Very sick cat or is Vet scamming me?

Going through something quite similar with my dog. Back & forth to the vet. Blood tests were inconclusive, and may have to be done again. I am fortunate that I have a vet friend who lives miles away, and emailed him the lab reports along with details of any medication prescribed. He assured me my vet was doing everything he possibly could, and NOT to change vets.
I'm lucky I have her insured so only pay a percentage. The blood tests may give you some answers hopefully.

I'm too, Bluebelle!

In my experience vets never say, "it could be one or the other" because they are afraid we would then only hear "it is such and such" and want them to treat that.

It can take time to diagnose a cat properly, but if you feel tomorrow that you are getting nowhere, only running up bills, take the cat home and see whether whatever was troubling him is over.

I have found that something in some brands of dry food (kibble) has upset two of the cats we have had, so we had to change to a different brand. The cats just brought the food up again, until we changed brand. So it might be something as simple as that.

I would think that unless the cat is running a high temperature you can safely take him home. Good luck.

Surely that sounds like he’d just got a very big hairball that he finially managed to dislodge himself. Apart from normal injections of pets I’ve never had to use them. Usually after couple of days the dog or cat recovered. Guess I’ve been lucky.

Oh and my pets always had the cheapest brand foods on market or ate what we ate I.e meat/veg leftovers. Seemed to suit as dog lived to 13 ( Dalmatian) and cats lived to 14/15

I just wondered whether 1) the cat has a tendency to eat plats/grass when he is out? 2) whether the vet has had a good check down the cat's throat?

I have a cat that has displayed very similar symptoms several times - vomiting, retching, coughing and wheezing and each time it has been a blade of grass lodged in his throat! The most recent time the vet said he couldn't see anything - and I told him that I was pretty sure having been here several times before! So the vet gave him a short anaesthetic so that he could see all the way down ... and there it was a tiny piece of grass lodged at the bottom of his throat ... just 1 cm of grass caused these symptoms!

If your cat is being treated, albeit in a manner you are unsure of, please know that your vet will want to do the very best for it they can, so follow their lead and hopefully it will get better. (I'd love to be in this position - my own darling girl was hit by a car a few days ago and we lost her. We are utterly bereft.) I hope yours recovers swiftly.

Ilovedragonflies - that is so sad

I can't figure out whether you live in Morocco and visit family in Germany, as you have said you live in Morocco and Germany in your OP ... but the cat is in Morocco. If you are in Germany it is best to let family in Morocco sort out the cat's illness with the vet.
I don't have pets but I've read that cats eat grass to help them vomit.

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Hey everyone, thank you for responding and sharing you stories.
We still don't know what's wrong.

1. X- Ray showed that there was no obstruction, only gas.

2. Blood tests gave signs of infections, but we don't know what caused it. He also has fever.

3. The vet wants to do Endoscopy and a second x-ray where they start by injecting a substance (I don't know exactly)

The poor baby had an IV, was breathing with his mouth open, and was drooling. He had vomit next to him. He got so much worse compared to yesterday morning. I am so scared, and I feel helpless. They are keeping him for 2 more days. They insist nothing is stuck in his airways and that he does not have Asthma.

Please if anyone has ever been through this or knows anything about cat health conditions, here are pictures of the x-ray and blood test results.

i would wait till the blood tests come through. i assume they been taken?. its hard to tell why your cat is vomiting .mine vomited this morning, chucked up his tuna/(very unusual)treat for the month.. and grass he had eaten.could be something your cat has picked up. be careful with plants like daffodils/lilies/chives/onions/chocolate and bleach products.and anti freeze all are lethal....tests will show what is happening inside your cat ,this might take a few days to a week for the results. please be patient the vets have tons of other animals to see.i know you worried about your cat...from a cat lover who has had many rescued elderly /ill cats....

really sounds like he has eaten something he shouldnt.???...i give my cat bran oil when he has tummy ache and this flushes through whatever it is. olive oil will do as well/fish oil.

