1/27 Lucy Hospitalized

Emily & Lucy

Emily & Lucy

Member Since 2025
Previous Thread

First off: Lucy is okay!!!

Making that very clear, she's coming home today! I just need a place to really gather my thoughts, a lot has happened in the past few days. I do apologize that her spreadsheet is out of date, I haven't been able to update it because of what has been happening.

Lucy's health has been rocky lately and we're slowly trying to figure out the root cause. The symptoms are that she vomits, occasionally has diarrhea, eats very little, and is lethargic. We believe she has very bad stomach pain. Vet prescribed Gabapentin (which is an anti-anxiety, but also helps with pain relief). Still lethargic, still vomits, still refusing to eat, brought her into the vet clinic to get her stabilized.

They did a chemistry and an x-ray. The x-ray didn't find anything conclusive, but there IS shadowing that shows she has something in her intestines upsetting her (we don't know what). It also shows she has early-on Kidney Disease. We're going to test her B12 levels so we can narrow down food options - from what I understand if her vitamin intake is low then we can cross off some issues as possibilities.

I just gotta find a food that's:

1. High Protein, Low Carb
2. Good for Sensitive Stomachs
3. Helps the Kidney's
4. Wet Food to help her Dental Issues.

And maybe some other stuff to help with her vitamin intake and such. The vet warned me she may never reach remission due to how much she has going on, but honestly? I'm just asking for another 5 years with her. I don't care if she is diabetic for the rest of those 5 years, just don't take my baby away too soon.

Everyone keep her in your thoughts, I mostly just want comfort through these times and not advice haha.

I don't know specific dates, but Lucy is about 11 years old now. She was born end-of-January / early-February, I adopted her at the end of March 2015. Attached some Lucy Pic for good luck :]
 

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Sending all the healing vines for Lucy 🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃

I see you’re in Canada too! I’ve been looking for a similar diet change - for the kidneys and low carbs. Tiki Cat has some good options, their after dark pate + or even their after dark velvet mousse. Thought I’d mention just in case! I can link you a good food chart if you want.

Lucy is lucky to have you!!
 
Emily & Lucy said:
Previous Thread

First off: Lucy is okay!!!

Making that very clear, she's coming home today! I just need a place to really gather my thoughts, a lot has happened in the past few days. I do apologize that her spreadsheet is out of date, I haven't been able to update it because of what has been happening.

Lucy's health has been rocky lately and we're slowly trying to figure out the root cause. The symptoms are that she vomits, occasionally has diarrhea, eats very little, and is lethargic. We believe she has very bad stomach pain. Vet prescribed Gabapentin (which is an anti-anxiety, but also helps with pain relief). Still lethargic, still vomits, still refusing to eat, brought her into the vet clinic to get her stabilized.

They did a chemistry and an x-ray. The x-ray didn't find anything conclusive, but there IS shadowing that shows she has something in her intestines upsetting her (we don't know what). It also shows she has early-on Kidney Disease. We're going to test her B12 levels so we can narrow down food options - from what I understand if her vitamin intake is low then we can cross off some issues as possibilities.

I just gotta find a food that's:

1. High Protein, Low Carb
2. Good for Sensitive Stomachs
3. Helps the Kidney's
4. Wet Food to help her Dental Issues.

And maybe some other stuff to help with her vitamin intake and such. The vet warned me she may never reach remission due to how much she has going on, but honestly? I'm just asking for another 5 years with her. I don't care if she is diabetic for the rest of those 5 years, just don't take my baby away too soon.

Everyone keep her in your thoughts, I mostly just want comfort through these times and not advice haha.

I don't know specific dates, but Lucy is about 11 years old now. She was born end-of-January / early-February, I adopted her at the end of March 2015. Attached some Lucy Pic for good luck :]
Click to expand...
She's such a beautiful girl. I love that white streak on her face!

