Hi there, I have just joined and am looking for any help of advice or if anyone out there has a cat who has experienced similar to what my cat Arthur is going through.
I have three cats all from kittens. Arthur came first, then Thomas followed by Charlie. Up until October all of them were very healthy and in beautiful condition. Following problems with Thomas' smelly pale yellow cow pats (his poos) which were mucous and blood stained I had given up on commercial produced cat food and began making my own which consisted of ground rabbit with chunks of chicken breast with added vitamins\taurine. It took me a month to get Thomas to eat it, Arthur and Charlie took to it straight away. But the results were worth it as Thoma' no longer is caught short with the runs and does smaller darker poos. His coat has gone from dry and constantly shedding to silky soft and hardly losing any hair. His temperament has transformed too and he is a loving lap cat.
Anyhow in October Arthur who loves his food and weighted 6.5kg went off his food. I took him to the vet and he has infected anal glands and a high temperature. He was given metacam and a long lasting antibiotic. A week later I took him back as his ear was infected - a different antibiotic this time. Then the lesions in his mouth began and he stopped eating completely. An exploratory was done and his throat was extremely red and he had ulcers in his mouth. Tests were done and everything came back negative. He also had a bad nasal discharge - yellow green. A week later he was in the hospital as he wasn't eating or drinking. I left him on a Monday and went to visit on the Saturday. The change when I saw him was dramatic. He had lost lots of weight, eating only enough to avoid a feeding tube. He had a very sore bottom and had developed dandruff (with some dried gunk on the side of coat) but he was so pleased to see me. I spent a couple of hours with him and left with some doubts about his treatment. On Sunday I did the 3 hour trip again in the pouring rain and took my cat comb with me and some steamed chicken and my own cat food. I groomed his coat as due to his mouth ulcers he couldn't do it himself and he ate some steamed chicken and all my home made cat food and then I told the hospital I was taking him home.
Since bringing him home it has been a roller coaster of eating one day and then not eating. His skin is a mess with raised dried patches and I groom him twice a day. The hospital tests needless to say came back negative but without biopsies they diagnosed stomitis/gingivitis and recommended that all his teeth be extracted. By this time he was 4.2kg.
Once home I got him up to 5.7kg but he has gone down to just under 5kg. Biopsies were done on his coat, mouth and tongue and the lab results didn't come up in favor of stomitis but vague diagnosis of other issues such as auto immune. He then received a steroid injection that lasted 2/4 days with no spectacular improvement. Another one didn't do any good. His appetite is almost non-existent. Yesterday he has some turkey and a lot of prawns. I am also giving his live yoghurt for his mouth and cammomkile tea on his skin. As I have only just started it is too early to say whether these will help or not. I also give him a dose of lysine and nutri-plus.
His nasal discharge did go away albeit he did still sneeze from time to time. His mouth gets better than worse. His skin is so dry and I blame the hospital for this who did not groom him. He has lumps and raised ridges on his skins. Basically he is a mess.
I was supposed to take him back to the vet today as they are now talking about x-raying him for a cancer mass. I am not happy about this. He has received so many drugs especially when he wasn't eating that I feel all the good bacteria in his body has been stripped. He was on antacids as he was throwing up until 3 days ago. I have stopped giving him this now he is getting live yoghurt and what food he gets is staying down. Today I syringe fed him liquid food and he had some ham and quite a few prawns. I can't get him to eat my cat food or any superior canned food. After having more or less a clear nose the nasal discharge came back again after the second steroid injection!
If anyone has any advice or has a cat who has experienced anything like Arthur's symptoms I would be so pleased to hear from you. A number of people are saying I should put him down but he is such a sweet and lovely cat and I love him dearly.
I have three cats all from kittens. Arthur came first, then Thomas followed by Charlie. Up until October all of them were very healthy and in beautiful condition. Following problems with Thomas' smelly pale yellow cow pats (his poos) which were mucous and blood stained I had given up on commercial produced cat food and began making my own which consisted of ground rabbit with chunks of chicken breast with added vitamins\taurine. It took me a month to get Thomas to eat it, Arthur and Charlie took to it straight away. But the results were worth it as Thoma' no longer is caught short with the runs and does smaller darker poos. His coat has gone from dry and constantly shedding to silky soft and hardly losing any hair. His temperament has transformed too and he is a loving lap cat.
Anyhow in October Arthur who loves his food and weighted 6.5kg went off his food. I took him to the vet and he has infected anal glands and a high temperature. He was given metacam and a long lasting antibiotic. A week later I took him back as his ear was infected - a different antibiotic this time. Then the lesions in his mouth began and he stopped eating completely. An exploratory was done and his throat was extremely red and he had ulcers in his mouth. Tests were done and everything came back negative. He also had a bad nasal discharge - yellow green. A week later he was in the hospital as he wasn't eating or drinking. I left him on a Monday and went to visit on the Saturday. The change when I saw him was dramatic. He had lost lots of weight, eating only enough to avoid a feeding tube. He had a very sore bottom and had developed dandruff (with some dried gunk on the side of coat) but he was so pleased to see me. I spent a couple of hours with him and left with some doubts about his treatment. On Sunday I did the 3 hour trip again in the pouring rain and took my cat comb with me and some steamed chicken and my own cat food. I groomed his coat as due to his mouth ulcers he couldn't do it himself and he ate some steamed chicken and all my home made cat food and then I told the hospital I was taking him home.
Since bringing him home it has been a roller coaster of eating one day and then not eating. His skin is a mess with raised dried patches and I groom him twice a day. The hospital tests needless to say came back negative but without biopsies they diagnosed stomitis/gingivitis and recommended that all his teeth be extracted. By this time he was 4.2kg.
Once home I got him up to 5.7kg but he has gone down to just under 5kg. Biopsies were done on his coat, mouth and tongue and the lab results didn't come up in favor of stomitis but vague diagnosis of other issues such as auto immune. He then received a steroid injection that lasted 2/4 days with no spectacular improvement. Another one didn't do any good. His appetite is almost non-existent. Yesterday he has some turkey and a lot of prawns. I am also giving his live yoghurt for his mouth and cammomkile tea on his skin. As I have only just started it is too early to say whether these will help or not. I also give him a dose of lysine and nutri-plus.
His nasal discharge did go away albeit he did still sneeze from time to time. His mouth gets better than worse. His skin is so dry and I blame the hospital for this who did not groom him. He has lumps and raised ridges on his skins. Basically he is a mess.
I was supposed to take him back to the vet today as they are now talking about x-raying him for a cancer mass. I am not happy about this. He has received so many drugs especially when he wasn't eating that I feel all the good bacteria in his body has been stripped. He was on antacids as he was throwing up until 3 days ago. I have stopped giving him this now he is getting live yoghurt and what food he gets is staying down. Today I syringe fed him liquid food and he had some ham and quite a few prawns. I can't get him to eat my cat food or any superior canned food. After having more or less a clear nose the nasal discharge came back again after the second steroid injection!
If anyone has any advice or has a cat who has experienced anything like Arthur's symptoms I would be so pleased to hear from you. A number of people are saying I should put him down but he is such a sweet and lovely cat and I love him dearly.