Vet completely stumped...any thoughts? (long)

renny

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Just me again...sorry guys. After another long day with Rambo at the vet and multiple tests she's completely stumped (as are the other vets in the practice) as to what Rambo's got.

Brief History:
Beginning of July - Rambo's eye swells up. Took him to the vet, she thought maybe he'd run into something and he had the kitty equivalent of a black eye. She gave him antibiotic/steroid ointment. He also got his annual vaccines.

Next day: The other eye swells up. I called the vet and told her...she recommended putting the ointment in the other eye and seeing what happened over the weekend. Both eyes cleared up.

One week later: Come home to find vomit all over the house, and Rambo limp and lethargic, making strange groaning noises when he breathed or tried to eat. Swallowing made him gag. Rushed him to the emergency vet. Turns out there were blisters/sores on the back of his throat, his throat was swollen and he was very dehydrated and he had a temp of 104. Rambo spent 2 days in the hospital on IV fluids, antibiotics and when the swelling didn't go down steroids. X-Rays of his chest/belly showed nothing.

After the steroid/antibiotic treatment Rambo seemed to be recovered. He ate, played...when he went in for a quick check he had lost quite a bit of weight (around 1lbs + over the course of his illness).

August 18th/19th. Rambo starts struggling to eat again, making the groaning noise and gagging sometimes after swallowing. I kept up on his electrolytes this time, and he continued trying to eat. Saturday he was pretty quiet, but he perked up alot on sunday and was charging around the house. Monday he again struggled to eat when I came home at lunch. So I called the vet and dropped him off for the whole day on tuesday for tests.

Tuesday (22nd) - Rambo was brought in to the vet for the day. They checked his throat (no blisters). He did eat some food for them without gagging. Did blood work, no abnormalities in his blood work. FIV/FELV negative. The did 2 xrays of his throat and see no obvious issues with his throat, but there may be some swelling of his esophagus. They even gave him some barium to try and highlight any issues. No fever.

The vet was stumped, so she suggests try to treat him as if he has ulcers in his esophagus/acid reflux type condition. I brought him home, gave him the meds and let him eat. He ate raw food last night and finished the plate.

This morning (Weds) - wake up, Rambo's right eye is swollen up the same as the original symptom from July. I know all he did was eat and sleep last night because i was keeping an eye on him.


Guys I am completely and utterly baffled (as is the vet) and so frustrated that I'm near tears everytime I think of this. I've spent over $1500 bucks trying to treat and diagnose Rambo, and we're still no closer to an answer. The next step would be to send Rambo away for an endoscopy of his throat, but now with the eye swelling....I don't know what to do.

Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestions or experiences that could offer some direction on where to go now???

thank you all for reading...
Stumped Meowmy
Raegan
 

kittycorner

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That is a very puzzling situation. I am a vet tech of 6 yrs, not a vet so take my ideas as experience only. I am wondering what you feed Rambo? Have you switched foods lately? Maybe it is some wierd form of a food allergy reaction. Is it possible that Rambo is getting into something or licking something that you are not aware of? I am also wondering if he may have a bad tooth-abscessed teeth will cause the face to swell, but that really doesn't explain the ulcers at the back of the throat then, or why it switches sides. HMMMMM....... I once saw a kitty come into the vet after licking car battery fluid and another that was drinking from the bathtub after the owner cleaned it with Comet and they both had ulcers from chemical burns basically. I am sure you are a very responsible pet owner if you have already spent this much time and money trying to figure out what is wrong, so I am sure this is probably not the case. I am off of work today, but I work in a 5 doctor practicve so I will make sure that I tell them this story and see if they have any ideas for you tomorrow. Poor Rambo, I also feel bad for you it can be very frustrating to have a sick kitty and no answers, I will keep you both in my thoughts. Please keep me updated so that I can pass it along tomorrow.
 

phenomsmom

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I have no idea what it may be and am pf absolutely no help to you! Just wanted to say that Rambo is in my thoughts and prayers!
 