Also, I hear you about wanting more good years, whether diabetic or not. Gen's about 6 months older than Lucy (it's an estimate, though; he was about 1 when he was found and I adopted him, and that was August 2015). Sometimes when I tell someone this, they get this look like "ah, yes, I see; he's old and sick." 11 is not that old!

I imagine the answer is yes, but did your vet test for pancreatitis? The symptoms you've mentioned seem to go with any number of ailments, but pancreatitis is one of those, and not uncommon in diabetic cats - Info - A Primer On Pancreatitis

I hope she feels much better soon, whatever the cause of her symptoms. ❤️
 
Hi Emily,
I’m new here so I feel a bit presumptuous jumping in and offering my hand across the ocean… but I had to.
Crossing all of my fingers and toes for Lucy..
I have had a look at vitamins and herbal supplements myself for Arya- I won’t recommend any as I don’t know how they will affect any of Lucy’s meds but there’s promising studies that can easily be found.

Look after yourself…

Lisa
1769563105216.png
 
Good to hear Lucy is coming home.

Take a look at the Diabetes CKD food list in this link. CKD food Chart Lots of protein options listed there, so hopefully you can find something that agrees with her.

Good you are testing the B12 levels, but it won't tell what food she can or cannot eat. It will tell you if she's having problems with food absorption. Many kitties with GI issues do have low B12, but not all. Did she get an ultrasound while at the vet? That's usually the next step in diagnosis.

Did the vet sent you home with any anti nausea drugs like ondansetron or Cerenia?
 
Briana + Binx said:
Sending all the healing vines for Lucy 🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃

I see you’re in Canada too! I’ve been looking for a similar diet change - for the kidneys and low carbs. Tiki Cat has some good options, their after dark pate + or even their after dark velvet mousse. Thought I’d mention just in case! I can link you a good food chart if you want.

Lucy is lucky to have you!!
Click to expand...
Ooo I'll give it a good look! Can't hurt to do some research, I appreciate the suggestion!
 
Allie & Gen said:
She's such a beautiful girl. I love that white streak on her face!

Also, I hear you about wanting more good years, whether diabetic or not. Gen's about 6 months older than Lucy (it's an estimate, though; he was about 1 when he was found and I adopted him, and that was August 2015). Sometimes when I tell someone this, they get this look like "ah, yes, I see; he's old and sick." 11 is not that old!

I imagine the answer is yes, but did your vet test for pancreatitis? The symptoms you've mentioned seem to go with any number of ailments, but pancreatitis is one of those, and not uncommon in diabetic cats - Info - A Primer On Pancreatitis

I hope she feels much better soon, whatever the cause of her symptoms. ❤️
Click to expand...
I often call her my "11 year old baby" because it's not that old for cats, but certainly too old for a human child to be referred to as a baby haha

They did test her for pancreatitis and it was negative! The vet did clarify that even though the test is negative, we can't 100% rule it out as a possibility. It's just a very unlikely chance now to be pancreatitis. I do appreciate bringing it up, because it's important to know if my vet didn't do the test at all!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Good to hear Lucy is coming home.

Take a look at the Diabetes CKD food list in this link. CKD food Chart Lots of protein options listed there, so hopefully you can find something that agrees with her.

Good you are testing the B12 levels, but it won't tell what food she can or cannot eat. It will tell you if she's having problems with food absorption. Many kitties with GI issues do have low B12, but not all. Did she get an ultrasound while at the vet? That's usually the next step in diagnosis.

Did the vet sent you home with any anti nausea drugs like ondansetron or Cerenia?
Click to expand...
To be fair that's basically what the vet told me, I'm just very bad at paraphrasing haha

She did get an ultrasound as well as some x-ray imaging done. Ultrasound revealed shadowing so they sent full x-rays to be analyzed by a radiologist. Unfortunately the results were "there's something there, but who knows what!" thank you radiologist real helpful lol

Vet sent me home previously with gabapentin for anti-anxiety and pain relief, they give her cerenia when she's in the hospital tho. She's still there sadly, but not for anything bad? They're just making sure she's eating the new food properly and not vomiting it.
 
