Nikki got horribly sick for a week, inexplicably got better for three weeks and now is sick again

[mark mcd]

Hey everyone, I love this site. Our baby Nikki is a 7year old 21lb dom. short hair indoor cat. All was well till a month ago she stopped eating completely and a day or two later started vomiting bile. Vets did bloodwork and xrays, all looked good. Cerenia, Mirataz B12 and she just kept vomiting and refusing to eat for two days. I started syringe feeding a little at a time and she slowly started to eat and soon was completely back to her normal self for about three weeks.
Then it started all over again.
Vets this time did Barium series (found nothing), bloodwork again (nothing), fpl (no pancreatitis). Started steroid, dexmethasone trial, two shots now and no change at all.
I guess Ill try to syringe feed her some more for now...any ideas or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Kieka]

What were you feeding when it started the first time? What did you use when syringe feeding? What have you been feeding lately?

 

[mark mcd]

She would eat Hill's Science Diet dry and Fancy Feast wet cans. I syringe fed ad prescription food. Right now she just sticks her nose up at anything so I was thinking about syringe feeding some more than prescription food

 

[Kieka]

I'd switch back to the perscription food and see if she will eat without syringe feeding. If she won't, then syringe feed until she improves some.

I'd talk to your vet about alternate diets, maybe a novel protein, to see if that helps. I am basically hearing she is suddenly having trouble with her normal food, improved off it, then got worse on it again. The perscription food is usually hydrolyzed protein so it wouldn't trigger problems that her normal food could be causing. Science Diet has a lot of fillers that can cause issues, Fancy Feast is pretty good if you are doing the classic line. Food related problems can crop up at any time on their lives and even with foods they have been eating for years. Maybe try a few different foods and see if anything strikes her fancy staying away from chicken or any other protein she commonly eats. It could be sensitivity to something in the food, IBD or any number of things which is where partnering with your vet helps. If your vet isnt for trying a different diet, I would get a second opinion from a cat specialist (bringing all your existing test results and history). It just sounds very similar and that it reoccures when you go back to her normal diet makes me think food related.

 

[mark mcd]

Thank you for that response, it sounds right on. My immediate concern is that she absolutely refuses to even sniff an food, even her usually irresistible snack food. Vet says he doesn't see any sign of fatty liver right now, but that's our worry. Im doing the mirataz but so far she just wont even nibble on anything.

 

[Kieka]

Syringe is better then fatty liver. If you haven't already you could try tiki cat or soulistic foods, they both are stinky foods that usually can tempt a picky eater.