Help with cat - vomiting and won't eat - vet was no help

[Moochysmom]

Please help me if you have any idea what I could do to help my cat. Moochy is 3 years old and started vomiting a week ago. She coughed up two big hairballs in that time and wouldn't eat. I took her to the vet on the third day. The vet kept her for five days, did every test available and confirmed she has slight bilirubin and a very low white blood count but he couldn't find any cause. She doesn't have feline HIV or leukemia. He gave her broad spectrum antiobiotics and gave me some to give her now she's back home. But she still won't eat - she's lost loads of weight, and she's still vomiting - though it's only liquid now.

The vet didn't tell me how to keep her energy up or feed her with a syringe or anything and I don't htink they supplemented her the whole week! My uneducated theory is she had hairballs and started vomiting and developed cat anorexia after a few days of not feeling like eating. So her bilirubin would be due to anorexia. But that doesn't explain the blood count. The vet said all he could think of is that she got poisoned somehow. But she's an indoor cat and we live in a child-safe, clean house with no known poisons around.

Please give me some advice if you can as to what might be wrong and how we can help her eat again - or at least keep her energy up?? I'm desperate. I will look for another vet this week if she's no better because I was very unhappy with this first one - but it all cost us nearly $1000 so I don't know how much more I can do. If I can do anything myself in the meantime I want to....
Thanks in advance -
KW

[opus88]

good for you for being such a diligent cat momma!!! it sure does pay off to be on top of whats going on and not just taking one opinion especially when they want to just 'try' treatments without a definite diagnosis...so hoping Molly is on the mend and will keep eating and recovering more each day!!!!

cml.....the vac is a modified live virus(MLV), they stimulate the immune system to create antibodies as protection from the full blown disease, but with these live virus's its always possible to create a lesser form of the disease ....vac's have so many pros and cons....:(

[CML2014]

To YOU MOM!

You are a Hero, indeed! Molly is one lucky little girl to have you as her mom.

First, I must apologize for the whole "not letting her suffer" speech. I very rarely write that, but from you post on Molly being poisoned, I thought this was a definite, and we love our babies so much , suffering is out of the question..........BUT

You loved Molly enough to know something did not seem right in the vets speculative actions. Good for you to take it further and finally found the vet that Molly deserves.

Unfortunately vets can be very good and very bad, with a lot somewhere in the middle.
Seems like your first few were of the Clueless variety, and I am so sorry you had to deal with them.

So Molly does have FPV. I am saddened to hear that but happy to know you are in good hands. What did the vet mean by the vaccine could have given it to her and it is a mutated form?

I only ask this because you are a very diligent pet parent with the great quality of researching for the protection of your Molly. Please stay on this forum as you are the kind of pet parent we need here. One who goes to great length's  to find solutions to medical conditions and can share this info with the rest of the posters when they have problems similar to yours.

This is all we can do here is support and share our experiences, we have to leave the "diagnosis" up to the professionals.

Needless to say I am thrilled that Molly is beginning to feel better for her sake and yours. We feel so helpless when our little ones are hurting . This forum is wonderful for being able to turn to the posters here for support.
Empathy is in abundance here, and Molly is now one of MedHelps Kits!

So please keep us posted.

P.S You may also want to post a new post under your name and todays date. The post you responded to was an old one and I do not think it got the many responses it would have if you had posted your story as a New post.

There are plenty of people her with experience that I do not have with FPV and will help answer the questions you may have. So please think about your own post about Molly--they are also wonderful at sending out good vibes and prayers.

Please give Molly a big Smooch from me and "May She Live Long and PURR!

CML

[MollyTheCat1]

