So, Ellie’s diarrhea waxed and waned, but in the last week, it got worse. I could tell that she was losing weight and getting a bit lethargic. She threw up occasionally, ate very little, and was determined to live on Temptations cat treats. I changed her diet (not drastically), no improvement. She was still losing weight, drinking a lot of water, and filling the litter box with liquid poop.
So earlier this week I made a vet appt. for Friday afternoon, the first available that wasn’t taken by a work meeting. Work is nuts.
This morning I was feeling guilty that I’d waited too long, because Ellie did not want to get out of bed. Normally she leaps up and races me to the kitchen, bitching for her morning treats like it’s her equivalent of a hit of coffee. This morning she didn’t budge for at least two hours after I had been up doing morning things.
So we went to the vet between massive thunderstorms, because it’s still summer here. They ran blood work in-house, because they didn’t want to take the time to send it to a lab where we wouldn’t get results until Monday. They agreed she was dehydrated and lethargic and seemed like a sick little girl.
The vet came in with the blood work results: “I have good news and bad news…the good news is, her labs are PERFECT! The bad news is, her labs are PERFECT, so we can only hypothesize about what’s wrong.” Does this sound familiar?
So she’s on: Wait for it: metronidazole! And a digestive diet! And Fortiflora! And I am out $460!!! (That included the “on the spot” full blood panel, sub-q fluids, meds, the food and probiotic, a parasite check, and a fecal…but still.)
And the true heartbreak (for Ellie): She’s off her favorite cat treats until we see if they were a contributing factor. She’s eaten them for years without any ill effects, but since she decided she hated her regular food and just nibbled at it and just wanted to plead for treats day in and day out, the situation definitely deteriorated.
The good news is I gave her her first gastro diet dinner sprinkled with Fortiflora, and she liked it! I may have to be Mean Mom for a week and force her to eat it if she’s hungry enough, but so far, so good.
I would swear this house is cursed with a diarrhea spell, but (so far, knocks wood) Gidget and are I are unaffected. Gidget, bless her little neurotic heart, is far more likely to be constipated.
It could be worse, it could be raining. (Oh wait, it IS raining. Again.) But seriously, though this is a weird echo of Sophie’s unnamed intestinal condition, so far this does seem to be diet related. I was half expecting/dreading either kidney failure or diabetes, because we all agreed that the rescue’s guesstimate of her age (1 year old) was probably bullshit. She’s at least 6 and could be as old as 9, if she’d been a bouncy young 4 with great teeth when I got her. Who knows??
So, fingers crossed that a change of diet and a week of metro will put her right. Because DAMN. I went three whole months without a huge vet bill.