Wut, is she taking me somewhere again?!?
Toffee is about 10 years old and was part of a group of 3 cats living rough on the mountain when I moved into my house. Unfortunately the other 2 died before they could be caught but Toffee was bolder and used to come into to my house to try and get food and I eventually caught him after 6 months. He's always had this habit of pulling his hair out with his teeth and we could never understand why. It's not a flea allergy and so it was thought to be behavioural but it got a lot worse recently. The darker hair in the picture is hair growing back after he pulled it all out. He was also licking his lower belly a lot, something he hadn't done before and acting aggressive towards his housemates.
He also started vomiting large hairballs and being picky with his food so it was time to go to the vet. The vet suggested that he could have IBD and gave him painkillers and anti-nausea and we changed his diet. There was some improvement but he was still having episodes of vomiting and his appetite got worse. This time there was nobody available to drive him so I gave him a large dose of Gabapentin and took him in. His neck was shaved and blood tests done which showed normal kidney and liver function and he was negative for pancreatitis, FIV and FELV. The vet was sticking to the diagnosis of inflammation in his intestines and suggested that he get an ultrasound as the next step. When he got home, he ate very well for the first time, under the influence of the gabapentin, which is also a painkiller so his painkiller dose was increased and I hunted around to get him a specialist consultation at a reasonable rate.
First they stole the hair on my neck, then they stole all my belly hair. I'm glad it's warmer these days
Off to the veterinary practice that repaired Simba's leg fracture where he got his belly shaved and his organs viewed via ultrasound.
The answer that came back was not one we had on our bingo card: there is some intestinal inflammation but also what looks like a kidney stone, a failing left kidney and a bladder full of crystals and we were told to analyse his urine and x-ray his kidneys. Poor Toffee: he had to go with me on the scooter to work yesterday so that I could drop him off at the vet to spend the day there so they could get a urine sample when his bladder became full and x-ray him. Now I wait for the results, I'll get an answer on Monday.
Toffee isn't a cat with Idiopathic Cystitis, that's Peanut's specialty but we need to figure out what kind of crystals he has in his bladder and whether they can be dissolved with a special diet, some types can, and if he does have a kidney stone, it can't be dissolved and will need monitoring and he will need a lot of painkillers. 2024 is definitely the year that my cats bankrupt me...
Gratuitous Peanut picture