Need help for one of my cats, haven't been here in ages....
Posted by RobinN on 4/15/2024, 1:16 pm
Hi all, Not sure if anyone remembers me. I used to frequent ACME years ago, but dropped off like many others. I don't have FB, so hoping someone here can help me out. If anyone remembers, I used to have Nickie, Noah and my little dog Lorelee. They I am sad to say are long gone. Nick lived to 19, Noey almost 19, and Lore 14. God bless them, I miss them all so much. Anyway, I have 7 cats, and it is hard. We rescued them when they were babies, from our backyard. 4 are siblings, 2 are half siblings to the four, different baby mama. And then Sami, my baby girl. She is 19 and a half. Tuxi, not related to the others.
So Benny, is one of the fantastic 4, ll years old going on 12, and a love. He is orange and white, polydactyl and the most affectionate cat I've ever had. He is with me all the time. By my side on the chair, in bed. Or wherever I am in the house.
Benny got sick about 3 weeks ago. So did Sami, not sure if related. Both threw up, Benny once, then he had diarrhea really bad for 3 days. Inbetween he went to vet, all blood tests good. Boring as my vet put it. She said he had a small, very small amount of bilirubin in his urine, but not bad. She wanted us to do a ultrasound, it's nearly $1000. Cannot afford it right now. Anyway, he was all better in 3 days. He ate fine during all that too. He is a very enthusiastic eater. Loves food. On Saturday morning, he got sick around 9am. Twice. So I gave him one of Sami's anti nausea pills, cerenia, which was not enough for him, he's bigger. He did eat at noon good. But two hours later, threw up and from then on, every 1.5 to 2 hours he threw up. Projectile. Never saw a cat get so sick all day and night like that. He did make it 4.5 hours without getting sick over night.
He stopped eating after the noon meal on Saturday. He was so very sick. And then started avoiding me, and wanted to be left alone.
We brought him to Emergency vet on Sunday. They ran all kinds of blood tests, x-rays and they did a ultra sound, not as specific as one's by professionals, but they did send off info for another professional to look at. Blood tests all came back good. Nothing outstanding in x-rays or US. No bilirubin this time in urine. He had alot of gas in stomach and intestines from inhaling air from crying so much at vets and from throwing up earlier. So they gave him fluids, something to break up the gas, and two anti-nauseas, cerenia and zofran. He has not gotten sick since 11 am Sunday. But...he is not eating. He is not himself, you can see in his eyes he doesn't feel good. He is semi feral at times, usually good with me, but fights tooth and nail literally when I give a pill. It's so hard.
I called vets, both emergency and our vet. I am asking for the transdermal? I think that's what it's called, mirtazapine you rub on his ear. I am beside myself, worried about my baby. He has to eat. We are going to try to get fluids, but i have to drug him up with gabapentin to give them, and even that will be very difficult. Does anyone have any ideas how to help him feel better, eat? I don't know what the "h" is going on with him. Pancreatitis? Gastritis? I cannot figure it out. Need any advice to help my Benny feel better. Thank you ahead of time. I appreciate any advice. Thanks.....
I screwed up my sign on, and had trouble getting on here to update. Finally I got it right and here I am! Thank you guys for responding about my Benny. He was pretty sick for about 2 weeks. I gave him nausea meds, Mirataz to help with appetite stimulation, and antidiarrheal meds. He lost some weight, and was not my affectionate baby boy. He is 11 BTW. A beautiful orange and white striped tiger tuxie. With big catcher mitts. Anyway, he did finally get better. But had to change foods, hard to do with 6 other kitties, but I think he had pancreatitis, and I think possibly the dry irritated him. He eats regular wet foods with the others, but has special dry now, and he gets very little. It's the Hills digestive dry. He seems to tolerate it better. He has his weight back on, plus a little more I think. It was hard to medicate him because he is slightly feral, but thank God I was able to. Thanks for asking about him. Hope all your fur babies are doing well! Take care and talk soon! Happy end of summer! Wish it was the start of summer instead, hate winter, but hopefully will be a warm one!
I lost my signon at one point and ended up just re-registering a new one. It turned out being way less hassle than trying to recreate the old one.
I'm glad to hear that Benny finally got better. Regarding his food, is there any way you can separate him during feeding? I actually feed Sara in a crate to keep her from finishing her food and then starting in on Kira's (Sara is a very voracious eater. Kira - not so much.) It's a large crate, so she doesn't mind. There's room inside for her food dish and a bed, so when she's done eating, she just gets comfortable in the bed and waits to be let out.
Or if Benny is not able to be contained for feeding because of his feral state, maybe the others would accept it. The idea is to just somehow physically separate them so they only get their own food.
Anyway, just an idea. Hopefully he stays well.
Sara started limping and we found osteoarthritis in her elbows - worse in the one she was limping on - so we started her on that new Solensia injection. So far she's only had the two injections, but it definitely shows signs of helping. Her limp is virtually gone, and her movement is much more fluid instead of the "old lady stiff" way of moving she'd been doing (she just turned 17). Hopefully this will keep her happy and healthy (and with me!) for a while longer yet.
I do remember you. I wish I could offer more concrete ideas on what might be going on with your sweet Benny. This has got to be such a scary time for you.
The only thing that really comes to mind is when my Glory didn't want to eat during her cancer, the vets said to warm up her food. That often the warmer food would be more enticing to them, and also would have more aroma to tempt them. They also recommended pouring tuna juice over the warmed food to add even more flavor and aroma.
It's hard to believe the bloodwork hasn't picked up on anything. That is really strange.
Anyway, see if warming up his food helps at all. And I hope he will be feeling better soon.
Hi Pat....msg
Posted by RobinN on 4/16/2024, 1:46 pm, in reply to "Poor Benny!"
Nice to "see" you. Thank you for your response. Well, I actually have been doing that, with baby food, and rinsed rotisserie chix. Just warmed a bit in micro. But he would not eat anything. As of yesterday, he was put on Mirataz, the transdermal form of mirtazapine. At 6:30pm. He's also on zofran for nausea, and also on Gabapentin, liquid form chicken flavor, it is an amazing help. It not only slightly sedates, but painkiller and appetite stimulant. So at 11:30 last night, one half hour short of 60 hours without food, he finally ate!! Yay!!! He ate the equivalent of half a can of Fancy Feast, not FF, he had other food I gave him, but he ate. We tried to give sub q's at 8, the fluids just came out, we didn't have in right. He couldn't take it anymore. So gave up. But, at midnight, he drank, and drank, and drank! Tons of water! My heart was so happy for him finally drinking so much and eating a bit!
This morning, he wasn't hungry, but finally ate again, a tsp here and there. And drank alot. He was reluctant at first, but did eat. I can't figure this out. This cat would scream for food all the time. He's very vocal, and loves to eat. I am just baffled. I pray he's on road to recovery and will be eating and drinking even when he's not on the appetite stimulants and anti-nausea pills. Thank you for your advice. I appreciate it. Hope all is well with your babies. And you too! Will update...thanks again.
Sorry to hear about this...sending eating thoughts...msg
Posted by Barbara on 4/18/2024, 1:10 am, in reply to "Hi Pat....msg"
as do not have any other suggestions. Mira had a short episode of non-eating, but the cerenia cleared it up...jeez, can't believe how expensive vets are these days...
on 4/15/2024, 1:16 pm
