Don't need a diagnosis...Just ideas.....(long)

Ok so I know I can't get a diagnosis for a cat over the internet...But I more so need ideas, common stories, tests to ask for....etc........

Ok heres the senerio.....

John had three cats growing up...Yin...Yang..and Shuto.....Yin an yang were sister and brother from the same litter, and shuto was a show up on the porch stray......Yang ran away quite a few years ago ....But Yinny and shuto are still alive and live w/ Johns mom........

Ok theres the background here the story.......

Yinny a very intelligent indoor-outdoor calico, is 13 years old this year....She was always a heavy kitty...Not exactly obease but fat....Anyways up until 2 years ago she was healthy....(According to the vet at least...but i will rant about them later)

Well anyways 2 years ago Yinny lost 8 lbs in about 2 months...Yeah very bad...However the incompitant vet said that was fine.....never checked for fat on the liver or anything........I urged johns mom to bring Yinny to a different vet....But she had a friend their so she was getting deals on bills....And unfortunatly John and I were hardly able to survive never mind pay for a vet visit.........So life went on....and Yinny seemed to be happy and more active then she had ever been......Not knowing what had happened...But the vet said she was healthy so what were we to do.......

A year passes and nothing seemed to come of the mysterious weight loss......Then last year Trish (johns mom) moved...Yinny seemed to adjust very well to the move...she was acting like a kitten....the only difference was she refused to go outside anymore....But she would run around the house like mad, and play...etc....But a few month after moving in she developed chronic diahrreah....she went all over the house.....and the diarreah was foul smelling...Not that diarrea usually smells good...but this has a more fetid and unusual smell to it......And once in a while she would cry like she was in pain....And she stopped eating....and became obviously dehydrated.....

So trish brought Yinny back to the vet....The vet said that Yinny most likly had stomach cancer and to test her for it would be a waste of time...They put her on Prednizone so she would eat...and had trish feed her baby food to get calories back in her..............

So now another year has passed....And yinny still has chronic diarreah which she leaves all over the house....She is still on prednizone, and on a hills weight gain diet..........

The vets keep claiming she has cancer...and has not put her on flagyl or anything to help the diarreah.......because it would be a waste of time.......

So now John and I are in a better finacial position...So we are bringing Yinny to our vet...a feline only vet.......for a second opinion.......Are thoughts are is that we need to know if she is in pain....and if it really is cancer....because if it is, we feel it would be better to put her to sleep.......

But god help me if shes been suffering for 2 years because the vet didnt want to do anything...and was compltly incompetent.....errrrrrr

So what I would like from you guys are some ideas......

Do you think its cancer?....would she have lived this long if it was cancer??

Do you think her present condition has to do w/ the sudden weight loss???

What tests should I ask to be run???..Though I feel our vet is compitent enough to run the test needed....

And more so I just need someone to calm me down......Yinnys present vet has shown complete disregard, and neglect...and this poor girl who should be living out her later years, has been in pain because of it..... ....Well I am in this situation now And I am going to put this to and end one way or another........

So thank you all for listening...and thanx in advance for any ideas and comments on this situation

Bridget, I have found that just because they went to vet school, does not mean they are good vets. Mostly in school (around here) the emphasis is on the large farm animals and not the companion animals, so it is easier to have a vet out to look at my horse then it is to take my cat in to be seen, because of the area of expertise. And even the small animal vet in another town- quite literally sucks. She is the one who "accidently" broke Tazzy's leg while taking an x-ray after Taz got hit by a car.

All you can do is find a feline specialist and let them look at her. And I wouldn't say anything about what is suspected to be wrong with the cat until after the first part of the exam. See what these experienced new set of eyes have to say about the weight loss and diarrhea

Originally Posted by hissy

Bridget, I have found that just because they went to vet school, does not mean they are good vets.

Click to expand...

You can say that again.....

Poor Tazzy......If only animals had more rights...then we could sue for malpractice...and then they would start acting like vets.......

