We've taken our 9 year old big cat to the vet 5 times in the last week. We were gone 5 days for vacation and came back to find him acting needy followed by him hiding a lot, lethargy, and major weight loss. He's usually around 16 pounds and has dropped to 12 pounds.
First vet thought it was kidneys but the blood test came back totally clear. A couple days later we took him in for an xray and an FIV test....again, nothing. This vet told us he suspects it's his bowel or intestines so we could either do a blood test panel focusing on that, or we could do an ultrasound that would look at all of this organs. We opted for the ultrasound 5 days later, and the doc gave us some drug to give him twice day that should increase his appetite. He started acting weird, kind of like a zombie, grazed a little bit with food, so we took him in again and they said to stop giving him those pills and we injected water into him to hydrate him. He immediately acted a bit better, moved around more, gained appetite, begged for food.
The next day we took him to a different vet for an ultrasound. He also anticipated a bowel or intestine issue (IBD or lymphoma)....the ultrasound took only about 15 minutes and he reviewed all the organs and they all looked fine, no signs of cancer, no inflammation, nothing to suggest IBD or lymphoma. He said we should just monitor him for the next two weeks and see if he gets better and bring him in if he loses more weight. Well he looked lethargic again this morning, he vomited clear liquid last night, and he won't eat the food we put in front of him. He slept in our bed with us again (usually never does this) and won't move around a lot, he usually begs us for food first thing in the morning.
We don't know what to do. We have no idea what's bothering him. I know there's a chance he has IBD or lymphoma and the ultrasound wouldn't have picked it up, but how do we find out? The vet said the next step is a biopsy through the rectum but we don't want to put him through that and it's very expensive.
My biggest question is could it be something like an illness or disease? Maybe he's allergic to something? In the last couple months we've started letting him play in the hallway of our apartment building (just us and one other neighbor that we know), we got a cleaning lady who has come about 3 or 4 times so far, and maybe a few new plants. Is it at all possible it's something totally different that IBD or lymphoma or should we assume he has something like that and start treating it right away?
He's only 9 and otherwise been a perfectly healthy cat. We can't figure out what's going on with him and we're worried and scared. We love this cat and will spend what we have to in order to save his life it means a good recovering and a few extra years or more. We just are at a loss for what to do to help him. Any thoughts are helpful. Thank you.
First vet thought it was kidneys but the blood test came back totally clear. A couple days later we took him in for an xray and an FIV test....again, nothing. This vet told us he suspects it's his bowel or intestines so we could either do a blood test panel focusing on that, or we could do an ultrasound that would look at all of this organs. We opted for the ultrasound 5 days later, and the doc gave us some drug to give him twice day that should increase his appetite. He started acting weird, kind of like a zombie, grazed a little bit with food, so we took him in again and they said to stop giving him those pills and we injected water into him to hydrate him. He immediately acted a bit better, moved around more, gained appetite, begged for food.
The next day we took him to a different vet for an ultrasound. He also anticipated a bowel or intestine issue (IBD or lymphoma)....the ultrasound took only about 15 minutes and he reviewed all the organs and they all looked fine, no signs of cancer, no inflammation, nothing to suggest IBD or lymphoma. He said we should just monitor him for the next two weeks and see if he gets better and bring him in if he loses more weight. Well he looked lethargic again this morning, he vomited clear liquid last night, and he won't eat the food we put in front of him. He slept in our bed with us again (usually never does this) and won't move around a lot, he usually begs us for food first thing in the morning.
We don't know what to do. We have no idea what's bothering him. I know there's a chance he has IBD or lymphoma and the ultrasound wouldn't have picked it up, but how do we find out? The vet said the next step is a biopsy through the rectum but we don't want to put him through that and it's very expensive.
My biggest question is could it be something like an illness or disease? Maybe he's allergic to something? In the last couple months we've started letting him play in the hallway of our apartment building (just us and one other neighbor that we know), we got a cleaning lady who has come about 3 or 4 times so far, and maybe a few new plants. Is it at all possible it's something totally different that IBD or lymphoma or should we assume he has something like that and start treating it right away?
He's only 9 and otherwise been a perfectly healthy cat. We can't figure out what's going on with him and we're worried and scared. We love this cat and will spend what we have to in order to save his life it means a good recovering and a few extra years or more. We just are at a loss for what to do to help him. Any thoughts are helpful. Thank you.