We're taking Casper to his annual vet appointment tomorrow, and I'd like some help in what questions we can ask him in order to get to the bottom of his continuing regurgitation issues.
Background is, nearly 12 years old, a bit overweight (14 pounds), may have the beginnings of arthritis and some minor tarter buildup (not enough that warranted a cleaning yet apparently). Has always tended toward gobbling his food although lately he's been eating much slower. We only feed grain free, wet in the mornings (a rotation of various high quality brands) and kibble at night (a combo of half Before the Grain Chicken/Turkey and another grain-free I forgot the name off hand). He tends to be rather inactive for the most part - although in the past few months he has been getting daily workouts from our new, much younger cat who delights in racing around the house after him. He seems to enjoy her company 75% of the time. The other 25% he's annoyed lol. But, not so much that it ever comes to blows. Overall health has been pretty good, other than one UTI several years back which cleared up quickly after a vet visit.
The regurgitation is our constant battle. At first, we thought it was from him eating too fast. But it happens even if he eats slow. Then, we thought perhaps it was hairballs, but for the most part, it only happens in the morning. Then, we thought, ok maybe it's some digestive acid reflux or something because we know early mornings can be an issue for some cats, but now it happens later in the day also now and then. It also only used to be with kibble (which was much easier to clean up), and now it's with wet food too. Then we thought, well maybe it's stress but that makes zero sense since before we got Cocoa, he had no stress at all other than when the "enemy cat" (our neighbors cat) would come by the back patio door sometimes. Which was a rarity the majority of the year, it's summer that's the biggest time he's out. I mean, Casper is seriously laid back and not fazed by much of anything. Even enemy cat only momentarily unnerves him - and that's because he's defending us from him
Lately, he does seem like he's famished all the time - but Cocoa (our girl) has a bad habit of poaching on his meals when we aren't looking so honestly, he might really be hungry. For a tiny thing she eats like a pig (she was a rescue, so that may have something to do with it).
Anyhoo. We've had many discussions with the vet about this. We brought him in a couple of months back because he was acting strangely and, wasn't eating pretty much at all. In the end, after blood tests, senior panel, etc. all came back negative. He did not, however, have a fecal test run because the two of them are now sharing a litter box and there was just no way we were going to be able to figure out who did what, let alone lock one of them up long enough to wait for a sample from the other. They both only seem to poop once a day (gotta love feeding good food!).
So, we have no idea what was going on. He prescribed a medication which made him act really freaking spaced out so we took him off of it. Babied him with special foods for several days until he started to eat normally (that, was challenging). So, all in all, again it appears he's one healthy boy with this one lingering problem that doesn't seem to have a cause.
So, we go back tomorrow for his yearly, you know, shots, boosters, have a feel and a poke. etc. What might we have missed in all of this that we can point out to the vet? Or, tests we can ask for without breaking the wallet? Should we get an x-ray for instance to check for a blockage? Although I honestly don't think that's it, because sometimes, he goes weeks without an incidence of throwing up his food. There just doesn't seem to be any pattern to it at all, nothing specifically triggering it.
And again, overall, he's ok. He's using the box perfectly, drinking as usual, and eating his food (when he can get to it lol - we wind up having to supplement him sometimes and take her in another room). He sometimes seems to have some sort of "senior" moments, but we might be reading something into what's not there.
Many thanks for any advice or thoughts you can offer.
Background is, nearly 12 years old, a bit overweight (14 pounds), may have the beginnings of arthritis and some minor tarter buildup (not enough that warranted a cleaning yet apparently). Has always tended toward gobbling his food although lately he's been eating much slower. We only feed grain free, wet in the mornings (a rotation of various high quality brands) and kibble at night (a combo of half Before the Grain Chicken/Turkey and another grain-free I forgot the name off hand). He tends to be rather inactive for the most part - although in the past few months he has been getting daily workouts from our new, much younger cat who delights in racing around the house after him. He seems to enjoy her company 75% of the time. The other 25% he's annoyed lol. But, not so much that it ever comes to blows. Overall health has been pretty good, other than one UTI several years back which cleared up quickly after a vet visit.
The regurgitation is our constant battle. At first, we thought it was from him eating too fast. But it happens even if he eats slow. Then, we thought perhaps it was hairballs, but for the most part, it only happens in the morning. Then, we thought, ok maybe it's some digestive acid reflux or something because we know early mornings can be an issue for some cats, but now it happens later in the day also now and then. It also only used to be with kibble (which was much easier to clean up), and now it's with wet food too. Then we thought, well maybe it's stress but that makes zero sense since before we got Cocoa, he had no stress at all other than when the "enemy cat" (our neighbors cat) would come by the back patio door sometimes. Which was a rarity the majority of the year, it's summer that's the biggest time he's out. I mean, Casper is seriously laid back and not fazed by much of anything. Even enemy cat only momentarily unnerves him - and that's because he's defending us from him
Lately, he does seem like he's famished all the time - but Cocoa (our girl) has a bad habit of poaching on his meals when we aren't looking so honestly, he might really be hungry. For a tiny thing she eats like a pig (she was a rescue, so that may have something to do with it).
Anyhoo. We've had many discussions with the vet about this. We brought him in a couple of months back because he was acting strangely and, wasn't eating pretty much at all. In the end, after blood tests, senior panel, etc. all came back negative. He did not, however, have a fecal test run because the two of them are now sharing a litter box and there was just no way we were going to be able to figure out who did what, let alone lock one of them up long enough to wait for a sample from the other. They both only seem to poop once a day (gotta love feeding good food!).
So, we have no idea what was going on. He prescribed a medication which made him act really freaking spaced out so we took him off of it. Babied him with special foods for several days until he started to eat normally (that, was challenging). So, all in all, again it appears he's one healthy boy with this one lingering problem that doesn't seem to have a cause.
So, we go back tomorrow for his yearly, you know, shots, boosters, have a feel and a poke. etc. What might we have missed in all of this that we can point out to the vet? Or, tests we can ask for without breaking the wallet? Should we get an x-ray for instance to check for a blockage? Although I honestly don't think that's it, because sometimes, he goes weeks without an incidence of throwing up his food. There just doesn't seem to be any pattern to it at all, nothing specifically triggering it.
And again, overall, he's ok. He's using the box perfectly, drinking as usual, and eating his food (when he can get to it lol - we wind up having to supplement him sometimes and take her in another room). He sometimes seems to have some sort of "senior" moments, but we might be reading something into what's not there.
Many thanks for any advice or thoughts you can offer.
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