I recently commented on an article that discussed causes of vomiting in cats but it did not address my issue. My cat vomits when he eats dry kibble. I’ve been dealing with this chronic vomiting for quite a while and I need to do more about it now. My vet did an ultrasound and everything looked OK. We did an x-ray, bloodwork, and nothing stands out, we’ve done a prednisone injection once because he had a horrible skin eruption along with vomiting. The steroid cleared up the skin and stopped him from vomiting for a long period of time. After around 4 months it started again. We’ve used Cerenia as well. I’ve given him a regular hairball remedy. He has good days and bad days but the bottom line is he’s losing weight overtime. He’s gone from a 17 pound cat to a 14 pound cat in a year. Otherwise he’s happy and doing well. He has a good appetite, no problem with that. I wish he would eat more wet food though. I offer him canned food and lightly cooked frozen defrosted food twice a day. I have water fountains to encourage water drinking. But he wants his kibble. And then after eating it, he vomits. Not every single time but lately it’s been more so . I’ve been considering a specialist but they are suggesting a $3000.00 endoscopy procedure!! I just can’t imagine spending that and putting him through the process, anesthesia especially, he is 14 years old and an indoor only cat. I’d like to try a more holistic approach first, probiotics or… Any thoughts are much appreciated.
regards,
Dianne and Oliver
Hi Dianne,
While I can't diagnose your kitty from here, what you're describing sounds a lot like inflammatory bowel disease to me, especially with the response to a steroid. One problem with diagnosing this illness in cats is that x-rays often look completely normal and findings on ultrasound may be very subtle or even normal. In my experience of doing ultrasounds for several years, there are very few cats that have the significant intestinal thickening or huge lymph nodes that some sonographers are looking for. If ultrasound findings are not clear, your only remaining way to diagnose the condition is with tissue biopsies, the reason that endoscopy has been recommended. The cost sounds about right, at least in my area (DC/metro). I have few clients that will go that route, though I always discuss it because technically the tissue biopsies are the only way to definitively diagnose the condition and differentiate it from small cell lymphoma. But if folks can't do that step, I will work to get patients on a novel protein diet (like rabbit) or a hydrolyzed protein diet. However, sometimes I find that if an inflammatory bowel kitty is losing weight that they may only respond to a steroid. Steroid use generally has to be lifelong to manage IBD. Lifelong steroid use can carry risks, so I always recommend to my clients to check some heart function parameters with a cardiac proBNP blood test and chest x-rays to look at heart size. Even if heart health is not a concern, overweight cats can be prone to developing diabetes with steroid use. This is one reason I prefer to use budesonide prednisolone for inflammatory bowel in cats, which is a steroid that focuses more on the intestinal tract and has fewer systemic effects. If the endoscopy is not an option, I would discuss some of those options with your veterinarian. Many cats with a chronic GI disorder can also benefit from Vitamin B12 supplementation as well as a probiotic. Hope that's helpful.
If the endoscopic biopsies came back supporting IBD, the treatment would be along the same lines, yes. If a biopsy supported, let's say lymphoma, the IBD treatment would not be harmful as steroids will still help, but they may not be as successful, meaning you may continue to see weight loss without adding in another medication.
@chris-vanderhoof Hello and thank you so very much for your reply! My only additional question is, if I were to do the endoscopy and IBD was confirmed the treatment would be the same, correct? And If I treated him without that endoscopy confirmation and he has some other condition such as a cancer, could the IBD treatment be more harmful for him than helpful? I mean if he has a cancer at 14 years I wouldn’t want to make him worse for his remaining time.
Thank you so, so very much Dr. Vanderhoof! I really appreciate you and yes, this was quite helpful. xo