# Cat is ravenously hungry, has diarrhea, but not hyperthyroid



## croquette (Mar 22, 2010)

I'm just about at my wit's end here and hoping someone on here might have some insight.

My cat is a neutered male, about 7 years old. In January, we found out he was hyperthyroid and had him treated with I-131. The treatment was successful -- his blood has been checked three times since the treatment (most recently was this week) and each time his thyroid levels have been in the middle of the normal range.

However, around late March (I think?) he began having loose stools (not totally runny like diarrhea, but soft and mushy). His poop was also sometimes grey-ish and he was vomiting frequently. He was also eating way more food than a cat should be eating. (He eats Wellness canned food and will eat around 20 oz. a day! He weighs about 9 lbs.) I took a stool sample to the vet and it tested positive for clostridium perfigens (sp?) and he was put on Tylan. The vet said that the clostridium can be difficult to get rid of and that some cats need to be on antibiotics for weeks or months.

The vomiting went away pretty quickly and his stools firmed up just a bit, but in late April, he still wasn't totally better and after doing some googling I was worried something might be wrong with his liver. I took him back for a checkup and bloodwork indicated that his liver was fine, so we continued to give him the antibiotics. 

I took him back Wednesday morning for a checkup because he had been about the same since his last vet visit. He hadn't thrown up in quite a while, but a couple hours before the vet visit he barfed up all of his breakfast. (I think he was just trying to get a hairball up because later he hacked up a hairball.) I gave him a little bit of food before the vet but I didn't want him to have a super full tummy because sometimes he gets stressed in the car and didn't want him throwing up in his carrier.

So, the vet does another blood test and while his thyroid levels are still normal, this time his liver enzymes are high. We also test his stool for clostridium and it comes back negative, though he is still having most of the same symptoms (loose, light colored stools, huge appetite) he was before. The vet recommends I get a liver ultrasound for him, which is scheduled for Monday morning.

If you've read this far, you deserve an award! If anyone has any thoughts about what could be going on here, I'd appreciate it so much if you'd share. Could it be possible that he just has IBD? Would that be affecting his liver? Could the throwing up of his breakfast the morning of the blood test have affected his liver enzyme level temporarily? We love our little man so much and we just want him to be healthy. And I hate that it has to be this way, but we don't have unlimited funds and have already spent probably $2000+ since January. I am just praying that there is a simple solution to this.


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## razzle (May 20, 2010)

I'm so sorry for your boy. Cats throw up for so many reasons. I hope his ultrasound comes out ok. I'm praying for you and your kitty. 20 ounces is a lot of food to eat and he only weighs 9 lbs. I'd have the vet check for kidney disease too. While he's ultrasounding the liver have the vet do the same thing to his kidneys. Let us know the results. If it is kidney disease then go to felinecrf.org and felinecrf.com. Both excellent sites. Get copies of all lab results and post them here along with what the normal ranges are. Ask the vet if he checked his kidney values when he did the blood work. 

Kathy


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