Fevers in Cats

[Queen K]

Lore, you practically are a vet. If I won a million bucks, hell, I'd send you to vet school.

[gardengirl]

Oh no----I was hoping your cat was good now.
So what is the vet going to do now?

Checking back in 24 hrs.

I guess your cat still has diarrhea if hes back on the metrinidizole, yes/no?

Vomitting yes, diarrhea no.

What is your cat throwing up? Is it digested or undigested food or bile?

The first I noticed was just grass (Wed night). We had let him out for the first time in 2 weeks. I wasn't that worried about it as I have seen cats do that before.

Late yesterday day, he spewed up yellow bile,disappointing as we had just come from the Vet with a good checkup. After that, I found a pile of mostly undigested food with a bit of grass in it. It was yellow as well.

More spew this morning, partially digested food. Then coughed up more yellow bile.

I have an excellent vet book. Of course nothing beats a real vet but maybe I can find something.

Does the vet plan on doing another blood test?

They were talking about an ANA test, I think it is something for autoimmune disorders.

How often is he in the litterbox with the diarrhea?

No diarrhea so far.

How often is the vomitting occurring?

3 times since last night.

Is your cat eating and if so what is he eating?

He has not gone off his food. He is eating and drinking pretty much normally.
I give him both wet and dry. Wet food is canned fish flavour, I am careful that I don't buy anything containing wheat gluten. Dry food is Royal Canin Oral Sensitive.

Let me know detailed symptoms and I'll look in my vet book.

First presented with loss of voice. On examination, found fever of 41 degrees.
As it progressed, cat became listless, started vomitting. Eventually stopped eating.
Did not want to be touched, appeared to have muscle soreness.
Did not notice diarrhea as the cat was not eating and did not need to void.

You can read back in the thread to see how things progressed and the action taken.


I hope what ever is going on is not serious.I'm sure you love your cat very much.
I know my cats are my babies so I know how scary it can be when you don't know whats wrong with them. Queen k knows all about how spoiled my cats are.They own me.
Hi Queen K, I know your reading this.

I really appreciate your input. It is so frustrating to have no answers. Even the Vets are stumped.
Apparently it does happen sometimes and all they can do it treat the symptoms. Ie: keep him hydrated, force feed if necessary, treat vomitting/diarrhea, treat fever and pain.

If you cannot find a cause, that's pretty much all you can do. If you start adding different medications, you could make it worse. For example, if they gave him steroids and his immune system is already compromised, it could be fatal.

This really is starting to sound like an episode of House.

[Tootsie]

First let me say that I am SO sorry that kitty hasn't fully recovered. OMG - I know the stress that you're going thru. How old is he/she by the way ???? Also, kitty isn't going outside I hope (could she have been poisoned?)

We've had numerous cats over the years (sitting at three right now!). About 15 yrs ago our old gal got really sick (she was only about 8 at the time)- the vet did numerous tests - cat was puking till there was nothing left to puke. She was going downhill fast. She was in the hospital for about 5 days - as a last resort they opened her up to see if maybe she had swallowed some Saran Wrap or something that couldn't be detected. Nada - nyet - nothing. Sent her home saying "well, if she lives she lives". She DID - for another 12 yrs - made it to 20 !!!!

B U T - - - - the ONLY thing different (once I thought back) that had happened in the weeks leading up to her sickness was I had added a different food to her diet that had lamb in it. I HAD been feeding her IAMS before they went main-stream & started selling it in grocery stores & Costco. She was fine up until I switched her food (& apparenty Iams cheapened their product by going mainstream - at least that's what my local pet food supplier told me had happened - he doesn't carry it anymore since they started adding crap to their food)

The vet said he had seen this before. Bring the normally healthy cat in, cat goes downhill fast, they open her up only to find nothing & then cat recovers. Total mystery. Well, anyway to make a long stort short - after I ditched the food with lamb in it the cat turned around and lived to be 20 !!! Not sure if it was a coincidence or what. I only buy really high quality (& expensive food now - we say the cats eat better than we do).

