Breeder sold us a very sick cat 😹 :(

[HustleVandango]

Any advice gratefully received.

My DM recently adopted a cat from a high profile breeder. He is a 3 yr old Siamese ex-stud and altho DM had some reservations about the way the breeder treated him (rough handling) once she saw him she loved him and took him home. It cost her 250 pounds. The breeder advised the cat was on a grain free diet due to stomach issues.

Since she brought him home six weeks ago he has been sick on a day basis, sometimes up to four, five times. He has diarrhoea and painful bowel movements. He is otherwise affectionate and loving. My DM is beside herself with worry. She has been back and forth to the vets who have put him in high dose steroids (not working) and different diets (not working). It has so far cost her over a thousand pounds in treatment. When contacted the breeder admitted he had never seen a vet and claims he was never sick when with her. This is BOLLOCKS obvs

My poor mum and this poor cat. I've tentatively suggested to her that his quality of life is most probably horrible atm. I don't know what to do. She has recently retired and doesn't have a lot of money and even though she loves him cleaning up sick and poo every day is draining for her and pretty miserable. Vet is now talking about removing part of his bowel. Breeder obviously won't discuss anymore, and can't can't offer medical history.

Anyone got any ideas? I think this is beyond a dietary issue. Cat is a Siamese (I have one too) so sensitive tummy anyway :(

[HustleVandango]

OH GOD THAT EMOTICON IN THE TITLE, SORRY

[JaneAustinAllegro]

why won't the breeder discuss any more and provide medical history / contact detail of vet? If there's a continued refusal, on that score, I'd go to the SIamese Cat Club. Not sure what the usual age for retirement of a male stud cat is but 3 seems young - did she explain why she was retiring him? Did your mother ask about the stomach problems that led to this special diet and whether it was prescribed by a vet? It sounds very much like the breeder was offloading a sick cat quite deliberately

[HustleVandango]

Yup, that's what I think. She said he had IBS but that it was managed with a grain free diet. She advised my DM on the food to buy and have the impression it was under control. My DM called her two weeks in when he was throwing up all the time and she claimed that he was never sick with her. My DM also asked her for medical history but all she produced was vaccination certificates. We needed to know if he has had this problem since birth but she claims he has never been sick, so. Turns out she has never bothered to treat this problem in him.
Funnily enough one of his kittens lives down the road from my mum (it's how we heard about her) and I want DM to go and see if kitten us healthy.

[HustleVandango]

She said she only breeds a certain amount of litters from parents and that he had reached that limit hence retirement. Probs bollocks tbh

[JaneAustinAllegro]

It sounds like your mother loved the cat so much that she didn't ask the obvious questions about the pre existing condition. I would be very surprised if a breeder was prepared to use an animal with a condition like IBS that was self diagnosed and treated without vet intervention. It's bollocks. Trouble is, your mum doesn't want to give the cat back. (I bought a sick cat from a breeder, and my vet told me to return her. 14 years later, she's still half the size of her brother from the same litter but the greatest company I've ever had feline-wise - I haven't however had to clean up catsick four times a day since then)

[HustleVandango]

TBH my DM was pretty appalled at the way he was handled when she met him and the living conditions of the breeder so she would have taken him regardless. It has taken her TWO YEARS to find a cat FFS. I think she took him in knowing about his 'IBS' but because it was downplayed she is spending hundreds and hundreds of pounds A WEEK.

[AngelBlue12]

Look into raw feeding, there are some really good groups on facebook. It can be great for delicate tummies. We are in the process of transitioning ours as one of our siamese has a delicate tum.

[HustleVandango]

HiAngel that was one of the first things we tried - I raw feed my Siamese as everything else makes him sick. DM's cat had white fish and plain chicken and it all came back up. He always has poo on his tail/butt as well so its all over the house. We're worried with the frequency if the puking that he is not getting nutrients.

