Help- my kitty is sick

[dragonlaurel]

I don't know what is going on with my cat. She is 9 years old but has rarely been sick at all. She has been indoors since January and had been fat till about a month ago. The store was out of her normal food so I got her other "crunchies" which she did not seem to like. She'd eat a little then start begging for my husbands food- he's a meat eater. She'd never been a beggar before. We got her normal brand again but she's barely eating and sick. I think listing the symptoms may be easier since I don't want to forget anything and am feeling pretty emotional :

Mid July- tried other brand cat food- she ate a little but usually ignored it. She got meat- cooked- from DH also
she started losing weight within the week but she was fat so I thought it might be better for her health at first.
Start of August- got paid and got her the food she normally likes. Figured she would be back to normal fast.
She recognized the bag and petted it with her face- her normal "Thanks mom- I like this" reaction but barely ate any.
She still has no apparent appetite. We try to give her little treats she likes and she isn't eating almost anything.
She is barely using the litter box but no sign of parasites in there.
She still is laying around all the time. I bought a laser pointer - she loves them and she petted it with her face and laid back down.
My husband told me she was sick to her stomach 2 times last week. Don't know if that was on food or water.
She was acting thirsty today and I made sure she had fresh water. She puked it out as soon as it hit her stomach.
Her pet vaccinations were in January.
We haven't had any big changes around the home.

What could make a kitty drop weight fast, have pretty much no appetite, and not hold her water down even? I don't have any money to take her to a vet with. Any home care tips would be a big help.

 

[Beekissed]

Hair balls in her intestinal tract. Get her some hairball medicine...its cheap and it can't hurt to try it. I've read about this and I've noticed my long hair cat losing weight and losing appetite before...especially when its hot and he is shedding alot.

The medicine comes in a tube and is usually salmon flavored. He eats it like its caviar! Really helps him clear the hair balls and get back to normal.

Worth a shot! If wanting to go more naturally, maybe the fish oil from a can of sardines or salmon?

 

[ORChick]

If your cat lost a lot of weight quite quickly I would strongly recommend a visit to the vet. Quick weight loss in cats can lead to severe damage to the liver (or maybe kidneys, I don't remember off hand). The initial problem may indeed be hairballs, but the secondary problem of rapid weight loss may be significantly more dangerous. Good luck.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Hair balls in her intestinal tract. Get her some hairball medicine...its cheap and it can't hurt to try it. I've read about this and I've noticed my long hair cat losing weight and losing appetite before...especially when its hot and he is shedding alot.

The medicine comes in a tube and is usually salmon flavored. He eats it like its caviar! Really helps him clear the hair balls and get back to normal.

Worth a shot! If wanting to go more naturally, maybe the fish oil from a can of sardines or salmon?

Would some butter do it ? or - I have a can of salmon cat food. She's not interested in food though so I don't know how to get it in her. She always had a good appetite before.

 

[Beekissed]

You can either place it on her paws, where she will feel compelled to clean it off, or do what I do if I have to give the cats anything they don't like...

Hold firmly by the scruff of the neck, which will pull the skin back from their mouths and open their mouths slightly. I then squirt it in the side where the gap is. Takes a few seconds, is all.

The tube says to place it on the paws.

Has she been shedding a lot?

I'd stick with the actual med~ has malt extract, liquid petrolatum, glycerine, natural salmon flavor, acacia and thiamine.

It's for cats, kittens and rabbits.

Symptoms of hairballs include: constipation, straining during bowel movements, dry cough and vomiting after meals.

This is the one that brought my cat's plight to my attention, besides the slight weight loss and low appetite~ the vomiting after meals. Now I just give him this medicine occasionally and he doesn't seem to have a problem.

 

[dragonlaurel]

You can either place it on her paws, where she will feel compelled to clean it off, or do what I do if I have to give the cats anything they don't like...

Hold firmly by the scruff of the neck, which will pull the skin back from their mouths and open their mouths slightly. I then squirt it in the side where the gap is. Takes a few seconds, is all.
The tube says to place it on the paws.
Has she been shedding a lot?
I'd stick with the actual med~ has malt extract, liquid petrolatum, glycerine, natural salmon flavor, acacia and thiamine.
It's for cats, kittens and rabbits.

Symptoms of hairballs include: constipation, straining during bowel movements, dry cough and vomiting after meals.

This is the one that brought my cat's plight to my attention, besides the slight weight loss and low appetite~ the vomiting after meals. Now I just give him this medicine occasionally and he doesn't seem to have a problem.

I fed her a pea sized blob of butter. Let it get a little soft on my fingertip and smeared the side of her mouth repeatedly till she got it all. Hopefully it will stay down. She needs the calories. She's a Russian Blue, they look similar to Siamese but dark gray. Short hair and she loves being brushed so not many hairballs.
When she spit up it was just liquidy. Whitish and sort of foamy. I don't mean to be gross but it may help get it figured out.
The weight loss wasn't slight. She was chunky before and now it's easy to feel her bones petting her. A human equivalent would be a woman dropping 40 lbs. She's 9 years old now but her health was always good. She seems to feel the cold more too. DH loves the A.C. and keeps it cool. Ashley is usually sleeping on spots were she will be warmer.
She has held the butter so far. That's an improvement. She sleeps by my feet usually at night, so I'll know if she is "sick" in the night.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Good luck with the kitty. Hope the butter works. I've also used olive oil. just put it in a dish and the cat lapped it up. It is worth a try.

 

[dragonlaurel]

She held the butter down so I gave her more later. I was smearing the side of her mouth with it. Hubby gave her some juice from canned salmon and some of the fish with it. Hope she eats it. I'll try the olive oil too.
The stuff she spit up before was just liquid though. She rarely gets furballs since she has short hair and loves her brush. The oils are good for her anyway and she really needs the calories at this point. I'll keep updating this when I get any news.

 

[Beekissed]

Is she drinking more and more lately? Is she urinating okay or is it bloody or dark brown in color? If this weight loss is sudden and a lot, and she is this old, it could be many things. She could be diabetic or have renal disease...or both. A trip to the vet might be the best thing in this case.

 

[patandchickens]

I am skeptical that it's hairballs since it's been over such a long time and the rest of the picture reported. If it *is* a hairball problem it is probably a more serious impaction that just petromalt or butter or whatever aren't going to fix.

The things taht come to mind are thyroid problems, kidney failure or cancer... all of which are often treatable to some reasonable extent (medically or 'naturally') but need to be firmly DIAGNOSED first.

I'd really, really take your cat to the vet ASAP. They will probably need to do a blood count and blood panel, in addition to just sort of inspecting and palpating her, to figure out what's going on.

The further run down cats get, especially when not eating well and probably having an underlying medical problem, the harder it is to pull them back.

Best of luck,

Pat