Cat vomited blood - so worried

[TheGirlOnTheLanding]

We are seeing the vet at 10 but sitting here with my dear old boy terrified of what is wrong.

He's an old fellow (15) and has had a good life but I have had him since birth and am very attached, as are DH and DDs who obviously came into his life later.

He's been skinny and frequently sick for a while now - the vet did a thorough work up about this time last year and said his thyroid, kidneys etc were all pretty good for his age but older cats often had sensitive tummies. She took out a couple of teeth that were causing problems and we've experimented till we found a senior cat food he can stomach and fed him chicken or fish when even that was making him ill. (He's only ever sick in the morning and we suspected he was wolfing his breakfast too fast.)

But the last few days he's seemed less interested in eating: asking for food then only taking a few mouthfuls at a time and I thought he was looking a bit scruffy which to me is a sign he's not feeling great so made the appointment. Then this morning I came down to find a puddle of liquid with blood in it on the kitchen floor.

So so worried. It's not looking good is it?

He may have torn something by retching hard.

I see you gave him chicken and fish. Is it possible he could have ingested a bit of bone or something which is irritating his stomach?

Anyway - best of luck at 10 this morning. Let us know how he gets on.

Are you certain that that's the orifice it came from? Hope all goes well at the vets X

Good luck for the vet today. He is lucky to have someone who loves him so much.

Thanks everyone.

Cozie, I only give him chicken breast or fish fillets (and he hasn't had any this week) so no, it can't be bone.

Vet says he thinks it might be something called infiltrative enteropathy as his gut feels thickened - he can't feel any tumours which was my worry - but it might be a diffuse cancer which won't show up on blood tests. He suggested biopsies or gastroscopy to check but I am really loath to put him through something so invasive at his age. I also didn't want to wait for investigations before we could start treatment, so we've been given steroids and antibiotics to see if that makes a difference. Unfortunately most of the first dose has been spat onto the kitchen floor now so the next week will be spent perfecting my technique for chucking pills down his neck.

We're not out the woods yet but I'm keeping everything crossed that it's this rather than something sinister (although vet did say it was a difficult thing to treat effectively.) He's a wee sweetheart and I hate to think of him suffering.