Hello everyone. We have three cats total (one 5y called B, one 2y called F, one 5mo called P). Weāve been dealing with this on and off for about three months now, itās been a stressful time.
Iāll try to keep it all in chronological order for the most part.
As a backstory, F had an intussusception surgery when he was 6 months old. Heās since done amazing, but it is relevant backstory.
We got the new cat in early July, and took our time acclimating her (P) to the two older boys (B and F). There was some hissing and light growling, but we kept her in a playpen and did supervised visits. All seemed to be going well.
A week later, F got into some yarn and ate it. Was completely my fault, we know heās prone to eating things like that and I left it out. He ate breakfast, then vomited it all up with the yarn. To be safe, we still brought him to the vet, where they did x-rays, saw nothing, and sent him home with some medicine for his throat.
A few days later, he starts gagging every once in a while. Sometimes, some spit (clear liquid) would come out, sometimes just a dry heave. But this is different from normal vomiting - he does not heave or crouch low to the ground. Itās a very instantaneous gag, seemingly out of nowhere. This was accompanied by general lethargy and lacking appetite. Still nibbled his food though.
Anyways, we go back to the vet and they canāt find anything still. They recommended getting and endoscopy, but they didnāt have that capability, so we went to another vet.
The new vet wanted to cover their bases and didnāt perform the endoscopy, but hospitalized him overnight and gave him medication. He spiked a fever overnight, which caused a bit of a scare, but some ultrasounds and more x-rays showed he had mild pancreatitis. Heās also reacted poorly to a specific pain medication in the past - this could have been the same thing. Eventually his fever went down and we took him home.
He was good for about a week (no gagging) and then he started to do it again. We went back to the second vet, and his temperature was high again. They did mention that could be from stress/the car ride. They gave him some fluids and had us monitor him again.
At this point, we were a bit frustrated and unsure. Knowing that the kitten was new, there was a belief that it could be something viral. We had him on a few medicines for his digestion and throat.
Meanwhile, B (the eldest cat) started doing the same thing at home, but much less often and less violently. This further cemented the belief that it was something viral from the kitten.
We were then quoted a very high price for a viral panel test, so we decided to go to a different vet. There, they did their own ultrasound, and saw a small foreign body in his stomach. They recommended doing an endoscopy, and we said yes (which is what we went to the second vet for in the first place).
While performing the endoscopy, they realized that the foreign body was his pill from earlier (I truly assumed it would have dissolved by then), however they also found a small polyp in his stomach.
They then recommended surgery to remove/test the polyp since he was already under anesthesia. We said yes.
While in surgery, the vet noticed a (to quote her) TON of hair, all throughout the digestive tract. This of course prompted us thinking this has all just been a really bad case of overgrooming. She also āflushedā everything out of his system.
So anyways, we bring him home and have the surgery suit/cone on him, and recovers very well. He got all kinds of medication, in case it was something bacterial, viral, or anything else. They also gave him a laxative gel for the hair clearing. They also recommended getting some for B since his symptoms were similar. This, along with a diet change from Purina Pro Plan to Hillās hairball control food, cleared up his symptoms totally.
The viral tests came back, and were negative for everything tested for.
Once F was cleared for activity, we let him out with B and P. At his two week checkup, they cleared him to have the cone off and his stitches removed. He groomed a lot that day (as expected) and had a pretty massive hairball that night. The vet recommended switching him to the hairball care food as well, so we slowly started doing that too.
Itās now been about 4 weeks post-op, and he spent today gagging again, for the first time since the operation. Heās eating normally, seems active as normal, and Iām going to call the vet in the morning for more advice but figured Iād post here as well.
Is this just a chronic thing weāre going to have to deal with? The timing of everything makes it very difficult to pin down. Can stress from the new kitten be causing it? If so, heās been active and playing with her for two weeks since having the stitches removed, and only started doing it now. Iād really hate to have to rehome the kitten, especially now that they have (seemingly) bonded.
If itās hair issues, why is it just starting now? Heās never really had hairballs before, so I assume it all went through to his poop. Also, will it simply go away with the laxatone/hairball food/deshedding?
I will mention that we havenāt received the biopsy results from the polyp or throat yet. Itās possible itās something from that too.
Apologies for the long winded post. Itās been a very hectic and expensive few months. Any advice or general suggestions would be very appreciated. All three vets that weāve seen seem to be guessing (which is fine, I recognize itās a very difficult thing to diagnose a cat), but weāre hoping to have some type of closure at some point. The stress is taking its toll, thatās for sure.
TL:DR - Cat is gagging and spitting up clear liquid, likely due to hair ingestion. Still eating fine and pooping. Lots of tests and procedures done but nothing in terms of a diagnosis. Trying to get some type of advice or hear from someone whoās gone through/seen something similar.