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I'm really looking for help.

Disclaimer: We were and are visiting the vet. Next appointment is on Thursday. I‘m lost and helpless and want to help my cat. I‘m heartbroken because I don’t know how to help him.

We brought our cat to the vet about 4 months ago to refresh some vaccines. He's a indoor cat but it was reccomended to us. It wasn't the first vaccines he got either and so far we haven't had any issues.

Last week we noticed that he wasn't really eating too much anymore and started to drink. Everytime he started eating his teeth would make some grinding noise (which they haven't before). So, I called the vet for a checkup because my guess was some tooth stone and maybe teeth related pain.

He checked his teeth and told me that toothstone was there but not too much to cause issues. His guess was that since our last visit he has lost quite some weight (1kg, 2.2lbs) the issue of him not eating wasn't a teeth issue and with drinking more he suggested that we start looking into some kidney related things. Rapid test showed some protein in the urine. So we sent a sample to the lab to be sure.

the urine test results came back: the kindey is healthy and his numbers are within the norm (see below). The vet also told us that he seems to have light colored gums.

We are having a second vet appointment at the clinic next week (not our local vet, but recommended from him) to make a ultrasound of his belly and bladder (bladder just to check for the crystalls) and to make a blood test.

My vet doesn't know why he isn't eating or loosing weight because his urine sample doesn't look bad. We are waiting for next thursday to get the blood sample and ultrasound to make our next guess.

I'm still not throwing away my idea with teeth issue and asked the clinic if they could check that too while we have the appointment. I got him some liquid food today which I will offer him today after work.

Currently he basically gets what we wants. He went crazy for raw chicken so we got him some. he started eating a little until his teeth were grinding then we would stop.

yesterday he ate a bit but today he hasn’t touched food at all. We noticed when presenting food in any form (chicken, wet food, cat soup, treats) he started to swallow a lot and saliva even drips out of his mouth. According to Google this could also be some sort of poisoning but we don’t have any new pants or anything that could cause poisoning.

Anyone had something similar? any idea what that could be or what we can do to get our cat to eat a bit? Vet for blood test, ultrasonic and teeth checkup is on Thursday.

enter image description here

The full test result looks like this:

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    I don't have any information on this but your cat is very lucky to have you as his companion. I hope he will get better soon.
    – ck1987pd
    Mar 9, 2022 at 0:36
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    For the possible ways a cat can get poisoned please look into this question pets.stackexchange.com/questions/21166/… ; even a new floor cleaning have to be in mind... Mar 9, 2022 at 4:39
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    @C.Koca thank you for your reply. He get weaker and I am lost on what to do. I really hope the second vet is able to help.
    – lechnerio
    Mar 9, 2022 at 6:06
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    Try feeding him a wet or liquid diet. If all else fails, throw some raw chicken in a food blender with 1 ice cube (otherwise the proteins clump together to a tough dough). If that doesn't work and he gets noticeably weaker, please try to reschedule the vet appointment. This problem sounds severe enough that you shouldn't wait for another week if you can get an earlier appointment. The vet should check for a lose tooth or even a broken jaw.
    – Elmy
    Mar 9, 2022 at 6:28
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    The drooling is probably a sign of nausea. Occasionally it can be a tooth problem but in my experience much less common - think he definitely needs the blood test and ultrasound to check his systemic health. The list of possible causes is very long, but possible differentials might include pancreatitis, stomach or intestinal problem, infections, cancer, kidney problem (less likely given the well concentrated urine), and others. You can try warming the food to tempt him. If not eating then he really needs to be seen by a vet again ASAP. Probably needs anti-nausea meds and appetite stimulant.
    – Harry V.
    Mar 9, 2022 at 7:04

1 Answer 1

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Update 09.03.2022:

4:00pm As I came home today he was not greeting me (which he usually does). After trying to feed him he again skipped the meal and started to crawl under the sink cabin in the bathroom.

We packed him up and drove to the special emergency vet because I couldn’t wait any longer.

4:30pm Blood test, ultrasonic, x-ray and some other special tests later the vet returned telling me that it’s either cancer or an issue with the Intestines. She promised to call us after another special vet looked over the results as well.

9:00pm About 1/2 hour ago the vet called telling us that his Intestine has pushed into each other and is filled with a lot of gas (sorry. I didn’t pick the name up, this is basically translated) and he needs to have surgery as soon as possible.

As of now he is in emergency surgery and we are hoping for the best.

I try to keep this answer updated as I get more info. At the moment I’m waiting for the special surgeon to call and tell me everything went fine.

He‘s a brave and strong boy. Everything will be fine.

Just a picture for cat-tax. He’s the red one.

Update 10.03.2022

0:15am the special surgeon called. The issue with his intestines was not caused by some objects he swallowed by exident but by tumors. Two parts got removed and he already woke up from surgery and is already looking around. We don’t know what it was. It’s sent to the lab. Nor do we know if he made it. He’s in special care now and gets checked regularly for the next couple of days.

12:30am vet called again. lab tests didn't came back yet but he's has too little white blood cells and too many red ones (or the other way around, sorry, I'm all over the place). he gets some treatments to balance those out. the other option is a blood transfer.

5:00pm we were allowed to visit him. When entering the special care room I could see his pain. We wasn’t able to move and only able to move his eyes very slowly. I talked with the surgeon and the care taker and both told me that he has a very low chance to survive the night. The lab results weren’t there yet but cells they removed looked very bad.

This was not what he deserved. We stayed with him for a bit but seeing him lay there was… heartbreaking. I called my grandparents with who he had a strong bond with and telling them it’s time to let go. They came to say goodbye. We all told him how much we love him and how we always will. At 6:18pm I was holding him as I told him one last time how sorry I was, how much I love him and that I’m looking forward to seeing him again. How strong and brave we is. And how incredibly he fought but It's time to stop torturing him. With the help of the vet he found release of his pain.

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    Thank you for all your updates, I've been following them closely. I'm very sorry the outcome was not what we hoped. It sounds like you did everything that could be done for him, and as impossible as it must have been to make that decision to let him go, I'm sure it was the right one.
    – Harry V.
    Mar 11, 2022 at 6:39
  • My condolences. You did much more for him than many people do for their cats. About WBC and RBC, does the vet think this might be an atypical version of the pancytopenia? With pancytopenia, both cell counts and platelets should be low, but with bicytopenia, only two out of these three being low is enough.
    – ck1987pd
    Mar 11, 2022 at 15:31
  • Thank you @HarryV. for your words and thank you for also giving tipps earlier! He didn't deserve a single second of pain. He filled our live with so much joy and love in such a little time.
    – lechnerio
    Mar 11, 2022 at 18:56
  • @C.Koca I didn't pick too much up yesterday. I was like numbed and just focused on giving him as much love as I possible could. the lab is still testing and checking the last medical tests.
    – lechnerio
    Mar 11, 2022 at 18:58

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