Another Update on Smokey's Unexplained Weight Loss

[dbg10]

Previous posts are Unexplained weight loss in 6 yr old male cat and Update on Smokey's Unexplained Weight Loss

I thought I had the situation in hand but it seems the last couple of days he's been vomiting again. No loud meow's though before he vomits so I assume he isn't in pain.

I have been giving him Merrick's Grammy's Pot Pie after trying Wellness chicken and NV Instinct Chicken Formula and having him vomit or ignore the food. I wanted to get him on all canned because he seems to digest it better than a mixture of canned and dry.

When I started the Grammy's Pot Pie he had no problems with it and didn't seem to be vomiting at all. He had gained 1 1/2 lbs when he was last at the vet and I thought we were on the road to having him gain the weight back. However in the past two weeks we have had the flu and he has been fed what the other cats are eating both dry and wet most days but mostly dry. I wasn't able to keep him on the Grammy's Pot Pie consistently until the last couple of days. He also seems to have lost weight again and is feeling boney again. Yesterday and today I gave him Grammy's Pot Pie and he immediately started vomiting and continued throughout yesterday vomiting 4 more times. Today he has vomited 3 times immediately after eating the Grammy's Pot Pie. So I don't see how it can be anything else that's making him vomit.

Does anyone have any other food suggestions? It looks like I'm probably going to have to have that Xray done by the vet but I find it odd that he was doing so well before having his diet changed. While his diet was changed to mostly dry he did not vomit at all. I do have a can of Before Grain left, and plan to give it to him tonight to see if that stays down. It did the last time I gave it to him.

Any suggestions would be helpful. I'm wondering if the Grammy's Pot Pie was too drastic a change for his system when I started it again 2 days ago? but I've never found my cats to react to food changes.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Have you tried Innova Evo? They have a grain-free line that includes 95% Chicken & Turkey canned and if you suspect an intolerance to a specific ingredient a grain-free novel protein like 95% Duck or their 95% Venison would be worth a try. The canned is pate style, most cat even the picky ones will like the Evo it's higher in protein than many other canned foods so has that real-meat appeal for cats.

Has your vet done specific pancreas testing? I would ask about running the fPLI Feline Pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity test even though all his other bloodwork can back normal.

Feline Pancreatitis from Veterinary Partner

[growler~GateKeeper]

Was the Calcium level in normal range on the blood tests?

The symptoms you are describing could also be from Hypercalcemia which can be a result of an acidifying diet such as MediCal's SO.

Some info here on Feline Idiopathic Hypercalcemia.

There is a test more accurate than a regular blood test called a Serum Ionized Calcium test, you might want to ask your vet about this one.

[dbg10]

Thanks Growler. No I haven't tried Evo yet though I did look at the ingredients and it is on my list to try. He seemed to be doing fine on the Grammy's Pot Pie until he went through those days when his diet wasn't watched Sad to say that is my fault but we were so sick it was hard to feed them at all. Then when I went back to it he started vomiting again several times a day. That continued for three days even though I had tried not to give him as much of it and mixed it with the Before Grain chicken. The BG chicken is just pure chicken and water for processing so can't be relied on to give him a complete diet.

Yesterday I tried the Before Grain alone and he seemed to tolerate that ok and hasn't vomited for 2 days now. I thought that the Grammy's Pot Pie might be too much for his system because it has veggies and all sorts of stuff in it and maybe that was the problem.

We did have a problem with turkey too, I found during the elimination phase that the only thing he could tolerate, was chicken alone. Every other type of meat product he vomited after. I have to take one of my other cats to the vet next week so I'll be discussing him again with her.

Pancreatitis is a thought that I will bring up, but his liver enzymes should have been abnormal as well as any tests for inflammation that were all absolutely normal. His calcium was also normal but I plan to ask my vet to do more specific testing for thyroid as I have found in my research that the T4 can remain normal in some cases where there is the animal is hyperthyroid. When the blood tests were done I was really expecting something to at least be borderline or definitely abnormal but all of the results were in the middle of the normal range with no hints at all of what his problem is. My vet is thinking mechanical or a blockage, but again there should be at least some indication from his blood work. My vet is as puzzled as I am and the next step is to xray his belly.

Seemed things were going so well there for a couple of months and he gained over a pound so I'm really hoping I can find a food that will again let him gain weight so he doesn't have to go through the xray.

I'll let you know what happens when I try the Evo. It may be the answer.