Also we've ruled out stress after the first month or so. He was cages at the breeders so we assumed he was worried at the move but he seems otherwise happy. Poor cat.

[reallyanotherone]

6 weeks isn't long to adjust to a diet, has your dm been sticking to one food or changing things a lot in an attempt to help?

As you know siamese quite often have sensitive guts. My current one you really can't change his biscuits or feeding times or he starts vomiting.

I would try an ibs diet and restrict to biscuits for now. If you're worried about weight and nutrition ask your vet for a post surgery paste- it's very concentrated, hypoallergenic, easily digested and gentle on the stomach.

My last siamese had IBD. Permanent diarrhoea. He couldn't have steriods so the vet as a last resort put him on metronidazole once a day- he'd read something about it working in IBD- plus coincidentally he'd had ab's for something else and gained a load of weight. Bloody miracle I tell you. Changed his quality of life from being practically faecally incontinent to normal, solid poo. Took about two weeks. Worth trying?

[Vinorosso74]

That is disgusting and sounds like the breeder doesn't care about the cats only lining their wallet.
Our cat has IBD (amongst a long list of other things) so have tried a few things.
Any diet changes need to be done gradually. There is a probiotic called Prokalin which is a paste you have to put on their tongue so not the easiest, that might help him? Sometimes a course of vitamin B12 injections can help. We have had steroids which worked but now she is diabetic that is out. Now we're using Chlorambucil tablets now and she is doing normal poos. These are a strong medication as they are an immunosupressant often used to treat leukemia/lymphoma so wouldn't recommend them just yet.
Is there a chance he's stressed still? Poor boy. If your mum has the vaccination certificates does that have the previous vet details on it?

[HustleVandango]

Hi really she has tried the paste and is on a diet the vet has recommended for him but this morning it's all coming back up. He has lost a lot of weight.
The vet seems to think the problem is in his small intestine. He's mentioned an operation but added that he doesn't know ''how far they should take it' (the treatments) as they can't give a proper diagnosis. He is often in pain when poo-ing despite it not being solid- but it's the vomiting and weight loss which is the worry. He was wolfing his food so DM is feeding him on a flat surface so he can't Hoover it up so fast :(
He could still be stressed - he's been with her since September 2nd after being mostly caged at the breeders but he was kept in the one room at DM's for the first month and EVERYTHING has been at his pace (obvs).
I think we'll see what the vet says tonight. Thanks all!

[reallyanotherone]

Has the vet done a full blood panel and ruled out Diabetes, thyroid, liver, renal function etc?

Daft question as it should have been the first test, but you don't mention it?

Has he had an abdominal scan?

Has he had a course of antibiotics in case it's an infection?

Just asking as surgery seems a bit drastic. With mine they offered bloods, which I agreed to. Once that was done the differential was pretty much IBD or lymphoma. I refused scan and gut biopsy as the treatment was the same, just if it was lymphoma survival would be about 6m. As he was still alive a year later we ruled it out that way.

[furlinedsheepskinjacket]

oh no how sad x nightmare

my beloved siamese was put to sleep in the summer after a lifetime - 10 years - of ill health which pretty much started as soon as we had him as a kitten

best of luck.its difficult at the vets tbh as they want to investigate which is v hard on the cats

is your breeder from the south of england by any chance?

[Endmoor1405]

I've never owned a Siamese cat (only standard farmyard moggies!) but what you are describing sounds a lot like what our wire-haired Fox Terrier has. They too are known for being very prone to IBS/IBD and we put the same symptoms your DM's cat was displaying down to change of area, change of food and new routine. When it didn't clear up and only appeared worse we took her back to the vets and she was eventually diagnosed with having Giardia from a stool sample. I've had a look and apparently it can also be a problem is cats. It a parasite that causes moderate to severe intestinal upset and has previously made her lose a lot of weight, pass mucus or blood in her stools and they were very liquid and seemingly painful. The bad news is that there is no cure for it- they're stuck with it once they have it. But our puppy's case did respond to a huge dose of wormer over a number of days along with steroids (all vet prescribed). She now infrequently has flare ups which are treated the same. Apparently they usually catch it from being in an area overcrowded with lots of other animals where poop etc is rarely cleared up- usually puppy farms in our case!

