but the vet can not see him until 9am. (Here's the old thread: http://www.catforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=38015 )
To sum up, Tyrael has lost 2 pounds this year. He had his yearly exam on December 21st and the vet didn't notice anything that concerned her.
Over the last few weeks I changed him to a new type of food. He immediately started throwing up everything he ate - seemingly from a food allergy. At least, that's what the 2 vets we have talked to have thought.
I changed him to a different flavor of food, and he stopped throwing up, but he still looks like he is losing weight. He eats a lot less now, and I can't coax him to eat more. (He seemed to like the dry food more than the wet, but I was under the impression that he would eat less of the wet food because it was doing a better job of meeting his nutritional needs.)
We have been planning to take him to ANOTHER vet (this coming week) to have full bloodwork and urinalysis done to make sure there isn't something serious wrong with him... from a thyroid problem, some sort of infection, *gulp* cancer, or God knows what else.
Well, yesterday he started having diarrhea. I assumed that it was from the new flavored food. Today it has been getting worse... this afternoon I have had to take him into the bathroom and wash him every time he goes to the bathroom.
I have been researching online and read that it could be that he has an impacted hairball in his intestines... and it could be a "get him in for surgery" situation.
We got in touch with an emergency vet, they don't THINK it's an impaction, but I don't know if I believe them. That's really something that you can't diagnose over the phone. The vet was not really concerned because when he gets in the litter box he is able to pass something, even if it isn't a lot, and it is more often than I think is acceptable. (It has been 5 or 6 times since lunch.)
The vet said no more food until they see him, just water. He isn't a big fan of drinking water, so I normally add water to his wet food. I did get him to drink some water by dipping my fingers in the bowl and getting him to lick the water off my hand.
I also got him to play for a while, but I stopped him before he got too wound up because I didn't want to stress him.
I will be staying up tonight with him... every time he goes to the bathroom I have to wash him before he sits on anything. The emergency vet said we could call at 9am and have her meet us at the office then. You can bet that I will be calling her again before then (regardless of what time it is!) if I think Tyrael takes a turn for the worse.
His eyes still look good (read: he still looks like a little ****-raiser) and he isn't totally listless, he just seems tired. Then again, it's 12:30am here....
I guess that what I am saying is that he seems okay for the moment, I just really hope he stays that way until I get him in to the vet. Hopefully another 8 hours or so won't make too much of a difference.
I am kicking myself for talking to the vet over the phone earlier this week instead of running him right in when I first noticed he was acting odd... but with the food change, a lot of his actions seemed normal at the time.
His bottom is really getting irritated from the diarrhea and he is crying when I wash him, so I hope that he can go the rest of the night without incident.
He may sleep tonight... in fact, I hope he does. But I won't.
To sum up, Tyrael has lost 2 pounds this year. He had his yearly exam on December 21st and the vet didn't notice anything that concerned her.
Over the last few weeks I changed him to a new type of food. He immediately started throwing up everything he ate - seemingly from a food allergy. At least, that's what the 2 vets we have talked to have thought.
I changed him to a different flavor of food, and he stopped throwing up, but he still looks like he is losing weight. He eats a lot less now, and I can't coax him to eat more. (He seemed to like the dry food more than the wet, but I was under the impression that he would eat less of the wet food because it was doing a better job of meeting his nutritional needs.)
We have been planning to take him to ANOTHER vet (this coming week) to have full bloodwork and urinalysis done to make sure there isn't something serious wrong with him... from a thyroid problem, some sort of infection, *gulp* cancer, or God knows what else.
Well, yesterday he started having diarrhea. I assumed that it was from the new flavored food. Today it has been getting worse... this afternoon I have had to take him into the bathroom and wash him every time he goes to the bathroom.
I have been researching online and read that it could be that he has an impacted hairball in his intestines... and it could be a "get him in for surgery" situation.
We got in touch with an emergency vet, they don't THINK it's an impaction, but I don't know if I believe them. That's really something that you can't diagnose over the phone. The vet was not really concerned because when he gets in the litter box he is able to pass something, even if it isn't a lot, and it is more often than I think is acceptable. (It has been 5 or 6 times since lunch.)
The vet said no more food until they see him, just water. He isn't a big fan of drinking water, so I normally add water to his wet food. I did get him to drink some water by dipping my fingers in the bowl and getting him to lick the water off my hand.
I also got him to play for a while, but I stopped him before he got too wound up because I didn't want to stress him.
I will be staying up tonight with him... every time he goes to the bathroom I have to wash him before he sits on anything. The emergency vet said we could call at 9am and have her meet us at the office then. You can bet that I will be calling her again before then (regardless of what time it is!) if I think Tyrael takes a turn for the worse.
His eyes still look good (read: he still looks like a little ****-raiser) and he isn't totally listless, he just seems tired. Then again, it's 12:30am here....
I guess that what I am saying is that he seems okay for the moment, I just really hope he stays that way until I get him in to the vet. Hopefully another 8 hours or so won't make too much of a difference.
I am kicking myself for talking to the vet over the phone earlier this week instead of running him right in when I first noticed he was acting odd... but with the food change, a lot of his actions seemed normal at the time.
His bottom is really getting irritated from the diarrhea and he is crying when I wash him, so I hope that he can go the rest of the night without incident.
He may sleep tonight... in fact, I hope he does. But I won't.
