My Pippin is sick.

After 2 years of perfect health, my sweet boy Pippin is ill. He's a three year old, male, neutered gray tabby. He started vomitting on Tuesday. By Wednesday, I took him to the vet as he was very lethargic and couldn't keep anything down.
He didn't have a temperature nor did he have any signs of a blockage. The vet gave me Metoclopramide 5MG to give him three times a day to help prevent the vomitting. It didn't help, so I took him back today (Friday).
He was severely dehydrated and I had tried to force water on him with a syringe in his mouth. That helped some, but the vet was very concerned. His temperature was very low. They put him on warm IV fluids all day, took blood tests, urinalysis, temperature, weight and observed him. He vomitted again at the vet and they gave him a shot to help with the nausea. His tests showed nothing unusual and they got him back to full hydration and sent him home with me around 5 this evening.
I have him here with me with orders not to feed or water him until I speak to the vet tomorrow. He is very listless and antisocial. He wants to sleep in his cat crate or under the bed, doesn't acknowledge my voice, but responds a bit to me petting him.
I'm wondering if the meds they gave him might have made him very drowsy. It was the same medication as they gave me for nausea, except in a shot.
I'm very worried about him. His brother Merry had a similar thing happen to him in 2003. After 8 months of tests, vet visits nearly every week, a multitude of meds, x-rays, bloodwork, and a visit to the specialist he died of unrelated causes. I never did get a diagnosis, although the specialist called me a couple of weeks after he died with an idea about a hernia in his diaphram. She also thought it *might* be cancer, but thought that was less likely.
Could something like that be genetic? I'm terrified of going through something like that again. I don't want Pippin to have to experience it either. Merry was a very sweet animal and his quality of life was the best I could provide with lots of love and care. But he was very sickly and even with his large bone structure, after he got sick, weighed between 4-8 lbs depending on the week and how well he was responding to treatments.
I know I can't expect a diagnosis here, but if any of you have any ideas or have experienced something similar, or just want to sent Pippin some healing energy, please do.
I'm heartsick over this. I raised Pippin and Merry from the time they were 5 weeks old. I don't want to lose Pippin too.

Devlyn

Thanks!
I'm trying to stay positive and not think it's the worst, but cat losses in the past especially Merry have made me oversensitive. I'm hoping that he will start improving now that he's rehydrated. I don't think he's vomitted since coming home, but it's hard to tell.
I'm staying in the same room with him so I can see if he is or not. He is sleeping comfortably in his basket now, and urinated normally. That helps. Seeing things start to work properly is a nice sign.
Thanks again!

Thank you all who posted. It does help to know people care.
Pippin threw up again just a few minutes ago and woke me from a dead sleep. He's hiding under the bed now. It's been about 11 hours since I picked him up, so maybe the anti nausea meds wore off. I have to call the vet in about 3 hours to give him an update.
It's so hard when pets are sick. Just an intense feeling of helplessness.
I just wish he would get better, or I would at least get a diagnosis of some sort to work with. Not knowing is so hard.

-Devlyn-

I'm trying this now. I turned out all the lights except my reading lamp. He has his cat carrier with a towel in it to sleep in, and a basket of pillows he enjoys too. He's still under the bed but I will try not to worry about him and let him get some sleep. There's not much else I can do until the doctor allows me to feed him again.
After reading a variety of resources on the net, pancreatitis sounds like it entails a lot of his symptoms. Does anyone have experience with that and how one diagnoses it?

-Devlyn-

I told my vet about Merry's problems too and mentioned that the specialist vet thought it might be a hernia. I think he wants to eliminate as many simpler explanations as possible before doing an x-ray.
One difficulty I have is that I don't drive and have to rely on friends to take us to the vet. I'm hoping that if he has to go back tomorrow, I can get a ride. I've never had such a desire to have a car before. Fortunately, the vet isn't too far away, only about 5 min drive or so.
After reading some other threads on this site, I'm also going to talk to the vet about how to get some calories into Pippin. This is going onto 5 days of him not being able to keep his food down. Does anyone know if IV fluids contain any nutrient support?
Thanks again all. I just read Bear's story about forced feeding and I'm hopeful that Pippin will have a good recovery too.

Dev

Pippin threw up again this morning so I got a ride into the vet for some subQ to get us through the weekend.
The vet decided to do an x-ray and it appears he may have an intestinal blockage. I'm actually relieved. He's going into surgery as soon as his main vet gets in. I'm hoping that this is it and they can fix the problem.
On the x-ray it showed that he had stool in his lower colon and some about 10" further up the tract, but there was a big empty spot so that's where they think the blockage could be. I could have done a barium x-ray on him, but I'd rather just go ahead with the surgery and see if that takes care of it. I'm blessed to have a vet who really cares about Pippin and is willing to work with me on the costs involved. They helped me when Merry was sick too.
Keep your fingers crossed for my boy. He's a big strong kitty so I think he'll make it through just fine.
Silly kitties eating stuff that makes them sick!
If anyone has advice on what to expect when he gets home from surgery, I'd love to hear it. Even if they do remove a blockage, I know that he's still not out of the woods and that infection is possible.
Thanks again for everyone's helpful words and prayers.

Dev

Pippin is out of surgery. The culprit: Thread!!!
He was pretty lucky in that he didn't get tore up too badly inside. There was a knotted ball stuck in his bowels and attached to his tongue. The doctor got it all out and feels confident anything else in there will pass on it's own.
Merry, his brother, ingested thread as well. I did a search when he died of it to see if I could find where it was coming from and couldn't, so I'll be searching again this weekend.
I'm just so thankful my baby will be ok. He is staying at the vet overnight for IV fluid treatment and I should be able to bring him home tomorrow.
YAY! I'm so relieved.

Dev

I'm guessing that the thread is under a bed somewhere or part of the underside of the box spring. Pippin is notorious for trying to eat the fur out of the cat brush, so I wouldn't doubt if he found a ball of fuzz and ate it, not knowing it was made up of fine threads.
What's ironic is that I'm a seamstress, but I don't sew at home. I have my own shop where all that takes place. Anytime I've found a spool of thread, it goes to my shop.
That's why I suspect some sort of furniture fraying going on.

At any rate, thanks for all your kind words. I'll keep you all updated as he recovers and comes home.

I'm so glad I went through with the surgery despite the expense and not knowing if they would find anything for sure. I hesitated with Merry and have regretted it ever since.

Dev

I just picked up Pippin and boy is he looking rough. He's got a 4" incision down his belly, two shaved paws for the IV and is just kinda scruffy looking all in all. But he's alive and that's what's important. He's on Hill's I/D prescription food, antibiotics and an anti nausea. My main worry is to get him eating as soon as possible. He's going on 5 days without substantial nutrient intake. Fortunately, his fluids are fine since they gave him IV fluid therapy during his stay. If all goes well, he won't be nauseous and vomit.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.

Dev

Pippin is doing well so far. He's very groggy still, from the anesthetic, but he's resting comfortably in his cat carrier. I draped a thick blanket over it so it's very dark and cozy. I also forced a couple of teaspoons of food into him earlier, but when he's a little more alert I'll try again. I also plan on trying some of his frisky canned favorites if he turns up his nose at the hills.
I don't have a feeding syringe, so does anyone have good ideas for getting food into him if he doesn't want to eat? I've been taking little pieces and pushing them into the side of his mouth. He doesn't get upset when I do that (probably cuz he's so sleepy) and he will swallow it down but it is a little messy.
I have tomorrow off from work, so I'm lookig forward to spending some quality time with my little boy. He doesn't seem to be in any pain (yet), just a little stiff and less agile.

Dev