First I would like to thank you for the prayers, they helped! I don't know where to begin from, things changed drastically. The poison version was stated on 16.Nov by the local vet clinic (city B) and then they changed their mind once again after a day on the 17th. I am pretty sure they messed up something with the barium swallow test as the next day they stated she is poisoned and she could barely open her mouth. Anyway after the barium, they found a blockage which resolved on the 2rd day of x-rays. Things got quite messy as on the 17.Nov they said she MAY have feline panleukopenia and wont make it. They made two tests of FPV and both were negative. At the evening of 17.Nov, as a last resort, they suggested injecting interferon and "see what happens". At first I got very mad and angry at them, because they were treating her like a test rabbit... I accepted the interferon as a solution (if she was to take it, should of taken it on the first day, not the last). I was very angry, didn't really wanted to change the clinic as I had not time, but I was stressed by their ***** way of dealing with my cat. Called several clinics and all replied with the same sentence: come as soon as possible in order to start the treatment. I selected one clinic (vet C) and went there with the results : they confirmed FPV without tests and suggested interferon / some other Russian serum and 24H medication intake. I was certain about going with the cat there, but I went to another vet (vet D) just to confirm the treatment.  The last vet (vet D) said she is not for interferon as she is to weak right now. I went home and read about interferon till about 5am, at 8am I woke up and had to take a decision. From what I have read one of interferon's side effect is to lower the WBC, but we already had lowered our WBC from 2.5 to 0.4 (yes, 0.4). So I thought to myself: if they want to give her interferon at this stage...she will die from it and scratched all the clinics suggesting that treatment. My last hope was the vet (vet D), who had some alternative thinking about the problem and went there on the 18th. She said she is having a FPV and that there was a mistake with her vaccine (maybe the way she got the FPV in the first place). Also informed us about the chance this may be a mutated form of FPV (that's why tests couldn't say what it was). I trust my last vet (vet D), after one day with her she is having her first small meal and her first purring(evening of 18.Nov). I know the recovery will be very long as we don't eat normal, we have lost so much of our weight, but my cat is back from the dead. Today (21.Nov) we slept most of the time, she jumped on the chair next to me as I am writing. I believe she will make a full recovery. THANK you again for believing, CML!

[CML2014]

OH, I am so sorry for Molly! Poor little thing. If it is poison and they cannot help her , you need to think about letting her go peacefully. She must be suffering greatly if the poison has eaten through he esophagus , stomach and intestines.

Can this be reversed with meds or does your vet think the damage is irreversible? If that is the case , Please do not let her suffer.

I am so sorry to even have to say this. I know how much you have done for her to keep her going, but sometimes it is out of human hands.

When there is a poison involved I think timing is the key and knowing what the substance was. It is good if they keep her in the clinic if they think this will help her recover. If there is no hope for That, please let her come home to you so she will be with her loving mom.

I am saying extra prayers for you MOLLY!!!! I hope you pull through.

Mom , keep us posted, ok?
CML  

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[MollyTheCat1]

I am so sad..., we suspect she drank some poison and the vet couldn't tell by the symptoms, which got much worse after the first day. They tested everything else, but didn't take caution about poison. The time passed and the damage is .... she now vomits blood .....and has blood diarrhea, everything from her mouth to the intestinals is burned............... I don't know how she got the poison, where did she get it, nor if it is 100% poison. I really don't know anything right now. Today is the 3rd day she didn't eat, nor drank water. She stays at clinic and they are giving medications, but I don't think she is getting better........ If anyone has any suggestions on what I should do, please let me know...

[MollyTheCat1]

My cat have the same symptoms as most of the people here. She fell from the 3rd floor 10 days ago, but the vet (city A) said she was lucky and there is nothing to worry about. Started vomiting last night and stopped eating/drinking. All ( and I mean ALL ) possible tests were made at a local vet clinic (city B) and we took her home (bill went crazy and the kitten was severely stressed by all the procedures). Tree vets (city B) tried for about 2 hours to take a blood sample and finally gave her some drug to partly take her down. They shaved her front and back legs and her front neck prior to drugs in order to find a good vein - british short hair. The abnormalities were: Temperature above normal (40.5 degrees), WBC low, MCV low, RETIC high, NEU low,Mono low, EOS low, Urea low, TP low. As we got back some she was hiding from me and giving me bad looks...but I gently observed every step she was taking. After 3-4 hours she vomited bile again, even though she had medications preventing it. What do you know, there was some hairballs this time. Maybe that is the main cause in most casts with no other medical decease. Regarding the blood profile, they said it "may" not be entirely true and that even the tests are not 100% valid, so what the hell is then to be trusted... Anyway, at first I was freaked out, thought my cat is leaving this place and I can't do anything to save her (even with all the money). I called the vet (city A) who examined her after the fall and he said I have nothing to worry about, he admitted her blood profile is't normal, but most changes could be also caused by stress. Hight temp = stress, even in healthy cats he said. Main things to take care about : if cat is vomiting don't panic, visit the vet asap and explain in details, hydratation is crucial / never underestimate it or you may loose a trusty pal. Don't neglect the possibility it may be just hairballs. As I said my cat's latest bile vomit had several small hairballs included - they were causing the abdominal problems. Morning at about 9 am I have another visit with the vet and this time I am asking for medications to calm her stomach and some for appetite. As soon the kitty starts eating on her own, she will be fine. Some vets just need to take your money :-).

DO NOT TAKE ANY INFORMATION GIVEN BY ANY POST FOR THE ONLY SOLUTION/CAUSE, EVERY CAT HAS A DIFFERENT MEDICAL HISTORY AND SOMETIMES SIMILARITIES CAN DIFFER IN A BIG WAY AT THE END!