My 5 year old kitty, Miss, has been having an issue the past two weeks about being fussy with her food, where I've had to switch brands twice, and then rejecting any food but freeze dried treats and temptations. (Which I was giving her like crazy to try and get any kind of calories into her. She was also not pooping much, but then again, she wasn't eating much.
She is 19 pounds and currently under the care of the vet while she is losing weight safely. I took her to the vet immediately, because I didn't want her to get fatty liver with her having no appetite.
They ran a senior panel (gives more details though she isn't a senior) and she had elevated liver enzymes. He didn't say which ones, and I forgot to ask.
Miss has a history of IBS, and she is on Metronidazole (sp?). I normally give her 100 mg per day. I'm *supposed* to give her 200 due to her weight, but I hate having her on so much medicine. So in these past two weeks I've been trying to be diligent about giving her the accurate dose, since they kind of reprimanded me that she should be taking her full dose. That's around the time the trouble started.
I have said to my old vet in the past that when she takes the full dose, she backs off on eating. He didn't seem to be convinced. However, the new vet thinks that it is a possibility she is sensitive to it since she has been on metro for a while, and the upping of the dose possibly caused an elevation of the liver enzymes, which caused her appetite to drop.
The other things he said can cause it are infection or cancer. He didn't seem to think these were very likely, since she wasn't vomiting or acting sick for an infection, just losing her appetite. She had blood work about two months ago before this and her levels were good.
We have her on an appetite stimulant, and have discontinued the metronidazole. He wants to see if she will resume eating by herself without the stimulant on Sunday, and then get her levels tested again to see if they have dropped.
My question is, if it *is* the medication, how long would it take to clear and the enzyme levels to drop? I don't want to rush out and do this Monday if her levels are going to take a bit of time to drop down, as it seems it wouldn't be an accurate picture of what's going on if they don't clear that fast.
I'm also worried how I will manage her IBS without any medication. For the first time ever, she had normal stools on Hills I/D dry. She has *never* had that. Unfortunately, that's what caused her 5 pound weight gain, so we are trying to deal with as well.
Thanks for any information you guys can offer.
Jen
She is 19 pounds and currently under the care of the vet while she is losing weight safely. I took her to the vet immediately, because I didn't want her to get fatty liver with her having no appetite.
They ran a senior panel (gives more details though she isn't a senior) and she had elevated liver enzymes. He didn't say which ones, and I forgot to ask.
Miss has a history of IBS, and she is on Metronidazole (sp?). I normally give her 100 mg per day. I'm *supposed* to give her 200 due to her weight, but I hate having her on so much medicine. So in these past two weeks I've been trying to be diligent about giving her the accurate dose, since they kind of reprimanded me that she should be taking her full dose. That's around the time the trouble started.
I have said to my old vet in the past that when she takes the full dose, she backs off on eating. He didn't seem to be convinced. However, the new vet thinks that it is a possibility she is sensitive to it since she has been on metro for a while, and the upping of the dose possibly caused an elevation of the liver enzymes, which caused her appetite to drop.
The other things he said can cause it are infection or cancer. He didn't seem to think these were very likely, since she wasn't vomiting or acting sick for an infection, just losing her appetite. She had blood work about two months ago before this and her levels were good.
We have her on an appetite stimulant, and have discontinued the metronidazole. He wants to see if she will resume eating by herself without the stimulant on Sunday, and then get her levels tested again to see if they have dropped.
My question is, if it *is* the medication, how long would it take to clear and the enzyme levels to drop? I don't want to rush out and do this Monday if her levels are going to take a bit of time to drop down, as it seems it wouldn't be an accurate picture of what's going on if they don't clear that fast.
I'm also worried how I will manage her IBS without any medication. For the first time ever, she had normal stools on Hills I/D dry. She has *never* had that. Unfortunately, that's what caused her 5 pound weight gain, so we are trying to deal with as well.
Thanks for any information you guys can offer.
Jen