Cat with stomach problem..

Hi,

I've posted on here a couple of times with reference to Cassie, my 12 year old cat who's had stomach problems on and off this year. She refused food for a while, so we swapped food and since then she's vomited even more than she did before. Since Sunday evening I stopped that food as it was obviously not doing her any good at all, even though she really enjoyed it. She refused her old food, so I gave her some tuna after speaking to my vet. The agreement was she'd have tuna for a couple of days to see if her stomach would settle down.

It did, she didn't vomit, had a normal stool for the first time in a while. Her stools before have been diarrheoa like and a couple have had tiny bits of blood in. I'd also given her Hi-Life Tuna Flakes which she's eaten some of. Then today she did this black tar like stool. I spoke to a friend who is a qualified vet. nurse and we discussed the various things that could cause this stool. Has anyone had experience with this? I am waiting for my own vet to call me, and have plans to get Cassie booked in for an xray asap. I'm just very worried. Cassie is the only one I have now .. her brother died in December. I can't bear the thought that I could lose Cassie so soon after her brother, she's always been SO healthy .. the only one out of all my cats that's never had any problems, until now.

 

I found this on black tar-like stool:
http://www.fvma.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=8#995047013

http://www.vet4petz.com/articles/diarrhea.htm

I hope everything is okay. Let us know what the vet says.

 

Thanks so much. I've been searching all night and reading .. mostly scaring myself to death with potential possibilities! I will let you know how we get on at the vets though.

 

Hope Cassie is doing better

I get the impresion that you have a good relationship with your vet and you trust her, is your vet giving you full answers or just keeping it to a minimum, sometimes even with the best vets and techs if things are a little hectic in the hospital, i.e.overbooked appointments, unexpected emergencies etc the client doesnt always get all thier questions answered, OR they havent asked the right questions.

I could be way off the mark, but I have a suggestion, keep a log of everything Cassie is doing, I know this might seem a little over the top but I can see you are really worried and upset, monitor every 'poop' she has, colour, diarhea/normal/soft etc, is her urine okay, normal colour, normal amount, how much and exactly what she is eating and when, in general how is she acting, if she vomits again, how long after eating, also write down any questions that you think of so you can ask your vet when you next go in to see her. Like I said it may seem a little OTT but there have been times when after a client has left I think of something or a vet will think of something that wasnt 'covered' when the client was in for the visit, I usually will make a phone call and its usually nothing serious just things like, for example "if you see Fifi doing.....its normal after......." (does that make sense?) Or the client will call later saying they forgot to ask about this or that, its hard when your worried about your pet, you do forget to ask some questions that you'd thought about earlier, even if it seems insignificant, theres no such thing as a stupid question.
Please do keep us updated on Cassies condition, I really hope everything goes well.

 

DeLaUK, thanks for your reply..

Hi there,

Well .. funny you should mention the log - ever since Monday I've been doing it. I've done it before when my other cats have been ill, cos you know when you get to the vet and they ask stuff I can't ever remember everything properly. I do tend to ask a lot of questions though but only because I know my vet so well and feel comfortable doing so.

Cassie hasn't eaten this morning and is upstairs on my bed. I'm waiting for my vet to call. Yes, I do trust her a lot, she looked after Cassie's brother and put him to sleep at christmas. I know she wants to xray Cassie, but I can't get her in until Tuesday. I did speak to my friend last night who is a qualified veterinary nurse, and she said to not panic - but when we discussed it Cassie had been eating. I'll just have to see how she goes over the weekend, but I think I'll have to book her in for first thing Tuesday morning. At least Cass has eaten for the past 2 days and the last time she vomited was Sunday. I'm just about to go outside and dig over her 'poo patch' .. delightful!

I feel really really stressed. For the past 2 years I've had sick cats, and out of the lot of them Cassie has always been the really healthy one.

Anyway, I can't do much until after the weekend other than just hope she at least eats a little.

I will keep you informed.

 

Hi Ginny,

I'm really sorry to hear Cassie is poorly. I haven't been on the board for a while so haven't followed your progress, but has your vet asked for a stool sample? If not I would consider taking one in and asking for an analysis. When Pudcat had blood in his stools they also took a blood sample from him.

His stool analysis showed up a parasite called giardia, so they prescribed a course of metronidazole, plus they put him on some sensitive diet biscuits (Hill's ID) He has had to stay on the sensitivity diet (Royal Canin) but he hasn't had any problems since.

How did it go with the vet?
Jennie

 

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply.

The vet did take blood, but they came back ok. I rang a couple of days later to ask if she wanted a stool sample but she said no.

Anyway, cutting a long story short after having Cass booked in for an xray and possible barium, she took a turn for the better. On Friday night after 4 days of just eating tuna, she vomited quite a lot for the first time since the previous weekend. So I starved her for the rest of Friday, and fed her a small portion of boiled chicken on Saturday. That day she had 6 portions of it! The same Sunday - and since then she's been fine. I still took her to the vet on Monday and didn't feed her, just in case she stayed in for the xray, but of course the vet agreed there didn't seem much point right now. She's still eating boiled chicken - and I've just cooked some fish which I'll try her on mixed with the chicken later on tonight.

I had a cat years ago who was allergic to cat food - maybe Cassie has just become sensitive now she's older. And she also had a change of diet after refusing her usual cat food - I think that made things worse.

But, the good news is she seems loads better, is eating well and drinking well. So if it means a diet of chicken and fish for the rest of her life, so be it! I'll do anything as long as she feels well.

 

Ginny, that's great news. Has your vet discussed with you good types of vitamin, mineral, and taurine suppliments to go with the cooked chicken and fish? Cooking degrades taurine and other vitamins and can cause Cassie to go blind in a couple of years on a strictly cooked diet.

http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/taurine.php

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00119.htm

Home prepared cat food recipes:
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/home_cooked.htm

 

I can't help but remember the cat I had who was CRF...her stools were black tar like and runny, and she vomited a lot. I'd get a 2nd blood exam done and be sure they check the kidney counts - or ask to be sure they did. Tami wouldn't eat during these spells.

 

Thanks for the links Vene. I haven't discussed any supplements with my vet yet, as really we're just on a trial at the moment to see how Cassie is over the next couple of weeks. However, if she does stay on this permanently I do intend to call my vet to talk about it.

Mary, thanks for your reply. Cassie did only have 1 black tar like stool, the rest were basically diarrhoea. And she did eat, and was hungry even though she was vomiting too. The kidneys were absolutely fine from the blood tests - they just tested her liver and kidneys at that time.

I think at the moment it's just a case of keeping a close eye on her.