Cath sorry to hear your news. Will be thinking of you and Sally One of my cats has lymphoma and was given weeks and that was two and a half years ago!

Nicola as ever sending support for you and Riley.

Thank you..he is ok in himself, normal pain in the bum he still looks longingly at the food you sent for him. As I've said to him, once you have put on weight you will have the new food..

 

Hi Polly and welcome to the forum despite the sad circumstances.

I don't know if there are similarities or not but my Sally is almost 14 too and has recently had bouts of sickness, diarrhea and inappetite. U/s scan showed possible IBD or lymphoma - apparently hard to distinguish with u/s and her special blood test showed some degree of pancreatitis tho this didn't show on U/S.

She's had 2 B12 shots and 2 of Cerenia in last fortnight. I also changed her diet to James Well Beloved last Thusday - wet of course - in 2 separate single souce proteins --Turkey and Lamb --and thankfully she's much much better. Has regained most of the weight she'd lost.

Sadly tho she's just been diagnosed with a very rare cancer of a mandibular lump and as yet its not known whether the gut issue is in fact related lymphoma or is IBD.

What exactly is she vomitting ... is it her dinner or white frothy stuff or bile or furballs and is she otherwise eating well?
I wonder also if you've considered digestive enzyme supplements and/or probiotics something I'm looking into again along with some herbal meds.

Kath

Hi Kath

Jasper vomits an amount of food, sometimes frothy liquid but in the last three weeks he brings up fresh blood which I find quite alarming. My vet thought it was because he was retching but I don't think it is. The vet injects him with Zantac which seems to hep for 7-9 days but then the sickness starts again. We seem to be getting his diabetes under control but this element is worrying. He has had xray and ultrasound but is not strong enough for biopsies at the moment. Thank you for your suggestions - I am happy to consider anything to help him and improve his quality of life.

 

Cath sorry to hear your news. Will be thinking of you and Sally One of my cats has lymphoma and was given weeks and that was two and half years ago

Cazzar thanx ever so much for that - its the first bit of positive news I've heard for a while.

Would you mind telling me a bit about it please?
Perhaps I should start a new thread rather than hi-jack this one.
Kath -

 

Hi Kath

Jasper vomits an amount of food, sometimes frothy liquid but in the last three weeks he brings up fresh blood which I find quite alarming. My vet thought it was because he was retching but I don't think it is. The vet injects him with Zantac which seems to hep for 7-9 days but then the sickness starts again. We seem to be getting his diabetes under control but this element is worrying. He has had xray and ultrasound but is not strong enough for biopsies at the moment. Thank you for your suggestions - I am happy to consider anything to help him and improve his quality of life.

Interesting that you say your vet injects Zantac which seems to help for a few days.Zantac I think,is an antacid so perhaps the famotidine will help to control the vomiting.
The fresh blood though is a worry,but I suppose it could be caused by a burst blood vessel caused by his vomiting.

 

Be interesting to hear what the herbal vet suggests. Lets hope it's another case where it disappears..

Thanx nicolaa - will keep you posted.

I think you misunderstood what I meant about the disappearing cases . I meant there are no further records of the cats and not that the affected lymph nodes disappeared.

I do feel for yours and Riley s issues - it's so hard trying to understand what's happening and what to do for the best isn't it?

Kath

 

Cazzar thanx ever so much for that - its the first bit of positive news I've heard for a while.

Would you mind telling me a bit about it please?

Katherine -

He is on pred daily plus vetergesic. He has a severe heart murmur so never considered chemo. Recently I can see that his tummy shape is changing quite a bit, you can see he is wider on one side than the other. We just take every day as it comes and think ourselves blessed he is still with us

 

Hi Kath

Jasper vomits an amount of food, sometimes frothy liquid but in the last three weeks he brings up fresh blood which I find quite alarming. My vet thought it was because he was retching but I don't think it is. The vet injects him with Zantac which seems to hep for 7-9 days but then the sickness starts again. We seem to be getting his diabetes under control but this element is worrying. He has had xray and ultrasound but is not strong enough for biopsies at the moment. Thank you for your suggestions - I am happy to consider anything to help him and improve his quality of life.

