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- Jun 20, 2016
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Hello everyone,
Thanks in advance for everything.
I have a 14-year-old cat with IBD, who happens to also have kidney disease. I am posting this thread to ask about a very sudden loss of appetite in a cat who was only gaining weight for the first year and a half since being diagnosed with IBD. The vet says this loss of appetite does not have to do with the kidney disease (his numbers are low and he is not vomiting).
I only realized that he had IBD when they did a sonogram to confirm the kidney disease diagnosis. That was in April of last year (2015), and it showed diffuse, mild bowel thickening.
His second and most recent sonogram was in January, and that showed diffuse bowel thickening (that they no longer called mild) and enlarged lymph nodes.
A vitamin B bloodwork panel also showed that he was folate-deficient.
But that he had high levels of vitamin B12 (however sometimes the body creates extra vitamin B12 to mask folate deficiency).
He has been on a folate supplement ever since.
However, all this time he was continuing to eat like a pig, as he has done all his life. I monitored his food intake closely, and even then he occasionally gained weight! For instance between January & March of this year he gained an entire pound (the vet had said to allow him to this time, because if he was incapable of gaining weight, that might be indicative of lymphoma). There was never any vomiting.
I watched his poop closely, and that yielded the only symptom of the IBD: some slight constipation. His poop was broken up and in different places in the litterbox. Sometimes there would be some diarrhea-textured/colored poop stuff surrounding some rock-hard poop. Other than that, there was never any diarrhea.
He has not had a biopsy. Since he showed no symptoms other than slight constipation, and what was showing up on his ultrasounds/sonograms, the vets thought that lymphoma was less likely (you apparently cannot be sure without a biopsy, however).
Around February/early March, I figured out that he was consistently constipated whenever he ate chicken, beef or lamb.
Since March he has only been eating pork, venison, rabbit, buffalo, kangaroo, possum, goat & eel (canned food). Constipation gone!
In fact, now his poop is rather long and unbroken. A friend who supposedly knows a lot about nutrition said that might not be good either, because it can be a sign that he is not absorbing nutrients.
Then in mid-May, one day he did not finish his food. The day before he'd been a pig, as per usual. After that day, every 2 - 3 days his appetite got worse. Then it was worse every day. Now it's every meal.
I've been giving him vitamin B, in spite of the high levels of vitamin B in his bloodwork in January. Just to get him to eat! At first that helped. But because of the exponential decrease in appetite, it's no longer helping. What it is doing is keeping him hungry. He tells me he's hungry, but he won't eat.
Does this sound like lymphoma to anyone? Does lymphoma ever look like this, where one day the cat is gaining weight, and then literally that same week he starts losing his appetite? Can it develop so quickly?
Or could it be that a nutrient deficiency is causing the appetite decrease?
Or something else...?
Thanks in advance for everything.
I have a 14-year-old cat with IBD, who happens to also have kidney disease. I am posting this thread to ask about a very sudden loss of appetite in a cat who was only gaining weight for the first year and a half since being diagnosed with IBD. The vet says this loss of appetite does not have to do with the kidney disease (his numbers are low and he is not vomiting).
I only realized that he had IBD when they did a sonogram to confirm the kidney disease diagnosis. That was in April of last year (2015), and it showed diffuse, mild bowel thickening.
His second and most recent sonogram was in January, and that showed diffuse bowel thickening (that they no longer called mild) and enlarged lymph nodes.
A vitamin B bloodwork panel also showed that he was folate-deficient.
But that he had high levels of vitamin B12 (however sometimes the body creates extra vitamin B12 to mask folate deficiency).
He has been on a folate supplement ever since.
However, all this time he was continuing to eat like a pig, as he has done all his life. I monitored his food intake closely, and even then he occasionally gained weight! For instance between January & March of this year he gained an entire pound (the vet had said to allow him to this time, because if he was incapable of gaining weight, that might be indicative of lymphoma). There was never any vomiting.
I watched his poop closely, and that yielded the only symptom of the IBD: some slight constipation. His poop was broken up and in different places in the litterbox. Sometimes there would be some diarrhea-textured/colored poop stuff surrounding some rock-hard poop. Other than that, there was never any diarrhea.
He has not had a biopsy. Since he showed no symptoms other than slight constipation, and what was showing up on his ultrasounds/sonograms, the vets thought that lymphoma was less likely (you apparently cannot be sure without a biopsy, however).
Around February/early March, I figured out that he was consistently constipated whenever he ate chicken, beef or lamb.
Since March he has only been eating pork, venison, rabbit, buffalo, kangaroo, possum, goat & eel (canned food). Constipation gone!
In fact, now his poop is rather long and unbroken. A friend who supposedly knows a lot about nutrition said that might not be good either, because it can be a sign that he is not absorbing nutrients.
Then in mid-May, one day he did not finish his food. The day before he'd been a pig, as per usual. After that day, every 2 - 3 days his appetite got worse. Then it was worse every day. Now it's every meal.
I've been giving him vitamin B, in spite of the high levels of vitamin B in his bloodwork in January. Just to get him to eat! At first that helped. But because of the exponential decrease in appetite, it's no longer helping. What it is doing is keeping him hungry. He tells me he's hungry, but he won't eat.
Does this sound like lymphoma to anyone? Does lymphoma ever look like this, where one day the cat is gaining weight, and then literally that same week he starts losing his appetite? Can it develop so quickly?
Or could it be that a nutrient deficiency is causing the appetite decrease?
Or something else...?