But just thought I would add my 2 cents as I'm a mushy cat-lover and hate to hear of anyones babies being in distress.

Wishing you and kitty well..keep us updated. I know this is a stressful time for you. Keep us posted. Hug to you & kitty !!!

[gardengirl]

Thanks for your reply Tootsie.
The cat is only 6 years old so some of the conditions have been ruled out on that as they are more prevalent in the very old and the very young.

He is an indoor/outdoor cat and I did wonder if he had been poisoned. The Vet said that would have shown up in the bloodwork or in neuroloical symptoms.

We have not introduced anything new around the house. No disinfectants, pesticides, herbicides, cleaners. We have not changed his diet at all. He gets Whiskas Whitefish canned and Tuna and Royal Canin Oral Sensitive dry food.

They have done xrays to rule out foreign bodies.
Ultrasound did not show masses or anything out of the ordinary.
Bloodwork came out normal except for increased white cells.

[Tootsie]

Just wondering why the "oral sensitive" food? I know that Royal Canin seems to have a helluva lot of diff. foods - some of which I've bought - but I just get brain overload when I look at all their different packages. There's a food for every kind of cat out there...not saying they're bad or anything but I find them quite mind boggling.

Our cats seem to be doing better since I've gone to the Origen and Eagle Pack Holistic series. Virtually no hair balls anymore. Not sure why. But like I say, the cats are eating better than we are!
Bloody expensive food !

Getting back on topic - why "oral sensitive" for such a young cat?

[gardengirl]

I was told by several Vets that he has some dental issues, inflamed gums and some resorption on a couple of teeth. Apparently many cats have some sort of dental issue by the time they are 5.

[Lore]

I've been looking through books I have and as you know there are so many conditions or reasons for vomitting. One thing I'm not clear on is you said on his 1st vet visit and even days after that he had diarrhea. He was then put on metrinidazole which is an antibiotic and stops diarrhea as well and the diarrhea stopped.
So my question is, is he on metrinidazole now? Because if he were to go off of it then the diarrhea will/might return. So if I'm looking at his symptoms then one of those symptoms is still probably diarrhea which is just being controlled by the metrinidazole.
Of course if theres no metrinidazole anymore and theres no diarrhea then I can cross that out as a symptom. Let me know. Its to bad our pets can't speak and just tell us where it hurts.
How is he doing today?

[gardengirl]

I've been looking through books I have and as you know there are so many conditions or reasons for vomitting.

One thing I'm not clear on is you said on his 1st vet visit and even days after that he had diarrhea.

The first symptom was the loss of voice & high temp. They put him on Clavamox. The next day he was vomitting. I thought it was from the Clavamox. They changed to Baytril and added Metacam. The fever persisted, he was not vomitting as he was not eating. I noticed the diahrrea on about the 4th day. There was not much stool there, but it was mucus looking and had a tinge of blood. By that time he was getting sub q fluids as well.


He was then put on metrinidazole which is an antibiotic and stops diarrhea as well and the diarrhea stopped.

They started the metronidizole on day 5 (Saturday). On the day before, I was starting to force feed him . The diahrrea was not as prevalent as the vomitting.


So my question is, is he on metrinidazole now? Because if he were to go off of it then the diarrhea will/might return.

We finished the first batch of Metronidizole on Tuesday, by Wed night, he was vomitting again. The diarrhea was not the issue, it was the vomitting. It appears that the metronidizole helps to control that. His stools were still pretty much normal.

So if I'm looking at his symptoms then one of those symptoms is still probably diarrhea which is just being controlled by the metrinidazole.

The problem is that once the cat has stopped eating and drinking, there is no diarrhea as there is nothing to void.

Of course if theres no metrinidazole anymore and theres no diarrhea then I can cross that out as a symptom. Let me know. Its to bad our pets can't speak and just tell us where it hurts.
How is he doing today?