Very puzzling symptoms; any ideas? (Long;sorry!)

[catsrmylife]

Hello Catchatters. A friend has contacted me about her cat (T) who has been back and forth to the vets recently with these symptoms: -

Increased thirst (polydipsia)
Increased urination (polyuria)
Increased appetite (polyphagia?)
Recurrent cystitis/blood in urine/eliminating outside of the litter box/straining to urinate (maybe un-related to other symptoms?)
Weight loss
Restlessness (up and down to the water dish, up an down on the side in the kitchen)

T is 6 now, was taken from a bad rescue (which has since been shut down by the RSPCA) with diarrhoea, worms coming out of her orifices and pus coming out of her ears. These were all treated and T was tested for FIV/FelV (negative). She underwent a Ventral Bulla Osteotomy (complicated op to remove a polyp in her ear) when the antibiotics and drops for her ears didn't clear the problem up and the vet discovered the polyp when they were trying to syringe her ears. She was spayed at the same time. A couple of years later, a lump was discovered in her mammary/abdominal area which was removed and biopsied. The results were inconclusive and chemo was started just incase. The surgery wound would not heal so chemo was stopped, after which, the wound healed beautifully. T has been fine since then up until earlier this year when she needed some teeth removed. Most recently, T has been showing the symptoms above.

Her stools are normal (good colour and formed) and she is quite bright in herself.

The 1st vet gave an anti-biotic injection for the cystitis. When that didn't work, they gave 2 more lots of antibiotics and metacam. The metacam made T sick so that was stopped. The vet said no point in doing blood work as wouldn't help and they said they thought it was just stress and to buy a Feliway diffuser.

T has been taken to my vet who suspected Diabetes or Hyperthyroidism. Bloods were taken and T has neither of those conditions. Her kidney result was that they are slightly elevated but she isn't in renal failure, if her kidneys are packing up, the vet said they are only at the very earliest stage. Her albumin level was low and there was some protein in her urine sample. She is also slightly anaemic.

T has been allowed outside but I am told she never goes out of the back yard and no non-resident cats go into the back yard. Her vaccinations aren't up-to-date and she hasn't been wormed since November, though I am not sure either of these things will have much bearing on what is going on.

The next step is for a urine sample to sent away and then an ultrasound to be carried out. I am wondering if it is worth re-testing for FIV/FelV?

Obviously we are working very closely with the vet and it could be that the cystitis has nothing to do with the other symptoms.

Has anyone come across these multiple symptoms in a cat before?

Thank you.xxx

[nannymcfee]

I could say SNAP! i am the human equilivent,

my symptoms started after dental problems/ bacteria entering bloodstream,last April, now 12 months later after numerous scans/blood tests you name it i have had it ..they still arn't sure whats wrong, i have many symptoms like diabetes/kidney problems...but also they say like thyroid symptoms..but all my results come back normal...so far ! more to follow...


have they tested T for thyroid? ..that can make you urine more/drink more/loose weight/ eat more/hyper/restlessness...

[lilynmitz]

While some of the symptoms you describe are typical for thyroid issues, she's a bit young for that, as they don't usually kick in until after age 10. Also typical for renal problems and diabetes, so worth testing for all of those. The protein in her urine might suggest crystals in her urine or stones in her bladder, which could make her strain unsuccessfully and give symptoms similar to cystitis. The restlessness sounds like she may be in pain.

The next steps by your vet sound very sensible, you need to check what's going on inside to see what's making her uncomfortable. Will they x-ray as well while she's under anaesthetic? Might be worth asking for this. Hopefully this will also identify whether there are stones in her bladder as well.

Poor thing sounds very uncomfortable, I do hope they can get to the bottom of this soon.

[Camdengirl]

Given that diabetes/kidney/thyroid problems seem unlikely (from the tests), some of the symptoms make me wonder whether it might be a pituitary problem, as that can cause polydipsia, polyphagia and polyuria. Although the cause of pituitary malfunction may or may not be apparent (it can result from a previous injury, which you'd not necessarily know about, or from a benign tumour called an adenoma), some of the effects can be managed, because pituitary dysfunction tends to throw out hormone levels. Polydipsia/polyuria, for example, may be due to diabetes insipidus – which is not related to the common forms of diabetes that relate to blood sugar – resulting from not enough antidiuretic hormone being produced by the pituitary.

ETA: polyphagia/weight loss/restlessness are all thyroid symptoms, and the pituitary is also responsible for secreting thyroid-stimulating hormone. Often first tests for hyperthyroidism in cats seem to come back negative (it happened to my hyper-t girl and others on here) so I would recommend retesting for that in a few months.

[MarkB]

I agree with Sarah. One of mine had those symptoms, my old vet said it must be early stage kidney disease as his readings were OK. When I changed vets and we did more blood tests, my new vet said that if he had kidney disease, he would have expected some of the kidney values to be raised after a year. We tested for Diabetes Insipidus (done with a water deprivation test, which is horrible, but apparently there is another way to do it - worth looking into if need be) Laz tested positive and we controlled it with twice daily hormone (DDAP) drops up his nose.