Great news about Simon

[janelle]

Yes, I did, and amazingly he likes it. PETCO has CORE and I got that, they didn't have the other.

I also upped his meds to 3 times a day---the max I can give him. He is keeping it down.

Right now he is trying to keep me from whistling. He jumped up and put his body over my mouth to stifle me. LOL He always comes when I whistle so I do have a good way of finding him but he also doesn't like me to do it. LOL

Sorry for not posting earlier.

[Catty1]

SO glad to hear this! Has Simon been on it long enough for you to tell if it is helping his fur-pulling?

Hugs and prayers for Simon! You is a GOOD meowmie!

[janelle]

No I don't think I will know if he stops pulling until the hair starts to grow back in. Only time will tell on that.

I really don't care if he needs to do that if it easies his anxiety or whatever just as long as he starts to gain weight, which he should if he keeps his food down. Thanks so much.

[janelle]

Well Simon is off his food again. Now he is skin and bones. Took him back to the vet 3 days ago. They gave him a shot of steroids. If he had IBS it should make the inflammation go away and he will start to eat again. So far he isn't so we are force feeling him. We are also giving him a tab of steroids but so far haven't seen any improvement. He hasn't had liver issues so can be thankful about that.

I guess I need to know just how much doctoring I should put him through. I told my hubby as long as we can help him I think we should do it but we can't be out a lot of money and him not getting better at all. I think surgery would be out since it is so expensive.

He hates to be forced fed and hides. Tonight we could hardly find him, he hides in a new place so we can't find him easy. It breaks my heart to force him to take meds and food but still see him whither away.

What have you done when you were faced with this---anyone?

[Medusa]

I've not had to force feed any of my cats so far but I just wanted to give you my encouragement. I know how rough it must be for you and Simon. Keep the faythe.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm sorry to hear this. I had a cat,Starr, who had IBD with severe diarrhea and he was on the pill form of prednisolone. Sadly I had to end up putting him down on 7-1-09 because his poor little body was starting to give out.

Now my oldest cat Storm who will be 14 in Jan. has also been diagnosed with IBD but he vomits. He's also been taking pred in pill form but was still having some problems until I also started giving him pepcid at night. All if his blood work, x-rays, ultrasound looked fine so my vet is still a bit puzzled over why he was continuing to vomit. He's on 5mg of pred in the morning and 5mg of pepcid at night. The pred makes his very hungry. My vet doesn't like giving steroid shots in cases with IBD because she says they don't work as well as the pill form.

I've had to force feed a few cats in the past and it's not an easy thing to do. I've used Hills A/D which you can easily mix with water and then use a large syringe to squeeze it into the cats mouth. Usually more food goes on you and the cat than in their mouth though. I hope that things will get better. Good luck. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent your way.

[janelle]

I feel like I am just waiting until Simon's body gives out as well. So far he won't eat and hides when we go to give him meds. He is so smart he knows when it is time for them. Last night we looked all through the house for him and finally found him behind the desk in a little opening. He hates being forced fed so much. He weighs 8 pounds now down from 12 or more. A lot for a cat.

I opened a can of tuna (his favorite) a while ago but he won't even drink the liquid. He doesn't act like he is in pain though and just wants to hide away and sleep.

The vet looked at the inside of his ears and his third eyelid to see if it is turning yellow which means liver damage. So far it isn't.

He is on Hills A/D. We got the can food and force feeding him that. He still talks to us and is not in bad shape so I hate to end it for him. I hope he can perk up or the vet can do something for him. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts. It helps.

[krazyaboutkatz]

If you can afford it, you may want to have some more specific blood tests done on him. I did this with my Storm and he was finally diagnosed today with small intestinal disease. He's low in folate so I'm starting him on 400 mcg of Folic Acid each day for 6 weeks and continuing his 5mg of pred for 4 weeks. Hopefully this will do the trick. Vitamin B12 is also supposed to help increase a cats appetite. You may want to ask your vet about this.

[janelle]

Well have been dealing with his nausea for about 2 years. He always had a sensitive stomach but it got worse as time went by.

I have taken him to the vet a lot of times. At first the shot did some good and he went back to eating. It has just gotten gradually worse over time.

They did want to operate on him to see if he had a tumor but I didn't want to put him through that trauma. I chose to go the non-envasive route to see if it helped him. The A/D food helped and he kept it down. Now he doesn't even want to eat. We are force feeding the canned A/D twice a day.

I guess he needs to go back to the vet again. He said they could do more blood tests. I hope it shows something that is treatable.

[janelle]

Simon goes back to the vet today. Not sure what they will try next. We have been force feeding him all week. He still does not want to eat and I read cats can completely stop eating. Then they die of starvation or liver damage.

I got info online on how to force feed and how much. The vet said something about a feeding tube but it would be inserted into his stomach---not a good thing. Others online have suggested having the vet do a endoscope exam to look at his digestive system. I'll have to see what the vet suggests now.

So far Simon has been in pretty good spirits and wanting to go out. He is an indoor cat but he likes to go out. I supervise him and it is cold here and that makes it worse.

[Catty1]

I hope something simple is found, that can be treated. The three of you have been through a LOT, little Simon not the least.

I hope it might be something as simple as a sore tooth...


Hugs and prayers for you and hubby and Simon.

[janelle]

The vet didn't give me much hope today. He said they can do a biopsy. They can't do the endoscope here in town, we would need to go to another city since they do not have the small one here for cats. The biopsy involves opening him about 4 or 5 inches to see inside his stomach. If it is a tumor they can do chemo and it would cost around 1500 plus surgery. If he indeed has IBD we will be back to square one treating symptoms since there is not a cure.

He suspects the treatment with the steroids may have caused stomach ulcers but he needs the shots---it's a vicious circle. He could have inserted a feeding tube but it can cause problems as well. It helps him with the feeding and he won't fight us so much but the tube is on his neck and it will bother him.

He said some cats get anorexic when they are sick and refuse to eat. They get liver disease though and die of that. They gave him a steroid shot again so we don't need to give him the pill, one less thing to make him take. they also injected some fluid since he is dehydrated.

For now I will force feed him and try to encourage him to eat but it may not help. He lost a whole pound this week from not eating except for what we gave him. No water either. His food has water but he doesn't drink from his bowl anymore.

I don't know how long we can do this but we are willing to give it a try and see what happens. Thank you all for your concern and prayers. It's helping us all.

[Medusa]

I'm sorry. I wish it was better news. Prayers are still continuing. Keep the faythe. (((HUGS)))

[columbine]

{hug!} I hope Simon's feeling better soon.

Love, Columbine

[Catty1]

HUGE PT Prayers for Simon!