Hi Polly, Yes I'm sure vomitting fresh blood would be alarming. I vaguely remember reading something about this tho can't remember where .. will think about it and get back to you if it comes to mind.

A lot of the threads on here are about peoples' experiences with various foods and suppliers. There's quite a lot of info on foods suitable for kitties with sensitive tums for whatever reason be it allergy, ibd etc.
It does seem to me to be a case of trial and error.

Am quite new here myself and have made lots of notes from these threads on various foods to try for Sally. I'm now looking particularly for grain free, high protein and possibly mono-protein to address her needs as I'm not doing raw at the moment.

HTH
Kath

 

Hi Polly I checked the reference to blood but it was actually bloody stool not vomit. In the stool fresh blood I indicates IBD and is caused by inflammation.

How is your kitty now -hope he feels better.

Kath

 

Hi Kath

Jasper had a really bad day yesterday - very lethargic and a bad bout of colic in the night. I am going to speak to my vet and ask her about the drug that Buffie uses for her cat to see if that would help Jasper with his digestive problems. I think that we are stabilising his diabetes and at the moment he has to visit the vets approx every seven days for a jab to stop him vomitting. So if we could improve that side of things I would be more hopeful.

How is Sally doing now? It is so difficult with cats as there is so much guesswork involved in treating them, and as you said a lot of trial and error.

Polly

 

Hi Buffie

What form is the Famotidine that you use - is it tablet or liquid and do you administer it daily? My vet is back from holiday tomorrow and I am going to ask her about the possibility of trying this for Jasper. I don't think him having an injection every seven days is the answer. I think he needs an ongoing medication that controls the sickness rather than one injection to settle it once it has happenend. All this does his make him poorly for a couple of days and then he has to start to get back to square one again.

Obviously the fact that he is diabetic means that some meds are not suitable for him but I am going to ask the question anyway.

I really appreciate your help and advice.

Thanks
Polly

 

Hi Buffie

What form is the Famotidine that you use - is it tablet or liquid and do you administer it daily? My vet is back from holiday tomorrow and I am going to ask her about the possibility of trying this for Jasper. I don't think him having an injection every seven days is the answer. I think he needs an ongoing medication that controls the sickness rather than one injection to settle it once it has happenend. All this does his make him poorly for a couple of days and then he has to start to get back to square one again.

Obviously the fact that he is diabetic means that some meds are not suitable for him but I am going to ask the question anyway.

I really appreciate your help and advice.

Thanks
Polly

HI Polly G .Meeko's vomiting appears to be caused by excess acid in his stomach, at least that is my understanding.
As soon as he started on the famotidine the vomiting stopped,he was being sick every few days.
He is on 1/4 of a 20mg tablet every day which is very easy to pop down his throat and doesnt seem to have any horrible taste.
I hope this will help Jasper ,the fact that he seems to respond to Zantac would make me think it may help.
I know how hard it is to work with diabetes as I had a cat who was insulin dependant diabetic for the last 7 years of her life.

 

He is on pred daily plus vetergesic. He has a severe heart murmur so never considered chemo. Recently I can see that his tummy shape is changing quite a bit, you can see he is wider on one side than the other. We just take every day as it comes and think ourselves blessed he is still with us

Hi Cazzar, sorry to be a bit late responding.

It sounds like your kitties managing quite well under the circumstances ... presumably on low dose pred plus analgesic, tho obviously you need to keep a close eye on him. I hope he stays well a lot longer.

The diagnosis at first is sooo shocking isn't it, but I'm beginning to get my head round it a bit - I found your message very encouraging.
Fortunately Sally's really well again now - regaining her weight AND her chirpy Coonie character.

Kath

 

Hi Buffie

What form is the Famotidine that you use - is it tablet or liquid and do you administer it daily? My vet is back from holiday tomorrow and I am going to ask her about the possibility of trying this for Jasper. I don't think him having an injection every seven days is the answer. I think he needs an ongoing medication that controls the sickness rather than one injection to settle it once it has happenend. All this does his make him poorly for a couple of days and then he has to start to get back to square one again.

