Before I go into much detail, I want to start by saying that I have taken my cat to the vet three different times.
About two weeks ago, my older cat (he is going to be three next month, and he is neutered), began dry heaving with nothing coming out. He was NOT making a sound when doing this; he would just look like he was about to throw up. After about a day of this repeatedly happening, I took him to the vet. He is not the best at the vet, so the exam was limiting. I consented to them sedating him, but they said that I shouldnāt jump to that yet. They gave him a hairball lubricant (despite me telling them that heās never had a hairball before) and said to wait a few days and then we would escalate diagnostics.
Two days later, my cat became very secluded and began hiding in unusual spots; he was also now becoming defensive towards my family and our other pets, growling and hissing whenever anyone would approach him. During one of these nights, he sat on my toilet staring at the floor the entire night while still doing the dry heaving, but he was also now lip smacking and drooling. I called the vet, but they had no appointments, so I took him to the emergency vet. The emergency vet was a bit of a frustrating experience. The doctor was very kind, but he said he did not think it was appropriate to conduct diagnostics that day because my cat had eaten that morning. He said my cat still had pink and wet gums and that he wasnāt vomiting or struggling to breathe, so he wanted to wait to be able to conduct all diagnostics in one day. Here was his main issue: Like I said, my cat is not great at the vet, so he needs to be sedated. He said he could perform other diagnostics but that if those revealed nothing, my cat would have to be sedated AGAIN in order to undergo the ultrasound, which he wanted to avoid. This was understandable. He said to try a few more days with the hairball lubricant and that if it continued, to bring him back.
Two days later, my cat completely stopped eating and the other symptoms remained. He also had developed a new symptom, he isolated himself and did not even come out to use the restroom. I had to place him in the cat litter and then he proceeded to urinate a large amount. I left him in his own room, so I donāt think it was stress from other animals. So, I took him back to the emergency vet. They did an extremely thorough workup. They sedated him, did a thorough check of his mouth, did bloodwork, and completed the abdominal ultrasound. They even had an internal medicine specialist come in to examine him because of how quickly his symptoms had escalated. When conducting the oral exam, the doctor said that he used a tongue depressor to look as far down the throat as possible. He said he saw absolutely nothing and was ādoubtfulā of the original hairball diagnosis. They found some relatively minor findings. According to the doctor, he had a mild elevation of his WBC, some very subtle swelling in his lower mouth (but not associated with a fracture, injury, bad tooth, etc. according to the doctorās physical exam.), and some very mild GI swelling. The doctor said that he was not sure if this fully explained the symptoms, but he wanted to treat what he was able to find. So, he gave my cat an antibiotic injection, a nausea injection, and a pain injection. He also gave me nausea and pain medicine to administer at home. As soon he came home, he immediately ate multiple servings of food, so I figured things were working, but then he started becoming more secluded again. I administer his medications as directed, but they seem to only make him sleepy without actually relieving the symptoms.
Now, he is continuing to show defensive behavior but only towards my kitten (and us when we approach to separate them; he has not attacked her); he tolerates the other animals (all dogs), even they approach him. Prior to these symptoms, he was tolerant of the kitten. I wonāt say they were best friends, but they would sleep together, and he had completely stopped hissing at her for an entire month and a half prior to this. Now, even the sight of her causes him to hiss and growl, and he is still dry heaving, hiding, drooling, lip smacking, etc. Part of me wonders if this is behavioral, but, as I said, he was very tolerant of her, and this all happened after he started dry heaving and acting off. Iām not sure that behavioral concerns would cause this constellation of symptoms? Recently, Iāve noticed that some dry heaving is now accompanied by a loud hacking sound. He does not always do this, but when it does happen, it sounds concerning.
I plan to take him back to the vet, but I was hoping for some advice on what to specifically ask for. I have presented his symptoms to four different doctors who have not been able to provide a satisfying solution/diagnosis. Has anyoneās cat gone through anything similar? Any advice is appreciated. Right now, I have him in his own room with food and water, but he is still hiding and strongly prefers to be isolated into a corner when he is out. Iām trying my best to help him.
To clarify: I am not asking for medical advice or a diagnosis. I mainly want to know what questions or tests I can ask the doctor in order to help him.
