I desperately need ideas for sick cat

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KanoasDestiny

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My four year old cat Taz hasn't been feeling well for almost a week. On Thursday, I noticed he vomited three or four times after he ate lunch. He was fine after eating dinner and before bed. Then the same thing happened Friday afternoon. I don't remember him vomiting on Saturday, but on Sunday he wasn't interested in food, which isn't normal for him. He'd come running when he heard the food dish, smell it, and walk away. Thinking back, I don't think he's had a bowel movement since at least Thursday. We have three house cats, so it's hard to monitor just one. But he has horrid smelling bowel movements and our house hasn't been smelly since Thursday.

Anyway, we rushed him to the vet yesterday morning. They did bloodwork and took an xray, which showed that he has excessive trapped gas but it didn't appear that he had much of a blockage other then what was infront/behind the gas. They gave him some anti-vomit medicine, and sent us home with some Laxatone. He did fine, wanted to eat up until around 6pm when the vomiting started again. I took him back to the vet today, his bloodwork was perfect, no temp or anything. They sent me home with an antibiotic and more anti-vomiting meds. He is still active and alert, and was interested in eating until he started throwing up again about an hour ago. I am even giving him "baby anti-gas drops", hoping that they will help some. I am at my wits end. He isn't drinking much, so I'm having to try to give him water with moist food. But my fear is that until the gas and feces in his stomach starts to come out, he's going to continue to throw up whatever he eats because there's no where for the food/water to go. I'm extremely upset that the vet doesn't seem too bothered by this, thinking "it will pass". I'm freaking out! We only have two vets in town, and the other one is a complete whacko.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any ideas on what I can do to help him?
 
How far away is the next town? You need another vet fast. This could be realy bad. I'm not a vet but it sounds like it needs fixed fast before the only option is putting him down because he is suffering. I realy hope he gets better, when my kitty started throwing up and stopped eating it was cancer, I had to put her down because she was suffering. It was horrible. Please try to go to another town if you can. I will keep your kitty in my thoughts.
 
Wish I could offer some advice, but can't think of a thing to help. Hope he feels better and one of the vets can find out what the trouble is.
 
Thank you guys. At this point I fear the vet missed something on the xray, or that lack of use will cause his colon to stop working. I'm just so upset. I'm taking today off of work to drive to the next town over which is maybe 30 minutes away.
 
It's a bit of a drive for you, but ASG (Animal Specialty Group) is hands down the best in So. Cal. From oncology to critical care, no one is better. They're right off the 5 freeway in Glendale.

http://www.asgvets.com/

Liz N.
 
I got to thinking, did they Xray the whole digestive system, such as the throat and stomach, as there could be a blockage there, cats will swollow the most strange things. Did they check for string around the intestine? When I worked for a Vet that would somtimes happen and not show up on an Xray, it would take exploratory surgery, but then that was way back in the day, I'm sure the machines have improved.
 
Thanks Liz! Distance isn't an issue when one of our fur-kids is in need. We drove one of our cats sixty minutes away, to an eye specialist in Upland, two Mondays in a row. And years ago, we took our rat down to a vet in Long Beach, which is about two hours away. I will definately keep that vet's info on hand for future reference.

It has been a busy, stressful day. The vet in the next town over had a staff meeting this morning, so they couldn't make an appointment for me sooner then 10:10. Since I had time, I drove to my normal vet to get a copy of Taz's bloodwork and xrays. My cousin is the receptionist there, and she asked me "didn't the vet say that there wasn't any poo in him?" I told her that he said there wasn't any blockage, although when I personally saw the xray, you could see there were dark masses in there. She came back to me and sure enough, she said that there was definately poo in there. My normal vet is off this week, so it was another vet filling in for him that we've seen the last two days. My cousin told me that the sub-vet is "old school" and that's why he wasn't as concerned, whereas my regular vet is young and straight out of modern schooling. She told me that another vet (that we haven't seen before) would be filling in today, and suggested that I bring Taz in and see what he said before my appointment at the other place. So I rush home, grab Taz and have him there at 9:00. This vet wanted to take another xray, give him some enemas, and then give him another xray to make sure things were improving. Finally someone wanted to do something other then give medicine! So I left Taz there, cancelled my other appointment, and went to work an hour late.

When I got off, my cousin texted me to let me know that Taz had "went". She then texted again saying it looked like he had eaten red plastic. We are really careful not to leave things laying around, so I was puzzled. Then it dawned on me, Taz loves to play with our chair cover ties which are red. I examined them, and sure enough one of the endings is missing. When the vet asked me on Monday is he played with string, I told him about those ties. He loves them! Even today when he was moping around the house, he made sure he went up and batted the string around for a minute or so. I sent her a picture of the ties, and she said that definately looks like what came out of him.
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So as of now, he is still at the vet's under observation. I was told to call at 2:00 to see if he's improved and if so, what time I can come get him. Believe me, if something doesn't sound right (even coming from a professional), get a second opinion! If I would have kept letting this go to "see if things improved", my baby would still be in pain getting worse. What the other vet was failing to do just didn't feel right to me.
 
I'm so glad you were able to find out what the problem was!!!! Amazing what these little ones can get into, and I'm just glad your Taz is doing better! You must be so relieved
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ASG is incredible, and our local vet Sweetwater Vet Clinic is also really good. I'm taking my dog there on Friday for surgery and I know they will do a good job! They are small animal as well as equine.

Liz N.
 
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Whooo hooo...gonna go get my little man right now! The xray is showing he's all clear, and they're even saving the red piece to show to me (Yuck!). Lol
 
So glad to hear there was a happy ending to this!!!!!

I drive 40 mins one way to my vet, because I trust him (not all of them in the practice, but there is also a new vet who I really like).