I get that vets are busy. Tests have already been done, we tried home remedies at first, then after vet visits we gave him the prescribed medicine. Now even after being hospitalized he is getting worse.
I'm worried it might be something really bad. First days of him being sick he was still eating, playing a little, but now it's not looking good.
Let's just hope he gets well soon..

I have some ability to read those results and x ray, but I am not a vet.

What I can say is that your poor cat is very unwell. Those results do not suggest asthma.

The vet is doing an endoscopy because the x ray suggests your cat may possibly have swallowed something like string or thread that is stuck in his intestines. The x ray is not very clear from the photo and they will need more images to try and figure out what - if anything - is down there before they go and try and fish it out.

Are you sure he doesn't need worming ?

Ilovedragonflies So sorry to hear about the loss of your lovely little cat. It's such a shock. I understand that broken-hearted feeling. So sorry.

I’ve a cat with something similar. He’s sick occasionally but it all the time and he coughs like he’s bringing up a hair all. I took him to the vet yesterday and he suspects Asthma so he gave him a steroid injection and tablets and if he’s not improving in a few days we have to take him back

The hairball he vomited might be the tip of an iceberg - what I mean is he might have a hairball also blocking his intestines - that could explain the symptoms. Is he pooing normally?

I have dogs not cats but i would think worth considering is cat had surgery 4 days ago my guess would be this is the cause of infection. Did he have a tube down his throat they may have scratched his oesophagous caused some sort of trauma. Good luck

We worm our cat and dogs every second month and flea every month. Maybe worm more regularly. Mri scan would show if cat had invested anything. Hope cat is better soon.

You haven’t said how old the cat is, also I am wondering why you had them all castrated at the same time, normally you would neuter a cat in the first 6 months.
Castrating an older cat is a big deal because all the hormones change suddenly and I you are looking for the cause of an infection, look no further. The symptoms sound like pneumonia if he has breathing difficulties but quite likely other problems as well, sorry.

Why on Earth are you using language like scamming? Vets don’t scam - they’re professionals - presumably if you recognise the need to go to a vet you also recognise that vets undergo many years of training and do it because they want to help
Animals and not make money - it seems to me that you’re confusing payment for professional services with improvement in your cat and the two do not equate - trust the vet if you love your cat

Burnell, I agree. This cat had surgery 4 days before developing any symptoms. I'm betting the farm that there is infection in or close to the surgical site. The time frame for symptoms is about right for it. The gagging that first began could have been starting due to nausea that was beginning to be felt. Frankly, if this was my cat, I'd have the vet revisit the surgical site. She said this vet has poor reviews, that's why she is worried about scamming. If these tests all end up showing nothing, yet the blood test shows infection, I would ask the vet to send him home with 500 mg of any form of penicillin. I think the stress of being there is working against this cat.

Agree with Burnell and Marilii the cat may well need IV antibiotics if the infection has worsened.

It's too close to castration to ignore that link.

Also, whilst I agree you have to put your trust in your vet I have had an instance myself where I disagreed with their diagnosis and went against their wishes. I had to sign a disclaimer to say I was ignoring their advice. This was at an emergency hospital. My own vet agreed with me. I saved several thousand pounds, salvaged what was left of a holiday, and most important of all prevented my 'getting on a bit' dog being put through an awful ordeal that would've been unnecessary. But I knew my dog's background and made a judgement which thankfully did pay off.

My practice was horrified at what the hospital had planned and that they had made me sign a document as I'd refused to let them operate on him. They don't always get it right.

I was heartened, sometime later, when a very well respected specialist cancelled the ligament surgery my old boy was scheduled for because he wanted to wait and see what happened. It sorted itself out and mended itself. I was surprised he put my dog first. Which probably says a lot about my faith in the profession and don't get me started on dentists. There are good ones and some who do seem to be more interested in the financial gain. The young vet at the emergency hospital mentioned above agreed with me at first but said she had to check it out with the senior vets. When she came back she told me they wanted to operate. When I refused she looked uncomfortable as I think she was with me but had been overridden.