I say this because our puppy came from a reputable Fox Terrier breeder who also bred a couple of other Terrier breeds. It wasn't until we had paid for the puppy and returned to pick her up that we realised where we had seen her before and all the areas we had been shown, were not actually where they lived and it would appear she was running a puppy farm. All pups together from several litters with no mum in sight. Never thought anything of it until all her problems became clear!! Possibly something worth looking into if he came from a breeder where this sort of thing is apparently common (even though all their assured schemes probably tell you otherwise- and they probably won't want to know if you try and tell them, The Kennel Club certainly didn't!!).

Hope you get to the bottom of it x

[HustleVandango]

Thank you so much for all your replies - no bloods have been done yet - that's the next stage I think - currently the vet is trying to find something he can keep down. He is bringing up a lot of bile. When she got him the certs show he hadn't been wormed since 2014 so that was one of the first things we did.
The breeder has a lot of cats - loads of show winners etc- and is based in South West - he was caged as unneutered but haven't ruled out possibility of disease spreading but she is still selling them and he is the only one listed as having a 'sensitive tummy' UNDERSTATEMENT
Ù

[HustleVandango]

DM just back from vets. He has lost too much weight so he has been hospitalised and put on a drip. I don't know how she will afford this as she is on pension but it needs to happen I guess. She is very worried

[Vinorosso74]

Oh no poor cat and your poor mum. I hope they can work out what's wrong and get him better as he's only young.
Am still disgusted by the breeder; show winners or not they are clearly not caring for them properly.

[reallyanotherone]

I'd be worried about the vet- high dose steroids, bringing up surgery before even doing bloods and a stool sample?

£1000 in treatment and that doesn't even include basic bloods which would rule out at least 3 things (diabetes, thyroid, renal) that could have these symptoms? And a stool sample that would rule out giardosis as pp said?

I'd be getting a second opinion.

[WetsTheFinger]

Your vet has asked for the cats history from its previous vet surely?

[HustleVandango]

Wets there isn't any history. According to the breeder he was taken only for his innoculations. We've asked the breeder to refer us to his previous vet and she won't.

Really She is seeing a second vet now - they have taken him in as he is dangerously dehydrated. They have taken stool samples (don't envy DM doing that tbh) but haven't done bloods and can't until he is stabilised. He has been very ill - they haven't even microchipped him yet so as not to stress him further. Treatments have been pastes, steroids and lots of very expensive food, repeated trips to vets, tests on stools and worming, neutering etcetc

[HustleVandango]

Really They seem pretty sure it is his smaller intestine but yes, they said they may need invasive surgery including removing part of bowel.

[WetsTheFinger]

If she can't afford the treatment then the kindest thing is to either rehome the cat to someone who can, or to put him to sleep. He sounds very poorly. I am a vet, and obviously I can't judge without examining the cat, but it isn't sounding good. You need to get an estimate for investigations and treatments and then decide if you can afford it or not.

[WetsTheFinger]

And some vets will agree to a payment plan, it's worth asking. Although if she is a new customer they probably won't.

[HustleVandango]

Thanks Wets I know she'll be struggling to sleep tonight without him. I don't think she'll question the price, I think she'll just pay for what needs to be done. I just don't want her struggling and not telling anyone, especially if she's looking at a lifetime of treatments. Thanks for your msg tho, do you think someone else would take him on? He's hard work and financially draining. I'd love to think that was an option over being PTS if DM is really struggling.

[WetsTheFinger]

Only a rich private owner who has a soft spot for poorly or unwanted animals I imagine! Rescues and shelters are all full and would not take him and would advise pts. Let us know the news tomorrow.