooped them twice and didn't pay attention. He has always had his "off" days where he didn't eat much, but then ate like a hog the next day, so concerned, but not TOO concerned at this point. A bit of gagging today.
Sunday--refused to eat ANYTHING at all. I probably opened ten cans of different foods, got desperate and opened a can of tuna, he snubbed that too and left to go sleep on the bed. He slept again most of the day. Still drinking, peeing just fine---we noticed he had not pooped at all. 3 cats in the house, and yes, we can identify who's poo is whose very easily. Chubby poos like a small dog---Tina poos tiny tiny---Wurp is somewhere in between and there were none of his. Again, drinking and peeing as normal. Bit of gagging/retching, but again, thought possibly hairball issues. The not eating was my main concern.
Monday morning--he apparently ate during the very early morning hours and proceeded to vomit ALL of it up on the kitchen floor in 3 piles. Pure undigested canned food. It was like he did a binge-purge. No hair at all in it. No poop in the boxes, although lots of his pee (he doesn't cover and the other two do, so we recognize that as well). His tummy was hard and tight. Off to the vet we go. Afraid of hairball impaction.
Vet interventions---
X-ray shows his GI tract is full, vet said on palpation it was very full
Enema @ 3pm--produced a very very hard 1/2 inch BM, hard feces, no hair, followed by more that was softer. This enema made him vomit so profusely that the vet immediately said "he's staying with us". It actually alarmed the vet.
Enema @ 5pm--produced softer stools
Gave him Cerenia injection, Flocillin injection, IV fluids
Enema again Tuesday morning--liquid only, they said mainly enema fluid only came out
Another X-ray Tuesday morning shows GI tract clear, air in the GI tract. No indications of masses, no extended colon, no enlargement of anything, blah blah blah
I made them run the most extensive bloodwork panel they do ($200 one) and he came back all within normal range, with WBC slightly elevated, but they believe that is due to stress. Everything else on his bloodwork was A+. This included liver, kidney functions, all cell counts, thyroid, just freaking everything. I insisted on everything. Everything looks like a healthy cat, super-good for a 13 year old the vet said.
The vet and the vet tech that cared for him said he absolutely would not eat anything they offered him. I warned them he was picky and wouldn't eat Hill's Rx diet wet food at all, that he would absolutely starve himself. So they tried everything from Rx foods of various brands to Friskies canned. Nope.
The hopes were that it was stress, so they wanted me to bring him home to see if he would eat. Nope. He acts hungry, goes to the food cabinet, goes to food bowls and looks at them, but then walks away.
His little bum looks inflamed, he walks gingerly, and has scooted his butt across the carpet like a dog with worms quite a few times. He will be walking along, and plop his butt down and SCOOT. He acts like it is bothering him immensely!
He is very alert, purrs, was very VERY happy to be home when I let him out of his carrier yesterday, explored, and slept on my feet on the bed the majority of last night. Up this morning very alert. Refuses to eat. They sent me home with EnerCal (guess another brand of Nutrical) and I have given him 3 dollops on my finger this morning that I had to smear in his mouth to get him to take. Haven't seen him drinking. His subq "hump" on the front of his chest has gone down, so apparently it's all absorbed.
I'm not sleeping, worried sick, don't know what else to do. The vet told me if he does not eat after getting home, de-stressing, and resting a bit to bring him back for more fluids and possibly more intervention today. Gave him a 1/4th of a tablet of plain pepcid last night per the vet and he will get another in a few minutes. He also got a shot of Cerenia before he left there yesterday...although the vet told me he was going to give him an injection of famotidine (pepcid), it wasn't on my bill, and Cerenia was.
Oh one more thing--he hopped in the litter box this morning, sat there maybe 2 seconds, hopped out, and scooted on his butt from one end of the laundry room to the other.
Is there ANYTHING else I can do????