Obviously the fact that he is diabetic means that some meds are not suitable for him but I am going to ask the question anyway.

I really appreciate your help and advice.

Thanks
Polly

Poly, when Riley had a bout of sickness as well as the anti sickness jab, they also gave him some minty syrup that he had to have before meals. I can't for the life of me remember the name now tho.. it did work tho..

 

Nicola I think that is Zantac. It also can be injected. Karlo's not had it but I think keshet and kgosi had it. How's Riley? Did you make ny decision?

Hope jasper is felling better too

Kath glad you found gingers story encouraging. Lets hope Sally does well

 

I spoke to my vet yesterday and she has prescribed Tagamet syrup for Jasper - to be taken twice per day - quite frankly I am willing to try anything now as I think time is running out for him.

She says if he vomits blood anymore they will have to do an endoscopy but I am very worried that he may not survive an anaesthetic. It seems that he has other problems apart from diabetes and pancreatitis but the vets don't seem certain what they are.

We need a miracle!

 

I spoke to my vet yesterday and she has prescribed Tagamet syrup for Jasper - to be taken twice per day - quite frankly I am willing to try anything now as I think time is running out for him.

She says if he vomits blood anymore they will have to do an endoscopy but I am very worried that he may not survive an anaesthetic. It seems that he has other problems apart from diabetes and pancreatitis but the vets don't seem certain what they are.

We need a miracle!

Oh no,sorry to read this,hopefully Tagamet will help,was she not keen to try famotidine.
I understand your reluctance for the endoscopy,it always seems to be the way,trying to find a cause for illness has its own risks.
Fingers crossed the Tagamet helps

 

Nicola I think that is Zantac. It also can be injected. Karlo's not had it but I think keshet and kgosi had it. How's Riley? Did you make ny decision?

Hope jasper is felling better too

Kath glad you found gingers story encouraging. Lets hope Sally does well

Riley is ok, had a bad bum one time over the weekend, but was not too bad..I have another week before I have to make my mind up. Right now I'm leaning towards him having it as there is no alternative for him to have..

 

I spoke to my vet yesterday and she has prescribed Tagamet syrup for Jasper - to be taken twice per day - quite frankly I am willing to try anything now as I think time is running out for him.

She says if he vomits blood anymore they will have to do an endoscopy but I am very worried that he may not survive an anaesthetic. It seems that he has other problems apart from diabetes and pancreatitis but the vets don't seem certain what they are.

We need a miracle!

Polly have you tried smaller meals, by that even a spoon at a time on a more frequent basis? Or raising up his bowl so his head is higher when he eats?

Riley had an endescopy and although the other end, he did recover really well after. I was really worried too. I really hope you get a break through and the vomiting stops..

 

I spoke to my vet yesterday and she has prescribed Tagamet syrup for Jasper - to be taken twice per day - quite frankly I am willing to try anything now as I think time is running out for him.

She says if he vomits blood anymore they will have to do an endoscopy but I am very worried that he may not survive an anaesthetic. It seems that he has other problems apart from diabetes and pancreatitis but the vets don't seem certain what they are. We need a miracle!

Hi Polly, I'm so very sorry to read your sad message about Jasper. Could it be inflammation in his tummy? Endoscopys as you know are quite risky .... more so given his age with anesthesia... and with no guaranteed result.

When Sally was off her food and vomitting/diarrhea we got her going again with James Well Beloved Turkey wet food along with Cerenia and B12 injections. The recipe is made for sensitive tums.

I don't know if this is any help at all to you but we've just got home from our herbal vet consult for Sally's lymphoma/IBD and it was so so positive. She has had sucess treating cancer and is fairly confident we may be able to avoid surgery. So all I can say at this stage is if you're open to alternative types of treatment then please seek out a herbal vet.

Find a Herbal Vet

Miracle .. probably not but you may be surprised.

HTH
Kath

 

Poor Riley..cutting down the pred is causing increase in dirrareah. He is due to be half a tablet now for a week before we are back at the vets again.

