[jcc27]

I hate this. Such a stressful part of being a pet owner. My American Shorthair, 12 years old, indoor cat, no other cats, about 12 days ago started eating less and less. Then he got noticeably lethargic and strangley I could start hearing his claws start to catch as he walked around on our closed loop carpet which hadn't happened before. Did the full panel of blood tests and everything looks normal. His temp was 103.3 which isn't a major fever as I read that fever is considered above 103.5 for more than one day but still he was high on the range. Vet gavbe him fluids and an antibiotic shot 4 days ago and some appetite stiumlant meds to rub on the inside flap of his ear. He perked up the days or two after he came home and of course ate more than before but after a couple days he appears to have regressed to where he was before I took him to the vet. His temp this morn was 104.6.

No watery eye or sneezing or anyting to indicate any sort of upper respiratory distress. He's still able to jump up on the bed but I can tell his energy is waining with each hour/day he's not eating normal. We did go on vacation about 3 weeks ago and had a cat sitter, so they could have brought something in with them from another household. He tested negative for FelV, FIV and HW. Uses the litter box normally, no peeing outside the box (he did have a bladder stone removed 3 years ago that the peeing outside of the box was the tipoff but has been on Hills C/D Prescription since.)

Since I'm not the type of pet owner that is readily willing to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars as if this animal is a human being, I opted to forgoe the Xrays until we see how things went. So obviously next step is to go back to the vet and get Xrays (and probably some fluids and NSAID to help with the fever I'm guessing.) As my understanding is a fever without other symptoms of a cold/virus could be caused by cancer unfortunately.

As other pet owners know that have gone through these things, this is extremely stressful. If anyone has any insights or advice, I'm all ears.

 

[jcc27]

Based on additional research and feedback from other cat owners who've experienced similar circumstances, my own opinion based on the diagnostic info I have so far and discussions with the vet, there are three reasonably possible causes.

The most likely is Fever of Unknown Origin (FUO) which apparently is a lot more common than most cat owner's realize. The blood tests can't really detect all possible viruses. So in many cases, the cat could have a virus, coronaviruses (coincidentally) are quite common in cats and in many cases are asymptomatic. I did go on a vacation where a cat sitter last visited about 11 days before my cat's appetite started to decrease so it's possible the cat sitter, even though they wash their hands, could have carried a virus from one cat household to another.

The second most likely cause would be Pancreatitis. Which also is a relatively common issue in cats but just asymptomatic in many cases. It can be acute or chronic. If it's Pancreatitis then he is having a chronic bout of it. One study I ran across found 45% of otherwise healthy cats had evidence of Pancreatitis.

ACVIM consensus statement on pancreatitis in cats

Pancreatitis in cats, although commonly diagnosed, still presents many diagnostic and management challenges.To summarize the current literature as it relates to etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management of pancreatitis in cats and to arrive at ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Both FUO and Pancreatitis, the course of treatment is typically similar: Subutaneous or IV fluids, anti-inflammatories for fever, pain relievers like Gabapentin, and appetite stimulant meds.

The third cause is least likely because fever is not a common symptom (but in some instances can be) and that would be some form of cancer. If he doesn't get better in the next few days I'll be proceeding with Xrays and/or Ultrasound to look for more serious underlying causes.