My cat's appetite just quickly dropped off to nothing.

[bigmonkey]

Within about a week. Took her to the vet - she's not very dehydrated, still drinking water, still getting output. Tried enticing her with various treats, but little success. She's taking a little cream (not something I usually give her, but since some food's better than no food ...), and strangely took a little dried food once I put it up a little higher in the air. She prefers drinking from a glass, that's why I tried that. She mostly eats dry when she's well, not so much when she's wobbly and weak like she is now. I've been feeding her tuna flakes as a treat. It was quite hot here recently, but not anymore.

She's about 8, a rescue cat from the shelter. She's lost most of her teeth due to Bartonella, but that's more than a year ago, and she's been fine since then on that score. The blood work from the vet showed some signs of kidney dysfunction, but not fatal. She's high in potassium, low in sodium. He said it might be Addison's disease(?), but he's getting a second opinion. He gave me an appetite stimulant, but she really doesn't want to take it, and it seems to do little anyway. (Did he really say that it was valium?)

I'm just wondering if it might be something with her mouth, but I may be grasping at straws. She still purrs so easily, it breaks my heart.

Any ideas would be most appreciated.

[ginnyinWI]

1. summer allergies?

I'm just brainstorming--does she have a clear nose so that she can smell her food? If she's a little "sniffy" maybe try to get some really strong smelling canned catfood. Tuna or other fish flavors would do it. Might kick in the old appetite.

If she has no teeth I suppose she gets canned food regularly? You might try mixing in a little veg or olive oil to get the calorie content up. I have one cat who likes to eat vegetable oil plain when she can find it--usually on my countertop in a used measuring cup.

Our old cat, now deceased, had kidney failure and got into some bizarre food preferences--like peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread! I'd give him little chunks of that with his daily pill inside, and he'd gobble it down. Usually, kidney failure leads to an increase in thyroid activity and an increase in appetite.

[hamsterjill]

2. Stomatitis?

Did the vet rule out stomatitis? Is the interior of her mouth red?

[bigmonkey]

3. Took her back to the vet this evening.

She may have some impaired kidney function, or perhaps that will clear once they get her rehydrated. They're basically keeping her overnight for observation. I did have the vet inspect her mouth, he saw no indication of anything in the way of stoma or irritation.

What would stomatitis be, other than inflammation of the stomach? That is, what would the symptoms be. He didn't mention it. They have a steroid regimen they can put her on for hypothyroidism if that is what it turns out to be, but the hope is that her appetite returns if she is rehydrated. What would the symptoms be if she had eaten something, or there was a blockage in the stomach?

[bigmonkey]

4. On second thought, I suppose stomatitis is inflammation in the mouth, n'est-ce pas?

Inflammation of stoma, not of the stomach. Apologies for my ignorance.

[FloriTexan]

11. Steroids have given my old kitties new life....

One has intestinal cancer and she stopped eating and drinking - one has arthritis very bad and her kidneys are functioning at less than 25%. They are eating me out of house and home now and moving around better too. Good luck!

[emilyg]

5. Try some jars of baby chicken food.

I also buy no fat chicken broth and give to mine when they're not eating.

[bigmonkey]

6. I'm afraid nothing was palatable except a little cream.

I tried baby food turkey and lamb, as well as fish. She's at the vet because the eating had basically dropped off to zero.

[emilyg]

7. Please keep us updated.

[bigmonkey]

8. Well, the vet called today.

He said that either it's Addison's disease, which evidently manifests as a hypoadrenal condition, in which case it's straightforward to treat, or "we're looking at a serious situation", which I take to mean a terminal one. This has been so sudden, and so ordinary in the sense that the cat doesn't seem in much distress, just not hungry. I have a place to take the cat for a second opinion if that's the stage it gets to.

[bigmonkey]

9. A later update.

Well, they're having trouble getting the drug treatment for the Addison's, the vendor has missed sending it for two days now, so now it's Monday before it arrives. That's bad, if the treatment is necessary.

But right now they say she's eating again, so maybe the rehydration will actually take care of the problem. I guess there's reason to go get the cat water fountain after all. Yay! Wish my cat luck, she's a sweet little thing.

[emilyg]

10. Good that she's eating.

Thanks for update.

[Princess Turandot]

12. Good thoughts for your kitty...

at the moment I making sure that one of mine is drinking additional water by holding a cup of ice cold water - which he likes - under his mouth while he sits on my lap. (And as God is my witness, it's a small fancy china cup commemorating the marriage of Charles and Diana, which someone gave to my late mother several decades ago. Its dimensions are perfect for the task. And it has a real gold border!)