 

Hi everyone, Mittens had some more blood test results today. Last time she had high readings for liver, pancreas and was anaemic and went on a 6 week course of multiple antibiotics in the hope it was an infection which could be resolved. Unfortunately her test results today, following her 6 weeks of treatment show no improvement, in fact they are worse than before. So it looks like she has some serious liver problems. Vet wants to do scans and god knows what to see what the underlying cause is. Am absolutely devastated. I knew this was a possibility but had really been banking on some improvement. Esp. as she has been brighter, eating better and put on weight whilst being treated.
Also, treatment has already cost me more than I could afford....and have been hiding costs from OH who will do his nut when/if he finds out how much I have blown on cat especially as so far it has done no good and I still don't know exact cause of problem. Perhaps I should pretend I blew it on designer clothes instead....or a gambling addiction....or, could I buy a bit of tut from Ikea and pass it off as a priceless antique, an investment that will fund us in our dotage?....that should buy me a bit of time....unless he reads my PF posts of course.....
Sorry to not post for ages then come back as the voice of doom. Nicola, sorry to hear Riley has the runs.

 

Hi just wondering if anyone had advice, my cat Leo has had very runny stools or some time now, vets did a stool sample a month or so ago and nothing showed up, they just recommended cat food for sensitive stomachs, tried that and still bad, tried other foods too, we have been feeding him dried food (iams first then harringtons) we stopped the wet food a while back thinking it might help. He doesn't drink milk just water, am really at a loss! Other than the poo he shows no signs of illness and is a healthy, cheerful cat! Any advice would be appreciated, Matt

 

Hi Matt, Welcome to the forum. How old is Leo? Has he just had the one stool sample? Is his diarrhoea constant or episodic? Any other symptoms?

Try him on plain boiled chicken with the broth it is boiled in for a few days, that usually helps.

Wet food is better than dry as the diarhhoea will dehydrate him and cats are notoriously poor drinkers.

 

Hi Matt, Welcome to the forum. How old is Leo? Has he just had the one stool sample? Is his diarrhoea constant or episodic? Any other symptoms?

Try him on plain boiled chicken with the broth it is boiled in for a few days, that usually helps.

Wet food is better than dry as the diarhhoea will dehydrate him and cats are notoriously poor drinkers.

Hi thanks for that, he's around three years old, I took in samples from over a few days after he had been producing very soft stools for some time, it's got worse since then as they are pretty much liquid and 3/4 times a day, he hasn't done 'normal' stool for ages (our other cat Gus eats/drinks exactly the same and is fine). I'll give the chicken a go and introduce some wet food, thanks!

 

Hi everyone, Mittens had some more blood test results today. Last time she had high readings for liver, pancreas and was anaemic and went on a 6 week course of multiple antibiotics in the hope it was an infection which could be resolved. Unfortunately her test results today, following her 6 weeks of treatment show no improvement, in fact they are worse than before. So it looks like she has some serious liver problems. Vet wants to do scans and god knows what to see what the underlying cause is. Am absolutely devastated. I knew this was a possibility but had really been banking on some improvement. Esp. as she has been brighter, eating better and put on weight whilst being treated.
Also, treatment has already cost me more than I could afford....and have been hiding costs from OH who will do his nut when/if he finds out how much I have blown on cat especially as so far it has done no good and I still don't know exact cause of problem. Perhaps I should pretend I blew it on designer clothes instead....or a gambling addiction....or, could I buy a bit of tut from Ikea and pass it off as a priceless antique, an investment that will fund us in our dotage?....that should buy me a bit of time....unless he reads my PF posts of course.....
Sorry to not post for ages then come back as the voice of doom. Nicola, sorry to hear Riley has the runs.

Oh no, sorry to hear things are worse..seems these cats are hell bent on not getting better.. As for the cost, think the gambling addiction excuse may work can your vets do a payment plan? Failing that, there are some good credit card deals about for 0% interest on purchases about, or use one and do a balance transfer..

Did they test her bloods for liver function? Sorry if you have said so already