Missing belly fur, vomiting, and diarrhea

[Boopster]

I have an 8 year old male cat who has been having ongoing health issues that the vet cannot figure out.

For approximately 6 months, he has been having diarrhea,vomiting, and decreased appetite. He has been missing his belly fur for about 2 years but he has been licking more.

The diarrhea and vomiting come in cycles for a day or two and then he returns to normal. It happens once a month or so.

I went to three vets so far when I noticed he wasn’t eating as much and losing weight. One vet couldn’t figure it out at all, and the other 2 said he needed a few teeth extracted. I asked how that would explain the vomiting and diarrhea and the one vet said it could be pain related.

Fast forward to now—my cat has the teeth removed and the GI problems persist. Blood work is normal. The vet says he has inflammatory bowel disease but is not able to pinpoint why or reduce the diarrhea and vomiting. We tried having him on the I/d allergy food and he puked a lot more instead of less. He is on a limited ingredient food. The vet gave him one dose of anti-parasite about 3 months ago.

Just started atopica (cyclosporine) a week ago and so far it has not worked.
The vet wanted to try a steroid but felt it was too risky as he has a heart murmur and we aren’t sure what’s going on there as during his surgery he had abnormal rhythms. I made an apt with the cardiologist for March regarding follow up for that.

About a week ago, I saw the cat scoot his butt on the rug. Then this week I checked his butt after he had a bowel movement and twice I think I saw something that could have been a parasite/worm (white in colour). He had stool samples come back negative.

Can a parasite cause all of these symptoms? Are there different types of meds for different parasites (as he was already given one pill by the vet).

i feel so bad for my poor cat. He is literally such a lovey soul and I hate to see him suffer.

I don’t know if I can afford an abdominal ultrasound sound in addition to his heart ultrasound so I am trying my best to problem solve and find the issue if I can.

What could be causing all of this??

(Photo included for cuteness factor)

 

[kittymama18]

1. He's adorable.
2. You can get a negative fecal and still have worms - they're checking for eggs and you don't always see the eggs, and yes, different meds for different parasites so he may still have something in there. Did they check for giardia or anything more specific than just worms? I had a cat with giardia and she went through cycles like that. No vomiting, but oh the poop was awful for a few days here and there but fine in between.
3. Belly licking can be discomfort in the belly or in the skin. (itchy from allergies, or pain inside the belly)
4. There's a food chart on this site that shows different ingredients cats can be allergic to or have reactions to in a lot of good quality cat foods, maybe compare the foods he's eaten to see if there's anything they have in common?
Does he have decreased appetite all the time, or just when having GI distress?
Have you tried any probiotics? Did the vet do an x-ray?
Does he throw up a lot of hairballs or pass them in his poop? If he's got hairballs accumulating in his GI tract, they might cause the GI upset - then he poops them out and is OK again for a while. Just a thought.
I hope you find out what's going on and get him fixed up!

 

[Nice Loki]

Maybe try keeping a food and health diary for a month to see if there is any link between food and GI problems.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Maybe the least expensive test to try (still not cheap but should be less than an ultrasound) would be a fecal PCR test - it looks for more than just the standard parasites and will also check for bacterial/viral issues as well. Although, not sure why any of these would cause only intermittent issues.

What is the order of the vomiting and diarrhea - as in, does the diarrhea follow a bout of vomiting? Is his stool harder or less frequent before the vomiting and then diarrhea occurs afterward? I was just wondering if he is getting hairballs that are affecting his digestive tract, and once he either throws up the hairball or passes it, then he is fine until the hair accumulates again.

Maybe while you are sorting all of this out, you could start to give him something to help pass hair more easily? Some folks use things as simple as a dab of butter/margarine for him to lick off his paw or from your finger 2-3 times a week, or a couple of drops of olive oil added to his food. If it kept to a reasonable amount, it shouldn't be enough to prompt diarrhea on its own.