There are many vets I do not trust.....and it drives me nuts when I call them out for something (for the horses) or take one of the dogs in, and they don't even look at what I'm talking to them about!!!!!!

I had to call out a vet about my laminitic horse back in early summer-forgot to mention to NOT send one of the vets because I don't like him. Guess who came out. I told him the history, explained what was going on, but he spent the entire time looking at the OTHER foot!!!! The one he wasn't even sore on!!! Took xrays, and never got back to me about what was on them. When I called the clinic a day later, I found out that he was off on holidays. Spent another week trying to get someone else to get back to me on them, before I had to make an appointment for the one and only vet I will continue to use out of that practice to come out and have a look!!!! I was NOT impressed. And surprise, surprise, the foot he was sore on had a bit more rotation than the last xrays I'd had taken!!!!!!!!

On the small animal side of things, at the clinic I use for the dogs, one of the vets that I do not like made me wait 2 1/2 hours before he would do a c-section on my girl.....we lost 3 pups and struggled getting the ones going that we did-this was during 'normal hours'!! Nope, will continue to not use him if I can help it.....I realize that there were appointments going on....but it was a bit of an emergency.....

I have found that there are as many right out of school vets that I have no use for as there are 'old school' ones. The ones who CARE for the animals and what their owners are trying to do to help that I have all the respect for in the world, doesn't matter if they've been in practice for 20 or 30 years, or just graduated a few months ago....just sad that they are few and far between!

~kathryn
 
Well, I got happy way too soon.
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Taz is home and is definately not himself. His rear end looks swollen, he's still "leaking", he hasn't had any interest in food or water, and he just wants to be left alone in a corner. I am giving him dropperfulls of a canned meat/pedialyte/nutri-cal mixture every half hour to keep him hydrated. When I offered him food last, he did smell it more then he did yesterday, but he still walked away. If he isnt better by tomorrow, then I am taking him to the vet in the next town over. I'm just so stressed out and I feel terrible because I'm having to shove food/antibiotics down his throat. He keeps giving me that "I hate you" look.
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Anoki, I know just what you're saying. The first vet I saw didn't ask hardly any questions, and didn't examine him good enough. He was solely depending on the xray and bloodwork, even though we kept trying to get him to give an enema. I have had experience with three different constipated cats, so I know the signs pretty early on. Sometimes I just wish I could make them listen to the pet owner who actually knows the animal personally.
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I am sorry to hear this. Hopefully your kitty is just suffering from the residual side effects of the entire ordeal.

I have learned to not feel guilty when we are forced to find another vet because we just can't logically agree with the first course of action.

We almost lost our 1 year old Aussie earlier this year. The local vet could not diagnose or offer any suggestions on a further course of treatment for her. They would not admit that her issues were beyond their level of care and they should reccomend someone else. She was vomiting several times a day, had extremely loose stools, bloody stools, sometimes nothing but bloody mucus in her stools. She was tested for Lyme disease, tick born illnesses, a general blood screen, parasites, more out of office testing for parasites.......

She got to the point she went from 16lbs to 10lbs. We couldn't take it any more, we took her to the small animal portion of the facility I use for the horses. She was tested for food allergies, and a stool sample showed as my vet put it "her digestive track is really peeved off right now" . She was placed on injectable antibiotics, came back that she has allergies to a bunch of foods, is now on prescription dog food for severe allergies, but is slowly putting on weight and her energy level is so much higher. We really thought we only had a week or two until she would have to be put down.
 
Oh Carolyn, I'm so happy that you were able to find out what was going on. Having a sick fur-kid is the worst feeling in the world. I WISH they could talk to us and let us know what is wrong when they don't feel good.
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Taz ate a little bit (maybe an 8th of a can) of diluted moist catfood on his own about an hour ago. I sat there and cried. I know that we are nowhere near where he needs to be, but I'm hopeful that as his tummy starts to settle down, he will go back to normal.

Below is a picture of my special guy, taken four years ago. I almost lost him a week or two before this was taken due to severe dehydration which resulted in hypothermia and hypoglycemia. He spent three days in the vet's at just five weeks old. His momma had abandoned him, and we brought him home. He had horrid diarrhea for a couple days, and then I found him lifeless one morning. After putting some sugar water in his mouth, I held him against my body (wrapped both of us up in three blankets) for three hours trying to get his body temp up before my vet opened. He has such a special place in my heart. It just kills me that he is sick right now.

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I'm glad that the blockage came out but sorry he is still so sick. Don't give up. Your love will keep him strong. If he doesn't get better soon I would still get him checked over if you can. It is so hard when our furry baby's are sick. I will keep thinking of him and you.

Ps he is a cute baby.
 
Can you get him some of that Nutri-Cal (Super-Cal, Pet-Cal, etc.) stuff? It's high calorie, easy to digest, and you syringe that into their mouth. Some of it is for both dogs and cats, and some is specific. You can get it at Petsmart, or even Walmart sometimes. I'm thinking that might be good to get some energy / calories into him to help him heal.
 
It appears that Taz is getting his appetite back.
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He has wanted to eat each time I've offered him food, but I'm trying to do it slowly so that he doesn't get sick (his tummy has had hardly anything in it since Saturday). He is still leaking stuff out from the enema, so I'm sure his booty is a bit sore. Poor guy walks bow-legged now.

Below is a more recent pic of my 19 pound baby.
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Oh no, I hope he is ok. I know what you mean and it just tears you up when they dont feel good. I hope also that it is just left over effects from the whole ordeal. Please keep us posted on your little cutie fur kid!! Sending prayers!

Oh my! What a big handsome cat he grew in to!!!! Glad to hear he is a bit better. He will hopefully bounce back. He was probably some dehydrated too over the whole thing.

Sounds like you are doing the right thing and I bet he will be back to his old self soon
 
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