gardenandcats

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Feline Calicivirus infection is likely to cause mouth ulcers and eye discharge and swelling. also Numerous strains of feline calicivirus exist and different strains cause different symptoms (e.g., one particular strain can cause ulcers on the paws as well as in the mouth). It usually affects the throat, and Calicivirus often occurs with another upper respiratory infection, such as feline herpes virus (FHV), rhinotracheitis virus, or chlamydiosis.
It sounds like this is what your cat has. Your vet hasn't mentioned this? It often has flair ups and with it coming back it would make me think this is the problem. Along with what the vet prescribes. Add Lysine 1000mg during a outbreak and 500mg as a maintance med.You can buy Lysine tablets at any drug store. Just crush the pills between spoons and mix it in the cats wet food.
I had a cat that had chlamydiosis. and it took over 2 months on a antibiotic to get him over the intial outbreak. My other 4 cats also had to be treated. The kitten that brought this into my home had it the worse. And the eyes really swelled up terrible and also alot of discharge.
 
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renny

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kittycorner: thank you for passing this story on, it would be great if your vets had some additional thoughts on this. My vet, and the others in the practice are stumped by the complexity of the symptoms. There was no change in food or living conditions prior to either of these two. I have been introducing raw food on and off over the last 6 months and start consistently the last few weeks, but the vet thought that the raw might be beneficial to him, in case there is some allergy component to this.

gardenandcats: we did discuss calicivirus and other URI's but the eye swelling, and rupturing the blood vessels in the eye, the switching of eyes and the no discharge were confusing. Then first there was mouth ulcers and now the swallowing difficulties with no mouth ulcers, but potentially ulcers in the esophagus. The symptoms just don't seem to fit one cause... I am going to discuss with the vet starting him on l-lysine (which i have in capsules already) in addition to the medication she has him on now to try and heal the ulcers (if they are there) in his esophagus.

I really appreciate your conitinuing suggestions, thoughts, advice and comments (and of course the healing vibes!). I would give anything for a definitive answer/diagnosis so at least i knew where things stood. As it is I never know what to expect from Rambo, and the not-knowing is killing me.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by Phenomsmom

I have no idea what it may be and am pf absolutely no help to you! Just wanted to say that Rambo is in my thoughts and prayers!
if the lysine wouldn't interfere with any of his present meds, i'd add it - it certainly wouldn't hurt him
 

sharky

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I would suspect immune disorder( yes allergies are but I am thinking a more serious one)
 
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renny

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Originally Posted by sharky

I would suspect immune disorder( yes allergies are but I am thinking a more serious one)
Could you elaborate a bit? How would we identify these?

I wondered about allergies as well, but his environment has been the same for the past year. When he got sick he'd been on the same wet/dry food mixture (Natural Choice Dry and Eagle Pack wet - chicken and lamb) for over 6 months. And his first bout involved a high fever too (unless the symptoms are of 2 things he happened to show at the same time). He's now on a raw or raw/wet mixture (only raw now...he loves it).

I honestly can't think of anything in the house or outside to trigger these. Is there other allergens i should be thinking? His blood tests were normal as well.

Could it be that he has more then one condition, but that one triggers the second? The first time the eye came first followed by the mouth ulcers. This time it appears to be esophagus ulcers followed by the eye swelling.

Please...any help you get give would be SOOOO appreciated. I'll be bringing all of these suggestions to the vet.
 

gailc

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Have you switched any type of cleaning products for the food dishes/floors/clothes washing any cleaning around the house. Perfume?Candles?? Or any guests at your home before these episodes??
 

rapunzel47

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Just reinforcing the mega-vibes, Renny. I have no wisdom for you, but I hope you find some answers soon -- fighting shadows is no fun!
 

sharky

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I wish I knew what the names of the kitty tests are ... I would have an immunology panel done( hope they have those for cats)...

See for the first 25 years of my life drs thought I had terrible allergies to everything yet when tested only two things showed... I went to a allergist in my new state ... he also did the standard tests and when they showed nothing said we should do an immunology workup and check for immune disorders ... Sure enough I have a rare ( in my case very rare ) disorder ...
Hope that helps ... my vet do a kinsiology allergy test that the accupucturist uses .. i have found this testing to be fairly accurate and it is painless( I have used it for myself before knowing it could help cats and dogs)
 

cathyc

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Hi Renny...I was reading about the problems with your kitty while I was waiting to take my new kitty to the vet. I mentioned what was going on with your cat and asked her if anything came to mind and she said the first thing she would think of is an allergy. Especially since the steroids helped. They can develop allergies to their food even though they have always eaten it. Also what kind of dish does your cat eat and drink out of? I have heard of cats being allergic to plastic. One of my cats is allergic to styrofoam. I had some small plates leftover from a picnic and used them for his wet food for a few days and his lips started swelling up and he had blisters inside of his mouth. Anyway, I sure hope they can figure out what is going on and get him well again.
 
