Very sick cat, please help!

water3344

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My cat is a 5 year old male.  He's never had any health problems until now.  His attitude is completely normal and he seems lively but he's sick.  We don't see him eat anything except one or two tiny bites, but he vomits it up soon after.  We have tried literally every flavor and brand of cat food that we can find.  We've tried milk and various human foods too.  He acts like he wants to eat - meowing, begging for food, etc. - but he only sniffs food when we give it to him and then licks it a little and walks away.  We've tried heating the food up, different material plates, locking him alone in the bathroom so he's not around the other cats, everything we can think of.  He must eat something when we're not looking though, because there is always a big pile of vomit in the morning.  The vomit doesn't seem to have bile or anything in it.  We don't think he's getting into any poisonous substance or plant.  We also haven't seen him poop in weeks.  We've taken him to the vet 3 times but they don't seem to know what they're doing.  They make one guess after another but nothing addresses the vomiting and nothing makes him better at all.  His blood work looks clean and the x-rays don't show any blockage.  Every time, the vet gives him an enema because he is constipated and full of feces.  They have given us different laxatives to try but those haven't helped.  The vet thought his colon wasn't working right so she gave us medicine for that, but it doesn't help either.  And like I said, they aren't addressing the vomiting issue.  Even though he acts normal, he is starting to lose weight.  I know he can't live much longer like this.  Please help me.
 

denice

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Can you possibly take him to a different vet?  

Constipation can cause nausea.  There are different things that are causing this.  My IBD kitty would be like this when he had flares.  Continuing to not eat enough can cause a serious liver issue called hepatic lipidosis or fatty liver.  
 

tiptopper

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You said it. He has been to the vet 3 times but they don't seem to know what they are doing. Find a new vet and help your kitty.
 
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water3344

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Would IBD show up on an x-ray?  Also, I am going to take him to a different vet next time, but he saw two different doctors at the vet I've been taking him to.  So I'm surprised that neither of them can figure out the problem.  Thank you for your response.
 

mingsmongols

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This is pretty serious if losing weight, you may need to talk to your vet about getting a feeding tube placed and feeding him a highly palatable paste mix. It takes about ten minutes to do the surgery and it can be a lifesaver. Ask your vet about metoclopramide for the vomiting. It will also cause his stomach to empty faster but I'm not sure if it will help with the constipation.. Forti flora may also help if he's lacking the right digestive gut flora. Also consider taking him to a specialist.
 

laura mae

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The sniffing at, but not eating and the vomiting after eating are classic constipated cat behavior.  If he is repeatedly needing enemas then something is causing him to retain feces.  It's so difficult to resolve without medication.

A radiograph (like an x-ray) for his colon should show if there are problem areas. Maybe they aren't getting everything when they do the enema and there's still an area that just won't clear properly.

After the enema, what does he get to eat before he starts having trouble eating? 

What specific medicine are you asked to give him?
 

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Miralax 1/8-1/4 teaspoon a day works well but will take 24 hours to work. You can sprinkle on food if he will eat or mix a bit of water and syringe it in. 
 
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water3344

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He vomits immediately after eating his first food after the enema, regardless of what food it is.  But he still has no appetite and even his first food afterward will only be a few small licks.  The medicine for the colon is Cisapride.  Speaking of, he absolutely hates the taste of this medicine.  I syringe feed it to him but he won't even swallow it, he just let's it dribble out of his mouth.  Do you know of anything that I could add it too that might make it more palatable.  I tried diluting it with water but that didn't help.
 
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water3344

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We used to give him Miralax almost every day because a couple of years ago he did have a small constipation problem.  But the Miralax didn't stop him from having his current problems.  So the vet gave us Cat Lax.  That didn't work either, so she gave us a prescription laxative.  But that's not working either.  Whatever the problem is, it seems that no laxative will solve it.
 

foxden

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Miralax 1/8-1/4 teaspoon a day works well but will take 24 hours to work. You can sprinkle on food if he will eat or mix a bit of water and syringe it in. 
I thought Miralax must be mixed into water or liquid. The mode of operation draws water into the gut. If not mixed into water, this might increase dehydration
 

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I thought Miralax must be mixed into water or liquid. The mode of operation draws water into the gut. If not mixed into water, this might increase dehydration
Yes but as long as your kity is drinking water, it's going to work.
 

laura mae

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He vomits immediately after eating his first food after the enema, regardless of what food it is.  But he still has no appetite and even his first food afterward will only be a few small licks.  The medicine for the colon is Cisapride.  Speaking of, he absolutely hates the taste of this medicine.  I syringe feed it to him but he won't even swallow it, he just let's it dribble out of his mouth.  Do you know of anything that I could add it too that might make it more palatable.  I tried diluting it with water but that didn't help.
Cisapride increases motility and helps the colon move things along. My Booberry is a Cisapride cat. The compounding pharmacy flavors it with a seafood type taste. He takes it without complaint.  Kitties who don't like a taste----it's so hard to get it past them. You might want to try getting some plain chicken Gerber's baby food and mix the cisapride in it. Sometimes when a cat will eat nothing else, they will eat plain meat baby food. At a $1.00 a jar it isn't a sustainable diet but for short term, it might help. I keep the food on hand for any potential difficult medication issues. Every cat I've known loves it.

Miralax, mix with a 1/2 teasp of water and stir it good and put it in the food too is what I do.

Booberry had an EXPENSIVE scare here in January and had a super terrible bout with constipation that required a long stay in the vet hospital. They gave him golyte in a drip for several days. He was sedated during the process.  Finally everything cleared out. Prior to that I was able to manage the constipation with the Miralax and Cisapride for 2 years (since his last much less drastic enema). The vet hospital had recommended Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal Fiber Response as his diet. Of course, I wasn't thrilled with that option since it is a dry food.  My regular vet after reading the report from the hospital, also didn't recommend it either. Dry food, being problematic for all the reasons we already know, etc.

I had already purchased the bag because I had just put $2,400 on my credit card for his treatment and was sufficiently rattled that I didn't want to do that again. I read up on the food and decided that I would offer 1/16th cup of the food AFTER he ate his regular canned cat food.  The Fiber Response has some combo of fibers that balance soluble and and insoluble fiber and probiotics that are supposed to help keep the colon with the proper moisture balance to keep things going.

He's not especially fond of the kibble so I don't know that he eats enough of it to make a difference.  Before the January incident, I was feeding him soupy mix of re-hydrated freeze dried raw thinking that the high meat/high moisture would help keep him regular. Well, it didn't. It gave him hard, enormous poops that were difficult to pass. (Boo arrived at our house as a stray and with a fractured pelvis so he has some physical passage size issues likely).  Now he gets a 1/2 can of Weruva in the morning and evening (no fish varieties). He seems to like Wellness okay and some other canned foods. So far, he's pooping at least once a day, which wasn't the case before. So for him, this combo works.

The freeze dried raw had probably too high a ratio of psyllium fiber in the brand that I had purchased and reading about constipated cats and the way people try to address a persistent issue with it, it isn't necessarily good to have a lot of psyllium fiber for some cats and water consumed doesn't necessarily translate to water in the colon.  This page was helpful for me. You may have looked at it already http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/constipated-cats/
 
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