I brought my 16 year old female cat to see a vet on Friday due to vomiting, constipation and lack of appetite and she had an x-ray and bloodwork done. The x-ray came back w/ foreign matter but wasn’t sure if it was solid or would pass on it’s own and was advised to go to ER for ultrasound. I brought her to ER for ultrasound and they advised the foreign matter should pass on its own and she may have a minor UTI and was sent home w/ Clavacillin antibiotic.
She didn’t improve over the weekend and had stopped eating so I brought her back to her regular vet on Monday. Vet said she didn’t have a UTI, just crystals in bladder since urine is concentrated so I stopped Clavacilln after 1 day. She said blood work looks good and did another x-ray and foreign matter appeared to have been digested and piloris no longer distended. Went home with Cerenia and Mirtazapine for appetite. This hasn’t helped with her appetite. She hasn’t eaten on her own for 6 days and last bowel movement was 7 days ago (she had a very small like 1/2 to 1 inch inch one a couple days ago)
I’ve been force feeding her and watering with a syringe. I feel so bad about this since she doesn’t want it. She’s used to a raw diet and I abruptly changed to Tiki Velvet Whip Mousse packs since I can easily put in syringe. I was thinking about pureeing her raw food to feed her, though not sure if this is a good idea since she is not having bowel movements and it’s raw. She just had what looks like vomit in her litter box but I’m pretty sure its a mucous she excreted anally due to the sudden change in food (attached photo). She hasn’t vomited in a week which is good I think.
Her vet suggested an enema a few days ago but when I brought it up today she said she doesn’t seem constipated since she felt her stool with her fingers and it was hard and not too large to pass so she should be passing it. I would still like her to have the enema, what do you think? I was hoping her lack of appetite and nausea was due to constipation and the enema would help, though I don’t know. Also, I am picking up Predisolone for her tonight prescribed by vet to help with appetite. Any opinions, ideas, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.
Hello,
All of the things you are worried about are clinical signs of an underlying disease. The goal is to figure out what underlying disease is causing all of this and not just try to fix the problems you are seeing. With all of the diagnostics that you have done it might be time for someone to offer you possible treatment plans (like the steroid) and an appetite stimulant or even consider a feeding tube or iv fluids in the hospital. Be aggressive with both trying to help her feel better and diagnosing why she doesn’t feel better.
Thank you for your response, I appreciate it. After taking her to the vet for an enema, it was discovered that she was nearly empty so it seems like she’s been emptying outside. She’s on prednisone now and that is really eating her appetite and she’s eating on her own. As far as diagnosing what’s going on with her, I asked about the possibility of seeing IBD, lymphoma, or intestinal cancer on the ultrasound and they said it should have shown up there, but there are some other indicators that don’t always show up on an ultrasound. Next step after… Read more »