The mystery of Oliver the cat

Oliver has a vet appointment at 11:30 on Friday to get a full blood panel done along with a fructose add on test and a urinalysis. I posted in a different thread about doxycycline but his condition is getting worse and I need to get to the bottom of it. I've been googling so much I'm dizzy! Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what could be happening with him. Here is a list of what he has going on:

Oliver is about 11 and we've had him for over 9 years, (we found him homeless and adopted him)

He has always been slender but is a big boned cat and extremely long. He loves to eat and always has.

He has always had the herpes virus and it seems to lay dormant but he has a break out if he is stressed and then starts sneezing and gets hot to the touch and lethargic. I treat him and my other cats who have it with Lysine when this happens (500mg per day) for about a week and then everyone seems to do fine. We've had alot of realty showings in the past year while trying to sell our house so it meant lots of packing up of the cats and dogs to clear out for the realtor and every time it created an 'outbreak' because it was very stressful for them. And we just moved so needless to say, that too was hard on them.

A year and a half ago Oliver started coughing and so did his roomie George. George already has breathing issues (the vets think it's due to food allergies) so we got George to the vet and they did a PCR throat swab test on him and he was diagnosed with mycoplasma. No idea how he got it, they are all indoor cats (but they do have an outdoor enclosure). George and Oliver were prescribed Doxycycline. It worked but then the cough came back months later and the vet re-prescribed the doxy. And then the cough came back months later and we tried another drug (can't remember the name) but it didn't work. So I took both cats to a new vet in January of this year and they did another PCR test on both cats but this time a blood serum test and both tested negative for mycoplasma. But the vet sent us home with more doxy because it had worked in the past so it was worth another try we thought. They also had CBC blood tests done but no chemistry tests. The vet suggested we do that and stupidly I didn't have them run the full panel in an effort to save money (which would have only been an extra 60.00 per cat). And now I'm bringing Oliver to have it all done again which will be 250.00. My own fault. The vet also tested his thyroid in January and said it was normal.

Oliver is losing weight, voraciously hungry and drinking frequently and for minutes at a time. I've thought about congestive heart failure but one of the symptoms is loss of appetite so I don't think that's it.

I had thought it must be hyperthyroidism but the recent T4 test has ruled that out. So that could leave kidney issues and/or diabetes, neither of which are good. Or it could be parasites but I treated both Oliver and George (they share a litter box) with Strongid over a week ago and will retreat at two weeks time but I have not seen any evidence of worms in their box or on their bums or in any throw up. :p

I'm wondering if Oliver may have a food allergy that is causing the weight loss but it doesn't explain the excess drinking. And I was wondering if he might have Endocrine Pancreatic Insuffiency that can be treated with enzymes but cats with this almost always have sloppy poop and that is not the case for Oliver.

I had been trying to tie the cough to the weight loss but now I'm wondering if the two might be entirely separate illnesses. I didn't know this until tonight but I just read that one of the symptoms for herpes can be coughing so it could just be a chronic cough associated with that. Which brings me to my biggest fear, that I may have caused Oliver to have kidney problems by treating him 3 times with Doxycycline. :( And perhaps he didn't need it. The very first batch of doxy I got from the vet was a pale orange colour (tablets), almost beige. The next time they gave it to me, it was bright orange. I googled it and found that expired doxy will have a pale colour and learned that expired doxy can cause kidney problems. So I'm worried this may have happened but that would have been a year and a half ago. But since then he's received Doxy two more times and he's on it now. But I will stop those meds and talk to the vet about it on Friday.

So I'm just trying to solve this mystery and the bloodwork will likely tell us what is happening but if anyone else has some thoughts, that would be great. I'm so worried. :(

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A food allergy wouldn't, by itself, cause the loss of weight or the excess drinking, it would only cause weight loss if he stopped eating because of it. I, a human with food allergies, can attest to that. I have had food allergies that caused vomiting, diarrhea and anaphylactic type reactions - mine run the gamut, depending on which substance it is I ingest. Yes, when I stop eating entirely for a couple days, I am sure I lose a bit of weight, but nothing long-term like he seems to be experiencing.

I am glad you have a vet appointment set up, if they are not able to give you answers, of course, ask for a recommendation for someone else.

Hopefully you can get some answers on this next vet visit.

When Myndi was first diagnosed with "aging kidney issues" - not kidney failure, she was drinking huge amounts of water, her appetite was still good, but she was losing weight. After she went on the K/D low protein dog food, she was pretty much back to normal. All of that transpired about 3 years ago and she continues to do good on that maintenance diet.

Of course another thing comes to mind - diabetes. I had 2 Lhasas years ago that were diabetic and did fairly well on insulin - tho one better than the other who was a real nightmare to try to regulate. I also had a Siamese cat with it many years before those dogs, but was diagnosed much too late to do anything about it.

