Background Of My Health Problems:
For the past 6 months, I’ve been experiencing chronic bouts of nausea along with lots of difficulty swallowing my food. As a result, I haven’t been able to eat nearly as much as I normally do and I’ve lost a significant amount of weight, about 2.1kg (or 4.8lbs), which is a lot for a cat my size!
Although my health problem have not gone away, I still hold out hope that I can get better and regain some of the weight that I’ve lost. That’s actually the reason why I’ve started this personal website; it’s a way for me to keep motivated in getting healthy and discover new goals I can work on while going through this whole ordeal. I also hope that perhaps someone else out there, who’s gone through a similar experience as me, might reach out and let me know what’s worked for them and how they were able to recover.
Before my health issues started, I had been a relatively healthy and active indoor cat. About 5 months after moving to Singapore and adjusting to my new home, I developed a fever and started feeling sick. My vet, Dr. Stacy, gave me some antibiotics (amoxicillin) and that seemed to help a lot. However, after 5 days of taking the antibiotics, I developed pancreatitis. Dr. Stacy helped me get over the worst of it, but despite numerous visits to the vet and undergoing numerous medical tests, I still have bouts of intense nausea and chronic issues with swallowing solid food.
Treatments & Findings:
Dr. Stacy has ruled out the most common causes she could think of that might be causing my nausea and difficulty swallowing. I don’t have any problems, such as ulcers, inflammation, or infections, in my mouth. In addition, none of my lab-work, x-rays, ultra-sounds, toxicology panels, and CT scans point towards any typical feline diseases or cancer.
On one hand, it’s nice to know there’s no definitive signs of cancer or other serious diseases. On the other hand, it’s really frustrating not knowing what I have or how to treat it.
My sister, Tonya, is 13 years old and is perfectly healthy. She’s an indoor cat, just like me, and she has been eating the same food as I have. She also traveled to Singapore with me and has been exposed to all the same environmental changes as I have. So, we don’t think my issues are related to an environmental factor. Plus, all my blood work that tested for things, like toxoplasmosis, came back negative.
Current Situation:
I still don’t have any official diagnosis. Dr. Stacy and her team are unsure of what else to do. They suggested that I could try undergoing a “bone tap” and a biopsy of one of my inflamed lymph nodes in the hope of finding something that’ll lead to a diagnosis. But, I’m not mentally or physically ready to go through those procedures, and I’m not too confidant that these tests would lead to a more narrow treatment plan.
Fortunately, I’ve been able switch over to alternative, wet foods, that are a little easier for me to swallow. So this is how I’ve been able to get my nutrition. It’s not ideal, but it works.
Kristin has been a sweetheart through all of this. She’s helped me try out lots of different foods and gives me lots of encouragement. I’m going to try and keep a daily log of my symptoms and track what things seem to help and what things seem to make me feel worse.
Tom’s Daily Health Log & Tracker
Tonya has been pretty good about giving me space to rest and recuperate and has been a little less of a bully towards to me since I got sick. I think that’s her way of showing me that she cares.
Kevin continues to be a pain in my ass. He’s always acting like he knows more than me and likes to give advice that no one ever asks for. And he’s always wanting to be the one that takes me to my vet appointments and then act like we’re best friends and stuff. He’s just always butting in on my business. “Ughhh! I HATE YOU KEVIN!”
I’ll keep this post updated as my situation evolves. If you, or someone you know, are going through a similar situation, feel free to let me know! I’m doing what I can to get better and would love to know if anyone else has gone through a similar situation and what you may have done that’s helped!
Tom