Cat Advice For Me?
Queen Quasar is baffling her doctors, but maybe you can help?
Hey y’all,
I had plans to kick off the New Year in so many fun ways here at Cattywampus, but wow, 2025 came out swinging right at my heart’s face in a half-dozen different ways! Trouble with my own body, I can handle (like a honkers bonkers ear infection out of nowhere???), but it just breaks my heart to see any of our cats in distress. Our oldest cat, Quasar, has had a sudden onset of some scary health issues, so my wife and I have been at the emergency vet pretty much nonstop these last several days. That’s why I’m writing tonight: to let you know I’ll be back as soon as possible, and also to see if anyone has any good cat advice for me.
Quasar is 12 1/2 years old. She’s had extensive bloodwork done and nothing is really abnormal, which matches up with the annual checkup she had at the end of November. Her glucose is slightly elevated, but every vet we’ve seen seems to think that’s due to stress. She had detailed digestive imaging done today and it also is completely normal. No blockages or anything like that. No fever. Her fecal test and urine tests have been clean. However, she cannot keep any food down. Mostly, she’s completely lost her appetite. When she does eat, she either vomits it back up or has pretty much nonstop diarrhea (sorry!). She’s also started drooling in the last 24 hours. She’s had Cerenia, Zofran, Mirataz, and a probiotic, and none of those things are doing much at all. None of our other cats are having any symptoms of anything weird in any way. The doctors are completely baffled.
Our next step is hospitalization with an internal medicine and neurology consult at the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan.
If anyone has any experience with a cat with these symptoms, or if you’re a specialist in any of these areas who can point us in a good direction, or if you know of any specialists in the NYC area that you would recommend, would you reply to this newsletter and let me know? You can email (heatherannehogan at gmail) or comment or DM me on any of my social medias. Bluesky and Instagram are probably the best ones to reach me on, but I will also check Twitter and Facebook in case that’s easiest for anyone who has any tips.
Thank you so much for reading this newsletter and being patient with me. I promise to write some good stuff for you in the very near future.
love,
Heather
If you can get in touch with @droakley the yukon vet. She's on TikTok, IG, YT. I've never seen a better diagnostician. I think you need better assessment re soft obstructions ( ie thread or fuzz or...) invisible to usual films, etc. The best choice at this point is an esophageal assessment. Something is almost surely blocking her and she's unable to eat. If she's drinking, that's great. But she's going to need help if she's not keeping anything down.
I'm going to share all the cat weird stuff. I've experienced, but whatever Q is eating, stop it and switch to a limited ingredient, no grain, canned food. Koha is a great brand. Ripley had tons of digestive issues when I rescued her. The main thing right now is to get herto eat and get nutrition from it while you find the issue. Or just open a can of chicken or boil some and give her plain chicken for now. Or chicken and rice. All of the cat people who've posted have given you some good avenues to explore - get her to eat. But that she's drinking is very good..