I do not know if this applies to cats but in humans, acute kidney issues as evidenced by test results, are not always indicative of chronic or fatal kidney problems, because kidney disease is not necessarily the primary cause of the bad test results. Rather, the kidney issues may be a symptom of another problem. When that's fixed, the kidneys may well go back to normal.

[Why Syzygy]

13. Is she

an indoor or outdoor kitty? Do you keep any 'green drink' on hand, ie barley grass or wheat grass, etc.?

[bigmonkey]

23. Hmm, that seems like a good idea.

She's an indoor cat with few teeth, and I've been wondering how to get her greens. If she recovers, I'll make that a regular thing. For now, I'm going to get some to see if it entices her at all.

[Why Syzygy]

25. I had one cat

who crawled all over me to get to my barley green drink. I fed it to her from a spoon.
Good stuff.

[spooky3]

14. Glad she is improving - here's one more possibility:

a friend's dog ate some old rat poison while they were staying with relatives. It takes up to a week for symptoms such as no appetite to show, so they initially thought the dog had gotten some bad food the day the symptoms appeared and it was almost too late to help him once they realized what had happened. Fortunately the dog was then quickly and correctly treated and is fine now.

If there's any chance this could have happened to your cat, your vet could check for poisoning.

[bigmonkey]

15. The saga is unending!

She stopped eating again, so I took her to the vet again. At least they had gotten the lab results for the Addison's disease, which the vet now reports as confirmed. That should make the treatment straightforward, and so far she has gotten a shot to treat her for that, and I've ordered drugs for the next month for that treatment. I still have to give her prednisolone tablets, which she hates, and the vet has me giving her a quarter of a Pepcid, to help reduce her stomach acid.

This whole thing is, hopefully, because she can recover and get a pretty good quality of life on the other end of this crisis. I wouldn't put her through all of this otherwise, and I had almost given up on her when they got the lab results today. I asked the vet specifically if she can recover, and he said she can recover from the Addison's.

But now I can't get her to eat, and she just threw up for the first time since she's been sick - it's been about 2 weeks. They had ruled out a stomach blockage because she's been able to poop and wasn't throwing up. (It was entirely clear.) It's 7pm on the weekend, and I really should try to feed her by syringe just to keep the calories up.

But with the onset of the vomiting, I feel so unsure and helpless again. Is the syringe feeding going to help or hurt her? And here I am spending this money and energy over a cat, when there are so many other worse things happening in the world. And yet I can't abandon her, and don't want to either.

Thanks for listening.


Oh, crap!

[Warpy]

16. Valium is a great appetite stimulant in cats

The kitty will tell you if she's had enough. Meanwhile, I'd lay off the tuna because it's very high in both potassium and magnesium. Toothless kitties who are off their feed will often go for chicken baby food, instead. Just look for the kind that doesn't have anything but pureed chicken/chicken fat.

In the meantime, it seems clear what your job is until the vet can figure out what's going on, just love her as much as you can.

[bigmonkey]

17. I keep thinking there's something I'm not doing.

But maybe you're right.

Oh, and I've already tried the valium, prescribed by the vet. No effect at all, I'm afraid.

[Warpy]

18. Correcting the Addison's will correct the lack of appetite

and you should have your furry friend on the mend again. She's a sick kitty, though, so you're going to have to watch her closely until the medicine kicks in.

[bigmonkey]

19. what's my time frame?

I was feeding her by syringe tonight, just to get a little calories in her, and she was treating me like I was putting her through hell. I hope the injection has the desired effect soon, she's fading.

[Warpy]

20. I wish I could give you a time frame

but your vet is the best resource for that.

If she's not showing signs of starvation and she's still drinking, I'd hold off on trying to force feed her. I would suggest the baby food chicken, just a dab at a time, to let her know food is available should she develop an interest in it.

She's a sick kitty. Addison's is a severe illness. The injection is to stimulate her adrenal glands to produce steroids and that is what will save her.

If you want to swell her little feline head, remind her that JFK suffered from Addison's.

