Diagnosis Help for Senior Kitty

[whittwhitt]

I'd really appreciate some help with figuring out what's going on with my senior kitty and what tests I should request a vet run when I take him in. I'll post a breakdown of when things occurred below, so you can see what the vet has recommended and what has and hasn't worked.

So my 12 year old kitty, Tommie, has been feeling off since May. The symptoms are all pretty consistent, although antibiotics have seemed to knock out whatever it is for a few weeks at a time, but then it comes back. Here's the vet and symptoms breakdown for you guys:

Before May 14th: His symptoms were lethargy, fever, not interested in food at all. Prior to these symptoms he had ate a few chives, which we didn't know were in our yard (we moved in a few months ago). I also found a tick on his tail. A very interesting and I'm guessing important note is that the symptoms occurred the day after he went outside. He is normally an inside-only cat and never goes outside without supervision. I'm guessing him getting sick has something to do with what he ate outside or what bacteria he came into contact with.
May 14th: Vet visit, they prescribed Doxycycline for 2 weeks to treat possible tick-borne illness. Blood test was ran (results below), he had a slight fever. Vet mentioned that his RBCs looked "suspicious", his WBCs were elevated. He was on antibiotics from May 14th to May 28. He got better after just 2 doses of antibiotics; he was eating and acting normally, no fever, all better.
2 Weeks: With no antibiotics, he continued to be fine. Near the end of those 2 weeks though he started going downhill again with the same symptoms from May, minus the fever.
June 17th: Took him back to the vet, they prescribed another round of Doxycycline for 2 weeks. Different doctor than the first time - we ran another blood test (results below), better results this time and his RBCs/WBCs were normal. He was on antibiotics again from June 17th-July 1st, he felt better immediately after just a few doses.
2 Weeks: With no antibiotics, he continued to be fine. A new symptom this time was pooping a lot more and outside of the litter box (I'm guessing the antibiotics messed up his gut flora and he's missing a lot of his good bacteria?). So once again, near the end of those 2 weeks (which is present day) he's started exhibiting the same symptoms again.
Present: Back to lethargy, no interest in food or water; I've been placing wet food mixed with water in front of him multiple times every hour to get him to eat and I've started syringe feeding him water or unflavored Pedialyte.

At his last vet appt they recommended steroids as the next treatment option. I'm wanting to run a kidney and thyroid panel, as well as see a different vet this time because I feel like they're not too interested or concerned. I've started looking into probiotics for him and have some at home if you guys recommend I get him started on that (1/2 capsule 2x/day is the dose I saw recommended here). Any ideas would be greatly, greatly, appreciated. He is my baby and it hurts me so very much to see him start to lose weight and not clean himself. I just want to see him get better. I can get him to a vet tomorrow, and I'll bring all the tests and symptoms to them.

My best guess is some kind of bacterial infection that we're not treating all the way? Maybe? I'm not too sure. If he was poisoned or anemic from the chives his RBC level would show that, surely. During the first visit she did mention his RBCs looking strange, but he did get better as the 2nd test shows. Possible tick-borne illness? Is there a test for that or would a blood test show it? Why are antibiotics knocking it out for just a few weeks at a time?

May 13th Blood Test:

June 17th Blood Test:

 

[aleeming]

I had a cat with fungus in her bone marrow (histoplasmosis) which was not diagnosed until I took her to an internist. She was given steroids by my regular vet which almost killed her. Her blood work was almost normal all along except for slight anemia. She just slowly list weight and became listless. I was told it was probably FIP which I didn't believe.

Anyway, I had asked about fungus and told "oh we don't see that here." The internist pointed out that you never "see" it if you never consider it.

So I have no idea what's going on with your cat but please bring up fungus and be wary of automatically giving steroids. The internist also said "to diagnose fungus just give steroids and if it kills the cat it was fungus."

Because my cat was given a steroid shot it had to run its course. She nearly died. I prefer oral now for anything if it's possible. Steroids can be amazingly helpful but not always. Just wanted to put that out there.

Also, I went to several vets and got nowhere, plus a bad treatment. I got a diagnosis at the internist in 30 minutes. I would get to one if you have one available and can afford it I insisted on the referral because I had lost all hope otherwise. I wish I had done it sooner instead of trying multiple vet visits which were useless. Many regular vets are not great diagnosticians, especially for unusual cases.

 

[fionasmom]

Ticks and Your Cat

Understanding Your Cat's Blood Work Results - All Feline Hospital located, 2300 S. 48th St. Suite 3 Lincoln, NE 68506

The above links give a complete explanation of tick borne illnesses, although you may be quite up to speed on those by now, and a breakdown of what all bloodwork means in general.

I would not jump into steriods, especially not with a less than interested vet, as it can be a "go to" approach when other things seem not to work. From your account, this does sound as if the tick episode is somehow connected to what is going on....but certainly that may not be the full extent. The use of doxy is standard and it is interesting that he recovers quickly once it is started. By this time, he certainly may be having a gut flora reaction to it though. You said you are going to see a different vet tomorrow; that sounds essential at this point since you are syringe feeding and he has no interest in food. This final piece can't go on for very long before he encounters other complications.

Tick borne illnesses, if that is what is at the bottom of this, can sort of cycle and not resolve immediately, but your boy needs some definite help. If the second vet is not up to what you expect, finding a specialist would be a good idea. The ironic thing about those vets is that everyone expects a huge bill, but in my experience with dogs and cats, they usually get to the root of the problem very quickly, which saves everyone time and trouble and prevents your cat from becoming a medical experiment.

 

[Tstage]

Hi whittwhitt -
I know this post is a few years old but wanted to check if you got a diagnosis? My kitty has had nearly identical symptoms and treatments over 4 months too. He’s currently in critical care and they just diagnosed as histoplasmosis as someone else mentioned. We started treatment but recovery is very guarded at this point.