Hi
I'm now very worried about my cat, and having been to 3 different vets seem no closer to a resolution so I am posting on here to see if anyone has any ideas... any help, suggestions or recommendations would be much appreciated!!
Summary
I have a female 12 yr old cat called Nermal who has always been a healthy happy cat with a good appetite. To cut a long story short, 2 months ago, she suddenly stopped eating and got diarrhea, and has not eaten properly since. She has gone from being a fully rounded, slightly above average sized cat, to a tiny near skeleton weighing just over 2kg. I keep her alive by force feeding her 30ml a day of special high protein food recommended by the last vet.
I have been to 2 different veterinary practices and had a full battery of tests which are all inconclusive. The latest blood test showed that there "may be a liver problem" which I suspect is a condition caused by the non-eating rather than the underlying problem itself.
She is obviously now not a completely happy cat, however she is still very affectionate and, this may seem strange to say, she is otherwise perfectly healthy (she still sleeps purring on my lap, plays with string, and does all the normal cat things). She always cries for food too and shows such interest as I spoon it out but then when she gets close to it, turns away without even licking it.
Detailed history
About 2 months ago, she began going off her food and got diarrhea. I kept changing what I fed her from all varieties of cat food to fish fillets. This was partially successful at the beginning with her generally eating something (eventually!). Gradually however, she started losing weight over the period of a few weeks and would then only eat a tiny bit of food if I sat with her and hand fed her. I hoped it would resolve itself but by the time I went to the vets for the first time she had lost a huge amount of weight.
VET 1 - Visit 1: WEIGHT DOWN TO 3KG.
Diagnosed either (i) bad teeth or (ii) athritis.
Gave injections - vitamin B, steroid laurabolin, and metacam (for athritis).
However, she was so dehydrated I had to take her back the next day.
VET 1 - Visit 2:
Blood test - Pre anaesthetic profile bloods were taken (which eventually showed nothing out of the ordinary).
Put on drip - she was admitted for 4 days due to her extreme dehydration and kept on a drip.
Teeth - she had 4 teeth removed in case it was those causing her to have stopped eating.
She was pretty groggy after the operation (for the teeth), and started vomitting when I had her back home. The vet said the vomitting may be side effects from the operation. The diarrhea continued, but became alarmingly worse - it was now pure liquid!
After no improvement after 3 days I took her back to the vet.
VET 1 - Visit 3:
She was given more injections - vetergesic amps, clamoxyl la, 500ml saline under skin (for the dehydration), cerenia solution, and an appetite stimulant.
The vet also gave me some Protexin pro kolin paste to administer orally via a syringe.
The vet told me to come back the next day to see how she was.
VET 1 - Visit 4:
She was given another saline injection for the dehydration, and vetergesic amps and vitamin b injections.
Another vet from the same practise was called in for a second opinion, who was also out of ideas.
VET 1 - Visit 5: WEIGHT DOWN TO 2.74kg
Was subscribed Flagyl s susp syringe liquid to be administed by syringe into her mouth 3 times a day.
However, her demeanour got a lot worse after this and she started going downhill rapidly, so I stopped administering this after a couple of days.
Still with no improvement, she was getting dehydrated again and continuing to lose weight. I took her back 3 days later.
VET1 - Visit 6:
She was admitted back on a drip for 3 days due to dehydration.
A faecal analysis was taken during this time.
A flagyl s susp injection was given every day while she was there.
When I picked her up from the vets, she was in a right state. The nurse said that she hadn't eaten a single thing the whole 3 days she was there, but that "this was not surprising as it's awful back there" (referring to the place where the cats are kept). Nermal was covered in a weird residue that took days to come off (bits of vomit, poo, spit?), and was heavily mentally traumatised.
Unsurprisingly, I wasn't impressed at this stage with this vet, given the amount of money and time put into them and having got no closer to a diagnosis. I certainly wasnt going to let her be admitted back there, as she came out much worse than when she went in! Plus, although a minor issue after everything else, even after all this time and all these visits, the vet and nurses kept on referring to her as male!
After a very lengthy 10 days, the faecal test came back showing nothing. She was still losing weight and eating very little, so I took her to a new vet.
VET 2 - VISIT 1: WEIGHT DOWN TO 2.34KG
He reviewed all the paperwork sent over from the previous vets and suggested an "in depth" blood test done was done (costing £150) which supposedly tests for "everything apart from the pancreas which costs another £115".
He sold me some high protein food (Royal Canin gastro intestinal food), which he said to encourage her to eat.
Given that she will eat nothing unaided, I decided to force feed her this food using a syringe 3 or 4 times a day (I manage to get about 30ml down her each day - I mix it with a bit of water in a food processor). I follow the general advice for force feeding, and I'm careful to give it to her slowly via the side of her mouth. She doesn't like this process, but doesn't hate it either.
I am currently waiting for all the blood results to come back although he says from what has already come in it is pointing towards a liver problem.
Update
Over the last couple of days, she has become VERY thirsty. She drinks for extended periods of time, and when she is not drinking she lies or sits with the water bowl within reach. I'm happy she's drinking lots as that what's I've been trying to get her to do for weeks, but drinking to this extreme seems a little strange?
Finally, the last week or so, the only food she will eat is certain cat treats, but then she will throw them up a few hours later (she doesn't vomit up the "proper" food). However, she shows a lot of interest in food, but just won't eat it unaided!
She's still very skinny, the vets all seem to be totally stumped, and I'm force feeding her every day. What can I do next??? Please help!!!
Many thanks... :-)