Emily & Lucy said:
I often call her my "11 year old baby" because it's not that old for cats, but certainly too old for a human child to be referred to as a baby haha
Click to expand...
I like what my vet says about age..."Age is not a disease." She is all about quality of life no matter the age of the animal. Since Indy still has really good quality of life, we continue to treat him.

Reading what you have put from the vet, if you haven't, I would ask about IBD.
 
It's not uncommon for cats with GI issues to have nausea. Cerenia is good for vomiting and can help with nausea. I find that ondansetron works better for nausea. You can give both as they target different nausea receptors.

I agree with Jessica, IBD is one of the things that should be considered, but that usually needs a biopsy to confirm.
 
Hope Lucy starts to feel better. My cat, Mikey has early stage kidney disease and I started feeding him a pet food called Young Again. It is diabetes and renal disease friendly
Home - Young Again Pet Food
1 800 311 6646
Talk to Stacy or a worker and then can tell you the best variety

Tom
 
This was how I always found out my cats gave gi lymphoma. A very that's really good at reading ultrasounds can tell the difference between ibd and lymphoma, but most of the symptoms are the same. Hope it's just ibd. Hope she feels better soon
 
Don't let the phrase GI or small cell lymphoma scare you as a possibility. You can't tell the two apart via ultrasound, vets can just take best guesses. Which is what happened with Neko cause her heart condition meant they couldn't do a biopsy. Treatment is different between IBD and SCL, so good to know which you are dealing with. With the right meds protocol, most SCL kitties can go into remission. Current kitty was diagnosed in 2018 and still bossing us around.
 
True, scl gi isn't the best lcl Gi is. I've had 3, 2 with small and currently 1 with large. They'll know soon if you're dealing with large to small. L is so quick and doesn't respond to chemo unless you do the CHOP protocol. My other 2 with Scl gi lived for many years well on their meds. One nearly 6yrs, the other 4. Neither passed from that. I was just tossing it out as it should be explored.
However, the statement that a vet can't tell the difference between ibd and gi lymphoma is false. Many probably cannot. But I've worked with both oncologists and regular (but amazing) vets who can do just that. That's how many used to tell before the standards got stricter and they decided your cat had to go through much more invasive procedures after the fine needle biopsies. I am very grateful mine specializes in that, and trust her 100% when she tells me as such. Just like my previous oncologist.
They're not all created equal
 
With the pain and low appetite I would also have them run a spec fPL, Pancreatitis test. Buprenorphine is better for Pancreatitis pain.
 
If no one has mention this yet, Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease is a great resource to learn about the different stages of CKD and even Acute Kidney Injuries. Obviously you will want to cross check any of the supplements that they recommend and make sure they don't interact negatively with any other medicines your kitty might take.

Kai was a bit of a strange (but not uncommon) CKD case. His kidney values were elevated, but he wasn’t showing any of the typical CKD symptoms. We actually caught the elevated levels during his annual bloodwork. From there, we did several rounds of antibiotics, additional testing, and even an ultrasound, but nothing ever definitively pointed to CKD aside from the lab results themselves.

So I can definitely relate when you say, “thanks, radiologist — very helpful.” Kai has actually had two ultrasounds in the past year: the first for suspected CKD and the second for an unrelated issue. Both times, his kidneys were examined thoroughly, and both radiologists said essentially the same thing — there was some minor scarring on his right kidney, but nothing that clearly indicated progressive kidney disease. Overall, they felt everything looked subjectively normal for a cat his age.

It was reassuring to hear, but also frustrating and honestly pretty expensive for such an inconclusive answer :banghead:
Anyway, I really hope Lucy starts feeling better soon and that you’re able to get some clear answers.❤️:bighug:
 
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