New Member / Sick Cat

My name is Stephanie. I have a 10.5 yo Male Diabetic Cat named Marty. He was Originally diagnosed in 2006... Took about a yr or so off his Insulin... Went back on Lantus for the year of 2009/10 and has been otj now for 2 glorious months!!

Marty is usually a very healthy boy... he does not vomit... no hairballs... very low maintenance. Hes a loner, doesn't like attention unless he asks for it. Plays a lot and Purrs a lot.

I feed Strictly Gluten Free/Low Carb FF As often as he asks for it. His BG has been running about 100 (I'm so proud)

So, about 2 weeks ago Marty started vomiting... only once a day. It wasn't food though, just kinda REALLY smelly, liquid, vomit.
Ive always fed him all the flavors of the low carb gluten free FF, but had been sticking to one or two MAIN flavors for a while, and had reintroduced some of the other flavors again, so i thought maybe that was it...

So we went on vacation this past weekend to our cabin... and he was fine. Then Sat night, May 29th, He must have gotten into something cuz He started Vomiting and out came 3 yellow-jackets... he was throwing up all night continuously into the next day... sleeping in-between from exhaustion i assume... Didn't want to eat or drink during that whole chaos... Then ate a whole can of FF and drank a bit of water the afternoon of the 30th
We had the car ride home that next day, he did fine, but has been throwing up maybe twice a day STILL since the original "incident"
He is indoor only

I took him to the vet on Tues 1st ... $200.00... Xrays, Blood work, BG test... 109BG, Xrays showed No obstructions or Foreign matter, Blood tests all came back normal with the exception of high cholesterol... And she said he was not even dehydrated.
She said if he continued to vomit the next thing she could do was Exploratory Surgery to see if there was a string stuck somewhere that didnt show on the Xrays. I dont have money for that... and im pretty sure they wouldn't find anything.

I was wondering if he could be constipated... but wouldn't they see a "blockage" on the Xray?
If he had found some poison or Bee spray it would have shown in the Blood work ?? OR it would have been out of his system by now wouldnt it?

Hes eating like a pig... i haven't SEEN him at the water bowl, but if hes eating im sure hes drinking...?
Ive also got a Female Civie... So i cant tell whos who in the litter box... but noones got the runs...

He hasnt been playing... but he still comes into bed and wants love in the middle of the night when his food bowl is empty. lol And his Purr Motor is working fine. He also has NOT been sleeping or rolling around in his favorite chair

ANY suggestions?? I hate to see him sick... and i cant stand to clean another mess!! I just want to crawl in bed and stay there!!

(I read Michelle & Scrabbles post, didnt get any info from it)

 

Is he keeping his food down?

If he were blocked, like if a bee got lodged in his small intestine, then the food and water would come back up, it wouldn't pass.

My Keesha ate a bug in 2000, it got lodged and did not show up on xray, but a barium xray showed a block. Barium shows up on the xray, they take several pictures and see if the barium stops somewhere.

Once they saw where the block was, they went in and removed the foreign object. It's a little less invasive than exploratory surgery, I think, since it targeted the one area. I'm no vet or expert though, this is just what happened with my cat.

 

Well hes only throwing up once or twice a day now... and its at random times... Not right after eating... So id say yes, hes keeping his food down. When he vomits, its not chunks of food coming out... its just... REALLY Vile smelling, Dark Brown, liquid... mixed with mucus... No hair, No objects...

 

Weren't you a member of the old board? Your username sounds familiar. http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/p ... php?9,3189

Can you get a second opinion from another vet?

 

YES! Thats me... But it said i had to re-register... then it said my user name was already in use... But since i havent been around for a while... i figured i was *New* IDK!! lol

But yes... That is us!

 

I guess there are no "Real" Answers here... I dont really have another 200 bucks to see another vet... only to take the chance of everything coming back the same. (Normal)
Its a Mystery!!

 

Check the thyroid number -- a normal number at the high end of the range in an older cat can still mean hyperthyroid. A specific blood test would be needed to confirm - T4 - free T4 test.

Hyperthyroid can cause weight loss, excessive thirst and peeing, excessive hunger, hair loss / itchy skin (licking off fur), and Vomiting liquid.

Now that Buster is medicated for HyperT, he only exhibits the Vomiting - usually no food - just liquid, sometimes clear and sometimes brownish or yellowish. (he vomits once or twice nearly every day)

 

I don't know if this will be helpful or not. When I first got Sydney, 14 yrs ago, she had these same symptoms (sans the bee). Anyway, took her to the vet, they did an ultrasound on her (as it turns out an xray would not have shown anything) and they discovered a UFO in her intestines. They were able to pinpoint the area and did surgery. The vet pulled out filament thread (that came off my quilt) with a piece of leaf or grass stuck in it.

Now, I tell you this, since you had an xray, they are suggesting exploratory surgery, that maybe if they do an ultrasound they may be able to see if there is a blockage (UFO) of some type in him and then yes if surgery is needed, do that, but at least it won't be exploratory.

I've got to think an ultrasound is cheaper than exploratory surgery and the recovery of that.

 

The only info I have for you is about your question on constipation and xrays. Poop does show up on xrays -- my Cocofang has a spinal injury so he has had a number of xrays and the vet always points out when his intestines are full of poop. In fact take a look at http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa31/dannylaur/Coco/Cocospine5-3-09.jpg, you can see exactly what a constipated intestine looks like. However, there are many things like string or grass that don't show up on xray. I think fur doesn't show up either. In that case the barium test can be useful to show if there is a blockage.

Has the vet looked at a sample of the vomit? I wonder if that may help since the smell is so bad.

I hope your cat is feeling better soon.

laur

 

Hi Seefs

Well they would do biopsies as well, which could give some answers...

Yes, they would have seen it if he were backed up.

Trickier question. If it caused damage to the liver or kidneys (most affected by toxins), it should show up. If it caused something like an ulcer in his GI tract, it may not show up and it would still be there. [Note I know nothing offhand about insect poisons' affect on the GI tract.]

Seefs, it sounds like something is wrong here and it sounds like Marty is uncomfortable. You need to pursue some type of diagnostics and I'd recommend an abdominal ultrasound next. I'd do it as soon as possible.

 

Just Got in from dinner....

Thanks everyone for your input and suggestions... I am going to call the Vet again in the morning and run this stuff past her... see if she wants me to bring him back in.

Ill keep ya'll updated.

Thanks again.