Cat can't keep anything down

[maggie101]

Blood tests need to be run

View attachment 456106

Radiograph is like an mri. More risky than an xray. I wish my vet had asked first. I would have said no.do ultrasound
When one of my cats goes to get a vaccine, I'm to give hergabapentin tablet soo she will be easier to handle. Given 2 hrs I think before visit

 

[Terri Moore]

Ultrasound showed my cats walls in her intestines were thickening. Cerenia did not help.

Is there anything that can be done for thickening of the intestinal walls? She has gone from vomiting every day to rarely vomiting since she's been on cerenia. Now she is barely eating - and when she does, she slobbers alot. She has never been interested in wet food, no kind, no way.

 

[maggie101]

Has she seen an internal medacine doctor? My cat with ibd takes meds. Liquid form can be compounded(flavored)

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

 

[silent meowlook]

Often cats with thickening of the intestinal wall are suspected to have IBD and treated with steroids and if severe enough to think that it is intestinal lymphoma, they will sometimes treat with chlorambucil on alternating days with the steroids. Cerenia is a common drug used with IBD as well. Also, sometimes Vitamin B12 is also given if there is a deficiency, which there usually is with IBD. A change in diet is also usually done because it is thought that an allergy to certain protein sources or to carbohydrates may cause IBD. This is not confirmed, just suspected. So, there are many treatments available and there are further diagnostics available as well to confirm what is suspected or to rule it out.

 

[maggie101]

Ultrasound showed my cats walls in her intestines were thickening. Cerenia did not help.

Is there anything that can be done for thickening of the intestinal walls? She has gone from vomiting every day to rarely vomiting since she's been on cerenia. Now she is barely eating - and when she does, she slobbers alot. She has never been interested in wet food, no kind, no way.

Cerenia will not ease the pain. She needs meds For food try mixing in some canned with dry. Try hills a/d,canned or shredded,chunks,gravy,minced,pate. Venison, duck,rabbit,lamb,chicken
Mixed with dry. One of my cats does not like fish or rabbit and is intolerant to chicken so she eats venison and lamb mostly

 

[fionasmom]

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time

 

[silent meowlook]

Cerenia will not ease the pain. She needs meds For food try mixing in some canned with dry. Try hills a/d,canned or shredded,chunks,gravy,minced,pate. Venison, duck,rabbit,lamb,chicken
Mixed with dry. One of my cats does not like fish or rabbit and is intolerant to chicken so she eats venison and lamb mostly

That’s quite a variety of protein sources there. Best to stick with one do if an allergy does develop you have other options. Canned is always preferred over dry due to the carbohydrates in the dry and some think excess carbs can also lead to IBD because cats cannot process carbs.

 

[lisahe]

That’s quite a variety of protein sources there. Best to stick with one do if an allergy does develop you have other options. Canned is always preferred over dry due to the carbohydrates in the dry and some think excess carbs can also lead to IBD because cats cannot process carbs.

Yes, starting with wet food only, to reduce carbs and fillers, is often a good first step. What's worked best for our cat with digestive issues -- she also had a very bad vomiting problem last year -- is to feed wet foods with as few fillers and thickeners as possible. We know that some things -- potato and agar-agar -- definitely make her vomit and there are others (green-lipped mussels, xanthan gum, and a bunch of others) that we strongly suspect give her problems.

That said, it sounds like the OP's cat doesn't like wet food. If chicken isn't a problem, Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein chicken is very good dry food with no fillers and very low carbs.

Ultrasound showed my cats walls in her intestines were thickening. Cerenia did not help.

Is there anything that can be done for thickening of the intestinal walls? She has gone from vomiting every day to rarely vomiting since she's been on cerenia. Now she is barely eating - and when she does, she slobbers alot. She has never been interested in wet food, no kind, no way.

From what I understand, that thickening never goes away. (Our cat that I mentioned above has it, too.) It's good that you've at least been able to stop your cat's vomiting, that's important since (at least in our experience) vomiting begets more vomiting, it's like a vicious cycle because stress is involved. As others have mentioned, you have lots of choices, including steroids, anti-nausea drugs, B12, and dietary changes. Did your cat's ultrasound show any inflammation in your cat's gut? That was Edwina's primary symptom -- it was so bad that she had patches of her stomach removed. We don't know exactly what happened: one of our vets strongly suspected parasites (Edwina loves eating insects) but I strongly suspect that her hungry kittenhood led to food insecurity, overeating, stress, and that eventually led to chronic vomiting and all that inflammation.

Cerenia helps her a lot: she doesn't vomit when she takes it and it reduces her appetite a bit, which is both good and bad. Another thing that helps her tremendously is slippery elm bark syrup. When she wasn't doing well last year and didn't want to eat at a time when the vet couldn't see her, I bought slippery elm bark, made syrup, and fed it to her. It brought back her appetite on the first dose. It coats the stomach and helps soothe inflammation. Of course not every cat will eat it, though it can be syringed. We now give her Adored Beast's Feline Gut Soothe, which combines probiotics and anti-inflammatory herbs, including slippery elm bark. I can't believe how much it helps her! maggie101 uses it, too.

In the end, though, diet is a huge element of all this. What are you feeding your cat? It's very likely there's something in the food that your cat is sensitive to. The simplest foods -- meaning the foods that are as close to being just meat and essential nutrients, like the Dr. Elsey's food I mentioned above -- are likely to be the best for a cat with digestive problems. That said, some cats become allergic or sensitive to a protein: some, for example, can't eat fish or chicken. As I mentioned above, for Edwina, the problems have often been thickeners for wet foods.

What's hardest about IBD is that every cat is different and it can be very difficult to a) identify what's causing symptoms and b) identify what will reduce or even prevent symptoms for the long-term. In our case, it's been major surgery, dietary changes, Cerenia, and Feline Gut Soothe. We've also learned that stress (from hot weather, construction noise, and other factors) contributes a lot to Edwina's problems. Every cat is different and finding solutions can take lots of trial and error, which is part of why vets often aren't sure how to treat IBD cats. Keeping a cat journal is helpful for finding patterns. And I'm very glad we have cat-only vets in our area.

The IBD Kitties site that fionasmom mentioned is very good!

Good luck!

 

[maggie101]

That’s quite a variety of protein sources there. Best to stick with one do if an allergy does develop you have other options. Canned is always preferred over dry due to the carbohydrates in the dry and some think excess carbs can also lead to IBD because cats cannot process carbs.

I just meant to try differen proteins to see what she likes. My cat peaches is now intolerant to a protein from eating just that. She now eats 2 different proteins