Yeah I wont mention the cancer diagnosis till they do.....Thanx for that, I probably would have ran my mouth.....

OH gosh I am so sorry! The only thing I can do is offer my experience. My beloved Bookie(RB) became extremely ill - first sign was the nastiest smelling diarhea I've ever smelled out of any species of animal.
They sent the stuff out to be cultured, it took a month for results, they were sure it was salmonella or ??? Anyhoo...we never got an answer in that everything came back negative, and we began treating her as if it were severe IBD. This approach cleared her up, but she was quite ill for a while.

So...off to your own vet, please keep us posted?

Ah..one more thing to share (forgive me if I am incoherent, up until 2 am and I don't do "naps" for nighttime sleep well any more), Patrick was in no position for an endoscopy two years ago...we did as much as we could (ultra sound) to determine if he had ibd or lymphoma (his intestines are quite thick, ropey with an area that my vet was sure felt like a tumor or two)...then began treating him as if ibd and loving him up even more as my vet said he only had several months to live (this was a year ago). Treatment initially included flagyl, and since has been prednisolone daily (tried to wean him off, could not do so). If it is lymphoma, he's certainly beat the odds, but I am more for it's being ibd. My vet always shakes her head when she palpates his gut, but my cats never do anything expected <@@>...a good thing in this case

Thanx for sharing that story w/ me.......


Youre story is giving me ideas w/ dealing with this situation, so I completly appreciate it....

Also you made perfect sense...if you were worried.....

Originally Posted by Nebula11

Thanx for sharing that story w/ me.......


Youre story is giving me ideas w/ dealing with this situation, so I completly appreciate it....

Also you made perfect sense...if you were worried.....

Click to expand...

I'm glad if sharing my experiences helped, and that I made sense. I'm not doing any posting tonight besides this, and I am much more tired than I was this morning!

Hmmmm, I was thinking irritable bowel syndrome, or possibly a food allergy? But usually prednisone helps IBS....depending on the dose I guess. Could it be a parasite? Coccidia, or maybe even salmonella, ecoli, giardia, or cryptosporidium?

Originally Posted by menagerie mama

Hmmmm, I was thinking irritable bowel syndrome, or possibly a food allergy? But usually prednisone helps IBS....depending on the dose I guess. Could it be a parasite? Coccidia, or maybe even salmonella, ecoli, giardia, or cryptosporidium?

Click to expand...

Thanx for the suggestion.....IBS..hadnt even thought of that till you and pat mentioned it...Its definitly a thought.....

I thought parasites before.....When Trish gives me the records I will look see if a facal analysis was done.......

Thanx again

Originally Posted by laureen227

i have no suggestions - but i'm really irate

at the vet who thought that treating her symptoms was a 'waste of time' because she supposedly had something fatal!!! why should she suffer even if she's due at the bridge soon? we don't do that to people - why did this vet think this was appropriate for her!

i don't understand why anyone with this attitude towards animals would even become a vet - cats are so clean, & here she's being forced to be so dirty!

i'm not blaming you - you did what you could & are doing what you can for her. he's the professional, the expert - we're supposed to be able to rely on their advice!

i'll be praying for your baby that she sees someone who can, if nothing else, make her more comfortable - & hopefully cure her!

Click to expand...

I am right their w/ you.......I am revolted by the care at this vet clinic...... ....thank you for your prayers.....and for being as angry as me......I do appreciate it

I vote for IBS as well. Sounds like what my girl went through before I switched her diet. She had it so bad for so long (before i got her) that she taught herself to literally balance on the edge of the litterbox to keep the poop off of her fur. She could not gain weight either unitll it was cleared up. It's so sad that she suffered for so long. But im really happy that I was able to figure out what was wrong and clear it up.

Originally Posted by bengalbabe

I vote for IBS as well. Sounds like what my girl went through before I switched her diet. She had it so bad for so long (before i got her) that she taught herself to literally balance on the edge of the litterbox to keep the poop off of her fur. She could not gain weight either unitll it was cleared up. It's so sad that she suffered for so long. But im really happy that I was able to figure out what was wrong and clear it up.

