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I've read through so many threads and found tidbits of what I'm experiencing here but nothing specific enough for me to know how to move forward.
My 10 year old calico has always had bouts of vomiting occasionally maybe 1-2x a year. Mostly often, she feels icky for a couple of days, low appetite and then goes back to normal. I've switched her foods so many times after each bout but I wasn't monitoring things properly. I didn't know everything to look for. I thought quality of the food was more important than what type of protein or whatnot. My second cat was diabetic a few years back (remission now) so I had them on high protein, low carb soft food mainly and dry food offered to graze on rarely.
So ffw to her last 2 bouts, only a couple of months apart this year. They were bad. 1st bout landed is in er 3 times, they weren't much help. I've been to 3 different vets and had thousands of dollars of tests done .
This is what has been concluded thus far.
No known disease, cancer, parasites, did the test to rule out pancreatitis. Ultrasounds, xrays. Only thing noticeable was very swollen intestines. Likely IBD. no biopsy done because of the swelling and that she'd began vomiting blood the second bout. So ibd or lymphoma. I know it's not lymphoma because this has been going on her entire life. So the usual was prescribed from what I've read in these threads. Probably a food allergy. Was given cerenia for vomiting, mirataz to help with appetite temporarily, prednisolone over 6 weeks and hydrolyzed dry food diet.
So ffw 6 weeks- she's off all meds.
Here's the good news, no vomiting since. She's acting like a totally normal cat except some scratching which tells me now off the prednisolone, she's already have some sort of allergy but maybe unrelated to the food thing.
Bad news- she HATES the food. Purina pro plan HA. I mean, she's eating enough to not die, but she's so skinny. AND SHE'S SO HUNGRY. I've caught her trying to steal food from any possible source. Even a tomato on the counter- that's not like her. She's always preferred wet food so I was able to find hydrolyzed canned - Blue natural HF wet food, also a prescription. She won't touch it, actually looks like she'll gag just sniffing it. I tried mixing with regular food at first to slowly introduce- nope. Like I offered her a turd. I've tried wetting the dry, heating both, mixing, crushing. Called the vet to ask if there was some sort of flavor enhancer but he didn't know if I've that wouldn't undo the benefits of the food.
So, my dilemma- the food is full of junk not suitable to feed anything. But she isn't vomiting. But she's consistently losing weight due to the bitter flavor and foul smell of this food. She was already a picky eater. I don't know what foods she specifically is allergic to and my vet said it's risky doing elimination at this point since her bouts get worse. He said elimination can take years to figure out.
Do any of you have any suggestions? Are there tests? Allergy tests? DNA tests? A way for me to find anything palatable to put her on without a high risk of reaction? Find a certain food not likely to have a reaction and see if it does? We did the sensitive stomach and probiotic diet, hairball formula in case blockages were causing it. She literally is slowly starving but constantly hungry and meowing, taking me to her food bowl. She tries to eat it but just get disgusted.
My 10 year old calico has always had bouts of vomiting occasionally maybe 1-2x a year. Mostly often, she feels icky for a couple of days, low appetite and then goes back to normal. I've switched her foods so many times after each bout but I wasn't monitoring things properly. I didn't know everything to look for. I thought quality of the food was more important than what type of protein or whatnot. My second cat was diabetic a few years back (remission now) so I had them on high protein, low carb soft food mainly and dry food offered to graze on rarely.
So ffw to her last 2 bouts, only a couple of months apart this year. They were bad. 1st bout landed is in er 3 times, they weren't much help. I've been to 3 different vets and had thousands of dollars of tests done .
This is what has been concluded thus far.
No known disease, cancer, parasites, did the test to rule out pancreatitis. Ultrasounds, xrays. Only thing noticeable was very swollen intestines. Likely IBD. no biopsy done because of the swelling and that she'd began vomiting blood the second bout. So ibd or lymphoma. I know it's not lymphoma because this has been going on her entire life. So the usual was prescribed from what I've read in these threads. Probably a food allergy. Was given cerenia for vomiting, mirataz to help with appetite temporarily, prednisolone over 6 weeks and hydrolyzed dry food diet.
So ffw 6 weeks- she's off all meds.
Here's the good news, no vomiting since. She's acting like a totally normal cat except some scratching which tells me now off the prednisolone, she's already have some sort of allergy but maybe unrelated to the food thing.
Bad news- she HATES the food. Purina pro plan HA. I mean, she's eating enough to not die, but she's so skinny. AND SHE'S SO HUNGRY. I've caught her trying to steal food from any possible source. Even a tomato on the counter- that's not like her. She's always preferred wet food so I was able to find hydrolyzed canned - Blue natural HF wet food, also a prescription. She won't touch it, actually looks like she'll gag just sniffing it. I tried mixing with regular food at first to slowly introduce- nope. Like I offered her a turd. I've tried wetting the dry, heating both, mixing, crushing. Called the vet to ask if there was some sort of flavor enhancer but he didn't know if I've that wouldn't undo the benefits of the food.
So, my dilemma- the food is full of junk not suitable to feed anything. But she isn't vomiting. But she's consistently losing weight due to the bitter flavor and foul smell of this food. She was already a picky eater. I don't know what foods she specifically is allergic to and my vet said it's risky doing elimination at this point since her bouts get worse. He said elimination can take years to figure out.
Do any of you have any suggestions? Are there tests? Allergy tests? DNA tests? A way for me to find anything palatable to put her on without a high risk of reaction? Find a certain food not likely to have a reaction and see if it does? We did the sensitive stomach and probiotic diet, hairball formula in case blockages were causing it. She literally is slowly starving but constantly hungry and meowing, taking me to her food bowl. She tries to eat it but just get disgusted.