[CC]

22. I have a cat in CRF that has

to take 5 pills a day one of which is pepcid for vomiting. He hated them all and threw up for at least an hour after each pill. Lot of good it does if he won't keep them down. Then he would refuse to eat because he had an upset tummy. On a CRF board someone suggest getting empty capsules to put the pills in. I ask my vet and he said try it, much better than what was going on. The difference is day and night. He still isn't happy I am shoving things down his throat but once I am done he keeps it down. Now he is back to eating and has even decided that it calms him to eat a bit after the whole pilling thing is over.
The capsules were maybe $6.00 for a 1000 but worth every cent if it can keep Ayja alive. Might be worth asking your vet about and trying. Good luck to you and your kitty.

[tencats]

21. This cat has had her plasma cortisol concentration tested pre and post ACTH?

Initial hypoadrenal crisis in cats is managed with administration of fluids, dexamethasone, and intramuscular injections of repositol desoxycorticosterone pivalate (DOCP). Is this now where she is at going on near 2 weeks after the first check in with the Vet?

[bigmonkey]

24. Well, I'm not sure about the dexamethasone.

She had fluids intravenously about 2 weeks ago over the weekend, and improved some. The vet has had me giving her prednisolone pills, two a day, which she hates.

There was an upturn at the beginning of the week, after the fluids, then a downturn at the end. She just got the hypoadrenal diagnosis yesterday, with the attendant DOCP shot. At the vet's suggestion I tried the famotidine (actually, I used Pepcid, a quarter tablet = 5mg) and she threw up. She hadn't been throwing up before, and was eating only sparely and sporadically. Today I fed her the prednisolone ground up in some food slurry administered with a syringe into her mouth, and she was quite uncomfortable. I'm skipping the famotidine, although the idea of encapsulating it from a recent post is an interesting idea. She drank some, and has been laying down next to the water in the kitchen. Just about a half-hour ago she threw up, probably not the entire amount that I gave her earlier. She was crying out a little just before she threw up, now she's quiet again. She hasn't seemed to be in pain otherwise, except for that one incident. It's like she has an abstract interest in food, but nothing appeals to her. I've tried 6 or 7 different kinds of food, as well as whipping cream, cottage cheese, and half-and-half. I realize those last three are not the best, but she had a treat of about an eighth-teaspoon of cottage cheese every day that she was very fond of, so I thought any port in a storm to get her to eat something.

She has a potassium/sodium imbalance that's the opposite of normal, according to the vet, which he thinks is a follow-on from the Addison's. I forget whether that means she's sodium-low or potassium-low.

The vet had ruled out a blockage because she was still pooping, and there was no vomiting. She has lost weight, and as a layman I just wonder about a blockage. She's eating so little there's almost no solid output. Frankly, I haven't got a huge amount of money, or I would have just insisted on an ultrasound.

I'm very attached to her, and it's heartbreaking to see her fading away like this. It's like she wishes she could eat and drink, but just can't.

[bigmonkey]

26. Thanks for the help with my cat.

I had to let her go at the vet today. Unfortunately, she wasn't responding to any of the treatments that should have worked. She couldn't stand, wouldn't eat or drink, and she was in pain. I'm still sad that she couldn't be fixed up, but I didn't want to just extend her dying.

Thanks for all the help.

[Why Syzygy]

27. So sorry to hear that.

You really tried. :hug: :cry:

[bigmonkey]

29. I even tried the barley greens.

She just refused everything, even syringe feeding. I miss her already, she was so sweet.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. I'm sorry.

You did what you could to help her get better -- but sometimes nothing works and you have to do the last, right thing for them.

:hug:

[livetohike]

30. I'm so sorry bigmonkey

:hug: You did everything you could do to help her. I hope your good memories of your sweetie will help overpower the sadness of the last few weeks.

[virgdem]

31. I'm very sorry for your loss..

I've been following your sweetie's progress and I had hoped she would improve with time, as she was not very old. I've just lost two cats to old age in early June within 5 days of each other, and I'm still grieving for them. I've lost 5 cats within the last 6 years and it never gets any easier to lose them, but I have learned that as time goes by, you will think of her and remember the happiness and love that she gave to you.

[emilyg]

32. I am so very sorry.

[glinda]

33. Really sad on what happened to your kitty. Good thoughts out to you today from me.

[sazemisery]

34. I'm so sorry for your loss.

I lost my feline furbaby recently also. :hug:

[Eurobabe]

35. Oh I am just so sorry...

that your fur kid was called home too soon. :grouphug:

[Sanity Claws]

36. My condolences on your loss

I'm sure you miss her greatly.

[japple]

37. You did everything in your power to help your little kitty, but

her little body just couldn't take any more. I know she is grateful to you for helping her to transcend. May you find peace in knowing that your little one is purring in paradise.