Click to expand...

Geeze she must be a wicked smart cat...I am glad you figured it out....and that she is feeling better...

I feel the same way about Yinny, I am completly a mess, because I wasnt able to do more earlier...But I didnt know anybetter...ya know...Now that I am in school, and no what "adequet care" is I am fumming.....

Question....is it possible to change a 13 year old over to raw, have you ever delt w/ that in an older cat???........I definitly want to look into it for her once we know what is going on

I just read an article today about FIP cats having chronic diarrhea....not to scare you though, but maybe look into this as well?

Originally Posted by menagerie mama

I just read an article today about FIP cats having chronic diarrhea....not to scare you though, but maybe look into this as well?

Click to expand...

Thanx......

Yeah FIP would be a scary diagnosis....No scarrier than cancer I suppose

Originally Posted by Nebula11

Geeze she must be a wicked smart cat...I am glad you figured it out....and that she is feeling better...

I feel the same way about Yinny, I am completly a mess, because I wasnt able to do more earlier...But I didnt know anybetter...ya know...Now that I am in school, and no what "adequet care" is I am fumming.....

Question....is it possible to change a 13 year old over to raw, have you ever delt w/ that in an older cat???........I definitly want to look into it for her once we know what is going on

Click to expand...

Yes she is! She is soooo smart she knows how to open cabnits and such. The funny thin is she teaches all of her kittens to stand on the litterbox too even though none of them have runny poos and she dosent either now but I guess so long of her having it made it a permanant habit now.
It would be hard to switch over a cat that old because cats become fixated on one type of food thinking that's whats acceptable. I would try it VERY slowly. I mean just a little bit mixed in with her wet food and slowly add a little more and a little more unitll it's completely switched. It helps for the older cats to see a young cat enjoying the food too. You know how curious cats are.
Im hoping it's only IBS and not FIP but if it's been going on for awhile now I think FIP would have killed the cat by now so here's wishing you the lesser of two evils!

Originally Posted by bengalbabe

Yes she is! She is soooo smart she knows how to open cabnits and such. The funny thin is she teaches all of her kittens to stand on the litterbox too even though none of them have runny poos and she dosent either now but I guess so long of her having it made it a permanant habit now.
It would be hard to switch over a cat that old because cats become fixated on one type of food thinking that's whats acceptable. I would try it VERY slowly. I mean just a little bit mixed in with her wet food and slowly add a little more and a little more unitll it's completely switched. It helps for the older cats to see a young cat enjoying the food too. You know how curious cats are.
Im hoping it's only IBS and not FIP but if it's been going on for awhile now I think FIP would have killed the cat by now so here's wishing you the lesser of two evils!

Click to expand...

Yeah lets hope that it isnt FIP...though I am leaning towards your theory that this has been too long of an issue for it to be FIP........

Thanx for the info on the raw......

Originally Posted by Nebula11

Yeah lets hope that it isnt FIP...though I am leaning towards your theory that this has been too long of an issue for it to be FIP........

Thanx for the info on the raw......

Click to expand...

I re-read your original post and since the problem strated 2 years ago I very much doubt it's FIP.
Your welcome on the info...anytime you need more you can PM me!

My cat also has a mysterious illness. I can't help thinking that the cup of organic plant fertilizer I dropped down the stairs which I did not clean up for some time found it's way into his system through grooming my other cat after perhaps rolling around in it. My other cat does not groom him in return, and in fact has little reason to groom herself because he does it for her. So, I cannot rule out my own negligence in my cat's health.

Maybe their new digs had something they rolled in and then passed on through the grooming.

Good luck, Marty

Nebula, any news yet?

Originally Posted by menagerie mama

Nebula, any news yet?

Click to expand...

No no news yet....The vet is extreamly busy this week, but she is going to try to fit us in...I will let you all know when we have a definite appointment for Yinny.....Thanx for asking....