Sick with worry- what is wrong?

[SammySays]

Our boy is 14 & over the last 6 months has steadily been losing weight. He has gone from 6.18kg to 3.4kg (losing 400g over the last 3 weeks so he’s dropping it fast). He has had vomiting for the last 6 months which went from once every couple of weeks to chronic sickness each day- this is completely liquid and is projectile vomiting. We have had every test you can imagine at the vets, blood tests, scans, x-rays and they don’t know what is causing it. Kidneys looks good, liver looks good, thyroid is good, no tumours etc. Vet suggested IBD and put him on royal canine sensitive food with steroid injections. Sickness has calmed right down and he is eating very well (he has never lost his appetite) but as I said above he has lost another 400g over the last 3 weeks. His fur is also not growing back since being shaved for all these tests.

I don’t know what to do. The vet is frustrated as they can’t find what’s wrong and I’ve spent over £1k in tests. I wondered if anyone else might have any ideas or have been in a similar situation?

I look after an elderly cat who is a bit like this, but he's nearly 20 so at a bit of a different stage of life. He's technically got nothing wrong with him (aside from deafness and some dementia) but he's incredibly skinny despite a big appetite.

I'm sorry you're experiencing this, it's so worrying when they're unwell

Sorry you're going through this, op. It could just be natural ageing. 14 isn't old but also isn't that young unfortunately. You could get further testing - MRI scans etc but that will run into many thousands. Has the vet suggested that?
Is he happy in himself and getting around ok? Managing to toilet outside or in his litter tray? Grooming as usual? It might just be the time to give him a rest from the vets, give him the best food you can afford a ton of love and wait and see. I think once you see quality of life diminish and toileting becoming difficult you then have to think about what's best for them going forward. Our last girl lost weight and had tests that showed nothing and wasn't too bad for a few months until she started getting wobbly legs, stopped grooming and starting peeing under the bed. She was such a proud cat and always well groomed and had never peed anywhere other than her tray. We knew that was a sign she had had enough.
I really hope he perks up xx

@TastyLikeARaindrop our boy seems weak compared to how he was previously. He has weakness in his back legs which the vet has said is likely arthritis so he has monthly Solensia injections. That was the first sign that his health was deteriorating. He just seems to be going downhill so fast. He is toileting well but overall he seems generally weak, lethargic and unwell. There has been no suggestion of putting him to sleep as yet although I hate to see him so obviously out of sorts. I just wish we knew exactly what was causing all of his symptoms. I think I’m going to need to take him for a second opinion. I don’t want him to suffer but I also can’t let him go without knowing we have done everything we can to get to the bottom of this. Like your girl, ours has always been so beautiful and well groomed but he hasn’t been grooming himself lately.

so sorry to hear about your girl xx

Sorry to hear about your kitty - it's heartbreaking when they're not well.

We took our ancient guy to the vet in tears on several occasions expecting the pts conversation, but in the end, we didn't have to.

That cat fought tooth and nail to live. He came to us as a stray aged around 8, and he was living his best life with us and he wasn't relinquishing it easy!

Our guy had weak back legs for a few years - can't remember how long - and it was sad when he couldn't get upstairs any more. Though he did surprise us one day by making it! He was blind in one eye (blame a stupid vet for that!), had several episodes of vestibular disease, epileptic, arthritic and eventually diabetic and still he fought on.

He'd only been able to groom his face, bib and front paws for a very long time. We had to cut tats out for him. I think what kept him going for so long (he was at least 20 when he died!) was that he loved his food, and only stopped eating the day before he passed away. He had his first episode of vestibular disease one Christmas and though he could barely stand, he scoffed turkey like it was going out of fashion!!

He actually put weight on in the last few weeks of his life!

I tried to get him a litter tray that he could access more easily but the only one I could find was on Amazon US! Had to get it sent to a contact in NY but it was too late to help him by the time I got it. I've since noticed seed trays in a garden centre that I think might have made it easier for him. That might be an option, given the arthritis?

Our boy was doubly incontinent at the end, and omg it was hard going! But he still didn't want to go, and the vet agreed. (I had him at the vet two days before he died, and he agreed it wasn't time yet).

Hopefully your boy will perk up x

We let our boy go tonight. The vet advised it was the kindest thing for him now. I’m devastated and our house feels so empty without him

SammySays

I'm so sorry 💐. You did the kindest thing for your gorgeous boy. There's not much anyone can say that can help with the pain. Just take each day as it comes xx

@TastyLikeARaindrop thank you for your kind words xx

My old boy had the weight loss and was very quiet, had alll the tests but nothing found, had to go to overnight care and they found a tumour straight away, no option but pts. Hope you don’t have a similar outcome. Cost us a lot at vet for no diagnosis, then had to pay the hospital. From my experience would ask for a second opinion. We were also fobbed off with ibs. Wishing your puss all the best

I am so desperately sorry

@Mumsgirls we never got a confident diagnosis but in the end the vets felt it was likely some form of cancer so treated aggressively with steroids etc. he just continued to deteriorate and whether they found the cause the treatment/outcome would have been the same because he just wasn’t responding to treatment and was in pain. We made the hard decision yesterday to put him to sleep. We tried everything we could and couldn’t bear to watch him suffer anymore. We are unbelievably sad to be without him. So sorry to hear about your boy xx