Sparky had congestive heart failure, but didn't drink large amounts of water until he was put on a diuretic - and that boy never lost his appetite until close to the very end. Of course the cough was there, but no meds ever got rid of that.

I think it sounds more like a kidney issue, but the coughing has me stumped.....

I hope you get to the bottom of this mystery and Oliver gets better soon. I have no ideas or suggestions. I just wanted to comment on how beautiful Oliver and George are. George reminds me of my RB guy, Taz. Such big handsome guys you have there!

Thanks for the responses. :)

I took Oliver to the vet this morning (and George rode along in the cage with him for moral support). The vet asked me to take away his litter box first thing this morning because she wanted him to have a full bladder. When we got to the clinic they rolled him onto his back and used a needle to get some urine out but at the same time poor Ollie started peeing. It was kind of a race for the vet to collect urine with the syringe before Ollie peed it all out! They also drew some blood to send off to the lab and results are supposed to be in on Saturday. I'm praying it's something we can manage and that he will have a good long time ahead with us. George needs him too. George was a semi-feral cat when we adopted him. He was going to be euthanized because no home could be found for him so we offered to take him. We adore hm and he is such a character but for some reason, he hates every single one of our other cats but he LOVES Oliver. He dislikes the other cats so much that he attacks them very aggressively and we have to keep him separate from them for their safety. But with us and with Oliver, he is a sweetheart. Oliver mixes with everybody and likes to visit with all our cats but he spends the majority of his time with his buddy George. So I'm also praying that all will be well because I don't want George to have to be alone without a feline companion.

Karen, thanks for the info. It's good to know more about allergies. I'm sorry to hear that you are dealing with them. Sounds like I can rule it out for a cause for losing weight because he is still eating many meals a day and quite hungry.

Pomtzu, if Oliver has kidney issues, I hope that like your dog, it will be 'kidney ageing' related issues and not kidney failure. I found your post really encouraging. I remember feeding my RB cat Jade Hills K/D dry kibble and she loved it. She too had kidney issues but not failure when first diagnosed. She was diagnosed at about 17 years old and lived until 21. The last 2 years I had to give her sub-q fluids once a week to keep her hydrated and it made a big difference along with the K/D food.

Taz Zoee, thanks for that. I think they are very handsome too with their stripes and spots. I think George might be part bengal. Both cats were tossed away by somebody- don't know how anyone wouldn't want them, they are wondeful and we are so blessed to have them in our family. I'll post a funny photo of George below playing with his catnip mouse.

I'll post an update about Ollie once I have one. Thanks again for your responses.

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Sending you all our prayers and good wishes for Oliver, and for George too, that they will both be with you (and with each other) for a long time.

My Sydney had kidney disease, and he kept going for years with subcutaneous fluid and kidney prescription diet food (Purina NF was the one he liked best).

{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}} and ~~~~~~~PURRS~~~~~~~ and :love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:,
Pat and cats

The vet called yesterday to say that Oliver is not diabetic but he is showing some renal insufficiency. His urine specific gravity was 1.011 but she said it should be around 1.045 and 1.050. I don't know alot about this so I'll have to do some online reading. I've had a cat who was diagnosed with this who seemed fine but it was picked up on some pre-dental bloodwork, otherwise we would not have known. She went on to live for many more years until she got progressively worse and stopped eating but she was 21. But this was 10 years ago so maybe there is more info to learn these days.

The vet said his BUN was slightly elevated and his creatinine was creeping up but still in a normal-ish range. His white blood cell count was normal but his monocytes were a little higher than should be indicating some 'inflammation' somewhere.

It seems so surprising that he could lose so much weight just from kidney issues. His hip points are sticking out and I can feel his spine. The vet felt that this could be the reason though and we can't seem to find any other reason. I'm supposed to limit his protein but it seems like a catch 22 because he needs to also gain weight. The vet said I should focus on a high quality protein and to give him some probiotics. I asked her about giving him Hills K/D for kidney issues and she said he wasn't there yet and didn't need that diet as of now.

I'm relieved that he does not have diabetes and relieved that he doesn't have serious renal problems yet but I'm still very worried about how skinny he is and he eats so much! She said that is one of the problems with kidney issues like this because the body doesn't use the protein the way it should.

Well, I'd better get researching here and find out what high quality proteins are out there so I can help get Oliver straightened out. I want to check out the CRF site felinecrf.com. It has quite a bit of info available.

Just wanted to post a quick update about Oliver. :)

Oliver and George are such gorgeous boys and I hope they can be together for years to come! I can see how it's a catch 22, since Oliver needs to gain weight, but I hope you will find a perfect diet for him, or possibly some medicine that will help. :)

Sending you hugs - and kisses for George and Oliver. :love:

Hopefully you've found the problem for Oliver. I do hope that he and George can spend many more years together. I know how hard it is when there is one cat that doesn't get along with anyone else. I'm glad they have each other and you.

