Sick male cat brother :(( majors symptoms: incontinence, fur loss all over body, shed skin, inappetite, lethargy

[NyloracTM]

Hi everyone. We love our sassy brother so much. Please provide us your insight as we have already seen the vet, who prescribed him medication that made him more sick.

Here is what happened from start to finish--

Prior to illness and leading up to it (Christmas):
His first sign of illness was when he approached my sister in her bed (who he never approaches) and peeing on her bed in front of her. He still had all of his fur.

First week of January: He lost the hair from his butt and surrounding 3 inches of low abdomen first. He obsessively licked his butt until it turned red and bald My sister thought he had a flea problem, tried a collar and shampoo on him for a couple of weeks before seeing no change in behavior and discontinuing the flea products. Meanwhile, our cat continues to lose his fur and appetite.

End of January/first week of February:
Our cat is peeing and pooing everywhere. His Maine Coon mane is nearly gone, chest and stomach are bald. His face looks miserable!
His fur is falling out on its own and he appears very itchy! scratches himself to bleeding in a couple spots on his body. his skin is scaly and peeling. He cries a lot for my sister. Major loss of appetite and weight loss by now.

February 10:
We bring him to the vet who prescribes Metronidazole, Revolution flea product (even though he's bald, sick, and has been treated for fleas), and a shampoo. The Metronidazole appears to hurt him more so sis stops it.

His urinalysis comes back as having elevated protein. His blood has high white blood cell count. And he has the symptoms mentioned in the subject line:
incontinence, pees and poos while sleeping
total fur loss all over body,
shedding patches of skin,
inappetite,
lethargy, stands without moving with lightless/dim eyes.

My sister can hop on and tell more as needed.

Please help us save our Bro! :'(

[Mollycat]

What has the vet so far suspected, ruled out and considered? What tests have been done and what was the medication given for?

How old is your boy and does he go outside? Where do you live - where in the world, and what kind of environment? Is he your only cat?

[fjm]

Were there any other indications in the blood test results? Were there any changes to household furnishings or cleaning products prior to him becoming ill? One possibility would be Cushings, especially given the peeing, but I would have expected the vet to rule that out. Allergies, mites and ringworm are always possibilities. I think you need to investigate further with the vet.

[NyloracTM]

Hi everyone,

So it turns out our kitty, who had hyperthyroid according to lab tests taken by the first vet, also had failing kidneys. We didn't learn that his kidneys were failing until we took him to the emergency vet, where he passed away in peace on 2/16 after putting up a fierce fight. He was 15 years old.

We started noticing him throwing up more than usual during last year. Since he tended to have hairballs and also tended to overeat sometimes and have poor digestion, throwing up wasn't unusual - my sister responded by grooming him even more and parents responded by changing portions and feeding him bland foods. We didn't initially suspect that his kidneys were failing. 6 months later (though my sister says it began even earlier), he deteriorated rapidly in 5 weeks time, though it super accelerated (him losing all his fur and 10 lbs) within the last 2-3 weeks.


--------
If your cat gets sick during CoVID and you can't go in with your cat during exams and treatment, please make sure you are assertive in getting comprehensive assessment done for your cat. Although we told the first vet's curbside assistant that kidney issue was suspected in our cat, the vet sent our cat home without assessing his kidneys (even when my sister asked him if he had) and told us he had allergies/inflammation.

Thank you guys for your care and advice! I sincerely wish your cats so much good health and hope that if your kitty has the same issue, you can catch it as early as possible.

[fjm]

I am so sorry - it is hard to manage serious illness at any time, and Covid makes it even more difficult.