Mystery Illness

[nadia_c]

Nearly 2 year old neutered short hair male Indoor Only cat (we rescued as very ill 2 month old Outdoor foundling kitten when he wandered up from local Creek). Strong possibility was at least half feral due to many feral cats in our rural area. Had severe eye, ear, bronchial infections, mouth ulcers, and rampant ringworm. Negative for feline HIV or feline leukemia when tested. Spent small fortune to make well. Discovered 9 months ago he has habit like a toddler of consuming random **** including eating packing tape off boxes. Took a week of Vet prescribed Pepcid AC and a month of soft foods to heal inner lacerations from vomiting it up. Aprox 6 days ago began furball style constant retching. Some vomiting, contained food. No diarreah, no constipation. Usually pees a ton, noticed  some decrease. Treated with Kittymalt for 3 days to treat suspected furball. Did not help. Over next 2 days (weekend, Vet not open) retching continued. Noticed food intake decreased sharply. Is usually a glutton. Also is usually extremely high energy, but only wanted to sleep. Vomited clear mucas fluid, then yellow fluid (bile?), then plain clear fluid. Also noticed he acted thirsty (asked for fresh water) but refused to drink it. Coaxed him to drink dozen laps of milk, couple bites of favorite people tuna (not cat food). Today (day 6) vomited half-dollar size white foam. Refused tuna, drank only few laps of milk. Called Vet when open, no appointments available. Took to a local Animal Hospital. Vet noticed couple of ulcers in mouth. Temperature normal. Ran Blood Panel and CBC. Everything normal: no dehydration, no liver, kidney, diabetes, pancreas, etc., or similar issues. Vet puzzled. Suspicious perhaps again swallowed/ate something inedible that has not/cannot pass. Did X-ray, negative. Vet prescribed Nutrical paste and water administered with dropper to be given tonight at home. Wanted our return tomorrow for Barium and possible surgery to rule out blockage, but cost is prohibitive. Vet made me sign waiver stating my refusal of procedure against her better judgment. Feel horrible but do not have thousands at our disposal. Have been crying all afternoon, am worried sick. He did lick 2 tsp of Nutrical and let me administer squirts of water with dropper but still retching. Got perkier for very short time, now just sleeping again. No vomit as of yet but has only been a couple of hours. Do symptoms sound like an obstruction? Or inflamation of some sort?

[Savas]

My first thought on what's likely is scarring of the digestive track from previous incidents of swallowing non-digestible objects. The enema would likely have shown if this was the case if they were planning on x-raying again as well.

Usually the treatment in this case is steroidal and if necessary, surgical.

I would assume it's FCV (feline Calicivirus) as the sores and bronchial issues are classic symptoms, but surely your vet tested for this? It's VERY common and there are numerous strains, varying from a treatable irritant to life threatening.

the best I can suggest if you can't take kitty back due to funds is switch him to a liquid diet (get one of the milk replacers from the pet store). Use a feeding syringe if necessary. Hopefully if it's just episodic, it will pass in a few days to a week. If this is the case, I would take kitty in as soon as you can afford to to check if this is a treatable, manageable condition.

[nadia_c]

Forgot to add he has slightly swollen lymph nodes but Vet's blood tests ruled out infections...