Can't go wrong with fresh chicken and eggs, Lara. I don't know if you'll find what you're looking for in a commercial cat food - you just might have to start cooking for Oliver. :)

Thanks everybody for your posts and kind words. I'm hoping to find out some good information from the petstore when I go there in a few days to see what different types of quality protein foods they have available. And if I don't find anything suitable, chicken and eggs it is! :) But hopefully I can find some canned and dry food that will work well for him. And I'm going to see if Oliver's cough subsides with Lysine. He just coughs every now and again but it bothers him. All this time, I never knew coughing was a symptom of the upper respiratory herpes virus in cats! I knew he had this virus but didn't make the connection about the coughing. So I'll keep on with the Lysine and see if that helps.

For now, Oliver has a huge appetite which to me, seems like a symptom but the bloodwork and urinalysis and exam didn't show anything else going on. But he is so ravenous, it is odd. But at least he is eating rather than not eating. So I'm grateful for that.

As long as my stripey boys can have more time together and with us, that will be a blessing. Thanks again everybody. :)

Wilderness cat foods are high in protein and lots of other good things! I highly recommend this brand!

Thanks for the recommendation on the Wilderness food. I went to the petstore and oh my gosh, there are so many different foods for cats!! I ended up getting a bag of dry grain free Chicken and Green pea (George can eat this too- he has allergies but this food will work for him). I'm going to also pick up some higher protein wet food (higher than the not so great Friskies wet food Oliver's been getting) tomorrow because I've been reading online and found this really interesting article that talks about how western medicine might have it wrong in prescribing low protein food for kidney cats. It also recommends acupuncture. I wish I had the funding for that but for now that will have to wait. But I might look into the herbal treatment in conjunction with the mostly wet, high protein food. If you read the article it writes about two types of kidney problems, 'inflammatory' and/or 'deficient/ischemic'. The vet didn't say which he had but just said 'kidney insufficiency' although she did mention that the bloodwork showed some inflammation 'somewhere' in his body. If he has the inflammatory type, the vet who wrote the article advises medium protein (not low though) along with acupuncture and herbs.

If anyone's interested or has a cat with kidney issues, here is the article:

http://www.allthebestpetcare.com/kid...ilure-in-cats/

Seems to make sense and I'm going to try this approach with Ollie. Hoping this will help him out a bit.

Lara - I had also heard that the thinking on giving a dog or cat with kidney issues a low protein diet was no longer carved in stone, and that the new school of thought is to give good quality pure protein. I brought this up with Myndi's vet and she said that she is not sold on the idea at this time - and it also depends on the animal and all the factors considered. Being that Myndi is so old and is doing well on the canned K/D - I'm all for leaving well enough alone. If she was younger, perhaps I would do more research on it and consider a change, but she's 17 and still going, so I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Sending good thoughts for Oliver - hope he likes his new food.

First of all- there is no reason why you shouldn't have Oliver for a long time to come. You know that Filou had this condition and survived it for 5 years! My vet said at that time that it is important that the cat eats or it begins to digest its own proteine which gets him to lose even more weight. So I am more on the high quality- delicious food line.
As the illness processes sub-q fluids may be necessary. Filou went every week to the vet for that but with a more relaxed cat (and a not so squeamish owner) you can administer them yourself.
Best of lucks with Oliver :)

Hi Lara: My little kitty Zoe is 12 years old and a bundle of energy! She wasn't getting bony - but I sure didn't want her any thinner. I got a high calorie wet food from the vet, but see if your pet store has some too. It has helped!

Pomtzu- I think the K/D food is good. It sure worked well for my cat Jade who had kidney issues for years. She loved it and wasn't losing weight on it. I think if Ollie was not so thin, I'd probably go the K/D route as it worked so well in the past. But I'll see if I can get him to put on a bit of weight.

Candace- that sounds like a good idea about the high calorie food. I did buy 2 cans of A/D from the vet a few weeks ago but holy smokes is it expensive! 2.50 a can. He liked it one day but not the next. But I've heard that there is a Wellness (I think) high calorie chicken wet food that I could get from the petstore that I'll check out.

Barbara- My hope is that Ollie won't need the fluids for awhile but when he does, I'll be able to help him from home thankfully. I used to give my cat Jade 100cc's once a week sub-q at home and it made such a difference in her life and allowed us to have her for a longer period which was great. Thanks for the encouraging words. I really do hope that we have some more years with him.

I didn't realize it until recently but George, Oliver's best friend is drinking a ton of water. I've been so focused on Oliver that I didn't notice that George was drinking even more than Oliver. I'm in the process of saving up for the blood work and analysis for George now. It's crazy how fast the money goes at the clinic. Close to 800.00 on both these guys in less than 2 months. But I have myself to blame because when I first brought them both in, I could have had the full geriatric blood panels done on both cats and chose to only do the CBC's and t-4 but everything we need to know now (kidney and diabetes) is in the full panel. Live and learn. :rolleyes:

Thanks for all the ideas and comments.