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renny

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Originally Posted by CathyC

Hi Renny...I was reading about the problems with your kitty while I was waiting to take my new kitty to the vet. I mentioned what was going on with your cat and asked her if anything came to mind and she said the first thing she would think of is an allergy. Especially since the steroids helped. They can develop allergies to their food even though they have always eaten it. Also what kind of dish does your cat eat and drink out of? I have heard of cats being allergic to plastic. One of my cats is allergic to styrofoam. I had some small plates leftover from a picnic and used them for his wet food for a few days and his lips started swelling up and he had blisters inside of his mouth. Anyway, I sure hope they can figure out what is going on and get him well again.
Thank you for taking the time to mention this to your vet. All the input possible is appreciated. I thought about allergies, and went through my house to see what was new and different. Same plates (ceramic), no different or new cleaning products, no plants, no pesticides etc. I'm going to start doing an extra rinse on all the dishes to see if maybe there's a residue being left on the plates or something. I was wondering about switching litters...but i'm not sure if there is such a thing as a hypo-allergenic litter...

Sharky: the vet doesn't offer an immunology panel, I just had the comprehensive blood panel done. The 4 week period between outbreaks is confusing too...He's now on only raw food to try and eliminate some of the developed allergies. What raw meat would be the most hypo-allergenic to him?? they offer beef, chicken, turkey, rabbit, quail and goat.

thanks for the input guys....and I appreciate all the vibes

Fighting shadows...that is exactly how i feel!
 

solaritybengals

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Originally Posted by Renny

What raw meat would be the most hypo-allergenic to him?? they offer beef, chicken, turkey, rabbit, quail and goat.
I wouldn't normally do this but since you are trying to rule out an allergy I would stick to one protein source for a while and see if there is an improvement. I think quail and rabbit are usually pretty good, though I'm not very sure. My cats won't eat rabbit. I don't know about goat. Which variety specifically were you feeding during the outbreak? Also are these 100% meat or is there vegetable content?
 

sharky

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I would say a 6 week trial of goat as I am sure he hasnt eaten that before... I have one with a rabbit allergy ..

I too would like to know if it is meat /bone mix meat /bone organs or a meat/bone/organ and veggies ??? My Gigi is allegic to many veggies
 
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renny

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During the first outbreak he was on Natural choice dry and Eagle pack wet. During this outbreak we were just starting on a premade raw from Healthypaws and I had chicken and beef to try, lately he's been on mostly beef. If its beef it's a meat/organ/veggie mix, and if it's chicken/turkey it's meat/bone/organs/veggies. They also have a mince which is just meat, but i worried that it would be deficient in some of the needed vitamins??
 

solaritybengals

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Vegetables don't add a lot of nutritional content to the food (since cats are not omnivores, they do not scavenge for plant life like dogs would). Nothing that you can't supplement with growing some grass at least. If there is no bone in the food then that would be a concern. You will need to supplement calcium in this case. If you can stay away from veggie for your trials that would help determine where an allergy lies, or if there is no further otubreak it will tell you that this is definitely allergy related.
 

tru

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Just a wild shot in the dark, but what about his litter? If there is any dust to it then it could be an irritant when inhaled and if he's developed an allergy than it could be serious. I too thought of allergies when you said the prednisone helped. That's the only thing that has come to mind with me though.
 

sharky

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Okay if the vet has no immunology work up .. what about a in depth white cell count by type?? Or one that checks all five of the common immunogloblins ( one of which signifies allergies)

i too second the no veggies

basically 95-98% of kitty needs are meet by bone meat and organ .. the other 3-5% is vegitation but as mentioned they dont need it and a supplement can work... Check if there is bone or not ... calcium supplements are great and also would add to the possibble allergen list
 
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