posted 02-04-2004 02:19 AM         

A second opinion is not out of the ordinary in most clinics.

posted 02-04-2004 09:06 AM         

I'm listing my advice about the two symptoms you described. You can also find more information about these kinds of things by doing an internet search and searching for "inappetance in cats", "hepatic lipidosis in cats", and "vomiting in cats". These search combinations will yield good results in google or yahoo. There is a site called "www.vetinfo.com" that has a lot of good information written a few years back by a DVM. I hope you find some help for your kitty...

About the inappetance--
How long has your cat been off food? Even short periods of time (like a day or two) can be very bad for a cat, especially if she has been a little overweight. When a cat refuses food for one reason or another, the body starts trying to compensate by using the reserved fat cells. These cells are moved into the liver. Once this happens, you get a spiral effect (cat feels worse and continues to not want to eat) caused by fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis). This can all happen very quickly. I once lost a cat in one week to this. If you have to force feed the kitty, do it. If you need to leave her at a clinic to receive fluids, do that. I would suggest an emergency type clinic that has 24-hour care and not a vets office where they go home in the evening and leave the animals all night, but I realize that sometimes there is no choice.

About the vomiting--
There are many reasons for vomiting and if you search the internet enough, you will find plenty of information about it. She might be vomiting because she hasn't eaten in so long. If she vomits food, then you should look at how long that food has been in her stomach. If it is immediately, there are causes for that. If it is several hours later, you have another list of causes. There are anti-nausea medications that a cat can be given. Reglan comes to mind.

I would try to feed her something bland and easy to digest with an oral syringe (if you can't get her to eat any other way). I can't think of a really good canned food off hand that you can easily obtain, unless you can find a lamb and rice combination. If she keeps this down, keep doing it. If she throws it up, you may need to hospitalize her in order to stablize her. They can administer injectable Reglan to keep her from vomiting. They can also send you home with some liquid Reglan to give her once or twice a day until she gets better.

It could be that your kitty's sense of smell was affeted by that cold and she just doesn't want to eat because she can't smell anything very well. You might test this by offering something very smelly, like tuna (in water). If it's been awhile since she's eaten, she could have then developed what I described above and is feeling too bad to even eat tuna.

If hepatic lipidosis has developed, you might be able to get your kitty past it. It is fairly common for people to be able to force feed their cats until the liver is able to "right" itself. A good vet will know how to go about treating your cat. If you have any doubts about your current vet, please go see another one. Demand good care for you cat.